Hannah Kothapally
Summary
Customer service and stakeholder support professional with close to 10 years of experience delivering frontline service in high-volume service environments, including eight years at the University of Auckland. Currently working as a Senior IT Staff Service Centre Representative, providing advisory and administrative support to university staff, and managing complex service requests. Experienced in working with external partners, including IBM and Element X, and collaborating with multiple university service divisions to deliver and improve staff services. Brings strong experience in digital content design and communications, combined with a professional, relationship-focused approach to service delivery.
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior IT Staff Service Representative
University of Auckland
04.2018 - Current
- Progressed from General Representative to Senior IT Representative, acting as the first point of contact for university staff, and delivering high-quality, frontline advisory and administrative support across multiple service areas.
- Supported end-to-end onboarding and offboarding processes, coordinating access provisioning, and system setup to ensure smooth transitions and a positive staff experience.
- Managed high volumes of inquiries and service requests through ServiceNow and Service Cloud, ensuring accurate record-keeping, timely resolution, and compliance with University processes.
- Worked closely with internal stakeholders, including the Shared Transaction Centre (STC), HR, Student Management Services, Identity & Access Management, Property Services, and IT teams, to coordinate service delivery and resolve complex cases.
- Supported confidential and compliance-related processes, such as visa updates, recruitment system support (Smart Recruiters), and operational administration.
- Coordinated event and teaching-related support, including lecture recording scheduling, conference and guest Wi-Fi access, Canvas support, and collaboration tool setup (Office 365, Teams, Zoom).
- Delivered consistent, professional customer service in a fast-paced environment, maintaining a welcoming, and solutions-focused approach when supporting staff and visitors.
- Processed and triaged property services work orders, including urgent maintenance requests, ensuring effective coordination and follow-up with service providers.
- Trained and mentored new team members, and supported the onboarding of new staff, contributing to team capability building and service quality improvement.
- Contributed to internal communications and service improvement initiatives, including newsletter content and process documentation.
Volunteer Communications & Marketing-WOC Network
University of Auckland
01.2025 - 12.2025
- Designed the UoA Assistant, the university's AI chatbot, using a user-centered and research-driven approach to make staff support faster, simpler, and more intuitive.
- Designed the UoA Assistant, the university's AI chatbot, using a user-centered and research-driven approach to make staff support faster, simpler, and more intuitive.
- Researched and analyzed staff interactions, mapping user journeys in Miro to understand end-to-end experiences, identify intent and information gaps, and optimize conversational flows for clarity and accessibility.
- Designed prompts and multi-turn conversations that delivered efficient, personalized support based on each staff member's needs.
- Applied AI governance principles to monitor for data drift and ensure the responsible use of data, and implemented guardrail prompts to manage sensitive, or potentially harmful, content.
- Worked within an Agile environment, collaborating with the Shared Transaction Center, HR, Property Services, and external partners (IBM, Element X).
- Participated in planning meetings and stakeholder presentations, gathered feedback, and implemented insights to improve content design and user experience, while also contributing ideas independently.
AI Conversation Designer
University of Auckland
08.2021 - 10.2025
- Seconded to the Enterprise AI programme to design and maintain the University of Auckland Assistant, supporting staff access to services and information across multiple departments.
- Created, reviewed, and published digital content to improve service communications and user guidance across common staff enquiry journeys.
- Analysed interaction data and user feedback to identify information gaps and improve clarity, accessibility, and consistency of content delivery.
- Designed structured conversational flows to support users through end-to-end service processes, improving self-service capability and reducing repeat enquiries.
- Worked collaboratively with internal stakeholders including Shared Transaction Centre, HR, Property Services, and external partners (IBM and Element X) to align content with operational processes and service standards.
- Participated in planning sessions and stakeholder presentations, gathering requirements and translating them into practical content improvements.
- Contributed to continuous service improvement initiatives by documenting processes, refining user guidance, and supporting governance standards for responsible content publishing.
Education
Diploma in Computing -
New Zealand School of Education
Auckland, NZ01-2015
Bachelors in Information Technology -
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University
Hyderabad01-2013
Skills
- Lifecycle support (onboarding and service coordination)
- Technical skills
- User-centered design
- Content creation
- Stakeholder engagement
- Customer support
- Service improvement
- Adaptive communication
- Training and mentoring
- Event coordination
- Training & Development
Accomplishments
CAUDIT 2025 — Operational Excellence (EAI Project)
TICT 2025 — Excellence in Technology Delivery (EAI Project)
SSC Top Performer (2019)
He Ringaringa Manaaki Award (2020)
Ū Ai Mātou Ki Tika — Integrity Award (2021)
TICT 2025 — Excellence in Technology Delivery (EAI Project)
SSC Top Performer (2019)
He Ringaringa Manaaki Award (2020)
Ū Ai Mātou Ki Tika — Integrity Award (2021)
Timeline
Volunteer Communications & Marketing-WOC Network
University of Auckland
01.2025 - 12.2025
AI Conversation Designer
University of Auckland
08.2021 - 10.2025
Senior IT Staff Service Representative
University of Auckland
04.2018 - Current
Diploma in Computing -
New Zealand School of Education
Bachelors in Information Technology -
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University