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Game changer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frodx

Igor Pauletič

GaaS and

Stockholm
Syndrome:

How to Break
Free When

Your Company
Becomes a

Prisoner of Its
Own Technology 

Let's start with a scenario that plays out way too often in Slovenian companies... Growth stalls, so the company decides to invest in a new customer platform. The investment isn't small – we're talking six figures. A few months in, it becomes obvious the competition is still growing faster. The company doubles down, flipping on basically every feature available – and there are plenty – but results stay mediocre. Finally, someone speaks up: “Something's off here. What's going on?” Classic case of a company caught in the Stockholm syndrome of customer experience tech: they buy a solution to become more agile, but end up prisoners of that very technology, obsessing over features instead of customer behavior. The tool becomes the goal, not the means to growth. I talked with Igor Pauletič about how to avoid this trap and what actually works. We focused on the GaaS (Growth-as-a-Service) approach, which flips the script and puts focus back where it belongs: on results.  
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Igor, you recently published a blog with the telling title “If it were just about the brushes, every house painter would be an artist.” You mention companies that poured huge sums into technology but didn't hit their growth targets. Is this common? What's actually
happening?

Way more common than I'd like. A company buys some solution to help with customer experience, they want to be more nimble, get better insights, and basically fall in love with the technology. Which means they measure everything except what matters – customer behavior.
Then the vicious cycle starts.
Instead of asking, “What are we actually doing differently?” they ask, “How can we use Salesforce better?” – or whatever platform. Customer experience becomes an IT project run by people who understand systems, not customers. We mistake tidying up for growth. Once everything's nicely integrated, it feels like the job's done. But an integrated status quo is still just status quo.
 

OK, but what's the solution?

The first step out of this cycle is simple admission: technology isn't growth. Growth is behavior change – in your customer and in your people. That doesn't happen the day some system goes live. It happens through testing, experimenting, and learning. You need a broader, more holistic approach. That's why we built a new service at FrodX: GaaS (Growth-as-a-Service).
It's an agency service that combines consulting, execution, and technical management of retention marketing, sales, and loyalty processes. Companies are used to agency services for customer acquisition, but agencies usually don't touch existing customer relationships. This is different – it's a business model committed to systematically introducing CX changes that drive growth.  

"We mistake tidying up for growth. Once everything's nicely integrated, it feels like the job's done. But an integrated status quo is still just status quo.
That's where we're different. Success isn't measured by system integrations, but by revenue growth and customer activity. We take responsibility for results, which is unique in the market.
 

That probably requires a pretty big mindset shift. From focusing on tools to focusing on impact. How does that play out day-to-day with clients?  

In practice, it means our rhythm is driven by short, 8-to12-week cycles of experimentation. We don't build longterm, rigid plans that time will crush a year later. Instead, we work with the client's team to spot opportunities, form a hypothesis, and test it fast. For example: “We believe introducing personalized recommendations at point X will increase average order value by 5%.” Then in a few days, we build and deploy the solution and measure results.
We call this: “Monday's too short for a big bang.” We start with one experiment we can show the customer by Friday. That agility is crucial. Traditional implementation partners sell a project, execute it, and leave. We stay part of the team. Our success is directly tied to the client's success, since our pay depends on hitting results. This completely changes the dynamic – we're not an outside vendor, we're a growth partner. 
 

You mentioned performance-based pay, which is pretty rare in agency and consulting. How does this model work and why did you choose it? Isn't that risky for you? 

 
There's risk, but we believe in it because we believe in our process. Performance-based pay forces us to be brutally honest upfront. If we assess that a client's product isn't competitive or that the company lacks a culture to support change, we won't take the project. We can't afford to sell solutions that won't work. Our revenue is tied to the sales growth our campaigns and tactics generate. There's a base monthly retainer that adjusts up or down based on hitting goals. But here's the thing – we take on GaaS partnerships mainly in environments where we can drive significant growth. Very mature environments where we don't see opportunities for major impact aren't the playground for GaaS. That doesn't mean we don't see opportunities for replatforming and optimization on the cost side and process efficiency. 
 
"We're not platform maintainers. We're growth partners. That's when we can truly guarantee results.
This model ensures complete alignment of interests. Our goal isn't to burn hours or sell licenses. Our only goal is client growth. That means we're constantly focused on finding and executing activities with the biggest business impact. For clients, this means lower financial risk and assurance that we're one hundred percent committed to their success. But it does require us to take on responsibility, so we don't expect a huge crowd in this space. 
 

What are the main conditions for collaboration
to even start and for you to guarantee results?

GaaS only works if three key conditions are met. First, the company needs a competitive product. CX optimization can't fix bad product-market fit. Period. Second, we need a team on the client side we can plug into the process. GaaS isn't CX outsourcing – it's a partnership where we experiment and learn together. We need people who understand customers and have a mandate for change. And third, we need to work on a platform where we can guarantee speed and control. We're not platform maintainers – we're growth partners.
That's exactly why in GaaS projects we use Emarsys or HubSpot. Not because we believe the platform itself drives growth, but because in these two environments our team – made up of consultants and technicians – can quickly experiment, implement changes, and manage processes that lead to measurable impact. If we're going to guarantee results, we need complete control over technical execution. Technology is support, never an excuse.  

What about companies that already invested in another platform, like Salesforce, and can't afford to switch? Are they out of luck?

No, there are two scenarios. In the first, which we call strategic consulting, we can help with experimentation strategy, defining tests and measurements, and training teams for agile work. We help their existing platform come alive because it's finally being used for something that makes business sense. But that's not GaaS – it's consulting without a results guarantee, since we're not handling technical implementation.
The second scenario is switching to Emarsys or HubSpot. If a company is ready to change platforms and it makes business sense – because existing integrations aren't critical or the current platform doesn't support the needed agility – we can plan the transition together and start executing the GaaS model. 

Who is GaaS for? I'm guessing big companies
with big budgets, or do you see opportunities
elsewhere? 

GaaS is especially suited for mid-sized and larger companies with direct sales channels and repeat purchase businesses. We partner with retailers, financial services, telecom operators, publishers, hospitality providers, and others. The problem we solve is twofold: large companies often have too much technology and too little utilization, while smaller ones have too little technology. But we're mainly looking for industries with higher transaction values – bigger tickets – where retention marketing and loyalty management aren't well developed yet. We also see additional opportunities in sectors like hospitality and travel agencies. Maybe even private healthcare, where we could manage the entire patient journey. These are areas we plan to develop in the first half of 2026. 

Finally: what would you tell executives who are making decisions today about technology and partners?  

The message is simple: it's not about the tool, it's about how you work. It's about how fast you can change customer experience at the points where your business's future is made. If it were just about the platform, every company with Salesforce would already be growing. But reality's different. Most Salesforce partners do traditional implementations – by the book, fixed price, handoff after launch. Some get good results. Many don't. A premium platform gives you a sense of security, but not necessarily results. If you were deciding a year from now, you'd regret that sense of security. And the fact that you didn't look for a partner executing GaaS from the start. Whether that's us or someone else. 

Številka 4 | DECEMBER 2025

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