This week in People of Freenow, we’re introducing Tim Smith, our Head of Customer Excellence. With a career built around customer service and leadership across international teams, Tim brings a deep understanding of what great support looks like. Since joining the company in 2019, he has played a key role in shaping how Freenow delivers exceptional experiences to riders and drivers.
Hi Tim! Thank you for joining our blog series. We are delighted to get to know you better, can you tell us a bit about your background and what brought you to Freenow?
I originally joined Kapten in 2019 as PHV was launched in London, managing the UK Customer Support team and contributing to the setup of our first Customer Support Hub in Lisbon.
My career has been spent in Customer Service environments. I started off as a front-line agent at the coffee company Nespresso before moving into management positions.
I subsequently worked for a US-based global background screening company called First Advantage, setting up and managing their Global Customer Support team.
I've been lucky enough to take on a few different roles during my journey with Freenow. I joined the Central Operations team, managing the Document Validation and Compliance Teams before taking on the role of Head of Customer Excellence three and a half years ago.
What makes your role both challenging and exciting?
In Customer Excellence, our focus is on ensuring that our users have a great end-to-end Customer Support experience.
We have a broad scope, thinking about everything from how riders and drivers access support, what channels we offer, what our policies and processes look like, how our Customer Care teams are trained, and exploring opportunities to use automation and AI.
There is also a balance to strike between finding solutions to challenges at a market level and those that apply across all Freenow markets.
This range of topics means that I'm lucky to be able to work with a variety of talented people from all areas of the business, such as PDC, Product, Tech, IT, and Local Operations.
It's an exciting time, not only because of our recent acquisition by Lyft. There is also a lot going on in the industry when it comes to Customer Support, with many new opportunities presented in particular by the evolution of AI. Exploring how these options can help us improve the experience we deliver to our users is a great challenge and means that the role of our team is always evolving.
What do you appreciate most about working at Freenow?
The collaboration across teams and all levels of seniority within the business is a great strength. Everyone is encouraged to share ideas and to positively challenge the status quo.
Whereas in other companies, the most senior person in the room might dictate the way forward, I believe that knowledge, expertise, and fresh ideas are really valued at Freenow. This results in a more empowered team and better outcomes for the business.
And last but not least, what advice would you give to someone considering joining Freenow?
Go for it! It's a really exciting time for Freenow following the recent acquisition by Lyft, with some great opportunities and challenges to come. If you excel in a multinational environment, want to create great user experiences, and are passionate about mobility, then get onboard.
Tim’s story shows how collaboration, curiosity, and innovation are at the heart of how we build better experiences for our users. Customer excellence begins with empowering people to share ideas and make a difference!