Leading Canada’s Most Efficient Technical Support Team

Length of Project: 9 months, 2022

The Problem:

After the success of the NY Regionalization Pilot, I was chosen to lead the regionalization of Escalated Technical Support for the Canada Region during the global regionalization project—an even more ambitious initiative. Shopify was restructuring its technical support model to create region-specific teams that could provide faster, more specialized support. The goal was to improve response times, increase efficiency, and create a more seamless merchant experience.

But there were challenges:

• We needed to scale operations quickly while maintaining quality.
  • We were very much flying the airplane while it was being built.
• The transition required deep knowledge-sharing to prevent gaps in technical expertise.
• We had to define clear metrics for success while keeping specialists engaged and motivated.

The Solution:

Leveraging my experience from the NY project, I implemented a high-efficiency, high-impact strategy with a focus on:

1. Speed & Efficiency

🚀 Designed workflows to minimize ticket hand-offs, reducing resolution times.
🚀 Implemented streamlined knowledge-sharing processes to ramp up specialists faster.
🚀 Prioritized high-impact cases, ensuring the most urgent issues were addressed first.

2. Technical Expertise & Training

🎯 Created a specialist mentoring program, pairing experienced team members with new hires and core teams needing support.
🎯 Standardized documentation processes, making complex troubleshooting more accessible.
🎯 Developed targeted training modules, ensuring all specialists had deep product knowledge.

3. Engagement & Performance

🔥 Fostered a high-accountability culture where specialists took ownership of complex issues.
🔥 Implemented clear performance tracking metrics to keep teams motivated.
🔥 Built a strong internal community, ensuring knowledge and best practices were shared across regions.

The Impact:

✅ Fastest response times across all regional escalated teams.
✅ Highest CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) scores in the regionalized model.
✅ Quickest resolutions, reducing merchant downtime and frustration.
✅ A stronger sense of pride and ownership among escalated support teams in the Canadian region.

Final Thoughts:

The Canada Regionalization project proved that a technical support team could be both highly efficient and deeply engaged. By prioritizing speed, technical expertise, and specialist empowerment, we built a team that not only met Shopify’s expectations—but set new benchmarks for success.

People who I lead during this pilot:
Brennan Rogers // Nicole McIsaac