Keith Floodgate: Employee No.1

Head of Customer Care, Keith Floodgate, commonly known by his fellow Zzoommers as Employee Number One, has been a pivotal figure in shaping Zzoomm’s identity and success from the very beginning.  

We have recently caught up with Keith to learn about his time at Zzoomm.  

How did you find Zzoomm? 

Matthew Hare and I worked with each other at a previous place called Giga Clear, which was a Full Fibre Alt-net that Matthew had set up. We arranged a meet-up after we had both left, to catch up. On the way to the meeting, I fell over and shattered my elbow, which I didn’t realise at the time and it it made for some discomfort for the afternoon. 

When we met up, Matthew mentioned that he was considering starting up another Full Fibre Alt-net, doing it all over again and whether I would be interested in playing a part.  

From there I started thinking about customer service and getting the company ready from Ground Zero. There was not even a whiteboard. We had a couple of flip charts, a few chairs, and some tables in a rented office in Oxford.  

So, it has been incredible to see an idea from some very bright people, with real vision and commitment become such as success across the country. Building the processes, constructing the networks, opening offices, and having the ability to install customers, it has been incredible to be a part of the process. 

What would you say are some of your highlights at Zzoomm? 

Getting our first customer live was quite fantastic. It turned out to be a fellow Zzoommer in Henley, where we built our first network. To go from one town to now multiple locations across the country, surpassing 20,000 customers in such a short space of time has been exciting. 

Another highlight has been, since coming out of COVID setting up our own customer care operation. Forming a coherent and very capable customer service operation, which is entirely home-based. Managing remote staff, making sure that everyone was as effective as it possibly can be. It was quite something. 

When you think of how incredible that seems, you know people working from home, putting a shift in, never going to an office, never socialising in that way. So, building up the support structures to make sure that people can feel engaged and part of the Zzoomm community has something that a lot of exceptionally good people have spent a lot of time thinking about and doing. 

What would be your words of wisdom to anyone looking to join customer services? 

There is no easy role in customer service, especially as an Internet Service Provider. Empathy and resilience will be your strengths. Having the ability to take a bad call, get up, put it to one side and go again, will help you succeed in customer service. Having excellent communication skills; taking complex concepts and communicating them in easy terms whilst understanding the customer's needs and managing their expectations. As we say, not all heroes wear capes, some work in customer services.    

What makes a good Zzoommer? 

I am of the belief that everybody at Zzoomm could get a job somewhere else relatively comfortably. A good Zzoommer is an individual who can match the pace we at Zzoomm operate at. They can work alongside processes that are still being developed and not let it impede them. A good Zzoomm acts with our core values in mind. They have a fantastic sense of teamwork, even when working from home, having the ability to work alone but be part of a disparate team I think is particularly important as well. 

It is not for everyone, but it is for our Zzoommers.