Jody Kruger

Experience

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  Independent Contractor

  Jul 2002 - now

  German-into-English Translator

  ATA-certified German-into-English translator, offering translation, editing, and fact-checking services to clients worldwide. Specializing in business translation and form translation, such as birth certificates.• Co-translated Zoo Portraits, a unique coffee table book presenting endangered species in a unique and informative way. (Portal, Yago. Zoo Portraits. TeNeues Verlag GmbH, 2017.)

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  SAP

  Aug 2010 - Sept 2020

  Led the documentation team to create innovative and effective approaches to document features within SAP Cloud for Customer. Member of the Architects Circle, innovating new ways for user assistance to evolve at SAP.• Co-led a team to evaluate the effectiveness of using a new internal platform to roll out “what’s new” information to customers. Team became pioneers of best practices across the company.• Conducted user research, which drove documentation restructuring efforts, resulting in increased user satisfaction.• Tendency to document own working processes, which became the original seeds of a knowledge base for the team. 收起 Worked with development teams and stakeholders to create clear and effective documentation for new and existing features within SAP Cloud for Customer. Served as a volunteer editor, reviewing documentation, white papers, and articles, providing empathetic and constructive feedback to fellow authors.• Worked with the team of authors to move documentation into the DITA XML-based content management system (Ixiasoft), tested features, and coordinated translation.• Coached a diverse team through an 11-month design-thinking project to understand the needs of end users and reimagine the user experience. Result: three solution-wide suggestions to delight users and save $3.4M annually. • Coached the team to innovate with visuals, resulting in the Green Dot award 2017 for graphics and whiteboarding videos, and a 2020 Green Dot nomination for graphics. 收起

  • Content Architect

    Mar 2020 - Sept 2020

  • Senior Technical Writer

    Jun 2012 - Mar 2020

  • Technical Writer

    Aug 2010 - Jun 2012
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  Dogspeak

  Jun 2015 - now

  Owner - Dogspeak

  It’s boarding, but your dog won’t be bored! We offer at-home style, small-group boarding for a maximum of 6 dogs at a time.We’ll have supervised backyard play sessions with other doggie guests, and I’ll be reinforcing basic obedience behaviors with treats. There will be bones to chew on while we relax in the evening, and comfy beds in the house to fall asleep on. Everything but the pillow fights!

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  SAP Americas

  Sept 2020 - Aug 2023

  Led communications efforts, including communications strategies, creation, and tracking. Continued to drive graphic services, a separate visuals agency within the Board area. Increased engagement with visual assets, including explainer videos, live-action videos, infographics, and sketchnotes. Contributed visuals and videos to quarterly all-hands meetings. • Created series of six animated explainer videos using Powtoon and Camtasia to support the rebranding efforts of the Total Rewards’ program.• Worked with authors to edit and polish success stories, blogs, and strategy position papers. • Mentored students to create 15+ visuals and videos for the team.• Designed a client-satisfaction survey to track and improve graphic services: In 2022, 94% of respondents said the process was smooth and effective, and 100% confirmed that delivery was on time, visual or video was high quality, expectations were met, and they would recommend graphic services for future projects. 收起 Established graphic services, a separate visuals agency within the Board area to meet visual needs, creating videos, sketchnotes, infographics, editing, and newsletters to support communications messaging. • Led special projects within the team, such as creating new sections of our team’s SharePoint site to announce and organize a Board-area-wide contest to create a new background visual.• Redesigned the communications strategy and communications plan for the Marketing & Sales Excellence program.• Led a user-research project to understand the newsletter audience, resulting in a fresh redesign of news messaging. 收起

  • Digital Design, Communication Expert

    Jan 2022 - Aug 2023

  • Project Expert - Communications

    Sept 2020 - Jan 2022
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  SAP Concur

  Feb 2023 - Aug 2023

  Visuals Consultant

  Advised team and redesigned visuals, videos, animations, PowerPoint slides, and templates for current and future communications. Aligned all visuals with interim branding guidelines. • Created visuals such as animated signatures, videos, PowerPoint slide templates, and newsletter title images. • Used Adobe After Effects to create a summer-themed series of animated wellness videos and animated signatures to increase audience engagement.