As Ascend Learning's customer base continued to grow, the organization faced a common challenge experienced by many technology companies: a widening gap between customer support and product development.

Tier 1 support representatives were highly effective at resolving routine customer issues, but increasingly encountered complex technical questions, workflow challenges, and product enhancement requests that required deeper product expertise. At the same time, software developers were frequently pulled away from development priorities to assist with troubleshooting and customer escalations.

This created several organizational challenges:

• Extended resolution times for complex customer issues
• Frequent interruptions to development teams
• Inconsistent escalation processes
• Limited visibility into recurring customer pain points
• Missed opportunities to translate customer feedback into product improvements
• Increased pressure on support and engineering resources

Leadership needed a scalable solution that would improve the customer experience while strengthening collaboration between support and product teams.

As a Director of Product Training with a recent software engineering, customer support, and product training background, I identified an opportunity to create a new organizational function that would serve as a strategic bridge between customers and software development teams.

I developed the concept for a Tier 2 Support role, built the business case for the function, and led the design and implementation of the program.

As part of this effort, I:

• Defined the purpose and scope of the role
• Identified required competencies and skill profiles
• Developed the job description
• Assisted with interviewing and hiring the initial staff
• Created onboarding and training programs
• Established operational workflows and escalation procedures
• Partnered with executive leadership to launch the new function

1. Identifying the Capability Gap

Through observation and analysis of support workflows, I recognized that the organization lacked a dedicated resource capable of translating technical issues, customer needs, and product feedback between support teams and developers.

The result was a communication gap that slowed issue resolution and reduced organizational efficiency.

Rather than continuing to rely on informal processes, I proposed creating a specialized role focused on technical problem-solving, customer advocacy, and cross-functional collaboration.

2. Defining the Tier 2 Support Role

I designed the role to serve as a liaison between customers, support teams, product management, and software engineering.

The position would:

• Investigate complex customer issues
• Perform advanced troubleshooting
• Analyze recurring support trends
• Translate customer needs into actionable product feedback
• Facilitate communication between support and development teams
• Reduce unnecessary developer involvement in customer escalations

This created a dedicated layer of expertise between frontline support and engineering.

3. Developing Competency Models and Career Pathways

To ensure long-term success, I identified the critical competencies required for the role, including:

• Technical troubleshooting
• Product expertise
• Customer communication
• Root cause analysis
• Documentation and knowledge management
• Business analysis
• Cross-functional collaboration

These competencies became the foundation for hiring, performance expectations, and future career development.

4. Creating an Onboarding and Enablement Program

Recognizing that the role required a unique blend of technical and customer-facing skills, I developed a structured onboarding program designed to accelerate readiness and consistency.

The onboarding plan included:

• Product knowledge development
• Support process training
• Technical troubleshooting methodologies
• Customer communication standards
• Escalation management procedures
• Collaboration with engineering teams

This enabled new hires to become productive more quickly and effectively.

The initiative successfully established a new organizational capability that strengthened customer support operations and improved collaboration across teams. This role ultimately reported to our Customer Support function.

Key outcomes included:

• Created and launched the organization's first Tier 2 Support function.
• Established a dedicated liaison between customers and development teams.
• Reduced disruptions to engineering resources by creating structured escalation pathways.
• Improved communication and collaboration between support and product teams.
• Enhanced visibility into customer challenges and product improvement opportunities.
• Accelerated resolution of complex customer issues.
• Created a scalable framework for future growth of the support organization.

The Tier 2 Support function transformed how information flowed throughout the organization.

Rather than operating as separate functions, customer support and product development became more closely aligned around customer success. Complex issues were resolved more efficiently, developers were able to focus on product innovation, and customer feedback became more actionable.

The initiative also established an important organizational capability that improved scalability as the company continued to grow. By creating a structured bridge between customer experience and product development, the organization strengthened both operational performance and customer satisfaction.

Most importantly, the project demonstrated that support is not simply a reactive function—it can serve as a strategic source of insight that drives product improvement, operational efficiency, and customer success.

As organizations scale, communication gaps between customers and product teams can create friction, inefficiency, and missed opportunities. By designing and launching a Tier 2 Support function, I created a sustainable organizational capability that improved customer outcomes, enhanced operational efficiency, and strengthened the connection between customer needs and product innovation.