Renee Higgins Email & Phone Number

Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

In my current position as Project Director, I work in the CAO's Office and have been responsible for leading the implementation of an enterprise-wide transformation project called COMPASS (Comprehensive Organizational Management, Productivity, Activity and Service System). We have developed technology and processes that introduced regular time and activity reporting for staff through a self-service online portal. The project is now getting us more data about the effort required to deliver all City services, while also replacing numerous manual and semi-manual work processes across the organization. Ultimately, the new data and outcomes obtained through this exciting project will further increase operational efficiency and improve service delivery to residents. This project was a net $0 budget, with the original upfront capital borrowed from reserve and expenses being paid back through permanent operating savings and efficiencies of hundreds of hours/week identified by the project.

Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

In my permanent position with the Client Services section in the City’s IT department, I am responsible for managing and coordinating activities to ensure timely resolution to IT issues and service requests. The team exists as the first point of contact for all IT requests, which helps to ensure other business units in the organization are able to take full advantage of technology to support their internal processes or improve service delivery for residents. This team is responsible for triaging and providing first level response to the thousands of inquiries/issues and is also responsible to monitor and improve on the issue resolution rate and customer satisfaction for the overall IT division.While I was only in this role for a short time before being assigned to lead a corporate project, becoming an IT leader/manager was a long-term goal of mine and I greatly enjoyed working with this team. Most notably, the time period when I was in this role was when our community began offering COVID-19 vaccine clinics. I ended up being responsible for launching a vaccine appointment booking call centre, with under a week's notice, including not just the technology implementation, but also developing processes and training over 50 new staff on how to take calls, use softphones and book appointments. I was also then responsible to lead the team of people responsible for the hardware at all vaccine clinic locations, in addition to regular daytime duties as Client Services Manager.

Greater Sudbury

In this position, I managed the 311 and Customer Services section, a team which handles over 100,000 calls, emails, chats and in-person counter requests each year. Despite having worked in a call centre, my passions for technology, data, customer service and learning new things allowed me to jump quickly into the role.In the three years that I lead 311, we implemented numerous major technology improvements, such as a new phone system, a new Customer Relationship Management system, the 311 chat channel and a new knowledgebase for use by staff. With so many tools and interactions, there was endless data and I enjoyed regularly analyzing this to identify opportunities for improvement or develop graphs to help communicate and collaborate on issue resolution with departments. We conducted extensive process improvement work, documenting and redesigning hundreds of processes relating to different service request types to provide better customer service outcomes and improved efficiency in the call centre. Through process redesign, leadership, technology implementations and data analysis, we were able to extend the call centre's operating hours, onboard more call types to 311, increase the first call resolution rate and significantly improve overall customer satisfaction/perception of the call centre.In this position, I was also accountable for general corporate customer service, which lead me to develop and implement a corporate Customer Service Strategy, which was completed after extensive environmental scanning/research, public feedback and internal staff workshops. This strategy included organization-wide goals such as a mandatory 2-day staff customer service training program, a customer feedback program and the development of Customer Service Standards for the organization.

Greater Sudbury

Working within the City's IT department, I developed and maintained all of the City's websites and web applications, including the main City website. I was responsible to ensure uptime, design user interfaces and implement new solutions. This involved conducting industry research and analysis, as well as creating and implementing IT strategies and leading change initiatives. I wrote RFPs, compared technology solutions and recommended vendors. In this role, I also prepared reports and presentations to Council and City Managers. With the significant breadth and depth of City services and competing priorities, I often managed many short-term and long-term projects simultaneously, while providing assistance to staff and departments on any issues relating to our web services. I frequently participated or lead cross-departmental teams for various initiatives, such as employee feedback surveys, citizen engagement and open data. I also volunteered extensively during this time for Canada Learning Code, sharing my passion for technology by teaching hundreds of women and children how to code.The project that I most enjoyed while in this position was leading the City's Open Data Program. In 2015, I became responsible for preparing and executing a corporate strategy for Open Data, which is the concept that City data should be made publicly available in the spirit of transparency and accountability. This included working with other municipalities, primary/secondary research, gathering public/staff feedback, hosting public events, developing a corporate Open Data Policy, budgeting, selecting a technology solution and project management. The City's Open Data Program is renowned across Canada and I was able to be a guest speaker at a number of open data events across the country.

Greater Sudbury

Worked closely with staff in the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation (GSDC) to create and enhance websites for departments such as Sudbury Tourism, Regional Business Centre, Invest Sudbury and Sudbury Immigration. Prepared proposals and provided recommendations for marketing initiatives. For one of the successful proposals, I lead the creation of a Municipal Immigration Information Online (MIIO) PartnerNet, which enhanced immigration efforts for Ontario municipalities and provided the GSDC with additional funding. Also performed mobile application development for community partners such as Science North and Dynamic Earth.

Master Of Business Administration (M.B.A.)

Graduated with honours. Completed degree while working full-time. Member of Varsity curling team, 2012-2013. Specialized in International.

Honours Bachelor Of Science In E-Business Sciences, Major In Commerce And Computer Science

Activities and Societies: L'Orignal, Leave the Pack Behind, Laurentian International, Program Promoter, Lab Advisor, Volunteer Tutor.