In times of coronavirus, people are making sure they are there for each other. And ensuring that the important things continue to work. Take Maik Wolski, for example. We have chosen to open our new “Here for you” series, which features various colleagues, by telling you about him.
From 7:30 am, Maik Wolski is out and about with his dog. All his colleagues newly working from home have become familiar with his routine. From this time, they can call him to talk about hardware and software issues. And there are plenty of questions that need asking. "A lot of the people who would otherwise be working at our Kiel customer service site are now doing the same work for the first time from home," explains Deutsche Telekom employee Maik. So setting up computers, headsets and computer telephony, starting up specialist programs and organizing WebEx meetings is pretty new to them. Maik Wolski is there to help them sort this stuff out, going through the menus by phone, answering questions big and small along the way. And he can see when a major problem emerges. Only then does he call in the IT specialists, who take it up from there.
And on top of that the 47-year-old also gets on with his own regular work tasks with, as he says, the help of a boss who has his back. He has put more than 60 newly minted remote workers online in double-quick time, equipping them to get on with everything they need to do from their home. He knows his way around the job because only recently he had to set up his own home-working arrangements.
Maik’s actual role is to provide support for victims of cybercrime from the Service Center in Kiel. He looks after people who have had their identity stolen for online purchases or other forms of fraud. Phishing email victims, for example, or people whose account has been hacked. Or whose computer has been hijacked and, together with others, is attacking and taking down third-party servers. That means they are largely customers who have been burnt and who are not all that familiar with computers or the Internet.
Maik Wolski takes them by the hand remotely and explains to them how they can secure their online customer center or e-mail account, giving them useful tips and often referring them on to his colleagues in Deutsche Telekom’s computer help service. They can then log onto the customer’s computer and resolve the difficult-to-solve problems quickly and simply.
"Stay healthy!"
"The problems are going to grow," says Wolski. "The more people there are online shopping or using Internet services at home or keeping in contact with loved ones, especially when there are lots of them with little experience, the more questions are going to crop up. And, as sure as eggs, the more cases of fraud we’re going to see."
But, as he puts it, the good thing is that "in these difficult times, lots of customers make a particular effort to be friendly; they thank us very warmly for our help." "And almost every conversation ends with "All the best – and stay healthy!"
