Customer service is always a consideration when districts evaluate their technology needs and make decisions about which tools to keep. It’s not always at the top of the list, but it should be—because without good support, schools risk poor implementation, low usage, upset users, lost time, wasted money, and other disruptions.
At Otus, we welcome a high level of scrutiny because our client experience partners and client support specialists have an outstanding track record when measured both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Here are just a handful of metrics from 2024:
- 92% customer retention
- 98% customer satisfaction rating in chat support
- 99% increase in Otus Live professional development video viewership
These numbers are driven by individual experiences of educators like Dr. William Dallas, the superintendent at Fountain-Fort Carson School District in Colorado. “Otus has been very pliable, very open to our feedback, very open to the challenges that we're facing and being a good thought partner,” he said. “They are very receptive to the unique needs and challenges that we have with a competency-based grading system, because there are a lot of nuances, and at each school and each school district, the challenges can present themselves differently."
Over the summer, Otus was recognized at the 2025 American Business Awards as a Gold Stevie Award winner for having the Customer Service Department of the Year in the Computer Software category. Winners’ applications are posted online to encourage other companies to emulate their successful strategies. At Otus, these include dedicated assistance through the onboarding process, real-time assistance by former educators, ongoing professional development options, and incorporating user feedback into product development.
Individualized support from the start
Each new client is paired with a Client Experience Partner who provides tailored support throughout the onboarding process, from crafting implementation plans to delivering training to ensure smooth adoption. Otus manages data organization, uploading, and customization so educators do not experience an extra burden.
This was an important factor for getting teacher buy-in at Bulloch County Schools in Georgia. Director of School Improvement Millie Boykin said teachers were concerned about losing assessments they had entered into the previous platform during the switch to Otus. “Our district gave teachers a month where they could submit any teacher-created tests, and we had a team in our district office working with Otus over the summer to put them into the platform,” she said. “That way when the teachers came back from summer break, they could focus more just on learning how to administer Otus and the data pieces of it. They weren't getting bogged down and inputting every little thing.”
When Dr. Adrienne Usher, Assistant Superintendent at Bullitt County Public Schools in Kentucky, was seeking a data insights solution, strong customer service was high on her list of must-haves. “I had been on the hunt for what I was calling a data dashboard, a place where everything that we know about a student can literally be together in one place from all the different sources, starting when they enter school with us to however long they're with us,” she said. “Otus felt realistic, like we could actually do that.”
Balancing tech and talk
The human element of our support sets us apart at a time when many companies are embracing automated or agentic models. While there is a place for technology in customer service—for example, in offering communication options across various channels and recording the information from each exchange—it is there to support relationships.
“With the chat feature, the one thing you can tell immediately is I’m talking to a former educator, I’m talking to someone who’s been in education. Just the way they format their answers and kind of walk you through things, they understand it from a teacher perspective and what they’re going through.”
Don Norwick
Associate Principal of Curriculum and Instruction
,
Wilmot Union High School (WI)
Through the Otus in-platform chat feature, Client Support Specialists—all of whom have education experience—respond to queries in less than three minutes.
Client Support Specialists are also available through other methods, like email and phone calls. Angie Wright, Director of Assessment at Papillon La Vista Community Schools in Nebraska, appreciates their quick availability when principals, teachers, or other stakeholders come to her with specific data-related questions. “I always say, ‘Well, what question are you trying to answer?’ And then we go to Otus. And if we can’t answer the question with the data there, then I call our specialist at Otus, and she can help us figure it out,” Wright said.
Multiple options for gaining expertise
In addition to real-time support, Otus offers a substantive slate of professional development offerings. Its online Help Center is a searchable knowledge base, organized by topic, with hundreds of articles covering each of the modules as well as general topics such as assessments and integrations with other tools.
The growing collection of Otus Live professional development sessions offer opportunities for educators to connect in real time or watch the recordings afterward, ensuring all users have the training they need to make a difference in the classroom and at the district level. In 2024, the Otus Live video series garnered more than 13,000 views, a huge jump from 6,500 views in 2023, and added over 125 new videos.
Districts can also arrange professional development that’s unique to their specific challenges. This training can be led by Otus staff or by members of the Otus Certified Educator Community, a program that saw more than 250 new educators join in 2024 alone. This is beneficial for adult learners, Boykin noted. “The more individualized you can make it, just like we do with our kids in the classroom, the more effective it's going to be.”
New features from the field
In 2024, Otus introduced more than 50 new features based on over 300 user votes, showing how deeply feedback from educators shapes the platform’s evolution.
“They'll work with you to make it top tier because they listen,” said Usher about her experience suggesting improvements and new features. “They want feedback from the user. They want to make it better.”
Users can provide comments about features in a variety of ways, from conversations with their Client Experience Partners during onboarding to chat support sessions within the platform. Product updates are rolled out regularly—including the recently released AI Insights, an assistant powered by artificial intelligence that can pull data from a single page within the Gradebook or from multiple sources when used within Assessment Analytics.
Otus has assembled an AI Advisory Board of K-12 experts whose knowledge and experiences help shape the development of practical and effective AI tools. This feature is near to the heart of Otus President and Co-Founder Chris Hull, who has been a champion of comprehensive data ever since his days teaching seventh-grade social studies.
“Otus is embedding AI into key aspects of the platform to adapt to the needs of all education stakeholders,” Hull said. “Our mission at Otus has always been to empower educators with the tools and insights they need to maximize student outcomes. AI is not going to replace teachers; it’s going to make them more efficient.”
Ultimately, the customer service department at Otus is not just a support team—it’s a partner in student success that consistently exceeds customers’ expectations.
The Otus Team
The Otus team is made up of former school leaders and educators with a combined total of over 200 years of experience. Together, we’re committed to giving educators the insights they need to support every student’s success.
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