Function
GCSS
We’re Hitachi Vantara, the data foundation trusted by the world’s innovators. Our resilient, high-performance data infrastructure means that customers – from banks to theme parks – can focus on achieving the incredible with data.
If you’ve seen the Las Vegas Sphere, you’ve seen just one example of how we empower businesses to automate, optimize, innovate – and wow their customers. Right now, we’re laying the foundation for our next wave of growth. We’re looking for people who love being part of a diverse, global team – and who get excited about making a real-world impact with data.
The Services Account Manager (SAM) is a key role within Hitachi Vantara, acting first and foremost as the single point of contact between Hitachi Vantara’s service organization and its largest accounts. The SAM role drives value for both the customer and Hitachi Vantara by proactively addressing customer needs and developing a strong relationship with key individuals in the customer’s organization.
This SAM role is primarily for Hitachi Vantara’s Defence business, a key group of accounts requiring ideally a PV security clearance, at minimum NV2; in order to work with existing & future Defence and Federal accounts & partners. A keen understanding of these customers’ processes is required, including but not limited to dark site requirements, buying, budget & renewal cycles, asset reporting & inventory management for disconnected systems etc. The ideal candidate will have worked in, or with, Defence accounts for 5 or more years and be willing and able to maintain or uplift their security clearance.
- Single point of contact: Own his / her role as the Management contact and escalation point in relation to delivery of all Hitachi Vantara services. Proactively sharing updates and information, both of a technical and non-technical nature, with the customer on a frequent basis.
- Relationship development : Build networks through outreach and establishment of new relationships within the customer organization, extending beyond just the primary points-of-contact. Additionally, maintain vendor relationships for all products deployed within the storage infrastructure (e.g. disk, fabric, software
- Meetings and reporting : Organize and conduct regular meetings and communications with key teams / individuals at each account to review account, status, and ensure that customers get the customized reporting they need. Ensure customer satisfaction with service delivery.
- Solutions assurance: Ensure the solutions being sold, installed, and implemented at the customer’s site fulfill the customer’s needs. This includes ownership of the solutions assurance process, coordinating and managing implementation consultants and overseeing the Solutions Assurance Document (SAD).
- Service escalations: “Quarterback” escalations by owning the coordination of customer meetings, communicating with the customer, and aligning the logistics of the escalation team with the customer’s internal team. Facilitate a smooth handoff to the escalation team by proactively staying on top of all issues while having the necessary data prepared and ready to share.
- Rebuild after escalation: Complete and review incident report detailing the sequence of events, the root cause of the incident, lessons learned and actions to be taken. Engage in all post-mortem communication to the customer with a focus on rebuilding trust. Solicit survey feedback from the customer and drive the implementation of any needed changes.
- Sales and pre-sales involvement: Be a full participating member of the account team, responsible for keeping the team apprised of customer developments and insider information to maximize growth opportunities. Attend and facilitate regularly scheduled internal meetings with other members of the account team and participate in external sales meetings. Continually seek further opportunities for Hitachi Vantara products and services including maintenance renewals of incumbent equipment and keep the rest of the account team informed.
- Domain expertise: Be Hitachi’s internal expert on the customer’s system, service history, and current and future business objectives. Ensure that pre-sales, sales, implementation, and service teams have the customer knowledge they need to operate and guarantee that any proposed solution fulfills the customer’s business needs. Maintain understanding of the products, services and solutions to be supported by Hitachi Vantara.
- Pre-install and implementation: Own the account support plan, including details for how the account is serviced and supported. Coordinate and manage a smooth install for the customer and provide them with timely updates throughout the process. Work with CS&S engineers, Resource Management and Global Support to ensure that all incidents relating to installed storage infrastructure and to Hitachi Vantara service delivery are managed and resolved in a timely manner.
- Account safety net: Develop and implement an account safety net for each customer. Put steps in place to proactively identify issues in their nascence and identify opportunities for automation around critical customer support and updates.
- Routine maintenance: Assume lead responsibility for delivery of maintenance support services for each account. Manage and coordinate CEs to ensure routine maintenance, break-fix, and communication is conducted in a timely manner. Ensure Customer is aware of new microcode releases & engineering changes. Coordinate the activities of third-parties supporting Hitachi Vantara at the customer as required.
- Continuous Improvement: Identify and follow through opportunities for improving customer care, whether internal or external to Hitachi Vantara. Identify and address proactively any issues impacting the effectiveness of Hitachi Vantara support.
- Customer Success: In some client instances the SAM will also take on Customer Success responsibilities in proactively engaging with customers to drive further product adoption, retention, expansion, and advocacy. The SAM will work closely with the client to gain a deep understanding of their ongoing priorities, desired objectives, and expectations, and guide them on ways to maximize the value of their investment in our solutions. They will be responsible for building and executing a Customer Success Plan, as well as monitoring Account Health and following established procedures for account risk management and mitigation. The SAM will serve as the main liaison between the client and key Hitachi Vantara stakeholders (e.g. Sales, Product Management, Engineering, Professional Services, and others) to deliver the best possible customer experience and outcomes.
The SAM role will have internal and external goals, including both individual goals and general Hitachi Vantara benchmarks for the role. To some degree, the SAM will set their own goals, while others will be set by Hitachi Vantara management.
Many goals will be based around key metrics for the SAM role, which the SAM is expected to track and know on a regular basis. These metrics are based around the following areas- though there may be additional areas:
- Customer satisfaction
- Customer relationship building
- Account service readiness
- Escalation response
- Sales success
The SAM role is a hybrid – it is critical that individuals have both account management and technical leadership skills. Just one skillset is not enough to succeed in this position. If a SAM has a strong background in just one skillset or the other, training may be required to get the individual confident and capable in both areas.
- Account Management Skills
The SAM needs to be comfortable reaching out to new people within the customer’s organization and establishing connections. Merely maintaining existing points-of-contact is not sufficient. The SAM must be able to proactively maintain existing connections deepening and strengthening them. The SAM role is not a sales role, but the SAM must be comfortable in sales meetings and other sales situations, and be able to discuss products, services, and solutions with the customer.
- Technical Leadership Skills
The SAM must be able to communicate technical details, both internally and with the customer. To do this, the SAM must understand the customer’s system from a technical level. Being able to communicate technical details will be key for establishing credibility both with technical experts inside Hitachi Vantara and with the customer. Furthermore, the SAM needs to be able to put technical specifics into non-technical language for those who are less technical in the customer’s organization. This includes understanding Hitachi Vantara-specific terminology and communicating it externally.
Additionally, the SAM must have a strong knowledge of the storage industry, products, and solutions. They must have the technical ability to build customer facing reports, create implementation plans, coordinate installs, and monitor product health throughout escalations. A SAM should be comfortable pulling technical data from a customer’s system as well as monitoring trends or irregularities in the data. From time to time the SAM must be able to work off normal hours to help in the coordination of client activity
- Serve as the lead point of contact for all customer SAM management matters
- Build and maintain strong, long-lasting client relationships
- Help with the develop of business and/or identify areas of improvement to meet client needs and help with sales quotas
- Collaborate with sales team to identify and grow opportunities within territory
- Build business relationships
- Develop trusted advisor relationships with customer stakeholders and executive sponsors
- Ensure the timely and successful delivery of our solutions according to customer needs and objectives
- Clearly communicate the progress of SAM related activities on monthly/quarterly initiatives to internal and external stakeholders
- Forecast and track key account SAM metrics (e.g. quarterly sales results and annual forecasts)
- Assist with challenging client support requests or issue escalations as needed
- Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering or a related field and disciple is required
- 5+ Years’ Experience – at least 2 years in a Cloud Solution, Data storage or similar support capacity
- Demonstrated deep experience with client facing interactions, building presentations and handling potentially difficult situations
- Proven ability to provide exceptional customer service is a strong attribute
- Proven ability to develop and manage customer relationships.
- Experience of helping driving pre-sales and consulting activities to implement data strategies and solutions
- Demonstrate the ability to present and sell new products to support the clients environment as a means of differentiating value
- A collaborative, solutions-oriented approach and strong communication skills.
- Ability to project manage, project tasks, set timelines, and lead meetings with internal/external client stakeholders to define scope, timeline, milestones, create and communicate progress reports
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively with a focus on results.
- Strong interpersonal, leadership, and organizational skills with a bias for action.
- Detailed and striving for excellence.
- Technically and business oriented.
- Ability to communicate in an open and authentic manner in all situations
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We’re a global team of innovators. Together, we harness engineering excellence and passion for insight to co-create meaningful solutions to complex challenges. We turn organizations into data-driven leaders that can a make positive impact on their industries and society. If you believe that innovation can inspire the future, this is the place to fulfil your purpose and achieve your potential.
Hitachi is a global company operating across a wide range of industries and regions. One of the things that sets Hitachi apart is the diversity of our business and people, which drives our innovation and growth.
We are committed to building an inclusive culture based on mutual respect and merit-based systems. We believe that when people feel valued, heard, and safe to express themselves, they do their best work.
We help take care of your today and tomorrow with industry-leading benefits, support, and services that look after your holistic health and wellbeing. We’re also champions of life balance and offer flexible arrangements that work for you (role and location dependent). We’re always looking for new ways of working that bring out our best, which leads to unexpected ideas. So here, you’ll experience a sense of belonging, and discover autonomy, freedom, and ownership as you work alongside talented people you enjoy sharing knowledge with.
We’re proud to say we’re an equal opportunity employer and welcome all applicants for employment without attention to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, age, disability status or any other protected characteristic. Should you need reasonable accommodations during the recruitment process, please let us know so that we can do our best to set you up for success.
