In our second post in this week's focus on Customer Operations, we talk to Tapas Thakkar, a stalwart lead who is often described as the most selfless member of the team. You should read the first post in the series which outlines the mission of the COps team and also check out #MonzoStories on the Monzo Instagram Stories today, featuring two other members of this amazing team.
Tomorrow at 6pm, we'll be hosting a live Q&A with our COps team so direct any questions to our Twitter account @monzo and we'll do our best to answer them tomorrow!
What do you do for Monzo?
All things Customer Operations or COps as we are known at Monzo. Everyday is different in the team and on a day-to-day basis I look after all things customers — solving queries in the in app chat, guiding and coaching our wonderful team to deliver nothing but the BEST for our community and putting lots of thinking into our operations as we scale.
How did you get into this?
I studied Music for Film and Multimedia at university and spent some time doing that abroad in Mumbai at the heart of Bollywood. That remains an integral part of my being and whenever I can, I continue to delve deeper into the world of Indian classical music and production. Service has always been a part of me from a very young age but didn’t really come to the fore until recently when I spent a bit of time volunteering in 2015 with a socio-spiritual organisation complete with a beautiful white marble temple in North West London. The first of its kind outside of India. These experiences coupled with finding peace in delivering service to others is what brought me to what I do today.
Can you tell us a bit about what you are working on this week?
This like every week promises to be an exciting one. I’m focusing on hiring with lots of phone screens and interviews to attend. I’ll also be at hand to welcome some new COps to the team, make them feel at home and introduce them to life at Monzo and in the COps team. Towards the end of the week I’ll be spending some time with our COps one on one, to share some quality assurance feedback and talk through how they are doing. In the midst of all that I’ll also be diving into solving some of our community’s more complicated queries.
What are you most proud of achieving here?
It’s hard to tell really because everyday there is a different achievement. I was the 3rd person to join the team so one of the things I am most proud of is being an integral part of building the COps team from bottom up — from process to culture — cementing the foundations to the way of life at Monzo. We’re building a service that blows your mind. A service that cares. A service that is real.
Who do you work with most, and how does your team run?
The culture here at Monzo allows you to work closely with everyone, from engineers to risk officers. I work particularly closely with Leah, Emma, Beth and Dillon. Beth, Dillon and I are the captains of the frontline COps team which are now a 26 strong team and growing.
It’s the best team I’ve ever worked in, with a lot of care, admiration and respect for each other. We’re broken down into squads of 10 COps working together, with Beth and I leading one each. Beth has naturally become our superpower organiser from all things scheduling to task management; nothing gets by her and I help with whatever she tells me to do, ensuring that our customer is at the heart of every move we make.
I also work super closely with Leah and Emma to ensure every hire, every strategic decision and every process from start to finish is focussed on nothing but our customer and our community.
What are you excited about working on over the next few months?
Roll on current accounts!! I’m super excited to have the current account product live and in the hands of our community. The scaling and development of the COps team is another thing I’m super pumped about. It’s a great challenge and one I hope to approach in the same way we approached it with just 3 people — pouring care and attention into ensuring that every aspect of their journey is aligned with the same vision that we have for the service.
What have you learned in your time at Monzo?
I’ve learnt that learning never stops. Every interaction at Monzo, be it with a customer or with a teammate, over a game of ping pong or a management meeting — there is always something to take away and learn.
What do you do for fun?
I enjoy playing music, particularly recently studying further the intricacies of the sitar. I'm a die-hard ManUtd fan and keep track of their progress religiously! I've also recently been hooked by a Netflix series Designated Survivor - I can’t recommend it enough.
Tell us something unexpected about you
I once trialled at Charton Athletic Football Club. Then I fell in love with cheese; Cathedral City was her name and the dream vanished.