The ActivateCX Podcast
Join Frank Rogers on The ActivateCX™ Podcast, your resource for demystifying, clarifying, and providing guidance around AI, CXM, and the modern Cloud Contact Center.
In this Podcast series, Frank interviews Thought Leaders, Unpacks critical AI & CX technology, and addresses the leading Experience topics of the day.
#cx #customerexperience #ai #ex #cxm #contactcenter #salesstrategy
The ActivateCX Podcast
Revealing secrets of Zoom and their CX Plans
https://activateCX.arroyo360.com/ai
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Zoom has the CX Industry Shaking in their boots with their NEW AI Contact Center solutions. Find out more as we chat with special guest Brandon Knight about all things Zoom, AI, and customer experience in contact centers. Don't miss out on this insightful conversation!
Chapters
00:00 Cloud Native
02:27 Does Zoom have the Engineering chops?
04:47 Data is the New Oil
08:21 The Automation Story
11:03 Proof is in the Pudding
13:18 Delivering on the Promise
15:24 Being a Good Partner
17:32 Contact Center Evolution
20:52 In Closing
#podcast #contactcenter #ai #customerservice #salesstrategy
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Brandon, welcome to the show Frank. Thanks for having me, man. I've been watching, so I'm excited to be here. I'm looking forward to this. So zoom is born in the cloud and still a lot of the contact center industry is sitting on on prem. It's kind of Shocking to think that that's still an occurrence, but it makes sense because there's just been a ton of investment. It's hard to make that move. How does zoom handle that conversation with customers? One, Hey, we're new to the market or an upstart. We're changing the way things are done. We're a single pane of glass. all our technology is in house. How do you also, because you have this cloud based background, how do you get people to move off of on prem? Yeah, I think you have to be in intentional about it. One thing is you need to be able to effectively communicate the story. What does the move look like? Because people that have been on-prem and I manage contact centers and the, and and premises based equipment. I've been in the game a long time, and then cloud equipment. And the implementation, the installation office, it's a heavy, painful experience in most cases. And sometimes that's, what's in that leader's mind when they're thinking, Oh, you want me to get new technology? They don't understand the cloud experience of starting up and premises experience is nothing. They're, incomparable. That's the 1st thing. I think the other thing is the onus is a little bit on the vendor to make that an easier experience. The way we've actually done that is we have taken the mindset that we're actually going to integrate and cooperate with the mitel with Avaya. These are announcements that we've made. So we will run our technology piece and parcel with Avaya. We'll run it with Mitel. So now, you're taking the WEAN approach. That's our approach in some cases, because if someone's heavily using Avaya premises based equipment across multiple locations, Telling them that they're going to stop on the 30th of June and then start on the 1st of July, a new system that just doesn't work. So we believe in telling the story and executing, but we also understand the importance of integrating pieces of our software. So you can have a hybrid environment for a while, while you transition from one to another. And we we've actually seen that be very successful and not just with the ones that I mentioned but I think it works to allow the customer to function in a hybrid environment while they work towards the cloud Being available, I think is possibly one of the best experiences that you can have in a contact center, aside from all the other great features and functionality. What has zoom done to harden the infrastructure? Build in things like disaster recovery. How large can you scale? That is something that we did have to take a little different approach to than simply having the voice that existed in our meetings environment, because we, it didn't require many changes in the states because the way we already set up, but it did require some changes when you're talking international, when you're talking phone and context center internationally. The data that's being stored. So more data centers, more pops, more regional locations. More, more backups, as you said, infrastructure, because now you're, talking the volume, of traffic is going back and forth, even down to the security this required, when you're doing a meeting, you have the option of recording the meeting or not recording the meeting, right? So it can simply be a live stream thing. When you're doing a call and you're moving data around and then you're storing things in CRM and stuff like that. So we did have to bolster our, our infrastructure a bit. And it was like I said, in the beginning that's almost like playing with toys when you're talking to developers and it people, which is our company, is mostly made up of IT folks and developers and backend folks. So when you say when we look at and go, wow, you know what, that might not be the right setup for where we're going. That was the right setup for our legacy products. That might not be the right setup for for CX. Our IT folks are going yeah, that might not be the right setup. I got it. they're excited about it. And they look at the challenge and the ability to to grow and expand and and bolster And i'm not one of those guys, but i've been privy to a couple of those meetings, early on and I see those guys talk about I mean the diagrams They look at first of all make my eyes cross but for them it makes perfect sense and they look at the redundancy that's required And the avoiding latency by having more regional pops based on where volumes coming from and where you can get phone numbers versus where you have they do all that stuff. And it was a fun exercise. A lot of which happened before I got here, but I got to come in on the tail end and see where, where they were going. Brandon data in the contact center is. Fundamentally equivalent to power. What from a real time data and historical data perspective is happening inside of the zoom platform to make it a leader in terms of data management and data insights? Yeah, I think it goes back to the AI conversation a little bit. We we have, I mean, even before the contact center, we have, Access with, with permission, not every customer gives you permission, right? But the majority of the customers give permission to access to all of the meetings that are happening worldwide, all of those conversations. So, imagine not just the ones that happen in a contact center space, right? Of course we have access to that information with customer permission. But now think. Everyone that has used zoom over the last 10 years, especially the boom of the pandemic, our AI companion, having access to all of that data, every script, every word that was said in every meeting that we have access to compiling that information and making it actionable. You can start to think that not only grandiose things like about products And industry, but even minute things, like, , everybody that has calls in the Southeast tend to respond better to someone who sounds like this, or who approaches it this way, or you find things like soft skills matter more, , in the Southeast than they do in the Northeast, so it's, the data, I think, because we've had access to it for so long in different arenas, not just the contact center and arena. I think it's actually put us ahead because instead of , like a lot of companies, we say to a customer, Hey, we'll collect the data that you want to collect with permission from your customers for you to use. That's, one position, but we're also saying, Hey, as a zoom customer, we also have this whole batch of data back here that we've collected outside of the contact center industry about customers and people with permission. That could help you leap ahead of your competitor because we're not just getting information from your specific customer or even from one industry for that matter. So I think the ability to collect and use data effectively is something that we're well ahead of. A lot of clients like to manage their own data so they want access to APIs. What kind of provision do you have for that in inside the platform? And how do you take that integration seriously? We take it seriously by realizing that while we have access to it and compile it, it's not ours. It's not our data. So we have APIs of course pushing, pulling we integrate, of course, into all the known CRMs and we're actively Looking for more. And in this case, we did even do some of the, what some people might consider some of the niche CRM, or maybe some of the systems that are specific to the health care industry, right? It was important for us to be able to provide access to the industries that we support as well. And again, that, that goes back to not just allowing the access with permission, but that meant additional security, additional protocols, because you want to be PCI compliant, you want to be HIPAA compliant, all those things. So it was something that we had to go into with our eyes wide open and knowing that those types of things didn't exist in the meeting space, but they were necessary for the CX space. When we think about automation, that's a big term that's used. It's a broad term, but it's used a lot in the contact center world where we're trying to automate follow up processes. It could be after action notes, like we're talking about here, we're using AI, but there's just so many things that can be done from the standpoint of leveraging the data that we're getting and creating automation that comes from that. What is being engineered inside of the zoom platform to support that need? I think a couple of things, like you said, we have the normal things like , resolution codes and stuff like that after the call. One of the ones that I think that is, is is really good as the, is the after call surveys. We know a lot of companies do them. Some companies require the agent to do something or the customer to do something. I like that, that you have the ability to have them preset. So it simply starts when the, when the agents call us over, the customer isn't required to do anything. But I think making the data we're getting from the surveys, most surveys will say they'll return something to you that said, Hey, Yesterday, 80 percent of your customers scored you a three out of five on whatever, and you can go read some area if you want to, get specific comments. What I think is cool about, about adding AI to the surveys is you don't have to go look for that, you can, the system can tell you as a leader, Hey, yeah, you got an 85 yesterday or you got, the majority of the people said three, but there's a reoccurring thing that we, that we found in the surveys that might mean there's a, there's an actual issue with this specific product. Because people are scored, they scored the agent. Well, they scored the service. Well, but every, every, every, 8 out of 10 calls that we got on this specific product mentioned a wheel, or something like that. So , it's proactively having the AI proactively scrub the data, I think, is providing insights that I'm not going to say they weren't available, but I do think in the old way of doing it, you had to go find them, you had to go look for them. And I think that's the benefit of, of the way we're using it now is the AI will bring it to you proactively. And to your point, you can use that to then reach out. To that customer regardless of the type of call or email or text chat they had, you can reach out as an organization and say, Hey, you know what? We've identified something. Or you take that data back to your product team and say, Hey, you We've been getting a lot of this, ,and in the contact center gets all that information. We've always gotten that information. There hasn't always been a good way of giving it back to leadership or back to the product team and using it to make a difference, or if it was, it was manual. Having that be done systemically is, is, I think provides tremendous value to accountants in operation. Where's zoom winning? You're in the marketplace now, a couple of years in, your landing engagements with clients, you're building relationships. Are there industries? Are there sub industries? Are there specific use cases where zoom is coming out on top? Yes. And some of them surprised me in the beginning. Some of them were helped by COVID. So I'll give credit, even though it sounds weird to give credit to a pandemic, but, I don't. It's a catalyst. Exactly. Catalyst for it. Yes. Because. What we found is that during that time people weren't able to go into their doctors like normal. So the healthcare became huge because people were more inclined to make an appointment or have a conversation when they can see their healthcare provider. So the video aspect took off, honestly, it was way more important than even my ignorance coming into zoom but seeing the importance of video in health care has really been a driver for us seeing the importance of video in the legal industry. Of all places, because again, people are more likely to have a conversation with therapists with attorneys and things when they can see them. So, so that's an area that we've been winning and healthcare is a big space for us as well as places. That we call non traditional. I'm not sure what the industry would say, but we've had a lot of success with help desk in smaller support teams and HR teams , marketing teams, people that if you probably went to their company and say, Hey, do you have a contact center? They probably like, no, we don't have that, but they could benefit. And the way I say it is. We have found a lot of success with people who might not consider themselves a contact center, but they're benefiting from contact center technology. And that's been really good for us. And of course it goes without saying that anyone that already has zoom has been a slam dunk for us because they, they know the user adoption is going to be easy. They know their employees already know what their product is. They go into it every day. They're using it already. So when, when we're talking and you just adding a phone icon in that app or adding a headset icon in that app our close ratio with existing zoom customers is insane from the standpoint of delivering a solution, you're going to buy a contact center technology and it can take three months, four months of time of going through this iterative process of design and build and UAT and everything else, all the user acceptance testing. For you, what have you invested into that process in terms of training materials, support materials, your support teams making sure that once people have actually made that choice that that choice is actually reinforced by their experience once they go live. Yeah. Shout out to our PSO team, our service team. Because it was a pivot for them, right? I mean, you're talking a team that was originally designed to help people stand up meetings. And to understand how webinars go, right? So it required a shift in their thinking, a shift in their skill set, right? Which meant bringing in some people, including, new leaders that were more. aware, more skilled in the phone space, the contact center space to understand those limitations. So it required that team to grow. And then, like you said, the materials we had to make a whole library of things that didn't exist. Well, I mean, written material, videos. And then we went so far as to make actual trainings like you can actually get a competency. You can get a certification and how to implement zoom contact center. Because we had to go through the process of building that it improved the skillset and the knowledge of everyone associated with implementing and running projects, here at zoom, but it also helped us understand. We need to be sure our customer is not only confident in their purchase, but But in the delivery and implementation and ongoing usage of it, we have set follow ups with our customers because we do want to know, it's not a sales follow up. This is what we implemented. Are you using it to its full potential? Because remember, I was thinking back to our very first thing, one of our drivers is utilization. We don't want to have features out there. We don't want to sell things that customers aren't actually using. I think you can probably understand and speak to this better than me, but inside of the contact center industry, a QBR typically sounds like, Hey, we've looked at your usage and what is your growth look like in the next? Could we be getting some more licenses? It's not, it's not real smart. And it's not helpful. For zoom. What are you doing to change that. iterative processes with the client in terms of having a better conversation. What are you measuring from your side to understand that you're actually doing the right thing for the client? I think it goes back to the data. And because we are, all in on how the AI can assess data proactively. So, you're right. So now we're not going to our customer because I gave a scenario before about how a supervisor or leader of the contact center could get to information and how I could give that information to the product team. But suppose for whatever reason, whether it's business, whether it's ignorance, whether it's lack of resources, suppose the company themselves. Isn't utilizing that function or, or doesn't have the bandwidth to be proactive, right? It happens. We have the ability to do that now. So now we're not just going and saying, Hey, look how many calls you took last month, we have the ability of sharing the data that same data that we're collecting from the AI on your calls and all of your interactions and bring it to the forefront in those QBRs in those periodic meetings. So for some customers. It'll be redundant. They'll be like, Oh, yeah, we saw that. And this is what we did. But for some, it will be like, Oh, wow, we missed that. And then we can take the further step without brand names. If I'm dealing with someone in the healthcare space or the retail space or space, but we have a lot of big name customers and I have a customer that has a known issue that was brought to us by AI scrubbing their interactions. We actually have the ability to talk through potential,, best practices with them. And of course we're not the only ones to do that. There's, there's a lot of benchmarking companies out there that will share that data. But I, think that's the extra step that we're going for our happiness. Well, I believe that you can't have the intention of putting everybody in a position to win. Actually, that should be the intention doesn't always work out that way. There's not necessarily like a perfect scale, but you can deliver better outcomes for everyone if you really try. And that sounds like that's something that you're working on from from the standpoint of Exciting developments in your platform. What do you see as, as interesting coming into the realm of contact centers that, you see zoom taking a role in? Wow. I think for us, the excitement comes from, and right now it's AI, but I think what a lot of people don't realize is when you say AI, this already Frank, but a lot of people don't know that you say, Hey, they think, Oh, either robotics or something on the front end or chat bots or something on the backend. The reality is, AI can be applied across the board. to almost anything and everything in different aspects. If there's data available that can be formed, if there's interactions that take place that you can, that you can learn from. So that's what's exciting to me. We actually are looking now holistically at our Employee experience products like, like work Depot and chat and the things we have on the backend and our customer experience products at the contact center and the phone and the workforce management. And we're looking at how can we use AI to tie them together? And not just for the sake of having technology that works together, but for the business, the business that we're building. If the information that is available to a customer facing person is more quickly combined, sorted, pulled apart, made actionable and given to a back office person or a leader, then that improves that business. So that's what we're looking at right now. That's where we're going. And the idea is. from people way smarter than myself who sit who sit around, writing on whiteboards are phenomenal. And then they're exciting, honestly, because I've seen how things go from whiteboard to launch here. So i'm excited for that. Yeah actionable is a key word You're you're in an elevator. You're going up 60 floors it's one of those 40 to 60 floors deal. So that zero to 40 goes pretty fast And you're talking to a a potential prospect, What is your non sale statement about why zoom contact center versus the competition? Honestly, my non sales statement goes back to, to user adoption either fortunately or unfortunately, because I'm an operator first, like I have the role at zoom now, but, like you, I grew up in contact centers. I was an agent supervisor manager. So, my approach is always as an operator first. So if I'm talking to someone I share the biggest thing about a true omni channel, like everything in one application, is the agent, havin accessible to them in an to teach them something because knows how to use them. Gives them the tools they job well and when they ha their job well, they deli So my thing is all a going to use this. It's not a pure riff. It's just easy. And I like easy. You have a heart for the agent. I love that. Yeah. Brandon, thanks for being on the show. I appreciate it, man. Thanks for, thanks for doing what you do. I can tell you again, as an operator, I appreciate this type of work? And I just think back to myself when I was a manager and stuff, having and it's not like it was anyone else. But having true experts talk about real issues, not sales stuff I think is what helped me become better as a manager and would be my operation better. It wasn't always the sales guy that came in to pitch me something, it was, it was look, this is a real problem that happened in the contact center. This is what we can do about it. Those, things made my career quite frankly. So I appreciate the fact that you're still waving that flag, man. Thank you. Well, I think that, competency is it's the new way. It's always been the same. It's always been the way to getting things done, but people are recognizing it and appreciating it more than ever. And to have competency, you have to toil in anonymity for a while while other people are out on the surfboard or being towed behind a boat, you're grinding on something, but that's how, that's how you got there. That's how I got there. Yeah. Appreciate you I Appreciate it, man. Thanks for having me.
