Case Study: Flipdish

Building and Scaling a Web Operations Department

Executive Summary

At Flipdish, I built and scaled the web operations function from a single contributor into a structured department supporting customer onboarding and website delivery.

Through process redesign, automation, and internal tool development, I reduced customer onboarding time from over 48 hours to under 2 hours — a reduction of over 95%.

These improvements enabled the company to scale efficiently, support enterprise-level clients, and significantly improve operational efficiency.

Problem

Flipdish was experiencing rapid growth, but its operational systems and onboarding processes were not designed to scale.

The primary issue was the time required to onboard new customer websites. Onboarding regularly took over 48 hours, creating delays in customer launches and increasing operational pressure on the team.

The onboarding process relied heavily on manual work, including domain setup, platform configuration, and website adjustments. These tasks were repetitive and time-consuming, and there were limited internal tools to support efficiency.

There was also no dedicated web operations department. Web-related work was handled within the broader onboarding team, and processes were not standardized.

As customer growth increased, these limitations created a risk to scalability and customer experience.

Strategic Approach

My goal was to build a scalable operational function that could support company growth while improving speed, quality, and efficiency.

I focused on three key priorities:

Standardizing onboarding workflows
Reducing manual work through automation and internal tools
Building and developing a specialized team

Rather than applying isolated improvements, I designed operational systems that would scale with the company’s growth.

Solution

Creation of structured onboarding workflows

I designed and implemented standardized onboarding processes to ensure consistent and efficient website deployment.

This provided clear operational steps and removed uncertainty in the onboarding process.

These workflows improved both speed and quality.

Development of automation systems

I built automation tools to reduce manual work and accelerate onboarding.

These systems integrated with external services such as DNS lookup tools, CMS detection, and domain analysis systems.

This allowed onboarding steps to be completed significantly faster and reduced the need for manual intervention.

One internal Zendesk-based tool alone reduced onboarding time by over 70%.

Development of internal operational tools

I created custom internal applications and workflows within Zendesk to guide onboarding and improve operational visibility.

These tools provided clear instructions, improved consistency, and reduced errors.

They also improved visibility of work across the team.

Building and scaling the department

I built the web operations function into a dedicated department.

This included:

Hiring team members
Training and mentoring staff
Creating structured roles and career progression paths
Managing performance and operational output

The team grew into a fully operational department supporting company growth.

Migration to Salesforce

During a company-wide transition from Zendesk to Salesforce, operational systems were initially disrupted, and onboarding time increased significantly.

I rebuilt the operational workflows and systems within Salesforce, restoring efficiency and enabling the team to operate effectively on the new platform.

I also trained other teams on implementing similar workflows.

Results

Major reduction in onboarding time

Customer onboarding time was reduced from over 48 hours to under 2 hours.

This represented a reduction of more than 95%.

This was the most significant operational improvement.

Improved operational scalability

The department was able to support significantly increased customer growth without proportional increases in staffing.

Automation and improved workflows allowed the team to operate far more efficiently.

Improved quality and consistency

Standardized workflows and internal tools improved onboarding consistency and reduced operational errors.

This improved overall customer experience.

Successful department growth

The web operations function grew from a single role into a structured department with defined processes and leadership.

This allowed the company to support more complex customers and enterprise-level clients.

Impact and Legacy

The operational systems, workflows, and tools implemented became the foundation of the web operations function.

The department was able to support company growth and increasingly complex customer requirements.

The internal tools and operational structures remained in use long after implementation and enabled continued operational efficiency.

This project demonstrated my ability to build operational functions from scratch, design scalable systems, and deliver measurable business impact.