Fireside Chat with NUG’s Claudine Halek

Claudine has served on the NiCE User Group Board of Directors since 2017 as the Chair of Quality and Training.

Before we ask you about your role on the NiCE User Group Board of Directors, will you tell us about your current job responsibilities?

I am the Quality Assurance Manager at Morgan Stanley.  I manage a team of 12 Quality Assistants (QAs) across the country.  We have four contact centers with QAs in each location.  Our team listens to phone calls and complete evaluations that provide feedback to share the phone agents to improve behaviors.  We support 500 agents and are quickly growing.

What path led you to Morgan Stanley?

I’ve been in the quality assurance space for 20 years.  Prior to Morgan Stanley, I worked at Liberty Mutual for 24 years where I built the quality program into a well-oiled machine.  When I came to Morgan Stanley 2-1/2 years ago they were a small operation in a growth mode.  They had two associates doing “quality review” but it was an unstructured evaluation process.  I was asked to join the team and grow the program from scratch.  So I did!  It’s been an exciting challenge to build a sophisticated program and get buy-in in from management and associates.  We consider how people should be managed, what measurements to take, what are our expectations, how to report and share results.  We have a solid program standing on our feet and are now looking to innovating now that we have the basics down.

Tell us about your experience using NiCE solutions?

Currently, I’m using NiCE Engage 6.8 with Quality Management.  I’ve used NiCE quality tools for most of my career--- reporting, analysis, speech analytics, quality.  We used analytics a lot at Liberty Mutual, and that is something we’re going to do at Morgan Stanley.  We also use NiCE Workforce Management at Morgan Stanley.  Some of my team use the tool to schedule agent training.

What prompted you to join the NUG board?

Because I’ve used NiCE for many years and attended Interactions the last 7 years, I made a lot of connections at NiCE.  Attending the conference let me get to know the board and what they did.  Joining the board seemed an awesome opportunity to stay in contact with NiCE to hear what’s up and coming and also have a connection to the larger user community.  I was really excited to be asked to be part of it!

What is your role on the NUG board?

I serve as the Quality and Training Chairperson for the NiCE User Group’s board of directors.  My job is to not only engage and expand our user community but act as a liaison to help our fellow quality clients using the tools.  If they run into issues or questions – how does this system do X – we use the NUG website, but also word of mouth and emails.  I would never have had those kind of contacts without the NUG board, being active on the NUG website and attending Interactions.  And hopefully I’ve been able to give back to those starting out in quality!

What do you like best about NUG?

The contact with the community.  Having the opportunity to be with other quality professionals who do what I do every day.  You think you are the only one with a problem, but everyone has it.  I’ve learned about things outside my world, learned about WFM, learned about analytics. That has been very valuable. too.  It would have been harder to get that education without the NUG.

Interactions 2020 is right around the corner.  What do you recommend to those attending the conference for the first time?

Talk to everyone!  Don’t be afraid to talk to people you don’t know.  Ask questions.  Attend as many sessions as you can.  I like to take workshops in a variety of tracks to learn from other areas of the business that may influence quality.

Tell us a little about you, personally.

I’ve been married 24 years.  We have a beautiful 18 year old son, pure joy, getting ready to go to college.  We live in a tiny town of Springhill Florida, an hour northwest of Tampa.  We moved from New Jersey 14 years ago and never looked back.  We love that we never wake up to snow!  We have gorgeous beaches and Disney World.  I’m an annual passholder at Disney and spend a lot of time in Disney Parks. 

What is the last movie you saw?

I love Netflix shows and recently watched a movie called The Report.  It’s about the CIA investigation and Senator Feinstein’s office and her intern who spent five years investigating to build this report.  The reason why it caught my eye the gentleman who played Kylo Ren in the new Star Wars movie (Adam Driver) starred in this movie.  It’s about the 9/11 report on the CIA.  I love history, the government process, the pomp and circumstance and traditions of government. I love period pieces.  I lived through 9/11.  I lived in New Jersey and will never forget those days.  Very good movie!

What advice would you like to offer to those just starting their careers in quality?

Look wider and bigger than your current job function.  My team does call evaluations.  It’s head’s down. Everyday you do the same thing.  I tell my team to look bigger, think bigger.  The amount of calls they listen to and behaviors they identify, they are a huge source of information that can help the business move forward.  Keep your eyes and ears open and look for things outside of your current world!