How do you transition more than 100,000 contact center agents to a work from home setup? And do it without sacrificing the customer experience? In this episode of That’s Genius!, Michael Rose chats with Five9 President, Dan Burkland, about how contact centers can stay safe while providing internal and external customer support during the COVID-19 pandemic.   He talks about:   Transitioning to a Work From Home environment Moving fast to meet changing needs across the globe How cloud-based solutions affect business continuity management Balancing work-at-home and on-prem in our new normal   Additional Resources COVID-19 Resources 10 Tips for Engaging New Agents from Home Five9 FastTrack Program To hear this episode and more like it, subscribe to That’s Genius! on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or tune in on our website.

Having the right space for your home office is one thing.  Having the most reliable technology to get the job done is another. In this episode of That’s Genius!, Michael catches up with Poly team members Declan Doyle (Global Alliance Sr. Manager) and Peter Jakobsen (Director of Global Alliance GTM).   The three discuss: How Poly’s business pivot in 2008 is benefitting them today The benefits and challenges of working from home Why the most reliable tech is essential for agents and other remote workers How to secure your work space from an AV point of view To hear this episode and more like it, subscribe to That’s Genius! on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or tune in on our website.

Technology, consumers, and employees.  These are the three biggest factors shaking up the modern contact center. In this episode of That’s Genius! Michael chats with ClearView president, Paul Liljenquist about the impact of recent changes to the contact center.   They discuss: How to navigate all the new channels customers are using to get in touch Best ways to help agents make sense of the data they’re encountering How gamification is impacting performance within contact centers How dashboarding empowers agents To hear this episode and more like it, subscribe to That’s Genius! on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or tune in on our website.

Agility in the workplace is needed now more than ever. In a time of so many employees working from home, the benefits of the cloud are undeniable. In this episode of That’s Genius! host Michael Rose catches up again with Scott Kolman, SVP of Corporate & Product Marketing for Five9.  The two discuss: Why the cloud is such a powerful tool for small and large businesses alike How the cloud offers more agility in times of emergency The strengths of a cloud-based contact center The benefits of the cloud for remote workers   See the Dimension Data report here. To hear this episode and more like it, subscribe to That’s Genius! on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or tune in on our website.

Customer service has come a long way.  It used to be that if a customer needed help, they had to either make a phone call or come into your physical building.  Customers are leery of coming into contact with anybody if they don’t have to.  Thankfully, a lot of businesses have already set themselves up for customer service success, as Paul Selby highlighted recently on an episode of That’s Genius!    He talked all about:  The key technologies that are helping customer service drive The way that AI and analytics can drastically improve the customer service experience, particularly at this uncertain time.  The 3 biggest improvements to the customer service landscape over the last 10 years.  Listen to this and all our other That’s Genius! episodes with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.

Ready to up your customer service game?   Want to deliver a maniacal customer focus? Ask yourself these questions:   1) How can this customer get the most out of our solution? 2) What is this customer telling me they need? 3) How can my customer maximize our partnership?   Jake Butterbaugh, VP - Global Channel Sales at Five9, joined us on this episode to help answer these questions and more.   We also talked about: What a maniacal customer focus looks like The partner ecosystem The #1 thing customers really want Channel business as a global business The last decade in omnichannel Never miss an episode and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.

Lies or truths?   1) “Work and fun don’t mix” 2) “Call center agents should be miserable” 3) “On-prem is more reliable than the cloud”   We invited Erin Wilson, Director of Solution Consulting at Five9 onto this episode, and she told us why all of the above … are lies.    What we talked about: Cloud-based solutions vs. on-premises Beating the four-nines uptime Why call center agents can — and should — have fun at work Being yourself at work Workplace culture   Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast: Erin’s book, The Sapient Salesman   Never miss an episode and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.

The recent resurgence of focusing on customer experience has been supported by more than just millennials.   Turns out, everybody wants a better customer journey. And technology is sitting behind the wheel.   In this episode of That’s Genius! I speak with co-author of Outside In and the CEO of Bodine & Co., Kerry Bodine. She shares her perspective on the rise of the customer journey manager.   Plus, we cover:   What’s led to the resurgence of the customer journey Why focusing on the customer journey isn’t just for B2C How technology has added exponential value to the customer journey   Resources mentioned in this episode:  - Upcoming webinar on customer journey.    - The Ultimate Question.   To hear this episode and more like it, subscribe to That’s Genius! on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or tune in on our website.

It’s impossible to ignore the flexibility and scalability the cloud offers to contact centers today.   Even with all the amazing changes the cloud offers, Five9’s approach to partnerships has held steady, resulting in strong alliances across the globe.   In this episode of That’s Genius! Sabine Winterkamp — Sr. Director of International Marketing at Five9 — updates us on the growth and trends we’re seeing in the cloud contact center space.   Plus, she covers:   Five9’s secret sauce for strong global partnerships Cloud contact center trends in Europe Big events for Five9 in 2020   Learn more about CCW Berlin here. To hear this episode and more like it, subscribe to That’s Genius! on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or tune in on our website.

How many nights a year do you stay in a hotel? For a lot of us, not many. For Nick Delis, who was a guest on the That’s Genius podcast recently, the answer is over 150.   That’s half the year.    So it makes sense that he would have a thing or two to say about customer service, and which brands are doing it well, and which ones are falling short.  Nick was on the show recently and we talked all about:    What he looks for in customer service. Which brands are doing an outstanding job. Why it’s often the smallest things that make the biggest difference in customer service.    Listen to this and all our other That’s Genius episodes with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.