Background
Client
Alation Inc
Challenge
Move roles from US to CEE
Year
2024
Alation, already working with us for a couple of years found another niche where Eastern Europe talent could fill nicely – combining European education and communication skills while still very cosf effective, they were looking to re-staff their Digital Customer Experience team. That team is in charge of customer portals, on-boarding experience, the product knowledge platform and creating and delivering technical trainings.
The ask
After successfully building Alation’s European application support team over a couple of years, the partnership evolved to address another strategic need. Alation recognized that Eastern European talent offered a unique combination of strong European education standards, excellent communication skills, and cost-effectiveness—making it ideal for their Digital Customer Experience team. This department was responsible for customer portals, onboarding experiences, the product knowledge platform, and creating and delivering technical training programs to enterprise clients.
Alation needed to staff this team with a different type of profile entirely: specialists with non-engineering backgrounds but strong technical aptitude who could bridge the gap between complex product functionality and customer understanding. They were looking for 3 unique specialists who could develop intuitive customer portals, write clear and comprehensive knowledge management articles, and design and deliver engaging technical training sessions. These roles required a rare blend of technical literacy, instructional design skills, content creation abilities, and presentation confidence.
The solution
Leveraging our deep understanding of Alation’s culture, standards, and expectations from years of collaboration, we conducted focused workshops with their Digital Customer Experience leadership to define the nuanced requirements for each of the three roles. We aligned on target budgets and identified the key differentiators: candidates needed technical curiosity and the ability to quickly learn complex software platforms, but also creativity in content development and strong facilitation skills for training delivery.
Our recruitment approach targeted professionals from Eastern Europe with backgrounds in technical writing, instructional design, customer education, or technical communications within SaaS companies. We pre-screened candidates not just for their technical comprehension but also for their ability to translate complex concepts into accessible content and their comfort presenting to diverse audiences. Within a couple of weeks, we presented Alation with shortlisted candidates for each of the three specialist roles, providing detailed profiles that highlighted relevant portfolio work, writing samples, and training experience. Alation conducted their interview rounds and selected their preferred candidates from our shortlist. We then expedited all employment documentation, onboarding procedures, and integration into Alation’s Digital Customer Experience workflows, ensuring the new team members had access to the product environment, content management systems, and training platforms from day one.
The outcome
The Digital Customer Experience team we placed quickly gained momentum and began delivering high-quality outcomes that exceeded Alation’s expectations. The specialists developed comprehensive knowledge base articles that improved customer self-service capabilities, redesigned portal experiences that streamlined user onboarding, and created technical training programs that received consistently high satisfaction scores from enterprise clients. Within months, the team wasn’t just executing assigned tasks—they were actively identifying process improvements and contributing strategic ideas to enhance Alation’s overall customer experience.
The success of this second team reinforced the strength of our partnership with Alation and demonstrated our ability to source diverse talent profiles beyond traditional engineering roles. Our established relationship meant we could move quickly and efficiently, understanding Alation’s needs with minimal ramp-up time. The cost-effectiveness of the Eastern European team allowed Alation to invest more heavily in customer experience initiatives without inflating their budget, while the quality of work maintained the premium standards their enterprise clients expected. Our ongoing performance monitoring ensured the team continued to grow in their roles, with regular feedback loops between our agency, the team members, and Alation’s management helping to optimize collaboration and delivery. This expanded partnership solidified our position as a trusted talent partner capable of supporting Alation’s growth across multiple departments and skill sets.
