sopp+sopp appoints new Operations Director – Meet Nick Thackray
sopp+sopp are delighted to announce the appointment of our new Operations Director, Nick Thackray.
This appointment is a key element in our focus on operational efficiency, and delivering smarter, fleet-tailored solutions for our operator customers.
In this interview, Nick shares his career journey with the business, explores key challenges facing fleet operators in the fast-changing transport sector, and outlines his vision for driving operational performance, service excellence, and further growth at sopp+sopp.
Interview with Nick Thackray:
Tell us about your journey from Head of Customer Operations to Operations Director
Thank you, I really appreciate it! Career progression has always come naturally and felt like the correct next step in my professional development, however this specific change has been quite a monumental undertaking for me, it’s quite a large step up and a big achievement that I am incredibly proud of.
sopp+sopp introduced an interim operations director roughly 2 years ago as they recognised that the business had some highly talented team members and they wanted to promote internally – there were just some areas of development we needed to focus on to prepare for this level of role, I worked closely with Marie Greenwood and Callum Langan to develop a skills framework, and in that 18 month period I assessed myself against it, and took action to put me in a position where I was able to meet the criteria for the role.
How do you feel moving into your new role, and why did you pursue it?
Moving into this role is not a position I take lightly; it means a lot to me knowing that the business welcomes internal progression, and that is something I want to carry with me as I undertake the role of operations director. There are so many talented team members at sopp+sopp, the business really assisted me in taking me into this next phase of my career journey, and that’s something I want to ensure I take forward with me and provide for other people.
The operations director role is a lot larger than my previous head of customer role, I used to work very closely working with a team of 60 – I now have over 200 people reporting into me, so navigating this large scale increase has been a challenge however I want to ensure that I do a good job not just for myself, but all those people who report into me.
As for what made me want to move into the role, I mentioned prior that progression is something that has come naturally and felt like the correct step for me, however this time I wanted to take on a challenge and push myself to keep on growing and moving. This change was a huge step forward for me; however, I know that this is a challenge I will be able to take on. On a personal note, I’m also going to be marrying my soon-to-be husband next month, and we have life goals that we want to achieve, I knew taking this next step in my career would help solidify my position in my career as i move into this new chapter.
What has your career journey been like as a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community?
My first exposure to the industry was when I was 21, I worked in Fraud and Insurance liability investigations in the motoring trade, and despite being open about myself I would find myself still hiding due to the masculine environment. However, as I’ve gotten older, and taken more pride in myself I have become a lot more comfortable with expressing myself.
I’m pleased to say I’ve also not encountered any prejudice working for Activate Group and sopp+sopp, when you go to forums like the fleet industry it’s rare that you see queer representation, I appreciate I can only represent gay men, however I’m incredibly proud to be that representation in these spaces, and being that representation for a sometimes marginalized community makes me even more proud to hold this position.
What do you think are some of the biggest challenges Commercial Fleets are facing?
Technological advancements are having a huge impact on all aspects of the fleet industry, from the vehicle repair side, right through to operations.
From an industry standpoint, despite these advancements having beneficial impacts for vehicle technology, there is also the aspect of this causing a higher rate of total losses due to the equipment in these vehicles, this can cause challenges when resourcing key parts and working with dealerships to obtain these, leading to a more challenging repair process.
This can prove to be nightmare for our fleet customers who want their vehicles repaired and back on the road, ultimately, we need to take a more creative approach to work and collaborate with them to enable us the ability to provide alternative solutions.
Technology is having the same impact from an operational standpoint, we live in a world where AI is always the topic of conversation, here at sopp+sopp I know that we are not a business that wants to replace our people with artificial intelligence. Our contact centre is a large portion of the business that requires human empathy, to be there on the other side when a drive may have had a traumatic road traffic incident. As we navigate this new world, we intend to ensure we deploy any AI-powered solutions with the right intention, finding a way where we can use to it to simplify not just the work of our people, but in a way where we can also do better for our customers.
What do you think makes a high performing operations team in the Fleet industry?
There are two contributing factors to this; understanding the needs of our customers and having the right people in the right place. Ensuring our team members feel valued and supported is a key element in providing operational excellence, providing the correct training and maintaining a high level of engagement with the correct tools at our disposal encourages our people to provide the best service possible.
Starting with our implementation team, ensuring there is the correct scoping and people in those meetings, for our customer and engineering teams, we want to make sure there’s the visibility between the team and their customers so we can get to know them and their needs and with the flexibility at sopp+sopp we can provide a bespoke operating model to meet this.
Then we have the 24/7 contact centre that is entirely based in-house – they face many challenges, however Val Sullivan and her management team have done an incredible job in ensuring the team have the right tools at the right time to enable them to assist in the best way possible.
What are your main priorities for supporting and developing your team?
Ensuring there is a combined level of transparency, collaboration and sharing a clear mutual goal is some that I have always prided myself on, therefore I would like to transfer that into this role and be able to say to my team “here’s the journey and where we’re going, now what are we going to do together and what are we going to work on to get there?”
In sopp+sopp there are some incredible leaders from a range of ages and expertise, I want to continue to hear and learn from them to help our people thrive and develop, that's what I was able to do to get me to my position now, and I know it worked for me so I would love to be able to offer that to other people who want to progress within the business, and I would love to see that work its way down from management all the way into operational support.
As we continue to strengthen and develop the business, we’re excited about what the future holds under Nick’s leadership. To learn more about our team, click here.