Creating a scalable operating system across 30+ client accounts
Cross-industry / BPO · Creating a scalable operating system across 30+ client accounts · Capstone — cross-account · via Hugo
The problem was not that individual teams lacked good ideas — it was that successful practices stayed trapped inside individual accounts.
Reviewing 30+ accounts showed the same capability gaps and the same reinvented solutions recurring wherever there was no shared standard.
Generalised what worked into company-wide infrastructure: a Project Library, brand-voice benchmarking with 9 archetypes, a capability and competency matrix across 7 skill domains, and a project-need dashboard.
Reusable operating infrastructure across 30+ client accounts, so new teams start from a standard instead of from scratch.
Overview. Every other case study here is about one account. This one isn't. Alongside my day-to-day account work I built three frameworks meant to be used across most of Hugo's CX and Digital Ops portfolio: a Project Library cataloging how every active account actually operates, a Brand Voice Benchmarking system standardising tone across dozens of unrelated industries, and a company-wide Capability & Competency Matrix connecting what a role needs to what a given project needs.
A lot of it started as lessons from individual accounts — the EdTech marketplace account's personality-based hiring approach is a direct example — generalised so any project manager could use them without rebuilding from scratch.
- Built and maintained the master CX Project Library — program manager, workflow, tools, team size, industry, shift structure and operating policy for every active account.
- Designed the Brand Voice Benchmarking system: every client cross-matched into 9 industry voice archetypes, each with tone personality, pillars, default mode, example message and a governing golden rule.
- Built the company-wide Capability & Competency Matrix: a Tools Library, a core-skills rubric with defined mastery levels, a role-specific rubric, a 7-domain skill taxonomy, and a Project Need Dashboard.
- Generalised account-specific frameworks into standard company infrastructure other PMs could apply anywhere.
Hugo runs dozens of concurrent client accounts across industries with almost nothing in common — e-commerce, SaaS, healthcare, EdTech, logistics, manufacturing, media, beauty.
Without a shared reference, every new account effectively started from zero: a new PM rebuilding workflow documentation from scratch, guessing at brand tone by feel, and staffing by instinct instead of a defined skill match. Good practices developed on one account had no natural way to reach the next one.
The CX Project Library & workflow framework
I built and maintained a master library cataloging every active CX/Digital Ops account: client, program name, delivery manager, description of services, full work-schedule detail (shift length, breaks, overtime policy), location and team.
Alongside it sits a dedicated Trust & Safety workflow library — tracking work types (fraud investigation, ID verification, withdrawal review) by volume, turnaround time, team size and complexity — and a summary view mapping every tool in use to the service category it supports.
| Industry cluster | Voice archetype | Golden rule |
|---|---|---|
| Logistics & Mobility | Operational Direct | Say what's happening, what to do, and by when |
| Tech / SaaS / Data | Tech-Confident | Say what's done, what's next, and where to verify |
| Rewards / Gamified | Playful Metrics | Celebrate, but keep rules visible |
| Healthcare / Wellness | Care-First | Empathy = accuracy. Never alarm |
| Education / EdTech | Nurturing Guide | Teach, don't police |
| Design / Craft / Home | Design with Purpose | Be precise, visual, and real about limits |
| Lifestyle / Retail / Marketplace | Concierge Friendly | Fix + confirm + thank |
| Media / Journalism | Editorial Integrity | Context first, always source |
Usable the first time someone writes a reply
Each row in the underlying cross matrix also carries a worked example message and the specific tone pillars behind it, so the archetype isn't just a label — it's directly usable the first time someone answers for a brand-new client.
The Capability & Competency Matrix
This is the piece that generalises account-level hiring and training insight into shared infrastructure. It has four connected parts: a Tools Library mapping each platform to its use case and the skills it demands; a Core Skills library scoring competencies like Action Orientation, Adaptability, Attention to Detail and Emotional Intelligence across four mastery levels with defined metrics and development activities; a Role-Specific rubric scoring agent competencies on a 1–4 scale; and a Project Need Dashboard translating all of it into a plain-language skill requirement per account.
| Domain | Skills standardised |
|---|---|
| Technical Proficiency | Digital Literacy, Data Analysis |
| Communication Skills | Written, Verbal, Active Listening |
| Cognitive Skills | Attention to Detail, Research, Critical Thinking, Problem ID, Logical & Rapid Problem Solving, Solution Generation |
| Emotional Intelligence | Empathy, Adaptability, Customer Centricity |
| Work Management | Process Orientation, Results Orientation, Organisation, Multitasking |
| Continuous Improvement | Process Improvement, Experimentation, Personal Development |
| Personality (Big Five) | Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability |
A direct throughline from account work
The Cognitive Skills and Personality domains come straight from the EdTech marketplace account — the same logical/rapid problem-solving screening and personality-based project fit I built there became standard categories in the company-wide taxonomy, usable for staffing any account.
- Client accounts cataloged30+
- Voice archetypes standardised9
- Skill domains in the taxonomy7
- Frameworks turned into shared infrastructure3
- Turned three account-specific practices into shared company infrastructure any PM could pull from instead of rebuilding.
- Connected hiring and training directly to project-specific needs via the Project Need Dashboard, not a generic skills checklist.
- Closed the loop on my own account work: what I learned building the EdTech account's hiring approach became part of how the company staffs every account.
More case studies
Full index- 01US digital pharmacy clientDiagnosing the root causes of customer and compliance failures, separating agent performance from systemic issues, and building the governance to improve both safely at scale93% CSAT vs 90% target
- 02EdTech learning marketplaceReducing recurring customer dissatisfaction through frontline capability84% drop in issue-recognition DSATs
- 03Conversational commerce SaaS platformDesigning and scaling a new customer-support channel90% onboarding pass rate vs 60% target