As specialists in satellite connectivity, hardware and ICT, the scope of our work is broad. A typical day in Navarino’s After Sales Support begins with us taking over from our Hong Kong team. We log in and set up all of our programs before we have a short planning meeting for the day in which the previous shift updates us on the status of all ongoing cases that need to be taken over by the new shift.

We are responsible for the support of numerous systems, as we provide our customers with technical support for all Navarino products and services. We also offer technical consultation and advice to customers to help them tailor their connectivity and ICT infrastructure to meet their exact requirements wherever possible. To effectively tackle our tasks, we always have at least 10 different applications open, including tools for monitoring, remote management, proper case supervision and back office purposes.

Our support engineers have designed and implemented a real-time monitoring system that proactively scrutinizes thousands of customer systems around the world, including Navarino FX and KU installations, as well as all Infinity vessels. At the same time, we manage a vast amount of real-time network and infrastructure telemetry data that we first visualize, then analyze and then use to identify and mitigate possible issues and improve the performance of our systems.

The department is separated into two different Tiers that handle cases depending on their criticality and any special characteristics. The Tier 1 department consists mainly of network engineers while our Tier 2 department is system oriented, specializing in our Infinity service while also operating as the interface between aftersales and our R&D team.

All incidents received by our Aftersales Support department are prioritized, based on the severity of each case, as our SLA dictates. We apply ITSM standards to the way we handle cases which means for example, that when an incident reoccurs frequently, we have the flexibility to change the way we handle such a case in future.

In our daily routine, which consists mainly of email exchanges, phone calls and internal chats, good communication is key. Whether we are investigating connectivity issues, providing customers with ‘how-to’ guidance, implementing change requests or fine tuning onboard ICT setups, we try to build strong relationships with both customers and partners so that we can get the job done quickly and efficiently. While we try to resolve all cases on our own, sometimes we do need to escalate a case to internal or external stakeholders in order to find a resolution and our longstanding cooperation with those stakeholders is a real plus for this as we have built a wealth of experience in working together closely for so long.

Our partners have proven to be a great help in enabling us to expand our knowledge and expertise. All Navarino support staff are certified by our Partners and they are constantly working towards further accreditations from the rich training options available. For example, we take full advantage of Inmarsat’s Nebula platform, which is a highly advanced online learning tool. Also, Cobham’s Satcom Training Academy and Intellian’s Litmos Training Platforms have been invaluable in expanding the knowledge of our team and we frequently arrange training sessions with JRC and GTMaritime. We do not only receive training however, as it is our department, in conjunction with our presales team which acts as the training centre for our growing family of Infinity customers and resellers. It is always a pleasure for our team to work with them and educate them on each new Infinity update and the new features that it brings to the platform.

Working in a support center that handles several different applications can be challenging but it is very rewarding especially when a particularly complex case is resolved. As systems and products in the company change, new services appear and we always enjoy learning how to support them. Identifying our training needs and having a vast thirst for continuous learning is another part of our daily routine.

The most common questions we receive usually come after we help our customers resolve an issue. They tend to ask what can be done to prevent the issue from happening again, the root cause behind a service outage and so on. It is evident that our customers & resellers have become more and more IT-oriented over the past few years and they are often very interested in learning how our products and services work.

The COVID pandemic has brought new challenges to the team, but even though half of our team now works from home in shifts, our goal remains to maintain the same high level of support to our customers and their vessels who need us. To help mitigate any negative impacts from the pandemic, we have made adjustments to the way calls routed, implemented new directives on the way we handle customer cases and we hold twice-daily triage meetings to ensure all cases are being looked after correctly – all with the goal of delivering a 5 star experience to our customers.