We sat down with Bruce Ferrie, our Global Reporting Manager to reflect on his 14 years at bluesource, his evolving role, and what customer satisfaction truly means to him.
Tell us about your journey with bluesource, how did it all begin, and how has your role evolved over the years?
I joined bluesource back in 2011 as part of the Service Management Centre (SMC). At the time, my role was quite straightforward, managing rotas and annotating service reports for our customers.
Over the years, my responsibilities have grown significantly. Today, Iām the Reporting Manager, responsible for designing the reports we use internally and for our customers. Iām also a Service Delivery Manager for several key customers and the administrator for our ticketing system, ConnectWise.
My journey has been full of unexpected opportunities. For example, I never set out to work in reporting, but six months into my role, I found myself deeply involved in designing reports and building processes to make our services more efficient. Itās been incredibly rewarding to see how far weāve come.
Can you walk us through what your role involves today?
My role has three main areas: reporting, service delivery, and ticketing system administration
Reporting:
I design and deliver reports that track our performance both internally and for customers. These reports show everything from high-priority tickets and SLA tracking to escalation trends and workload distribution.
For instance, our support team has dashboards highlighting urgent issues, tickets nearing SLA breaches, and when customers last received updates, helping us focus on what needs immediate attention.
Service Delivery:
As a Service Delivery Manager, I hold regular service reviews with customers and support their onboarding journey, introducing them to our ticketing system and processes. Our goal is always to ensure customers get the best possible service, and we work closely as a team to make that happen.
Ticketing System Administration:
I structure how tickets are grouped into āservice boardsā so teams can work as efficiently as possible. I also design workflow rules and notifications, like alerts when a ticket has incomplete details or when too many hours are spent on a single issue.
Another key part of this is maintaining the customer portal, where customers can log, view, and update their tickets. This feature has been hugely popular because it gives customers real-time visibility without needing to chase us, saving everyone time.
Enhanced Support is a big part of bluesourceās services. Can you explain what it is and how your work fits into it?
Our Enhanced Support service has evolved over the years and is now in its third or fourth iteration. Itās designed to sit between the customer and Microsoft, providing faster response times and access to high-level engineers so that issues are resolved quickly and effectively.
Weāve seen first-hand that customers often feel frustrated with Microsoftās response times. With Enhanced Support, we bridge that gap.
While Iām not a support engineer myself, my role is to keep the process running smoothly. That includes managing communication with customers so engineers can focus solely on solving technical issues. I also set up workflows to track ticket escalations and monitor how Microsoftās Premier Support hours are being used.
What do you enjoy most about working at bluesource?
The variety no two days are ever the same. Thereās always a new challenge, whether itās finding a better way to present data, automating a process, or solving a tricky customer issue.
It often feels like solving a puzzle. At first, the pieces may not fit, but once you figure it out, thereās a real sense of accomplishment.
What makes it even better is the team collaboration. Rarely am I working on something in isolation. In a complex technical environment, teamwork is essential, and the support and collaboration within our team are second to none. Everyone pitches in to ensure customers get the best service possible.
What does customer satisfaction mean to you?
After 14 years at bluesource, Iāve learned that customer satisfaction is about more than just resolving issues, itās about building trust and confidence.
For me, customer excellence is when customers are pleasantly surprised to hear from us, not because something has gone wrong, but because weāve been proactive, transparent, and consistent. The goal is to create a seamless experience where they rarely need to reach out because they know weāve got everything covered.
One of the most rewarding parts of my role is making someoneās day easier. Whether itās a customer or one of our engineers, seeing the relief when a problem is resolved is incredibly satisfying.
Iāll never forget a call where 87 managers from a multinational company joined to tackle a major issue. It was a powerful reminder of how far-reaching our work can be, and how important it is to get it right.
At the heart of it, customer satisfaction is about strong relationships and reliability. Itās knowing that customers can count on us, even when they donāt see everything happening behind the scenes.
What are you most excited about for the future at bluesource?
One of the best things about bluesource is that thereās always something new to learn. My career here has evolved in ways I never expected, from simple rota management to leading reporting across the business.
Looking ahead, Iām especially excited about emerging technologies like LogicMonitor, which offers deeper visibility into Microsoft 365 environments. These new tools bring more data, more insight, and more challenges, which to me, are like new puzzles waiting to be solved.
What keeps me motivated is knowing the work we do has a real impact, on our customers, our engineers, and the business as a whole.
As bluesource continues to grow, Iām looking forward to taking on new responsibilities, embracing change, and continuing to strengthen the foundations weāve built together over the past 14 years.