Welcome to Behind the Flame: our new series where we go behind the scenes and showcase the incredible people (incidentios) at incident.io. We’re kicking things off with Customer Success Manager Georgie Dorling.
Q: What is your favorite incident.io memory?
My favorite memory has to be our Barcelona offsite. I feel like it’s an easy answer, but it’s a core memory when I think back at my time here at incident.io. We work really, really hard and I think the offsite is a chance for us all to come together, have a bit of fun, and get to know each other a lot more which helps form strong relationships at work.
Q: What is the value that most resonates with you?
The value that most resonates with me is Win Together. I think this probably comes a bit inherently in my role as a Customer Success Manager, as working with customers to make them successful involves interacting and working with a lot of different teams. It’s a collaborative approach. For example, reaching out to Product and them jumping on calls when needed, and collaborating with Sales for the handover. It takes a village, which is a phrase that is used a lot at incident.io, but I think everyone really embodies that.
Q: What is your favorite benefit?
My favorite benefit is the one I think everyone will say…last Friday of the month. So I’m gonna go a bit outside the box here and say the ClassPass subsidization. I was a user anyway, but to get extra credits that I can use to do things that I love—like a workout class, going to get a massage, a haircut or something like that—that’s a really nice way of looking after employees and I really, really value it.
Q: What is your favorite Slack channel?
My favorite Slack channel has to be #compliments. This is where we filter in nice things that our customers, prospects, or anyone externally has said about us. Usually that’s them saying how easy the product to use is or how much they value our support and the partnership. Things are sent in there daily and it’s a little motivation boost every day, which is just really nice to see. I think everyone in the company loves looking at it, so yeah, that’s up there for me.
Q: What is one piece of advice you’d give yourself on your first day?
I think just leaning into the really good feedback loop that we have between our Product Development, Customer Success and Sales teams. The strength of the internal partnerships that we have here is something very unique to incident.io. It’s something I haven’t experienced before, how good it is.
I also think I’d tell myself to use the product, dogfood the product, be opinionated and provide opinions on how we can improve things, and do that as much as possible. This feedback is really, really well received and helps you build up trust not only internally, but also externally with customers.
Q: What advice would you give to any candidates interviewing with us?
I would say read our content. We are so good at putting content out there. We’ve got the podcast, we’ve got webinars, we’ve got blog posts. There’s so much out there, which gives you a really, really good view of what we’re like as a company and what it’s like to work here. Digest as much of that as possible and get a feel for if you want to work here, which you probably will. I listened to a load of the podcasts and then spoke to [incident.io Co-founder] Chris. I was like, “I feel like I know you already!” I think I knew his favorite meal or something that had been asked!
Q: How would you describe the culture in three words?
Tenacious: we do whatever it takes to reach the goals that we need to achieve. Also collaborative. All the teams are just very willing to help each other out and it goes hand in hand with us being very transparent. Everything is viewable in Slack team communications, which means everyone is willing to jump in and lend a hand sometimes when you least expect it, which is really nice. Finally, rewarding.
Q: What employee would you want to be stuck in a lift with?
I think one of the founding engineers, I’d probably bore them to death with all my questions and they would be doing all the talking, not me, but I would ask them to give me a detailed run-through of their incident.io journey from zero to a hundred and tell me all the good, the bad, the ugly bits.
Q: What does last Friday of the month mean to you?
So many things. I think the last Friday of the month is “me time”. I really like my own company. Having one day a month where I can go for a run and go get a coffee, do some life admin, as boring as that sounds, just knowing that you have that day every month to do it. When we all work so hard, it makes a huge, huge difference. I come back with a fresher mind and ready to attack my working day.
Q: What are you most looking forward to with the future of incident.io?
Honestly, there are so many things. Maturing as a company, as we start to increase the sort of products that we deliver in terms of moving into supporting Microsoft Teams, building up the kind of maturity of the organizations that we’re working with. There are so many opportunities for us to grow as an organization, for me personally and my career growth as well, and helping mature the team and looking at how we scale in that next part of the journey.
Q: What is it like being part of Customer Success as a team?
It’s really nice to get firsthand experience of how much our customers love the product, and being able to influence how we grow the product. Thinking about what [our customers] might be missing at the moment, what are our key priorities moving forward, and being able to influence that is very rewarding.
In addition, it’s crucial to report back internally on the key factors that contribute to our success with customers and how we can maintain and improve upon them.
Q: How does Customer Success collaborate with Sales?
The partnership between Sales and CS is vital. When a new customer is onboarded, the transition from Sales to Customer Success is seamless to ensure no information is lost, nothing slips through the cracks, and our customers have a smooth onboarding experience. The Sales team is always ready to assist, and there is a culture of trust where I can rely on them to provide all the necessary information for a successful onboarding process.
Q: What was a surprising aspect of joining the team?
The transparency within the organization was quite surprising. Communication happens primarily on Slack, with most customers having their own channels where founders, engineers, support teams, and customer success team members are actively involved. Initially intimidating, this transparency ultimately proves to be beneficial as it allows for quick collaboration and problem-solving, with engineers readily available to address customer queries.
Q: Can you share a memorable customer interaction?
One of the highlights for me was a fireside chat with one of our largest customers during a sales kickoff event in New York. We discussed their onboarding experience, pain points, and successes with incident.io. It was a candid conversation that showcased the hard work put into onboarding the customer, providing valuable insights to the entire commercial team.
Q: If you could join another team for a day, which team would you choose and why?
I would choose Sales for a day to experience outreach activities and try to secure meetings with potential customers who could benefit from incident.io. It would be a fun challenge to engage with new prospects and showcase the value of our product.
Q: Why is a reliable incident management tool essential for companies?
A reliable incident management tool is crucial for any company serious about delivering a seamless experience to end users. Incidents are inevitable, and having a tool that streamlines incident resolution not only ensures a more reliable product but also leads to happier engineers and quicker issue resolution, benefiting all stakeholders.
Q: What sets the Customer Success team at incident.io apart?
One unique aspect of our Customer Success team is the direct communication with customers via Slack channels. This real-time communication allows for quick assistance, fostering a more efficient and responsive support system. It has transformed how we engage with customers and handle support requests, making our job more efficient.
Q: How does incident.io recognize employee achievements and milestones?
We recognize employee achievements through awards that highlight individuals who embody our company values. Additionally, our #gratitude Slack channel serves as a platform for internal recognition, where team members can acknowledge and appreciate each other’s contributions. This culture of recognition and appreciation fosters a positive work environment and encourages continuous growth and development. sentence as:
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