CIO Bulletin

Officium Labs - Helping brands deliver incredible customer experiences

Customer Experience, also known as CX, is a customer's holistic perception of experience with a brand or business. It is the result of every interaction a customer has with a brand, from visiting the website to buying products and getting service. Delivering a great customer experience is very important for any business. The better experience customers get, the more repeat custom and positive reviews the company receives while simultaneously reducing the friction of customer complaints and returns.

Oﬃcium Labs is a decentralized network of thought leaders and innovators who help companies create best-in-class service experiences for their customers. They provide the best-in-class people, products, and practices for their customers, transforming customer service from a cost center to a growth opportunity. Officium's Connect platform connects on-demand CX workers with companies in need of CX staff. Its Transform experts provide consulting and coaching to service leaders of all types. We interviewed Jonathan Shroyer, the CEO & Co-Founder of Officium Labs, to know more about the company and its services. Here are a few excerpts of the interview:

Q. Why was the firm established? How has it transformed over the years?

Officium was created to fill a void in the broken services industry that helped the company prepare for the future of service, work, and payment. Officium Labs creates incredible customer experiences through the "Connect, Transform, and Innovate" brands. "Connect" is a network of on-demand, best-in-class customer service resources. We bring great people together with great brands to achieve outstanding service even during peak volume spikes. "Transform" brings our unique CX methodology to life through consulting, coaching, training, and our award-winning Foundational Services Workshop. "Innovate" is a technology platform that helps companies achieve enhanced results through the use of analytics and operational tools. We started small with a few people, and now we have transformed into a formidable startup with a bright future.

Q. How does the company prepare itself for uncertainty?

Our model is set up to have a three-prong revenue approach, Connect, Transform, and Innovate. Each of these was set up in the ServiceStack to offset revenue uncertainty in the others, and then together, they can outperform the market. If we couple this with the value impact we provide clients, it is a smart way to weather storms and prepare for uncertainty while scaling a startup.

Q. How do you gauge the dynamics of your customers and meet their requirements?

We have a ServiceStack maturity model that helps us benchmark all of our clients against best in class in the industry. Furthermore, we have a framework and strategic approach that enables them to close the gaps and transform their cost center services team into a profit center ambassador team. All in all, this enables our clients to retain more customers, as we win their business every day.

Q. Delineate about your innovations to provide the best customer experience.

We help service leaders to both generate and protect revenue through our unique ServiceStack™ approach. By correlating the impacts of great service to the impact on the organization's financial performance, we are able to demonstrate the strategic role CX plays. The bottom line is that happy customers spend more, stay loyal longer, and help to bring new customers your way. Over the last two years, we have proven 15x over that CXAAS (customer experience as a service) drives savings to the bottom line and protects top-line growth.

A few ServiceStack client wins:

Client 1: WFM saves 24% in BPO spend
Client 2: White Glove MVP protects $5M
Client 3: Agent AI assist decreases BPO spend by 25%
Client 4: Connect Burst scaled 100 resources in a few weeks to meet volume demand
Client 5: CXAAS transformation drives a 55% increase in customer satisfaction

Q. How efficient is your organization from an operational standpoint?

All non-core staff are on-demand, so we staff all roles just in time when the client needs it. It is very similar to how AWS does its web services. Some folks call us the AWS of human capital. Our back-end WFM system enables this real-time allocation, along with the people we hire who are looking for more of a flexible work style.

Q. Tell us about how ingenious your thought leaders are and brief about their achievements.

If you look on our website, you will see we hire only the best thought leaders in their areas. Most notably, John Pompei and Nate Brown are well known in CCW, Frost and Sullivan, and ICMI. Perhaps the best way to understand the impact is to look at our recognition in the last two years.

Q. Explicate the Maturity Model in detail.

The best way to understand our maturity model is to take the online assessment we provide free for clients. All other parts of our maturity model are part of our secret sauce that we share with signed clients. All in all, this model enables our clients to protect and/or create millions in LTV and revenue.

Q. What is your contribution to society?

Officium in Latin means to serve, to help. We have set up a foundation to help train the future generation as well as mature workers looking to make a shift in their careers. We believe this foundation work is core to the future of how the world and the Officium model works.

Q. Tell us about your technology solutions and partnerships. What innovations can we expect in the near future?

Noted above are some case studies for AI Agent Assist that revolutionizes how agents engage with customers. Additionally, our deep strength in BI supported by programs like White Glove and Burst are key differentiators in where we are going. Not only the operations on top, but the tech needed to manage a global workforce that will exceed 10,000 by 2025. Additionally, we are one of the first service companies to accept cryptocurrency as payment.

Q. Do you have any plans to expand the company? If yes, kindly detail us on that.

In the last two years, we started with four people, an idea, and a $150k loan. So far, we have brought 22+ clients along for the ride on the future of service. Their trust in us has been demonstrated in $10m in gross revenue and many meaningful relationships. We expect to 2x for the next few years and plan to have our own crypto token/coin.

About the CEO

Jonathan Shroyer is the CEO & Co-Founder of Officium Labs. He has been a customer service professional and a leader for 22+ years, leading large teams at established companies such as Microsoft, Monster, and Autodesk, as well as startups like Postmates, Kabam, and Forte Labs. A thought leader in the industry, Jonathan can often be found speaking at CX conferences, participating in podcasts, and writing about his passion—the future of customer service and the CS marketplace.