Avaya Experience Platform - The Future Of CX Today | Tony Lama

Hey CX Nation,

In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #257, we welcomed Tony Lama, SVP & GM of Product at Avaya based in Morristown, New Jersey. 

Avaya gives their customers the freedom to take their business in the directions that benefit them most. They provide the paths for both customers and their employees where every moment big and small can drive in the moment, memorable experiences.

In his role as SVP & GM of Product at Avaya, Tony has spent 25 years training, testing, deploying, supporting, evangelizing, selling, and successfully launching new customer engagement solutions to markets across the globe. 

Tony has served in the trenches and is passionate about the humans he leads and has been focused on supporting them on their personal and professional journeys. 

In this episode, Tony and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team at Avaya think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.

**Episode #257 Highlight Reel:**

1. Blending experience vets with new product teammates to drive innovation
2. Building a "Voice of Builder" program into your business 
3. Bringing a "start-up" mentality into a big enterprise business 
4. Empowering your front line staff to create amazing customer experiences 
5. Boiling your product portfolio down to the golden core tools

Click here to learn more about Tony Lama

Click here to learn more about Avaya

Huge thanks to Tony for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & customer success space into the future.

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Are you looking to learn more about the world of Customer Experience, Customer Success & Revenue Operations?

Click here to grab a copy of my book "The Four CX Pillars To Grow Your Business Now" available on Amazon or the CXC website.

Transcript

Quick recap

Tony Lama, SVP and GM of product at Avaya, shared his extensive experience in the Contact Center technology space and discussed the importance of innovation, agility, and customer-centric approaches in product development. The conversation covered topics such as team composition, challenging the status quo, and leveraging customer feedback to inform product decisions. Tony highlighted Avaya's focus on orchestrating large language models and data to enhance customer experiences, emphasizing the need for businesses to adopt a holistic approach to customer interactions and streamline their product offerings.

Summary

Tony Lama's Contact Center Journey

In the meeting, Tony Lama, SVP and GM of product at Avaya, shared his journey in the Contact Center technology space, spanning 27 years. He started at Aspect, where he wore various hats including courseware developer, sales engineer, project manager, and helped bring two cloud offerings to market. He then worked at AWS, Twilio, and Edify before joining Avaya through the acquisition of Edify. Tony emphasized the importance of intellectual curiosity, reinvention, and forging relationships with senior leaders in his career. He also discussed the unique position of Edify when they were acquired by Avaya, highlighting the value of the technology and the startup mentality of the Edify team.

Balancing Experience and Innovation in Teams

CXChronicles and Tony discussed the challenges and benefits of agility in larger organizations. Tony shared his positive experience at Avaya, a company focused on powering communications for large global enterprises and governments. He highlighted the importance of a balanced team with a mix of experienced and innovative individuals. CXChronicles agreed, noting the potential of combining expertise with a willingness to explore new ideas. They also touched on the importance of blending experience with a lack of fear or fearlessness in a team.

Encouraging Fresh Voices and Challenges

Tony and CXChronicles discussed the importance of surfacing fresh voices and challenging the status quo in their organization. Tony highlighted the need for individuals who aren't afraid to ask tough questions and challenge existing practices. He mentioned the company's efforts to build a 'voice of the builder' program to encourage engineers to share their thoughts and ideas. CXChronicles agreed with Tony's points and expressed interest in the 'voice of the builder' concept, noting its relevance in their client engagements.

Dreaming Big and Operationalizing Feedback

CXChronicles and Tony discussed the importance of dreaming big and setting realistic expectations for product development. They highlighted the value of having diverse perspectives in problem-solving, with engineers and product specialists providing unique insights. Tony shared how their organization is operationalizing customer feedback to inform product decisions, measuring both financial impact and value creation for customers. CXChronicles emphasized the importance of cross-functional communication and the potential for a powerful team when sales, customer success, and product teams collaborate. They also touched on the need for product leaders to listen to customer feedback and sales teams to understand the technology's capabilities.

Designing End-to-End Customer Experiences

Tony discussed the importance of considering the entire customer experience, not just individual interactions. He highlighted Avaya's Experience Designer tool, which allows for end-to-end orchestration of experiences across the enterprise, including post-engagement actions. Tony emphasized the shift from building IVRs and self-service tools to designing experiences, and noted that Avaya's competitors have struggled to keep up with the rapid evolution of conversational AI.

Orchestrating Large Language Models and Data

Tony discussed the company's shift in focus towards being orchestrators of large language models and data. He demonstrated how this approach could be used to manage customer interactions and prioritize engagements. Tony also highlighted the potential for automation in post-call processes, such as policy changes and document delivery, without the need for live agents. He expressed excitement about this vision and its potential to differentiate their services for existing customers.

Shifting to Customer Journey Approach

CXChronicles and Tony discussed the need for businesses to shift towards a customer and user journey approach, leveraging data to enhance customer experiences. They highlighted the importance of understanding customer interactions across various mediums, such as phone calls, emails, chat, websites, and in-person interactions. They also emphasized the need for businesses to utilize customer data to improve sales and product enhancements. Tony pointed out the industry's failure to evolve and adapt to changing customer needs, despite having the necessary tools. The conversation concluded with Tony identifying the unwillingness to sever outdated systems as a significant challenge for businesses.

Product Rationalization and Customer Feedback

Tony and CXChronicles discussed the importance of focusing on fewer products to deliver better value to customers. They highlighted the need for a product rationalization exercise to streamline operations and make investments where customers genuinely want them. They also emphasized the importance of creating a feedback loop to validate the effectiveness of their products and services. Tony shared Avaya's approach to capturing customer feedback and iterating on their processes to improve customer experience and satisfaction. They concluded by discussing the need for regular inspection and learning from failures to continuously improve their processes.

Staying Close to Customers and Field

Tony emphasized the importance of staying close to customers and spending time in the field to understand their needs and feedback. He shared his experience of adopting a product team more connected to the go-to-market organization, which has shown positive results in terms of confidence in the roadmap and execution. Tony also highlighted the value of observing sales and customer interactions, and suggested that leaders should spend more time directly with customers and agents to gain a deeper understanding of their experiences. He encouraged others to reach out and connect with him for more information about Avaya's work and to learn more about the company.

Leadership Roles and Project Alignment

In the meeting, Tony and Adrian discussed their roles and experiences as leaders in their respective companies. Tony shared his recent introduction of the "voice of the builder" program to ensure alignment and prevent off-track projects. Adrian expressed his appreciation for Tony's insights and mentioned his intention to follow up with Tony for more information. Julianne, who was also present, found the discussion informative and appreciated the opportunity to learn directly from Tony. They agreed to stay in touch and share updates on their respective projects.