Implementation Lead Sheerah Tan Cole rounds out our Implementation Team interview series. Prior to GoGuardian, she taught English to middle school students and writing to college students, followed by a stint in community organizing.
Sheerah leads the Implementation Team to ensure that customers experience a seamless deployment of GoGuardian and provides goals-based, tailored product configuration and Super User training. They work primarily with GoGuardian users during the trial process, but also support onboardings of new and current customers.
What would you like people to understand about GoGuardian implementation?
I would like for people to understand how rigorous implementation can be and how hard the team works to get customers up and running successfully across vastly different products and services. We can be troubleshooting a customer’s LDAP authentication one moment, and then twenty minutes later have a sensitive conversation about who will be monitoring self-harm alerts 24/7 for a middle school.
Implementation requires a unique conflation of skills: empathy and customer service, as well as technical aptitude, project management, grit, training ability, and a flair for sales. We are very scrappy, we wear a ton of hats, we get a lot done, and we’re pretty easy to talk to as well.
What’s your favorite GoGuardian product to implement, and why?
GoGuardian Admin, because it’s what customers need the most right now.
Why is Beacon implementation so unique compared with other GG products?
There is an authentic passion and urgency brought to the table in Beacon implementation that doesn’t always exist with other products. Customers have often experienced tragedies in their districts or work with populations that are higher-risk for suicide due to cultural or community factors. This makes the conversation take on a deeper meaning yet still remain very practical and technological.
What’s one team collaboration that has been very productive recently?
The Support Escalations Team and “Supplementation” volunteers: Dillon, Sean, Giuliano, Milan, and Ron. The Escalation team teaches us to be successful with most in-depth technical implementations, and they do an incredible amount of heavy-lifting behind the scenes. They are willing to hop on advanced troubleshooting calls with customers even if it’s outside of their usual workflow. This last month during volume trials, Support Team members also hopped on multiple onboardings when our team was fully booked.
Last, I’ve also really appreciated Tim’s work and quick building on Admin’s new ability to be deployed anywhere.
What’s the most rewarding overall aspect of GoGuardian implementation?
We build strong relationships with customers in a really brief span of time. It’s rewarding to come away from a call after one hour knowing that the customer is already so grateful both for the GoGuardian products and for the teams supporting their experience.
What is a book you’ve read or film you’ve watched recently that you recommend?
I’m reading a young-adult novel by Robin McKinley called The Outlaws of Sherwood. It’s a retelling of Robin Hood, when he first became an outcast in society due to a crime and built a community deep in the forest with a band of revolutionaries. The book portrays Robin Hood as generous, practical, spirited/confrontational, and humble.
What’s the most interesting recipe or life-hack that you’ve discovered since working from home?
Recipe-wise, I’ve made broccoli-almond salad, lentils cacciatore, and venison made from deer my husband hunted. I’m usually a vegetarian, but I haven’t been so during quarantine times.