Ep. 153- Pulse of CX The Real-Time Insights that Matter- Michael Quince
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Welcome to the podcast designed to fuel your success in selling technology solutions. I’m your host, Josh Lupresto, SVP of Sales Engineering at Telarus and this is Next Level BizTech.
Hey everybody, welcome back. Today we are kicking it off still here in early 2025 talking about CX. Specifically today, CX Pulse Real-Time Insights That Matter, Contact Center and beyond.
Today on with us we have got the amazing Michael Quince, RVP of Channel Sales at NICE. Welcome on Mr. Quince. Happy New Year Josh, thanks for having me. Happy New Year 2025, feels weird, right? Feels very futuristic. I feel old, I’ll be honest with you. My back hurts just thinking about this.
Alright, let’s kick this off with a little bit about you. Walk us through your windy life path, kind of how you got into this field, where the career started and just anything crazy along the way.
There’s a lot of craziness along the way Josh, but I started in this industry when I was 22 years old right out of college at a company called Northern Telecom.
So, you know, they’re big competitor back in the day with Cisco, right? At one point, Northern Telecom was larger than Cisco and I started in accounting. So, this guy fresh out of college just looking for a job, okay? I won’t tell you how that old accounting piece worked out. Wasn’t as great as I thought it would be, but that was my entry into the company.
I spent, oh my gosh, almost 15 years at Northern Telecom. Learned a lot about technology, about the industry, and then from there when it didn’t work out, I think a lot of people know what happened with Northern Telecom back in the day, went bankrupt, unfortunately. Then I had an opportunity to go work at Polycom.
Then from there, ShoreTowel, and then from there, 8×8, and now I’m here at NICE and couldn’t be any happier about the opportunity that we have ahead of us.
Love it. Good stuff there. A lot of history, a lot of evolution in the space. Some paradigm shifts along the way, right? Some big ones, some small ones. So, interesting as we kind of get through, I think we’ll hear how some of that plays in.
Let’s kick this off a little bit, right? You’re obviously a long-time supplier of Telarus, NICE, CX1. We all grew up kind of in the in-contact days.
Walk us through a little bit about, for anybody that’s not familiar, because partners of varying, sell different products, listen to this podcast, but walk us through a little bit about NICE, where you’re at, what you’re going to market, and some of these, you have a lot of products, we’re going to jump into some, but walk us through kind of how you see yourself standing out.
Sure.
So, we all talk about CX these days, right? Everything is CX-driven, and it has to be, because if you, and I’ll go through some information I have later on as we get into the conversation here, but honestly, we don’t believe that CX is just part of the business, it is the business, right?
And there’s a lot of statistics that we need to be looking at as companies on why CX is so important, and we manage 100% of our customers’ interactions, right? Through our technology, and we’re really modernizing our customer platforms with products like CX1 and Empower, and we’re managing tens of millions of, honestly, of conversations on a regular basis, right? How do we manage call containment for our customers better, right? How do we leverage AI in some of the basic ways, right? To offset some of the needs that call centers or some of these reps need, or some of these agents need to be focusing on other things. So, that’s our core business here, right? We really are focusing on way beyond the contact center, but what does AI really bring to the table, and how can we take the friction out of business?
So, when we think about, for the partners listening, as we think about this, right, everybody’s kind of trying to understand, “All right, these guys do this, these guys do this.” When you think of in the contact center space, right, we think of you guys as a very full-featured platform, right? So, of course, that means the CX piece, the inbound, the outbound, but there’s some branches to that. Can you just kind of throw out some, you know, we do these products, we do these products, just so people can kind of understand the breadth and depth there a little bit?
So, let me just share something with you before I can get to the breadth and depth of that. You know, we have a challenge ahead of us, all of us, right, in this industry, and it’s how are we going to make the CX better for our customers, right? So, Forrester had a study, and they said, “Every year, 1.6 trillion is lost in the US by bad customer service.” 1.6 trillion. Customers who switch businesses or abandon a brand.
If that doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what will. And so, why are they abandoning these brands, right? I’m going to get to what we do and why we do that, right? Why are they doing that? Because if we’re not resolving issues in a most efficient way when a customer calls in and think about your own personal journey, what happens when you call in to pick your favorite airline or doesn’t matter, you know, a restaurant even to make a reservation back in the day, you’d pick up the phone, now you do everything online. And you’re not getting the responses that you need, or we’re not using technology to solve some of the most basic challenges. We’re not figuring out how to take some of the basic information that a customer like you and I need, and then get the answers to the person asking those questions. We fail miserably because how long are you going to sit on a phone for wait times? You’re not. You’re going to hang up, and you’re going to move on, right? So our products at NICE is one that really enhances the way that we communicate and how we go to market with Mpower, with CX1, with our enlightened XO, which is our AI capabilities, right? So really, it’s beyond just now what the contact center is. It’s incorporating all of these AI tools and the AI strategy, you know, to help really drive friction out of companies and be more efficient, be able to retain customers, call containment is a big thing nowadays, right? How do we do that? How do we go back and analyze conversations to see if we can bring customers back into the fold? Or is there another opportunity, you know, to engage with that customer in a way? And this is what we do and what we do well with some of the technology I just mentioned.
So if you think about, if you start to think about what are the products that make all that possible, right? You guys obviously grew up in the inbound space that you mastered that, added in all of the outbound components. What about when you think past that, you know, with regard to workforce management and some of those other things? You want to talk about that for just a sec?
Yeah, great question. Because because data is the key to everything is the key to the oil is the oil, right? I don’t know if you watch Landman, but I’m big on
that’s like the only show that everybody’s like, you’ve got to watch this. I’ve finished Jackal finished all these others have not made it to Landman.
Yes, I’m glad you mentioned oil because now I mean, I’m on Sunday nights, I’m glued in front of the TV watching Landman. And so, yes, so it is the it is the grease that takes the friction out of the technology. Right? So when you look at that, so the data piece of this is how we manage the interactions and the information that we have, getting to understand our customer better, right? And we could do that through some of the technology that I just talked about. So for example,
and I use this, I think once before, so I’ll give you just a personal scenario. So I was on an airplane, and I got off the plane, I got an email, and I couldn’t I got off the plane. I couldn’t I got a text message actually and said, Hey, I need you to look at your email, you have a document you need to sign. Okay. And for some reason, my email wasn’t working. Happens sometimes, email servers still go down for whatever reason, but they do. So I’m panicking now because I’m in an Uber and this is time sensitive information. What do I do? Like I can’t. So I don’t want to stay on the phone because I don’t know what the peak or off time hours for the call center for the, you know, provider had a call into. So I start utilizing their chat pod, right? And and so I start utilizing that. And they’re able to say, Okay, here’s the situation. Here’s how we can rectify it. And here’s what I think you need to do to make sure you get it up and running. And so I do all of this in an Uber, Josh. And by the time I get home, I have my email server up and running. And I’m able to get the docu sign out to the end the time that I needed to get out. But this is what I’m talking about here, right? So technology that is real time that helps us facilitate the concerns and issues that we have. And we do that here at NICE, right? And that’s part of what we provide. Now, I could have called in and waited online for I don’t know how long and not get to bed till 12, 1 o’clock in the morning. But this is at the most basic level is what I’m talking about, right? And then we move up to that next layer of the conversations that we’re having, right? So just say you couldn’t just say the chat bot couldn’t fix my problem. Well, then I need to talk to a customer service agent, right? And they have challenges too, right? How many times have you spoken into a phone and say, Hey, repeat yourself over and over again. Can you say that again? Or they get the contacts, the language incorrect. And you’re just sitting there, you know, talking into your phone over and over again. And, you know, this happens all of the time. So it’s frustrating for the agents, right? So making sure that that handoff and having all the appropriate data available to know what the customer needs reduces not only the frustration for the customer, but for the agent. And then provides incremental revenue opportunities, because these are companies you’re going to want to do business with again.
Yeah, I think the good point in all that is it doesn’t, it doesn’t really matter what the customer doesn’t have yet, or what they’re trying to replace, whether it’s full featured, whether it’s bolt in something you guys have. You kind of have a solve for all of those things, right? Whether it’s the chat bot, whether it’s the outbound, whether it’s the scheduling, whether, you know, the omni channel, just mapping the whole journey, the studio experience. I think that’s, that’s the important thing. And, and I think you bring up a good point that I want to talk about for a second. Personal experience here. So I am, I will give lots of chances. But when I spend a good clip of money on a NICE treadmill, because I am, I’m committed to be better. And the last one burned out. And this other one has cool, you know, little TV on it. And I can kind of journey through the Tasmanian forest while I’m at a 2% incline, you know, all those things that come along with it. I won’t mention any of the names here, but one, one experience, bought the treadmill, had it for nine months, loved it, great treadmill. And then lo and behold, I wake up one day, and the thing is turned into a paperweight, because just the way that they’ve designed it, they had a firmware update that they pushed out to the control unit.
And you’d think, you know, great design, that that would still allow you to use the treadmill, you could just say manual mode, you couldn’t, it was a complete brick. And so something had happened. The wrong firmware update got pushed out. And you, you know, the normal thing will be like a factory reset it couldn’t do it, it was a brick. And so that experience trying to get ahold of customer support was just impossible. They didn’t want to own up. They said, it’s your problem. It’s not a piece of equipment that broke. Sorry, have a great day. Well, then enough people kind of online, you know, got together and then they were like, Hey, I guess we got to do you know. So anyway, long story short, I was able to get a technician out, it took probably three months to get the part, whatever, it’s fine. Part came showed up. Oh my gosh, I’m so happy. This is great.
It’s up, it’s working again. Guess what? Here we are six months later, new problems have arisen. And it’s impossible. It’s just a bad experience. A second time around. I can promise you that I will not buy that same treadmill. I’m trying to make you some big because I’ve invested. But I think that’s the that’s the experience that, you know, we’re always talking with partners of like, Hey, how do you how do you crack into this account? What’s my wedge? What’s my conversation?
I think you really have to do learn a lot about learn a lot about the brand to learn about some of their struggles, ask the contact center managers, ask the IT directors, ask the customer experience people and go or just go through it yourself, right? Because who’d have thought right you to think big company, great platform, you know, what could I ever sell to these guys? You know, it’s example after example. I’m sure you hear similar stories.
I heard a study recently, okay, and I’m going to just look down here. So I want to make sure I get the numbers right. So 31% of CEOs get fired because of poor change management. That’s what we’re talking about here, change management. Another interesting stat is that we talk about AI, but only 30 to 40%. 40% of companies are training their people on it. They know they need it. They’re not sure what it is. And they’re not they’re implementing it. But they’re not effectively training companies. There’s an opportunity here. So so think about the theme here, right? So we got we got CEOs getting fired because a chain poor change management, we have what’s called the frankenstatt. Have you heard that term before?
Right? I was this big.
Okay, so the frankenstatt gets it’s about point to point solutions. They don’t really work anymore. You got multiple integration points, disjointed technologies. It’s hard to work together reporting is hard, the waterfall of upgrades, etc. You know, there’s a lot going on. So what what’s happening here, right? So how are we building a seamless platform that encompasses everybody, all the things that have that customer needs to provide that CX experience, right? Not only it’s for the customers, it’s for the agents themselves. And it’s for the core business, those three tenants, right? And so with our CX at one empower, it’s built. It’s one AI platform, right for a complete customer service automation. That’s what it does. It brings together these pillars for the agents for the knowledge, you know, the knowledge articles and in it, and it orchestrates across the entire business, right? So again, the theme here to me is it moves beyond CCAS, right? So we’re seeing a move beyond the CX platform. We’re seeing a move beyond CCAS and bringing all of the this new technology into that platform. So these things don’t happen, right? So the frankenstatt is real. It’s been happening. And CIOs have to figure out what they’re going to do about it, right? Because I don’t know about you. If I’m a CEO, and 31% of my peers are getting fired as a poor change management.
Got it.
Details matter.
I’m gonna pay attention.
All right, we’re gonna, we’re gonna come back to some additional questions I’ve got for you kind of on pulse and customer demand and things agents in the contact center are struggling with. But one, one thing real quick. So we talked to the beginning about some of your experiences, as you look back to that any these last, you know, 10, 15 plus years, any
hardest lesson you’ve learned or something a great mentor taught you that you want to share.
So, you know, I’m gonna go way back. I’m gonna go to the way back. Do you remember a retail chain called Kmart, Josh?
Hey, my child, I was just talking to somebody about this kid, you’re not my childhood was predicated on the layaway program. Now, I had a little bit of a sad story. Not, not, didn’t always get everything that we put on layaway. Never quite got it all. But yes,
grew up with Kmart, loved Kmart.
Okay, so as a teenager, my parents believe that we should all be working as kids, learn responsibility, earn an income, discipline, all of those things. And so when I was 16 years old, I worked for Kmart. Okay. And my very first job, I was pretty excited about it, like big retail at the time. And I worked in the automotive department. Josh, I didn’t know a whole lot at 16 about, you know, what flew what kind of oil, you know, brands of oil you need for your car or whatever, you know, I was just happy to be there. I blast the stereo real loud. And, you know, because that’s when you were selling car stereos at the time. And, and it was a fun job. And so I had this boss, his name was Charlie Brown. Okay, Charlie Brown, no, no, no, his life was rough.
But go ahead.
Yeah, and he was he was he was a great guy. You know, he taught me a lot, right? As a young kid. And back in the day, we used to have these things called air compressors, they were these big giant air compressors. And they were about three, 400 bucks. And you’d have to roll them out to you. Car to fill you tires up and all these other things. And, and Charlie would take us all as a little group because we’re all teenagers in high school at the time. And he’s like, Hey, whoever sells one of these air compressors, I’m taking them out for a steak dinner. And as a 16 year old, a fancy steak dinner, that’s, that’s kind of NICE. I don’t know about my parents didn’t take me out for fancy steak dinner. So when I was 16, you know, we just didn’t do that didn’t have the money, we just didn’t do it, right. And so I remember working, Josh, and this has nothing to do technology because it’s a little bit of a thing to do technology, but it’s kind of the discipline here, right. And so, so I had a guy walk up and he’s looking at the air compressor. And the only thing I ever memorized in the automotive department was the psi and everything else you needed to know to sell this air compressor because number one, I was competitive. And number two, I wanted to steak dinner. And I wanted to brag that, you know, I sold one of these things because they would sit on the shelf for months, because they’re expensive. And so this guy walks over and man, we are talking about this air compressor, I am selling him Josh. And it’s like nobody’s business. It’s fantastic. And then he looks at me and he goes, Okay, I’m going to come back and get it. And I was like, Yes. So Charlie Brown clocks in for the day he walks up and I run over to him and say, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, he goes, What’s going on? I said, I sold the air compressor. He goes, You did? Congrats, because we’ve had one those bits, like I said, sit on the shelf for months. And he goes, Well, still on the shelf. I said, he’s coming back for it. And I said, Huh? He goes, What do you mean? He says, coming back for a minute, coming back for it. So Charlie Brown walks me over to the cash register. Okay, back in the day, cash, figure out taxes and everything, right? sends me over to the cash register. And he says, Michael quince, show me where the comeback key is on this register.
And I’m a 16 year old kid, and I’m looking up every comeback key, the comeback key, the comeback key. And I’m like, Oh, no. There’s no comeback key. And he says, Do you see the comeback key? I said, No, I do not see the comeback key, Charlie said, Am I missing something? Was I supposed to use the comeback key? Like, well, I don’t know, you know, and he goes, and he walks me over to the air compressor and he looks me in the eyes and he says, You didn’t close him. He’s not coming back for the air compressor. There’s no comeback key on the cash register. So as a 16 year old kid, Josh, I learned is you got to get it done while you have the customer in your presence. And if you don’t sell them there at the time, the chances of them coming back, making that purchase is slim to none. So I know this is not about technology and see cast and AI. But it is a sales story that always resonated with me at my age. Still, I go back to that one time in my life about this mentor who taught me that you when you have people on the hook, you got to sell them not only on the value what they’re going to get out of it and make sure that they’re not going to leave. At the end of the day, so
that was a pretty, pretty good, you know, as a fellow, you know, growing up a Midwesterner, right? I always love a good Kmart reference.
But, you know, it’s a lesson in persistence. Right. I mean, I think that that doesn’t that doesn’t go away. Persistence and hunger have to continue on. And if they don’t, somebody else is going to be hungrier. Right. It’s the same adage of if you don’t bring this up to the customer, likely somebody else is going to write so to your point, understand
don’t be afraid, right? If you see a problem or a challenge that a customer has, talk to them about what that is, and make sure you’re generating the right solution. And I think again, we have quite the opportunity ahead of us here, especially in this field, when I go back to that Forrester study, about 1.6 trillion. Yeah, trillion in the US, my bad customer service, right? So that’s a worthwhile investment, because I don’t I don’t think you want to be one of those companies that are, you know, losing customers because of abandoned rates or they’re switching businesses because they had a bad experience.
100%. It’s a good, it’s probably a good, it’s great segue for our next topic, which is about just some of these struggles that customers are having. So we go through, you know, we may dip in here into a little bit about what’s the struggle that the people managing the call center, you know, the actual agents in the call center go through. But let’s talk about just from what your your experiences, right deals that make it to you guys, things that the customers are struggling with, what we’re here we are, you know, wrapped up 24, we’re jumping into 25. What are the things that your team is coming in with, hey, the, this customer’s got this problem, this customer’s got this problem, right? We know you guys can solve a lot of these, but just help our partners understand, what’s the customer landscape right now in the world of things that they’re working on?
So, so I’m gonna look at this two different ways. So AI is AI, right? Everybody’s talking about AI, right? I mean, there are a lot of AI companies out there, right? We’re starting to see a saturation at some point of hey, I do AI. Yeah, CIOs need know they need AI for they need it for multiple reasons, right? They need, they need it to be more efficient. They need it to be more responsive. They needed to take they needed to take friction out of business, they needed to be able to deploy redeploy, you know, people into jobs that are helping them make money, right? Versus just answering calls all day. But they really don’t know what they need. They just know they need AI. They don’t really know what the data structure or set needs to look like. They don’t know if it should integrate into the current CX platform that they have from a contact center perspective. They don’t realize, you know, that there are a lot of companies out there and do is it a bolt on? Is it this? Is it that, you know? And so it’s, it’s an interesting time for us. Because I think what we were our partners have the greatest opportunity, Josh, is to really educate or understand what the customer’s needs are, and then build that solution around what the customer really, really wants to know. Because it’s no different than, you know, one voice and data converged, everybody was a little confused about what that looks like, because they were always managed so separately, you know, so you use have a voice managed separately, your contact managed, center managed separately. Now it’s one, you know, one solution. And now you’re, you’re integrating another software type around AI. And so what does that really look like for the customers that we’re all serving? And by the way, this is just not a challenge for the mid market or the enterprise customer. This is also a challenge for the S&B. Because the S&B realizes that they have to be even more efficient as well for the customers that they’re serving, right? Because they’re, they do have the same struggles, maybe not at the level of a large enterprise. Or somebody like that, but call containment and some of these other issues still exist with them. And they’ve got to figure it out. So I think there’s a great opportunity for our partner community right now to serve these customers, and really understand what their long term strategy is over the next 12 months, and then help use, you know, work with providers like NICE to figure out a plan that’s going to serve them and serve them well. And not just for the next year, but how we’re going to serve them for the next 5-10 years, right? Because we want them staying with us. And with the partner and adding all of the value, right, as technology continues to evolve.
So as you, to kind of put a bow on that a little bit, if you, if you bucketize what some of those common asks are, it seems to me like it’s a little bit of disparate systems trying to work together, lack of analytics, analytics, reporting, and then this, this AI thing just getting forced on us of, I’ve got to do something, I don’t know what I need it. And maybe is that, are those the best three buckets to kind of put things in from a customer to a vendor?
Yeah, I use a lot of words, Josh, you’re noticing that today. I’m pretty excited to be here today. They’re good words, though. So I’m using a lot of words to get to the three core tenets that you just mentioned. Yeah. And I wouldn’t say AI is being forced on us, you know, I would say that it’s, it’s part of the evolution of serving the customer well, right? And if we’re going to do that, what is the right strategy? You know, because the Frank, I’m going to go back to the frankenstag that I talked about earlier today, it really does exist. And so how do we make that better and more efficient and reduce cost as you’re going through it? You know, so yes, to answer your question, absolutely.
Fair. No, it’s a good point. I mean, it was just such a natural when the, you know, AI train started running when open AI dropped the first model and GPT came out and all our socks were blown off. You know, there was… There was the CX side of things going, guys, we’re kind of already here. I mean, that’s cool and exciting. And so it’s just, it’s exciting to see the natural productization in your world, in your ecosystem, because that is, you know, that is what the customers need. And, you know, I think we have such an opportunity to be proactive in this too, not wait for the customers to tell us, hey, we have a problem. You know, we look to folks like yourself to say, hey, we’ve now implemented this new feature in our chatbot, in our WFM, in our whatever it is that solves this problem in this vertical. And that’s something that they struggle with. You know, partners go tackle this vertical. So it’s, it’ll be exciting to kind of see some of that.
But it’s really the operating system for all things customer intelligence.
Yeah, it really is. If you think about it, think about your operating system or your Windows or your Mac, right? But this is what we’re talking about here, right? So it’s our operating system for all things customer intelligence, to bring that intelligence out, to make sure we have more knowledge going into a conversation than we ever had before, extracting the data from the CRM, right? To make sure that we understand our customer profiles and what they need and what the opportunities are. And it’s also just not about say it’s solving a problem. It’s also looking at what the potential opportunity is with the customer as well. Can you sell them more? While you, while you, the more you know about them, you know, the more you potentially can sell. Remember the comeback key. They’re not coming back again.
So let’s go through an example.
Walk me through an example. You keep the customer name. If you don’t want to share it, that’s fine. But, you know, what was the tech stack before? What was the perceived business problem? And what are just some of the components that got implemented and kind of how did that, what was that ecosystem like for the customer after?
So I’ll tell you about a customer won’t use their name. Okay. But however, they commissioned a benchmark study and they were comparing their customer experience to their competitors. Okay. Pretty common today, right? You know, if you’re in a retail or whatever your line of business is, you want to know how you’re doing against your peers. You don’t want to know that. Right. And so following a lot of discussions,
they realized, and you heard me talk a lot about this today was call containment was a top priority.
Right. So how do I make sure that we’re not missing out on calls and service and serving our customers well? And so they went, they had a collaboration with NICE and they really needed an omni-channel solution. Right. So for folks that may not know what omni-channel really means, it’s really the definition of communicating through multi-channels, whether it’s chat, whether it’s SMS or through Facebook or Twitter or whatever. Right. So they needed an omni-channel solution and they wanted to really build upon the current digital experience that they had, right? The, which was through their CX platform and it all started with the chat pot, right? The most basic level, let’s start with the chat pot. And well, and they didn’t want to guess what customer intent was anymore. Right. Because when you’re guessing at what customer intent is, chances are you don’t know what the customer intent is and probably not going to serve your customer pretty well. So we went through a process with them, right? Based on the CX1 platform, we were able to gain insight to what they really need from an AI perspective. We went through a process with them. We looked at 60,000 previous interactions that this company had with their customers. And we, and through all of these discussions, we realized that enlightened XO was the right solution for them. So I’m just going to go down and check someone really super important, right? So they were able to gain insight that 40% of their inquiries were candidates for automation. 40%. That’s a pretty high number. So based on the calls, based on the previous interactions that we were able to analyze, 40% of their inquiries were candidates for automation.
And really, we also went back and also looked at what some of these customers really needed. And they were able to go back to these customers and look at new opportunities moving forward. So that 40% number, right? Based on just the plain contact center of CX, let’s look at what the call containment was. Let’s figure out what these previous conversations were. Now we realize this is a pretty big number that we can address here. And so from that point on, you know, their call handling result and self-service really went up in a way that made this company more efficient.
Love it. Love it. Good stuff. Yep.
Final couple thoughts here. We’ve got a few more.
As you think about kind of here we are, partners are listening, we’re kicking this off. They’re going to tackle, create new opportunities for 2025.
In addition to everything that we’ve already talked about and anything that they’re already familiar with within your platform, is there anything coming out in 2025? New things we should be excited about that you’re able to share enhancements or anything like that?
I think that, you know, I got to get careful what I share. Oh, yeah. This is not financial advice. This is not financial advice. And so I would say like the future is really going to be around Gen AI, right? What does that look like? How do we personalize content a little bit better for each of the individual, right? So I think as the industry starts to evolve, when we get more comfortable with AI strategies, I think you’re going to start looking at how we use data, right? And how we personalize that data and content from a Gen AI perspective, from a different category perspective. That’s kind of what I see coming in the future.
We’ll take it.
Partners, advice for partners. So if I’m a partner listening to this and I’m deep in, I don’t know, I’m deep in security or I’m deep in just a different product area and I want to go a little bit further in this CX, AI, virtual agents. What’s the advice from your perspective, how partners can be successful?
Yeah, I think the days of just selling bits and bytes and selling, you know, hey, this is what we do now to help you. I think we really have to start listening to our customers a little bit, a little bit more, right? And I think our partners do a really good job of that, but we really need to hone in on what the strategy is and who the decision maker is within these companies now, right? Because the lines of business have such an influence in regards to what the technology is that’s going to help them accelerate their business. So really understanding what the customer strategy is, what are the challenges are they trying to solve, right? Before you even start talking about what the right technology is for them or, you know, we could do this immediately. What are they trying to solve for, right? Have that conversation, understand their pain points. What are they trying to solve for? And then, you know, look at, okay, this is what we can do to help and here’s why, right? We can help you and here are the gains we think we’re going to be able to help you with. And this is what you’re going to look at. This is what’s going to look like for you as this customer over the next little while. So it’s a crowded space right now, Josh. There’s a lot of folks claiming to be that your CX focused companies, you know, I would say just do your homework. Make sure you’re in it. Make sure that you’re looking at the right solutions for your customer because you want that customer for life, right? None of us like churn in this industry and work with the providers like NICE that, you know, that are that have been doing this for a long time and are a market leader. You know, that’s this is why we have people here. Like we have people here to help you, you know, solve those customer challenges. That’s what I would say.
One, one more I want to slip in here just from a I always like, you know, sales tips and tricks and strategies and, you know, all of these things.
I’m a big proponent of the multi-pronged point of contact approach, right? And I think you guys are especially akin to that matters. Are you seeing, you know, for partners that make contact to multiple different folks within the organization? It seems to me like that’s a really key part of a sale within your product. Any any kind of thoughts as opposed to just being locked into one person at the customer?
No, I think that I think the customer has changed a lot over the last little while. Right. And there’s just not one decision maker. I think either the IT director, the CIO is under pressure, you know, trying to he’s got to reduce the cost, find something that’s going to, you know, really,
again, take some of that,
take those disparate systems that they may have and drive into a seamless solution. But I think they’re also listening to the different people within the organization, whether it’s the chief marketing officer or whether it’s the supply chain leader or whatever, because those needs are going to be different. But just also make sure that you have a an advocate, right? Somebody who is the champion within the organization that can speak for all of the different people, because you may not talk to all of the different people, but you’re going to have somebody who who is going to be a facilitator and make sure that you understand what those needs are cross functionally across the company.
Love it. Final question.
A lot of innovation, a lot of exciting stuff coming.
This could be a personal level. This could be a business answer. But anything from an innovations perspective that you’re just most looking forward to over the next couple of years?
I think from an innovation for all for a personal level. Look, I couldn’t be happier to join such a quality company. It’s NICE. I’m just being honest and transparent with you, you know, being with a market leader and seeing the opportunity we have with us and being able to address customer needs like that is something special. You know, on a personal level, I like, you know,
I’m in a I’m in a place now where I’m in a different part of my career and I’m really enjoying that part of my life right now. And then I would say, again, to me, from from from from a from a technology perspective, I want to see I look forward to more of the personalization, you know, of of of of being able to get information and being able to visually see things that maybe I couldn’t have the opportunity to do before.
Picture your house and having seeing where that couch should be right. And then here’s the right one for you. Here’s the patterns for you personalizing that data and information based on your needs. I think that’s going to be exciting for us as we move forward.
Love it. Love it. All right, Mr. Quince, that wraps us up, buddy. I appreciate you coming on. Thanks so much. Lots of lots of good stuff today. Good.
Josh, thank you so much.
I really enjoyed it. Good work. Anybody that a friend of Kmart’s a friend of mine.
All right. You know what? Let’s take a road trip and see if we can find any more open Kmart.
They close them down out here, man. I don’t know if you find one on there.
They did because I didn’t sell their.
She did. Yeah, it’s your fault. It’s your fault. All right. Well, we got to wrap it up. That’s it for today. I’m your host, Josh, Lupresto SVP of Sales Engineering at Telarus. Michael Quince, our VP of Channel Sales at NICE. This has been CX Pulse Real Time Insights that Matter. Until next time, go find a Kmart.
Next Level BizTech has been a production of Telera Studio 19. Please visit Teleras.com for more information.