Gary Styczynski is a 20 + year call center expert that has managed and implemented some of the most "bleeding" edge technology and philosophies used in call centers today. When speaking to other call center professionals, particularly in the financial industry, his name is mentioned quite often as being one of the countries best.
His technological expertise includes his design of the "work-flow" philosophy, that allows all areas of an operation to be managed like a call center. This is particularly important when limiting expense and increasing revenue.
Gary mentions. "As someone who grew up in the world of call centers, life was managed in seconds. When you manage an entire operational team, most back office tasks are managed in days and weeks. This was completely unacceptable, in my estimate." Gary now helps other organization implement a similar technology and system, where all areas of their business is tracked in "seconds", not days.
Gary also loves to take existing technology, enhance it and make it work more efficiently. Gary remarks, "So, many businesses have spent good money in purchasing speech recognition, telephone software or web technology. This money is then thrown away when employees do not utilize it properly. It's a real shame, especially when senior managers aren't aware. They shouldn't be the experts, they're not paid to know it well, that's why they hire people like me. To work hard and make the proper enhancements."
Gary has implemented thousands of projects and new pieces of business, with another several hundred new operational changes and new technology. We asked Gary what was the greatest challenge in his career, his response was surprising.
I was playing in the second day of the World Series of Poker and played until 3 am Las Vegas time. I was back at the hotel room by 4am and started to get my notes ready for an 8 am East Coast conference call, in which I was the leader. I did this for two days in a row and still won the tournament, only getting about 2 hours of sleep per night. That's the real success story, not just winning the event, but winning the event while still managing a very important project.
This hard work has paid off for Gary in his call center career, his Global Service Solutions consulting business, his poker career and his writing. Yes, Gary is also the author of a series of children's books focused on various financial topics. His first book, "The Magic Card", tells children about the challenges and responsibilities of using a credit card. "The payment does not "magically" disappear, it does require you to make a payment", Gary smiles.
Maybe someone will realize that these books should also be marketed to adults as well. I seems that with all the hard work and creative ideas, Gary will soon have the answer to one of life's other challenges.
MARY TOBIAS, AP