Case Studies

Case Study: Building Support from the Ground Up at Fishtank

Context

When I joined Fishtank, there was no dedicated support function. Customer requests were handled ad hoc by project managers and developers over email. Issues slipped through the cracks, response times varied, and leadership had no way to see how satisfied clients were with the service.

The business needed a true support department that could scale, deliver consistently, and give clients the confidence to stay and grow.

What I did

I started by mapping the customer journey to understand where clients were getting stuck and what questions came up most often. From there I designed a support model around those needs.

• Selected and implemented a help desk for visibility and accountability
• Defined clear SLAs for different types of requests
• Built workflows so the right issues landed with the right people every time

I then hired and onboarded Fishtank's first support staff and set up coaching rhythms, quality expectations, and a culture of ownership. The goal was clear accountability with enough autonomy for people to do their best work.

Outcomes

• 100% customer satisfaction, every CSAT response was positive
• 100% customer retention during this period
• Full operational visibility into trends, volume, and performance metrics
• A scalable foundation of tools and processes that could grow with the business

Support also became a selling point. By tracking recurring issues and feeding them back into product and delivery, we prevented problems before they reached clients and gave prospects confidence in post sale care.

Key takeaway

Support is not just about solving tickets. It is about creating trust, stability, and growth for both the customer and the business.

Case Study: Incident Response Leadership at Shopify

Context

At Shopify, I worked on the Incident Response team handling some of the most critical and high pressure situations. When issues affected merchants at scale, whether downtime, payments, or security, our team coordinated the response across engineering, external partners, and senior leadership.

Every minute mattered. Coordination and communication had a direct impact on merchant trust.

What I did

My role combined coordination, strategy, and communication during major incidents.

• Ran incident war rooms and kept stakeholders aligned
• Managed multiple fast moving streams of information and prioritised under pressure
• Made decisions with imperfect data and ensured merchants received clear, timely updates

Outside live incidents, I worked on strengthening the system. I refined triage models, documented playbooks, mentored newer responders, and partnered with teams beyond Incident Response to improve prevention and reduce risk.

Outcomes

• Faster resolution times through standardised coordination and decision making
• Clearer communication to leadership and merchants during complex incidents
• Stronger trust through transparent, empathetic handling of high impact events
• Scalable practices that helped newer responders perform confidently in high stakes moments

Key takeaway

Incident response is more than firefighting. It is about leading through uncertainty, protecting trust at scale, and turning moments of crisis into opportunities to build resilience.

Case Study: Scaling Support and Implementing Live Chat at Hospitable

Context

At Hospitable, I joined during a critical growth phase. Support volume was rising quickly and we needed to launch live chat within five months while covering multiple time zones and working with BPO teams in Honduras and the Philippines. Internal knowledge management was limited, so agents often lacked the resources they needed.

The challenge was not only adding a new channel. It was building the structure to sustain it without burning out the team or breaking SLAs.

What I did

I began with a full assessment of the existing support model.

• Mapped coverage across regions and identified gaps in response times
• Reviewed queues and trends to understand demand patterns
• Documented existing processes and where they broke down

I then designed a follow the sun model and partnered with BPO leads to align expectations, processes, and quality bars. We strengthened internal documentation so agents had reliable resources regardless of location.

For live chat, I defined and led rollout end to end. That included coverage schedules without a dedicated WFM team, chat specific SLAs, training on real time communication, and reporting so leadership could see performance across channels.

Outcomes

• Live chat successfully launched within the five month timeline
• Broader time zone coverage and reduced response delays for global customers
• More consistent service quality from BPO teams through aligned processes and shared documentation
• Higher customer satisfaction through faster, more convenient real time support
• Clear visibility into SLAs, volume, and performance across all channels

Key takeaway

Scaling support is not just about adding people or channels. It is about building the systems, processes, and partnerships that let the team grow sustainably while protecting both the customer experience and the people delivering it.