24 Oct
Pty
Johannesburg
Description
We at MTNSA are a purpose and value-led organisation.
At MTNSA, we believe that understanding our people’s needs and aspirations is key to creating experiences that delight you at work, every day. We are committed to fostering an environment where every member of our Y’ello Family is heard, understood and empowered to live an inspired life.
Our values keep us grounded and moving in the right direction. Most importantly, they keep us honest. It is not something we claim to be. It is in our DNA.
As an organisation, we consider it our mission to create an exciting and rewarding place to work, where our people can be themselves, thrive in positivity and ignite their full potential.
A workplace that boosts creativity and innovation, improves productivity, and ultimately drives meaningful results. A workplace that is built on relationships and achieving a purpose that is bigger than us. This is what we want you to experience with us!
Our commitments go beyond an organisational promise. It is in our leadership and managerial ethos to meaningfully partner with our employees, customers and stakeholders with a vision to realise our shared goals.
We are delighted that you are considering us as your career partner to make a mark in the world. We look forward to your application!
The role is responsible for leading the outsourced 1st line resolution team, focusing on the efficient and effective management of customer inquiries, technical issues, and trouble ticket resolution within the contracted Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The role plays a critical part in maintaining service quality and enhancing customer satisfaction by ensuring that issues are addressed promptly and accurately,
including the management of critical incidents (CritSit) that require immediate attention to minimize business impact.
A key aspect of the role is overseeing the end-to-end trouble ticket management process, from initial logging through to resolution, ensuring adherence to SLAs and timely escalation of issues when necessary. The Senior Manager ensures that critical incidents are handled with the highest priority, coordinating cross-functional teams to deliver rapid solutions and prevent recurrence.
Reporting to the Head of Customer Experience, this role works in close partnership with Service Operations, Incident & Problem Management, and other key stakeholders to deliver a cohesive service experience. The Senior Manager is responsible for implementing best practices in service desk operations,
driving continuous improvement initiatives, and refining processes to optimize performance and responsiveness.
Additionally, the Senior Manager plays a strategic role in managing CritSit scenarios, ensuring that high-impact incidents are escalated and resolved effectively, maintaining communication with all relevant parties, and providing detailed incident reports to enhance transparency and accountability. This proactive approach ensures a seamless, end-to-end service delivery model that consistently meets or exceeds customer expectations.
Responsibilities
Strategy Input and Implementation
Work closely with the Head of Customer Experience to translate high-level customer experience goals into actionable service desk strategies.
Ensure that all service desk activities contribute to enhancing the overall customer journey and experience.
Drive the implementation of key business initiatives within the service desk by ensuring alignment with broader operational goals and SLAs. Develop a roadmap for achieving service excellence that is in sync with the company’s overall vision and objectives.
Stay updated on industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices to ensure the service desk evolves to meet changing customer expectations and business requirements. This includes integrating AI tools, automation, and other technological advancements to enhance operational efficiency.
Operational Delivery (Service Desk Management)
Lead the operational aspects of the service desk,
ensuring smooth workflows and efficient resolution of customer inquiries. Oversee the ticketing process to ensure timely responses and that all issues are being escalated appropriately when necessary.
Resource Management: Manage staffing levels, shifts, and resource allocation to ensure continuous and effective service desk coverage. Ensure the right skill sets are available within the team to handle a diverse range of technical issues.
Act as the primary point of contact for the outsourced service desk vendor. Ensure service level agreements (SLAs) are being met and that the vendor is delivering high-quality services aligned with company objectives.
Conduct regular performance reviews with the vendor to assess their output against KPIs such as first-call resolution rates, response times,
and overall customer satisfaction. Identify any areas for improvement and work with the vendor to implement solutions.
Ensure close collaboration with the Senior Manager of Service Operations to align the service desk’s performance with the company’s SLA management and broader service delivery strategy.
Work with the Senior Specialist: Incident & Problem Management to ensure a smooth escalation process. The service desk should be able to effectively hand over complex issues to the appropriate 2nd or 3rd line support for resolution.
Ensure all service desk communications, whether automated or human-driven, are clear, concise, and customer-centric. Develop standard communication protocols to ensure customers are kept informed of the status of their issues.
Oversee the creation and maintenance of a comprehensive knowledge base that helps service desk staff resolve issues more efficiently and empowers customers to solve common problems on their own through self-service tools.
Service Reporting and Performance Monitoring
Define and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the service desk. This includes tracking metrics such as ticket resolution times, customer satisfaction scores, and the volume of tickets handled.
Regularly analyze service desk performance data to identify trends, bottlenecks, or areas for improvement. Provide actionable insights to senior management to drive process improvements and enhance customer satisfaction.
Governance, Policies, Procedures
Implement and maintain robust governance frameworks for service desk operations, ensuring that processes, documentation, and outcomes adhere to internal policies, regulatory requirements, and industry standards.
Identify operational risks within the service desk function, ensuring these risks are documented, escalated, and mitigated appropriately. Regularly review operational risks and ensure ongoing compliance with regulatory requirements.
Facilitate collaboration between internal teams and partners to drive joint initiatives and resolve issues.
Participate in governance forums and required and ensure solutions developed comply with the Tech Operations standards defined.
Identify, propose and implement technology and digital enablers to improve standards and compliance. Work in alignment with Group standards, practices, policies and principles.
Ensure effective implementation of (and compliance towards) legislative requirements and company policies, processes, and procedures.
Manage and provide solutions to escalations that have multiple processes/functions impact on critical path of service delivery.
Continuously review key risks, issues and dependencies and set mitigation actions. Proactively flag and escalate issues and manage impacts on resources, cost and productivity.
Where required, lead, set up and participate in operational and tactical meetings.
Continuous Improvement
Continuously review and refine service desk processes, implementing industry best practices and using feedback from internal stakeholders and customers to improve workflows.
Lead the adoption of new technologies, such as AI-powered chatbots, self-service portals, or automation tools, to streamline service desk operations and enhance the customer experience.
Stay updated with the latest trends and developments in service management, ensuring the organization is prepared to adopt innovative practices and technologies.
Drive best practice, continuous improvement and innovation at process and procedure level within area (e.g. technology, processes etc.)
Ensure that the relevant analysis of market knowledge, trends and competitive information is gathered and assimilated
Ensure competitors benchmarking and gap analysis is performed as appropriate and incorporated into business operations
Initiate change to continually improve all aspects of service delivery and drive continuous improvement as an important element of service delivery.
People & Culture Management
Lead, mentor, and develop a team of service desk professionals, ensuring they are equipped with the skills, tools, and motivation to provide excellent customer service.
Enable and model healthy employee relations and collaborative teamwork. Coach and guide colleagues where required
Contribute to building a culture of continuous evaluation and improvement. Drive a culture of high performance, accountability and consequence management.
Take ownership of own personal development plans. Maintain self-development and knowledge in all required areas through learning and research
Identify own as well as functional training needs.
Act as an ambassador for the team by living the Brand values and vital behaviours and changing and influencing employees’ behaviour.
Make the environment the best place to work. Foster professionalism, loyalty and commitment to the organization. Build the Company’s brand to be the employer of first choice.
Budget, Cost Control & Reporting
Ensure the overall financial health and performance of vendor/ partner relationships.
Manage, monitor and control the budgetary needs for Programmes/ Projects, in line with business objectives.
Identify areas for cost-saving in project delivery while maintaining high-quality standards.
Ensure that each solution is commercially viable and positively impacts the Business Lines’ P&L.;
Review and submit reports for the Exec addressing periodic activity, budget compliance, feedback and key departmental results to facilitate decision making.
Manage and optimise the budget, ensuring all expenditure is in line with the agreed budgets.
Monitor costs and determine initiatives to increase efficiencies and optimise resources - maximise cost/benefit ratios .
Where relevant, ensure Vendor and IT costs are effectively managed.
Customer Experience and Satisfaction
Assist in collecting and tracking Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS) data.
Help analyze customer feedback to identify patterns, pain points, and areas for improvement.
Support the execution of initiatives aimed at improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Collaborate with internal teams to address customer concerns and provide recommendations based on feedback.
Maintain accurate records of customer feedback and satisfaction scores for reporting purposes.
Qualifications
3-year degree equivalent / 4-year tertiary qualification (Technical/ Commercial) or related
Masters degree advantageous
Experience
At least 7 years related experience in in IT service management, with a strong focus on Service management.
Minimum of 5-7 years of experience in IT service management, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
Experience managing outsourced service desks and vendors.
Strong background in ITIL or other service management frameworks.
Worked across diverse cultures and geographies advantageous.
▶️ Senior Manager - Service Desk.ICT Center of Excellence
🖊️ Pty
📍 Johannesburg