JONATHAN SHROYER: BREAKING GROUNDS IN CUSTOMER SERVICE AND EXPERIENCE SOLUTIONS

Customer experience (CX) has always been critical to a company’s success, but its value has grown dramatically in recent years. The pandemic has created many lasting changes in customer preferences and service strategies, inspiring new standards for customer experience. Moreover, every business is reshaping itself with digitalization to optimize CX and extract data. Companies are hyper-focused on enhancing CX to improve outcomes by utilizing this data. And it is quite the same across every sector. This scenario is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to create services that drive customer experiences. Two thought leaders, Jonathan Shroyer and Scott McCabe, are continually living up to this aim. They founded Officium Labs, a decentralized network of leaders and innovators that helps businesses develop best-in-class services to improve their customer experiences.

Recently, Business Talk Magazine got in touch with Jonathan for an interview. In the subsequent discussion, Jonathan spoke about how their journey began and how Officium can reshape the paradigm of improving CX across the business landscape. The following excerpt is a holistic illustration of the freewheeling conversation.

REINVENTING PATHWAYS TO DRIVE CX

Jonathan has over two decades of leadership experience in companies of all sizes and shapes. He has led sizeable teams for Microsoft, Monster, and Autodesk, as well as startups like Postmates, Kabam, and Forte Labs. Jonathan is also a speaker at CX conferences and has a talent for podcasting and writing about his passion for customer service and the future of the CS industry. Scott, on the other hand, has built his forte in customer service from gaming companies, such as EA and Kabam, where he led rapid changes. He specializes in CS technology and operations, and he is passionate about creating solutions that enhance customer service and streamline operations.

The idea of Officium was born in 2019. In his extensive stint, Jonathan identified major drawbacks in the prevailing customer service and experience model. He saw companies losing billions due to poor customer service and, at the same time, hiring outsourcing partners for operational support. “Essentially, brands were spending $2 to lose $3, which is a failing model,” says Jonathan. He sought to shake up the failing system by introducing businesses to new and inventive ways to turn customer service and experiences into profit center activities and value. Energized by his audacious idea, Jonathan met with Scott and discussed the enormous opportunities in CX that can help companies maximize their revenue. They further researched the vast CX network—its resources and capabilities that are untapped or by traditional resourcing models. They recognized the need for a sophisticated model that could help companies drive more value. And that’s how Officium was born.

A PORTFOLIO OF CUSTOMIZED SOLUTIONS 

With a focus on bringing sustainable change, Officium focuses on core areas that every business needs to adapt. This includes increasing workforce flexibility, profitability in customer experience, and alternative payment options. Because of digitization and COVID-19, every business is investing in these aspects. To address them, Officium has 3 indivisible revenue streams, which together form the Trifecta Revenue Model. And they can help a company build a strong foundation and weather any storms. Let’s take a closer look at them:

• CONNECT: It’s an on-demand customer service network that allows businesses to avail trained resources to handle volume surges, maintain service-level agreements, and avoid backlogs. Officium has talented resources in its network that can increase flexibility in clients’ operations. It can also provide resources outside of frontline customer service agents to meet CX needs. Thus, Officium can not only help in driving customer experiences in a short period but also turn a business from having no customer service to a fully operational team.

• TRANSFORM: This is Officium’s consultative and transformational stream. In a broad sense, the firm offers a variety of experience design services, from staffing to consulting and training, as well as a unique innovation lab. The team takes a short CX maturity assessment that focuses on key aspects of CX management (Strategy and leadership, employee experience, voice of the customer, analytics, and technology). Based on the findings, they can formulate a roadmap for long-term progress.

• INNOVATE: This stream is the intersection of talent and cutting-edge technology. Simply put, it’s a customer experience lab where the team experiments with innovations and blends them with leadership elements to create solutions. Workforce Management (WFM) is the first step to augmenting CX; hence, Officium helps clients in forecasting, demand planning, staffing, and scheduling. They offer a spreadsheet scheduler that can assist in defining service level goals while accounting for attrition, breaks, etc., resulting in a consistent CX.

With such differentiated yet proficient services, Officium has constantly proven to be on-demand, fast, and flexible. “For our connected business model, we are often referred to as the AWS of human capital or Uber of customer service,” asserts Jonathan. Its innovative framework is proven to increase business profit and facilitate business transformations. Its innovative tools have helped brands optimize costs by 30-40%. On the other hand, this creative business model has duly helped in surviving the pandemic. Jonathan says that they built the triangular framework, keeping in mind unforeseen calamities. During COVID-19, its CONNECT network had a noticeable spike, and now that COVID is ramping down, TRANSFORM is getting a lot of traction.

A STRONG FOUNDATION 

R&D is the cornerstone of Officium’s breakthroughs. But it serves a different purpose. Rather than incubating new technology and trends, R&D is focused on designing the future of service. In essence, they’ve accomplished this by designing the Service Stack Maturity Model, which consists of 8 pillars and over 100 features found in best-in-class profit-generating services and CX firms. This standard is constantly refreshed every year through various dedicated efforts. Officium has always focused on staying ahead of the industry curve. Jonathan personally monitors this to see how much they are staying ahead. And if required, he and his team meet up for deep thinking sessions. “We meet to think and ideate strategies that’ll keep us 5+ years ahead at all times,” exclaims Jonathan.

However, there are certain things that Officium is traditional about. They leverage traditional marketing systems, social proof marketing, and word of mouth to spread awareness. The firm thinks that leaders educating other leaders about their effectiveness is the most effective strategy to raise awareness of their services – and how they can assist their peers. Moreover, they have been bestowed with several prestigious awards and recognition that cement their value in the industry.  

A YOUNG AND ZESTFUL CULTURE

With innovative offerings and a creative framework, it’s unlikely that Officium will not have a one-of-a-kind culture. They have complete freedom in terms of where and how they work. Despite the fact that they are separated by thousands of miles and oceans, they work together as a sincere team that cares about everyone. The team’s mentality is driven by a note from Nelson Mandela, “Win or Learn.” “In this way, we are continually learning from one another, nurturing relationships, and staying motivated to do great things,” says Jonathan. Their culture is driven by values of delighting the customer, deliberate, constant curiosity, teamwork, inclusion, and shared prosperity. The firm views failures as opportunities, and it boldly rewards accomplishments. They hold weekly gatherings for feedback to understand the team’s sentiments across the globe. This is critical to ensure the firm is aligned with its values and has an enthusiastic culture that keeps its sails up at all times. 

A REWARDING JOURNEY

Officium was founded with the idea of giving people the power to drive experiences and improve engagement. It has achieved many instances of its objectives in its brief existence. Starting with 4 people and a loan of $150K, the firm scaled to gross revenue of $10M, 30+ clients, and hundreds of workers and service partners. The firm has created a prestigious clientele from across verticals. Initially, it started with gaming brands like WB Games, Forte Labs, Rally.io, Mythical Games, EA, and Playdemic. With operational success, they diversified to other sectors, serving CHEP, Wells Fargo, Amwell, Bank of America, Sunbasket, etc., and earned a progressive position, “In the end, brands resonate with becoming a profit center through their customer experience,” states Jonathan.

Recently, the firm has been acquired by Arise Virtual Solutions, and the Officium team aims to leverage the competence of both firms to scale and provide their Service Stack Maturity Model to thousands of global brands. The industry has recognized the firm’s efforts, but Jonathan believes that their biggest achievement is in helping people find new passion and purpose via work that may enhance their lives.

DEDICATED TO EXPLORE NEW POSSIBILITIES

Officium plans to make waves in customer service in the future by focusing on the three fundamental tenants of its new parent firm, Arise: Be There, Be Aware, and Be Essential. In particular, it’s focusing on brand emotional affinity, which has an integral role in customer service. How they can make Officium important to leaders just like their morning coffee – that is the opportunity they are willing to explore. This will further pave the way for scaling across brands, industries, and geographies.

A MEMENTO OF INSPIRATION

“People are the heart of every company. Customers are the lifeblood. Culture is your brain, and your mentors and believers are your eyes on what can be possible. Now it’s time to set forth and leverage all the greatness in and around you.” – Jonathan Shroyer (Founder & Chief CX Innovation Officer)

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