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Operations
4 posts about Operations. Every summary links to the original.
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Want Your Support Team To Drive Revenue? Go Real Time.
Investing in real-time customer support can drive revenue and satisfaction, but scaling it requires careful operational planning. The team found that new customers were 30% more likely to start a trial after a swift first response, and they defined two key metrics: first response time (target under 2 minutes) and subsequent response time. They started by offering real-time support to 50% of new customers, recruiting tenured top performers as Project Leads to help roll out the experiment and identify effective workflows. Operational success depended on four elements: scheduling (using heatmaps of conversation volume and dedicated tools), tools (Intercom’s Messenger and Inbox), workflows (shifting from pass-back to 100% ownership), and communication (Slack channels for handovers and feedback). After refining qualification criteria based on rep feedback to exclude customers with previously activated apps, the team scaled real-time support to 100% of new customers within six months.
Run less software - The Intercom Blog
To survive intense competition from copycats and dominant tech companies, software businesses must execute faster and more efficiently than their rivals. Run Less Software is a three-pillar philosophy that helps teams achieve this: choose standard, boring technologies to build deep expertise and reduce operational overhead; outsource undifferentiated heavy lifting like infrastructure to specialized third-party providers; and focus all engineering effort on creating enduring competitive advantage that directly serves customers. For example, Intercom consolidated from MongoDB and Postgres to AWS Aurora and DynamoDB, standardizing on MySQL and gaining 5x throughput at a 30% cost reduction with minimal custom code. By constraining the toolset, teams become expert operators who can make faster, cheaper decisions. The philosophy enables companies to manipulate time and stay ahead of competitors by systematically reducing the cost and risk of their engineering decisions.
How we scaled engineering enablement and infrastructure at Intercom - The Intercom Blog
Intercom’s engineering enablement team transformed the company from a patchwork of legacy systems and recurring incidents into a stable infrastructure that empowers fast-moving product teams. The company learned that selecting core technologies is not enough without a clearly defined strategy for understanding, guiding their use, and investing in the teams behind them, as lacking this leads to persistent friction. They defined a dedicated core technology team, learned and standardized their tooling, and implemented approaches to hire and grow engineers who own the infrastructure. These efforts reduced operational friction and incident frequency, allowing the business to move more confidently. As a result, product teams run faster and the infrastructure is now a reliable foundation for growth.
Welcoming Ben Anderson, our new Ops Generalist
Resend announces Ben Anderson as its new Ops Generalist, based in London, UK, after he built operating infrastructure at startups, most recently at Treecard. He will develop vendor, finance, and compliance operations as the company scales, bringing experience from a discipline he describes as cross-functional, hands-on, and centered on ownership across the business. Anderson says Resend’s team, product and culture, and transparent values, philosophy, and decision-making process influenced his decision to join. He also discusses running and walking as ways to regain clarity, names 1Password as his favorite tool, advises ambitious operators to seek ownership, prioritise ruthlessly, and learn from experienced operators and mentors, and values teaching complicated topics clearly.
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