How Accedo One enables safe testing in production using Service Variations

In the fast-paced world of video streaming, customer success is about helping customers innovate, adapt, and make the most of their technology. At Accedo One, that means collaborating closely with customers to ensure they get the full value of the platform while continuously shaping its evolution.

We sat down with Bill Scott, Head of Customer Success for Accedo One, to talk about how his team works with customers, the features he finds most impactful, and how direct feedback fuels the ongoing growth of the platform.

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Could you start by telling us a bit about your role at Accedo, specifically how you work with Accedo One and interact with our customers?

Bill: I’m Head of Customer Success for Accedo One, so my team is responsible for all customer relationships after the handover from the Sales team. We help our customers get the most out of Accedo One, feeding new requirements into the roadmap and ensuring that day-to-day operations run smoothly.

We run regular meetings with our customers to make sure they’re satisfied and properly represented in our prioritization of new features. Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that every customer sees the value in renewing their service, so we guide them through that process too.

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Thinking about your role, which Accedo One feature do you find yourself championing or valuing the most, and what's the immediate reason it stands out to you above the rest?

Bill: The combination of Service Variations and our Dynamic UI is incredibly powerful. Service Variations allow us to present different user experiences to different audience segments, while the Dynamic UI means those variations can be defined without needing a new app release.

This flexibility enables experimentation and real-time testing in a production environment - a huge advantage for customers who want to differentiate between subscribers and non-subscribers or between different subscription tiers.

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Can you describe a "before and after" scenario where this feature significantly improved a process, solved a challenge, or created a new opportunity for you or one of our customers?

Bill: A great example is how we’ve used Service Variations to support customer testing and troubleshooting. For instance, when non-subscriber beta testers need to experience the subscription journey, we can enable that safely in the live environment without affecting other users.

We’ve also used Service Variations to allow device platform testers in different regions to securely access services in remote markets - something that would otherwise require much more time and coordination.

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In a fast-paced environment where Accedo One is constantly evolving, how has direct interaction with customers or specific customer feedback influenced the development, shaping, or ongoing use of this particular feature?

Bill: One of the fascinating things about a feature as flexible as Service Variations is that sometimes the only missing ingredient is the customer’s use case. We know Accedo One can support far more scenarios than we originally imagined, but it’s through those customer conversations that we discover new ways to apply it.

Understanding those use cases is essential to keeping the product relevant and ahead of competitors. My team plays a key role in capturing and interpreting those insights, helping customers implement creative solutions - either by configuring existing functionality in new ways or by driving new feature requests through our roadmap process.

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Beyond its primary function, what's an unexpected way this feature has proven valuable, or how has it enabled you or a customer to achieve something that wouldn't have been possible otherwise?

Bill: Service Variations were initially designed to differentiate between user segments, but we’ve found so many additional applications. They’ve become an invaluable operational tool - allowing us to safely test new features in production and experiment with targeted user groups.

For example, when setting up in-app purchasing for the first time, there are several systems to coordinate - Accedo One, CIAM partners, and multiple platform stores. Testing everything in a staging environment only goes so far. With Service Variations, we can test the production configuration safely by limiting visibility to specific testers until everything is ready to go live. It’s a smart, secure way to verify that all systems are aligned before rolling out new features to end users.

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