Gabb

Joining us from Gabb is Diane Acevedo, Senior Vice President of Operations, to highlight the company’s focus on transformation, user experience, and aligning internal processes to meet customer needs effectively. To begin, Diane explains how the company’s partner network helps it operate at a high level.

“When we first started, our goal was to customise the operating system of the device to create a smartphone with appropriate functionality for kids, but as a fresh startup, we didn’t yet have the supplier network we needed,” says Diane. “We were incredibly lucky to find a partner that was willing to take an initial risk on us, and from there we’ve been learning a lot and collaborating with some of the premium manufacturers in the electronics industry – Samsung, NUU, and Foxconn – which has helped us really elevate our business.

“By taking a couple of years to build our own approach and find partners who aligned with our mission, we’ve been able to build quality relationships and refine our operations. We needed to work with partners who were equally committed to child safety and digital wellbeing, because we knew if our partners were aligned with us, they’d be able to bring both complementary expertise and resources to the table to help us execute at a high level.”

As Gabb has built up its expertise in recent years, it has made sure to prioritise operational efficiency in order to provide a seamless customer experience.

“On an operational level, it is imperative to understand the functions of the back end of our devices, and how that works with services and activation,” says Diane. “When we hone in on the customer journey, we need to really obsess over the details. If the customer experience isn’t intuitive, that reveals to me a gap in our services. To facilitate continuous improvement, we’re working on a lot of beta projects, and we allow some of our customers to experience using the product and then get feedback from there to facilitate continuous improvement and expand to more customers. We find this model to be invaluable as we engineer the best solutions that empower parents to protect their children.

“Certainly, customer usability testing is at the forefront of our process, and we are also innovating ways to appropriately harness AI to build and strategise, which simplifies the process significantly. AI is a big buzzword right now, but we’re thinking about the ways we can humanise it to provide an optimal customer experience.”

Diane explains this rationale further, sharing: “It’s utilising cutting-edge technology that enhances our operations specifically, and provides feedback and analysis on our customer interactions which helps us personalise support and the onboarding process as well as prioritise systemic changes. This really drives the mastery of our offerings for our customers – while the buyers are parents, the end user is a young person. There are two different experiences we’re trying to perfect, and we leverage data insights and analytics to make decisions about processes and develop predictive models, anticipate the customer needs and optimise our knowledge base.

“For instance, when we know there is a bug we are experiencing, we make sure to take a proactive approach so the customer understands what the situation is, what we’re anticipating, and updating them as we figure out a solution. We use our AI-powered chat and discussion boards to provide that support, which frees up our human resources team.

“Currently, we’re working on clearly defining each process of the customer journey and how we can constantly perfect it. This isn’t something that we can let sit, because the software is changing all the time.”

As the company continues to grow and change, Diane credits the partners that have helped Gabb explore new approaches to established business processes.

“We have several global strategic partners that we love doing business with,” says Diane. “Although we’re a nationwide company as of now, these global partners help us think outside the box – when we’re developing a new concept, we know we can rely on them to brainstorm with us and talk through fresh ideas. In these types of conversations, we can evaluate what our goal needs to be and what the process will involve.

“When we consider our own expansion in the future, we plan to focus on the software level, as this feels like the most efficient and cost-effective strategy for us. We’re lucky to have partners such as Samsung, who we’ve learned so much from, and we know they’ll be able to support us in bringing our software into the UK market.

“The UK has taken a proactive approach to protecting school children, and globally, we’re seeing a lot of importance placed around family and technology, and specifically the impact that technology is having on a child’s wellbeing. Partners like Samsung understand how important this mission is to us, and they’re happy to work alongside us to facilitate real change.”

For Diane, Gabb’s mission to protect every childhood with kid-safe tech is a critical one in today’s tech-driven world. She’s seen firsthand the tangible difference the company’s phones can make, recalling a study the company conducted at a boarding school where 130 secondary students volunteered for a month to swap their smartphones for Gabb’s safe phones, phones designed specifically for kids. The impact on their happiness, real-life connections and wellbeing was profound.”

Read more about this case study here.

“This summer, I will have been at Gabb for five years,” says Diane. “In the time that I’ve been here, we’ve scaled up significantly, and it’s been incredible to see. We’ve seen a lot of change in that time, and there are many achievements that I’m so proud of, but I’d like to highlight a study we did with a boarding school in Indiana. The students were given a challenge to either delete all social media apps from their phones, limit their screen time or use a Gabb phone for 30 days.

“We had around 130 students who participated using a Gabb phone, and the feedback we got back from those students was so raw, so informative, and so self-aware. They had an incredible understanding of their emotional and mental health now versus what it was prior to the study. We saw some deep emotions and a sense of self-reflection that I think will be incredible for these teenagers to regulate their habits moving forward, especially at such an impressionable age.”

Learn more about Gabb here.

ADDED VALUE

A seat at the table

“In a male-dominated industry, it can be really difficult for women to grow and scale within a career,” says Diane. “I have been so blessed to have incredible mentors and advocates, and I would advise any woman to find a great mentor to guide you through those processes. This mentor could be a peer, it could be someone outside of your industry, but I would say that it can really help to have a female mentor.

“Right now, there is a real stigma around working alongside other women – it’s as if there’s only one seat at the table for women, and we’re not opening the door for one another. I’d like to swing the door wide open and bring more women to the table, so they can have a real voice and share their insights. Having diversity in gender, race, and thought makes an organisation stronger.”

Re-entering the workforce

“I’m very passionate about empowering women to re-enter the workforce,” says Diane. “There are so many mothers whose children are now out of the house and who aren’t sure about how to return to work. I’ve volunteered with a lot of nonprofit organisations and spoken at events for women in my local state to help them transition into a new career and build their skills. We have an incredible community of female professionals and entrepreneurs who empower one another, and I love to be involved in that community.”

Finding harmony
“I don’t believe that there is one way to develop a work-life balance, but I do think you can find harmony at any stage of your life,” says Diane. “As a single mother of four who put myself through a graduate programme while managing a demanding role, I’ve prioritised surrounding myself with an empowering social group. These are people I feel bring value to my life, and I strive to bring value to theirs.”

Connect with Diane on LinkedIn.