If you’re trying to come up with a gift idea for Robin Fonck, a puzzle book might be your best bet. Or maybe a 1,000-piece jigsaw representation of the Eifel Tower. There are few things Fonck, the director of strategic technology for GreatAmerica Financial Services (GAFS), enjoys more than the challenge of a puzzle, and that is perhaps the secret behind her value proposition.
Solving customer issues is a daily task for Fonck, and as is the case with any puzzle, she relishes seeing all of the individual pieces come together. Whether it’s through the implementation of a GAFS program, or how the company can help with administration or save the client time by eliminating manual processes, each piece brings Fonck and the customer a step closer to a satisfying outcome. New situations, programs and ideas translate into GAFS evolving and creating for its partners.
“I love solving puzzles, so I use a similar approach to all situations,” said Fonck, a 2023 ENX Magazine Difference Maker. “I first embed myself with the customer to understand what they are trying to achieve, determine if any of our current solutions will fit, and if not, I will work with not only that customer, but multiple customers to make sure that whatever solution I can create will be more widely beneficial.”
Success Tools
Fonck joined the GAFS crew in 2011 as a billing and invoicing analyst and was able to gain a deep understanding of billing platforms including ECi Software Solutions’ e-automate and Konica Minolta’s All Covered Assurance. She also saw how customers billed and the solutions they employed, and through that understanding came the opportunity to help them identify, create and expand how GAFS can foster accurate billing processes. Seven years later, her experiences proved to be a smooth segue into the world of solutions.
Along the way, Fonck has gained valuable insight from Tawnya Stone, vice president, strategic technology for GAFS. Stone, renowned for her approachability and ease of doing business, provided an ideal template for Fonck in crafting solutions.
“Tawnya taught me to dive into as many situations as possible to learn,” she said. “I have come to realize the more hands-on I can be with our customers, the better I will be able to serve them. It’s also been a good philosophy for my career because I can often apply solutions learned while working for someone else to a current challenge.”
GAFS invested a significant amount of time in training and onboarding current customers to new integrations in 2022, which has led to an uptick in integration usage and client satisfaction. Time-saving solutions speak to Fonck’s innate passion for helping clients is fulfilling on a personal and team-goal level.
As 2023 moves into the second half, GAFS will look to grow its digital solutions while constantly delivering an experience at the level customers have come to expect. “We are building the processes and technology to provide touchless transaction capabilities that make sense for our customers,” Fonck said. “In fact, we are embarking on a path to embed the financing process which makes the credit application process easier for our customers. This is based on their feedback and the feedback they receive from their customers.”
Forward Facing
Where does Fonck go from here? Quoting legendary football coach Nick Saban, the key is “Don’t look at the scoreboard; just play the next play.” That entails evolving the way she approaches and understands new situations as technology changes, which can open the door to presenting new possibilities and solutions.
“I look toward new programs the industry can create in five years and the ways GreatAmerica can partner with those programs,” she said. “Our team continuously asks questions like, how can we help our sales representatives effectively communicate with GreatAmerica and their home office from their phones or tablets while on the road? How can we help end users identify all their invoicing needs with a click of a button? How can we make changes to contracts without adjusting multiple systems? It’s through questions like these that we evolve, and I can personally learn and improve.”
Fonck and her husband, Chris, have been married for 20 years and have three daughters—Allison, 16, Marley, 14, and Caroline, 10. The family loves to camp and has a goal of visiting every state in the country. The Foncks trekked down Route 66 this summer and camped in four states while visiting family and friends. The head volleyball coach for Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Fonck challenges and guides 100 females to not only excel at the sport, but also become successful leaders in the future.
