Product Development Manager

• May 2014 - Present

• Tailoring of existing products and developing of new products in response to opportunities, and tenders• Developed value added benefits to enhance the value propositions of AA Membership, AA Insurance and the AA's B2B product portfolio • Development of launch campaigns and “go-to” market strategies, including sales strategies and forecasting and budgeting of revenue across sales channels • Formulation of qualitative and quantitative research studies and initiating research to identify new markets, and initiate product development opportunities• Project manage implementation of new products, partnerships and joint ventures• Maintain and update product information including pricing, profitability, business rules, corporate sales proposals and terms and conditions across all communication touch points• Negotiate and manage strategic alliances and work with third parties to assess partnership and licensing opportunities• Define the product strategy and road map as part of the business planning process• Managed the AA’s short-term insurance partnership with Telesure• Developed a new insurance partnership with Constantia Insurance. This project entailed the:- Set-up of a joint venture company, namely AA Broking Services (Pty) Ltd- Development of a new insurance value proposition, personal line products and policy wording- “Black box” configuration and integration into the front end systems- Identification of market positioning of the new AA Insurance value proposition to inform communication and marketing activities- Developed systems and processes to set-up AA Broking Services, including a sales call centre operation in addition to back office administration, claims, quality assurance, compliance and training functions. Recruited and appointed all staff. - Managed the internal change management to configure the AA’s operations to support its new insurance business Show less

Product Development Manager

• Jan 2000 - Present

Manager: Channels and Partner Alliances

• Jul 2009 - Apr 2014

• Had oversight of all channels contributing to AA Membership acquisition and retention, including the retention and customer care call centre, acquisition call centre, digital platforms including the AA website and social media platforms, a retail network of 25 stores, direct marketing communications, corporate group schemes and bulk mailing communications • Development, execution and maintenance of customer retention strategies to retain the AA's 230 000 Members• Formulation and management of the annual AA Membership budget of R160 million• Establishment of new channels and development of new payment methods, campaigns and pricing strategies to optimise retention and acquisition• Formulation of channel specific marketing campaigns• Development of targeted win-back direct marketing campaigns to recover cancelled and overdue AA members• Management and ongoing testing of inbound and outbound direct marketing campaign methodologies utilising a broad spectrum of direct marketing interventions, including SMS, MMS messaging, e-mailers and e-newsletters, website auto responders, automated voice messaging, snail mail packs and in-store point of sale material• Management of the AA Member communication plan and process • Identification of product cross and up sell-initiatives at each customer touchpoint• Maintenance of the data integrity of the AA Membership database• Analysed and reported on customer churn data and other statistics typical of CRM management• Formulation of annual business plans • Managed the loyalty programme, AA Mobility • Maintained and developed relationships with key alliance partners to capitalise on the commercial value of the AA brand including, AA Insurance, AA Autobay, AA/DEKRA, etc. • Managed the AA's partner alliances budget of R23 million a year constituting brand licensing and royalty fees, and various product revenue streams Show less

Senior Corporate Customer Manager

• Jul 2006 - Jun 2009

• Managed a portfolio of 60 key corporate accounts across various sectors including vehicle manufacturers (OEMs), brokers, insurance companies, banks, warranty administrators, leasing and logistic companies, and other intermediaries• Managed a team of Account Managers and coordinated their activities to deliver against key objectives of client retention, business development and long-term business and client loyalty• Managed a customer database of 1.2 million compromising the end-users of corporate client services • Formulated, monitored and implemented budgets of R80 million per annum• Project managed the implementation of corporate schemes with full responsibility for assigning tasks to and coordinating the input of other business units and external stakeholders • Drafted proposals in response to tenders and new business opportunities• Compiled departmental reporting pertaining to service utilisation, account profitability, service levels, servicing costs, CSI, etc• Negotiated new client acquisition, cross and up-sell opportunities, pricing structure reviews and annual contract renewals• Project managed the annual customer relationship audit of key accounts and end user CSI. The findings informed annual key account management and divisional business plans Show less

Manager: Customer Relations Centre

• Jun 2004 - Jun 2006

• Managed, co-ordinated and monitored the activities of the customer relations call centre, service recovery centre, customer communications and AA Membership back office administration support units (staff complement: 45)• Managed the personal AA Membership customer database and debtors book to the value of R120 million per annum and the back office processes that underpinned AA Membership billing, payments/collections and renewals • Monitored and reported on customer experience in terms of queries, complaints, suggestions, product enhancements, service levels etc, to identify areas of improvement to inform the objectives of the organisational “Customer Care” project, and to aid the marketing division with campaign formulation, communication plans and product development• Prepared and managed annual business plans and departmental budgets • Championed customer service orientation within the organisation • Implemented and monitored various Service Level Agreements, both internally and externally • Managed the AA’s vehicle finance partnership with Wesbank and short-term insurance partnership with Hollard Insurance – the primary corporate acquisition channels of new AA Membership • Implemented the AA’s first centralised complaint management department or Service Recovery function • Formulated and implemented a “Customer Care” project whereby processes impacting customer experience were re-engineered and where possible, automated. Quality management measures were devised to monitor service level performance, service deviations, non-compliance to processes and business rules, and initiated corrective actions to align activities back to performance standards• Enhanced the AA’s communication and mailing capability by outsourcing the mailing department’s functions and in so doing, digitalised communications and incurred cost savings Show less

Product Manager: Value Added Services

• Sep 2003 - May 2004

• Managed the day-to-day operations of a portfolio of value added products, which included the medical rescue service, roadside security response service, accident management product, emergency home assistance and other convenience services• Developed and managed the first roadside security service in South Africa, branded “AA Stand-by- you”• Developed an AA branded personal loans product in conjunction with Direct Axis• Developed an accident management product, AA Impact, targeted at uninsured motorists• Enhanced the AA Membership value proposition by developing a white and brown goods repair service, telephonic tax and general legal advisory service, and concierge services • Account managed the AA’s relationships with Hollard Insurance, Wesbank and Motorite, the AA’s strategic partnerships for branded short-term insurance, vehicle finance and extended warranty products• Managed the AA’s Show Your Card & Save loyalty and rewards programme • Undertook an “as is” process mapping project to map out existing processes within the organisation and facilitated “brown paper” process mapping workshops to identify enhanced processes with the view to inform the development of the AA’s new CRM systems Show less

Loyalty Programme Coordinator

• Feb 2003 - Sep 2003

• Fulfilled a project coordinator role relating to the development and implementation of the AA’s first loyalty programme• Acquired partners to participate in the loyalty programme • Managed the change management to implement the loyalty programme across all AA structures and customer touch points • Set-up a 40 seat demand call centre to manage the influx of customer queries following the launch of the loyalty programme• Process mapped “as is” processes of all customer touch points throughout the organisation and reconfigured the processes and customer communications to support the loyalty programme • Drafted system functional specifications to modify the AA’s CRM system to underpin the loyalty programme• Managed partner utilisation and AA Member redemption reporting Show less