Meet The Seynators | Anne-Céline Pesneaud, Customer Success Manager

Anne-Céline, Seyna has been lucky to have you as Customer Success Manager for the past year. Could you please start by introducing yourself in 3 words?  

Optimism, listening and humor.
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Optimism, because I've been lucky enough to grow up in a family that always focuses on the silver lining. There's always something to brighten up a day. 

Listening, because I just love it. It's not always relaxing for my close ones who are constantly bombarded with questions, but I love understanding how people feel. It forces you to factor in everyone’s personality and perspective. I find that fascinating. 

As for humor, I just need it every day. With friends, colleagues or family!
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What's your fondest professional memory? With Seyna or not...

To date, it would have to be developing the e-mail channel at Batch, an omnichannel customer engagement CRM platform. I was specifically in charge of helping our customer implement the solution. 

I worked on this project with solution engineers and product managers. I loved getting my hands dirty. It was an opportunity to acquire new technical skills, like a new computer language, but above all to achieve success as part of a team. 

It's a great memory for me because I worked with a team that was highly motivated and accessible. I also discovered through this project my taste for creating new processes and exploring complex business issues.
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What made you join Seyna?

First of all, the prospect of starting from scratch. Seyna was looking for someone to structure the CSM activity. I like listening and building, so the decision was easy.

Otherwise, I've always had a soft spot for the financial sector, whether banking or insurance. I find that it's a sector that attracts high-performing profiles who aren't afraid of technicity. Being at the crossroads of legal, accounting, finance and actuarial fields, it's intellectually very rich. 

But it's also quite a complex business. That's why I like to dedicate myself to Tech projects, which generally aim to bring more flexibility and agility to the customer's processes.
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So at Seyna you're Customer Success Manager - what does that entail, concretely?

Not much of a scoop but my aim is to make my customers successful. 

More seriously, my mission is to ensure that our customers maximise the value they get out of our services. Ultimately, I want them to achieve or surpass the goals they had set themselves when they first reached out. 

This means not only providing the right support, but also a certain technical expertise to fine-tune our solutions on an ongoing basis. In fact, I work a lot with the Insurance, Product and Tech teams. As main point of contact for our customers, I'm really on the front line of the platform's development, and that's what I like about it too.

I like the ambivalence of the job, with a very human dimension in terms of customer relations, but also very demanding in terms of technical requirements.
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‍What do you think is your greatest challenge at Seyna?

Developing and implementing a customer service suited to our unique model, to generate value for both the customer and Seyna.

Traditionally in insurance, technology and core business are treated as two separate subjects. In fact, they are often managed by completely different teams. 

At Seyna, we're looking to build a platform that centralizes all the technology and risk carrying that brokers need to protect their customers. So there is no one we can really copy. You have to create everything, and that's what I like about it. 

Today, we already protect 2 million customers through brokers, and that figure will surely rise 10 fold in a few years' time. How can we ensure that there are no holes in the racket? That every customer achieves his or her objectives? That they adopt the platform? How can we systematize cross-selling? In short, how to build a high value-added, scalable business.

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‍What qualities do you look for in your teammates? And which of Seyna's values resonates most with you?

The qualities I appreciate most are empathy, analytical skills and a certain sense of service. The cement of all three is active listening. In my opinion, this is one of the most important and structuring pillars for a team... and in life in general.

I find that the most impactful profiles are often those who deliver without trying to be seen. I would thus say that the Seyna value that most resonates with me would be "Humble Expert". I like this tendency to always get to the bottom of things, without ever stopping to question and listen to your teammates.
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‍What's your superpower? What people tell you you can do better and faster than others.

I couldn't explain where that comes from, but I'd have to say: structure. A plan, next steps, a presentation or planning a weekend with friends ... I like to get things done.
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What do you do outside work that helps you the most professionally? (Routine, extra-curricular activity, charity work, etc.)

Without hesitation, running. I recently took the step of buying a GPS watch to monitor my progress. Yep, here we are! 

It's my shot of endorphins. It helps me relax and energize me at the same time. In short, it's important and the more the merrier! 
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