In support, you never know what the next minute will bring. In the morning, you have a clear plan… and a few hours later, you’re dealing with something completely different – from a minor inquiry to a situation that demands immediate attention. At the helm of this “living organism” is Jiří Modr. A person who can switch between roles, keep the team on track, and still think about where the services and people will advance next. How did a long-term customer become a leader on the “other side”? And what does he consider the best moments of his work? Find out in our interview.

What are the main responsibilities of a support manager?

The Head of Support and the entire team implement processes related to the management of the solutions operated by customers. The main ones include preventive activities in the form of prophylactic reports and health checks. We also provide support services in levels ranging from 5×8 to 24×7, depending on the needs of the particular solution, with special consideration of the importance of the customer’s processes within the solutions delivered by us. Each customer knows what level and which items they have agreed upon. And during this time, we accept requests to resolve discrepancies in the system or simply provide consulting services in the form of support tickets.

Can you describe a typical day at work?

In the role of the head of the Support Department, every day is a bit different, as is every hour and sometimes even every minute. These are multithreaded activities requiring frequent shifts in focus and reprioritization of planned tasks, depending on the severity and impact of the situation. This is also why the Support Department is separate from the regular consultants and their project-based services. You never know what support ticket will come in and with what impact, and there always needs to be someone ready to handle it without compromising a project delivery that also has its own deadlines.

An ideal day is one where I take the planned activities from the previous day and start to address them, whether they involve extending service or software maintenance contracts, often associated with a price change due to either inflation or the software manufacturer. It also involves reviewing departmental reports and participating in both internal and customer meetings. Ongoing processing of incoming correspondence or items pending from previous days. Discussions with team members on current topics that need to be clarified are essential. We have communication directed towards customers and internal communication, followed by communication with suppliers, where we address potential price changes, escalation of unresolved issues, or future solution prospects. The end of the day should then consist of checking off my morning task list and preparing my list for the next business day. This is what a typical day should be like, but…

What kinds of projects do you usually work on?

My projects are more of an internal nature. We are currently implementing a new knowledge base platform, as we have somewhat outgrown the existing one. The second, subtle project is to use the Enterprise Architect tool in UML and BPMN notations for solution documentation. In the near future, we plan to start preparation, or rather the selection and configuration of a monitoring solution for our services and changes in OCR technologies.

We only handle small custom projects for customers, typically patching and technical upgrades to solutions without significant impacts on the solution or minor changes within ten man-days (MD). In other cases, we fully collaborate on larger projects, especially where there is a need for infrastructure preparation or modification.

What do you find most interesting about the HoS position?

These are the moments when the team manages to resolve some unexpected system behavior and we can straighten it out. It is not always easy.

How does support collaborate with other departments?

The entire support department collaborates very actively with other parts of the company, whether it’s participating in presales or project activities managed by the Project Department, or consulting for other colleagues in our areas of expertise. At the same time, we also leverage the expertise of other colleagues, such as those in SAP or development deliveries, which we do not maintain directly in support.

What methods and tools do you use for managing and completing projects?

The main “production” solution in our company is EasyRedmine, where we manage support tickets and project deliveries. For the back office, CRM Sugar and our own SharePoint applications for contract management are also essential. The documents themselves are then stored in OpenText’s DMS solution, where the workflow of their approval and signing is also managed, i.e. in the product we implement as the main solution. So in this case the shoemaker’s children are not barefoot.

We have phone support lines on Odorik, we do a lot of e-mailing and document creation in the M365 ecosystem, and we use PowerBI for reporting. For our deliveries, maintaining dozens of access solutions to clients’ VPN is essential for the online delivery of support, change, or project services.

If the customer uses their own ticketing system, we can manage the tickets directly within it, and in some cases including labor reporting. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to perform tasks redundantly, as we can’t always implement backend synchronization.

What did you do before you joined IXTENT?

I have known the IXTENT team since their founding, i.e., for 23 years. More precisely, I have known the managing director from their time operating under IXOS ČR. Until 2022, I was on the other side and I was grateful for all the care they provided me as a customer representative. I joined IXTENT at the beginning of 2023 in the nascent position of Customer Care Manager, which I held for almost two years. From the end of 2024 I took over the management of the Support Department.

What was your career path to IXTENT?

Odd question — as if I were to wake up one November morning in 2003 and say, ‘Well, how am I going to work my way into IXTENT? 😀 For me, it was actually a synergistic effect, stemming from a long-term collaboration with IXTENT specialists, where a stronger bond than just customer and supplier has been formed over the years. At the end of 2022, the collaboration on the existing project came to an end. I took a short break, and during that time, the team from IXTENT reached out to me to see if I wanted to explore the other side under their banner, and… here I am ;o)

And the path in general? Car mechanic => basic military service => fleet manager => SAP project tester => SAP Competence Centre => SAP supermodule customization administrator => development of IXOS solutions (scanning, data archiving) => multiple upgrades of SAP, IXOS, and LiveLink solutions => implementation of ReadSoft => merging LiveLink instances during a company merger => migration of documents to P8 (competing IBM DMS solution) => team management => splitting DMS into two instances during company division => deployment of xECM solution, SDF, DP => management and development of the entire ecosystem with an upgrade from on-premise to MS Azure cloud => IXTENT. And in between, there were a few or even more other IT and non-IT activities.

What do you like about IXTENT?

The team.

Where do you see IXTENT’s greatest benefits and where do you see your own mission here?

The greatest asset in a company that provides expert services is its human resources and their corresponding knowledge. The second pillar consists of the customers, to whom we can offer the services of such a team and assist in resolving challenging situations or, even better, prevent them through appropriate maintenance. So the benefit of my mission is to maintain a balance between these two parties to their mutual satisfaction.

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

It’s a significant challenge because we have experienced a turnover in the composition of our teams at the company. At the same time, I am learning the entire process of managing the Support Department, including the onboarding of new colleagues. In a few months, things will consolidate and we will attempt to refine our tools and processes based on the ideas collected and recorded during this phase to enhance transparency and reportability. This will automate activities that today take us longer to complete than they did for our predecessors.

If you had to pick 1 or 2 projects that you/your team are really proud of, which ones would they be and why?

At IXTENT, these were:

  • Starting the position of Customer Care Manager, which is now held with full flair by Tomáš Chytil
  • Migration of legacy DMS solutions to OpenText Content Server, or its architecture, including design of the process and subsequent monitoring of the operation with gradual fine-tuning

Before IXTENT, in terms of work, it was definitely about managing the launch of my own wooden construction kit on the market, with everything from A to Z.

And privately – getting rid of all financial advisors 😉

From the IT perspective, where do you see the future?

Interesting area is OpenSource, where one does not pay for licenses and their development, but more for the associated services, and there are still too few human resources. I occasionally try out some of these solutions and attempt to refine them.

And it is certainly the era of artificial intelligence — already well underway. I use it to help[rf1]  with more complex SQL queries or get help with some of the more complex situations in Excel, where my solution is multiple nesting of conditions, whereas AI handles it better and more clearly with the new features.

What makes you happy in life?

Being with family, children, working around the house, driving a car, scooter, bicycle, skiing, theatre, cinema, investing…

How do you relax?

Depending on what I’m relaxing from, after physical work it’s relaxing with a good drink, after mental work it’s the sport I don’t get to, or the physical work. A few times a year I manage even the “manly” shutdown, the so-called opening the “nothing box”, although Petra, my wife, closes it very quickly 😃

What is your life motto?

“Practicing theorist,” meaning I like to think, and then I just go and try it out, get hands-on experience, and figure out how it would or would not be applicable and where.