John Tzagkarakis loves working in customer success. He currently serves as a senior customer success manager for AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software based in London, England. In his role, he oversees the post-sales relationships between his firm and its clients, assisting those customers as they develop success plans so they can achieve their preferred business outcomes using AVEVA’s software products. And while the work he does is critical to his customers’ performance, the customer success role is actually relatively new in the tech arena. It also requires a very specific skill set across multiple functions. According to Tzagkarakis, it’s a skill set that he was able to develop as he set out to earn his Executive Certificate in Management and Leadership from MIT Sloan.
“When I earned my certificate back in 2015, I was in a purely technical role at General Electric,” explains Tzagkarakis, who began his career in engineering before transitioning into project management and customer success positions and ultimately moving on to AVEVA in 2020. “I was able to focus on my management skills, as well as improve my soft skills, like negotiation and communication. In customer success, you have to collaborate and work well with your colleagues to serve your customers better. You also are the main customer-facing person from your organization, so you have to have those strong communication skills. I was able to grow those fundamental skills through MIT Sloan, and I continue to use them today.”
Seeking Practical Knowledge
When Tzagkarakis decided to pursue professional opportunities beyond his technical background and expertise, he wanted to complement his existing talent and knowledge base with formal education in management and leadership. He immediately considered MIT when he learned that the renowned institution boasts an impressive Executive Education component. And what sealed the deal for him were the testimonials he read from Executive Education participants who revealed that the courses not only present business theory and scientific research, but also practical knowledge from professors who work in a wide array of professional areas.
“That is something I have always valued,” he says. “The courses sounded very applicable to everyday work life, so that’s what really drew me to MIT.”
In June and October of 2015, Tzagkarakis traveled from Glasgow, Scotland, where he was based at the time, to MIT Sloan’s Cambridge campus, completing two in-person courses during each trip. During his June excursion, he completed Understanding and Solving Complex Business Problems and Negotiation for Executives. The former, he notes, “was the best training I have ever done so far in my career. Since taking the class, systems thinking has been at the core of my management philosophy and defined the way I coordinate cross functionally. It has helped me immensely as a project manager and as a customer success manager.” The latter course was equally valuable because negotiation, he says, “is not only part of business. It’s part of our everyday life. We negotiate all the time with clients, partners, supervisors, colleagues, and employees. It was good to understand fundamental negotiation principles.”
"MIT Sloan Executive Education not only equips you with practical skills, but it also broadens your horizons. Everything I learned has helped me through the years, and I continue to use those fundamental skills today."
Upon his return to Cambridge that October, he completed two additional courses: Managing Complex Technical Projects and Communication and Persuasion in the Digital Age. The successful achievement of those courses allowed him to earn his Executive Certificate. For him, it was worth all of the time and effort to be stateside for the courses. “I found the on-campus experience very inspiring. I loved the face-to-face interaction with my fellow students,” he observes. “The experience also showed me that taking time off to learn new skills is very important. It’s extremely valuable to take that time and reflect.”
Embracing New Challenges
In January of 2021, in addition to his current position with AVEVA, Tzagkarakis took his penchant for the customer success arena a step further and founded his own consulting company, Customer Consulting Network. The rapid growth of customer success sector, coupled with his own experience in the area, prompted him to take the leap with his own firm. “Because of the newness of the customer success role, I think there is a great need for consulting at both the management level and the customer success manager level,” he says. “Corporations need to know how to build and advance a customer success function within their organizations. On the individual side, I feel that many people do not appreciate the high level of skill that you need to have to perform in this role. So I saw a clear demand on both sides, and I now help businesses with making their customer success managers better while also improving the effectiveness of the departments they set up.”
As he juggles both of his roles at AVEVA and Customer Consulting Network, he often turns to the knowledge he garnered from his time at MIT Sloan. In fact, he frequently refers to the notes he took during his four Executive Education courses, as the information is as pertinent today as it was in 2015. “I find all of the information useful and applicable in my everyday work,” he states. “It is applicable today, and it will be applicable for the rest of my career.”
Tzagkarakis looks forward to evolving as the customer success arena does, assuming additional leadership roles with his employer while he also builds his own business. To propel him in the right direction, he already has his eye on another Executive Education course, Breakthrough Customer Experience (CX) Strategy, and hopes one day to complete his Advanced Certificate for Executives in Management, Innovation, and Technology (ACE). “MIT Sloan Executive Education not only equips you with practical skills, but it also broadens your horizons,” he concludes. “Everything I learned has helped me through the years, and I continue to use those fundamental skills today.”
Learn more about MIT Sloan Executive Certificates.