This episode dives deep into the balance between automation and human connection in modern customer support.

Dan O’Connell, CEO of Front, joins Darren Prine to unpack how Front powers over 9,000 businesses to deliver seamless, personalized service at scale — using AI the right way.

From breaking silos to redefining collaboration, Dan explains why the best companies are moving toward unified customer operations platforms that combine AI efficiency with human empathy.

💬 Key Takeaways:

Don’t automate for the sake of automating — start small, scale smart

A single platform can power every channel: chat, email, voice, and social

Unified inboxes improve visibility, collaboration, and agent confidence

AI should enhance relationships, not replace them

🎧 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CTt1y0gyWMo
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@thecontactcenterguruspodcast?sub_confirmation=1

Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.

Can analytics turn your contact center from a cost center into a driver of revenue and loyalty?

In this conversation, Darren Prine and Jim Iyoob explore the new era of QA, one that’s powered by AI, data, and predictive insights.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Why QA must evolve from checking boxes to changing behaviors

How predictive coaching helps agents improve before they fail

What happens when analytics connect performance to outcomes

How the right QA solution delivers measurable ROI and customer loyalty

Why data security and trust are essential in modern CX

💡 About Jim Iyoob:
President of ETS Labs and Chief Customer Officer at Etech Global Services
– 35+ years of contact center leadership
– Creator of QEval, an AI-powered QA and coaching platform
– Co-author of 5 industry books
– Oversees operations managing 1B+ customer interactions annually

🎧 Subscribe to The Contact Center Gurus Podcast for more insights from CX innovators.

Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.

What happens when AI meets the human side of customer experience?

In this episode, we discuss:

How to break down silos across voice, email, chat, and social

Where AI is making the biggest impact today (agent assist, routing, analytics)

Why balancing automation with empathy is the real differentiator

How CX leaders can shift from cost centers to revenue drivers

Hidden costs of tech sprawl and the smarter way forward

Why security and compliance can make or break CX

💡 Pat Reetz, Chief Growth Officer at LinkLive, brings 20+ years of experience in product, marketing, and digital transformation, shaping CX solutions in highly regulated industries like healthcare and finance.

🎧 Subscribe to The Contact Center Gurus Podcast for more insights from CX innovators.

Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.

Host: Darren Prine
Guests: Brad Garner & Aaron Symbolik (Krista)

What can AI really do for enterprises right now? Spoiler: it’s far more than chatbots and hype. In this episode, we dive into real-world wins, missed opportunities, and why leaders can’t afford to “wait and see” when it comes to AI adoption.

Key topics include:

Enterprise-wide AI impact: beyond ChatGPT

How AI solves bottlenecks across knowledge, documents, decisions, and people

Case Study 1: A national alarm company saving $1M+ a year on truck rolls

Case Study 2: A title agency automating 9 forms for faster closings

Co-Pilot vs Autopilot: from AI assist to end-to-end automation

The “Star Trek computer” vision—is it closer than we think?

Why “wait and see” on AI is a career-limiting move

ROI proof: replacing 6+ FTEs with AI for less than the cost of one

Guest Bios:

Brad Garner – Senior Strategist at Krista, helping organizations unlock enterprise automation and streamline operations.

Aaron Symbolik – Head of Solutions at Krista, passionate about translating business needs into AI-powered wins.

Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.

Guest:
Martin Hobratschk, CEO of Cognita Knowledge Management

Host:
Darren Prine, Cloud Tech Gurus

Episode Overview
Knowledge management is often overlooked — or worse, misunderstood. Many companies think a SharePoint folder or Google Docs library is enough. In reality, these “digital landfills” slow down agents, frustrate customers, and hurt retention.

In this episode, Darren speaks with Martin Hobratschk about the state of knowledge management and how it’s evolving with AI. They cover the real symptoms of broken systems, the business value of doing KM right, and practical steps leaders can take to evaluate, select, and optimize a true knowledge management system.

Key Topics

The difference between a knowledge base and a true KMS

Symptoms of poor KM: repeat customer calls, long agent onboarding, siloed knowledge

The role of KMS in remote and BPO environments

How AI and automation are transforming knowledge sharing

Why knowledge governance is as important as data governance

The ROI of effective KM — from faster onboarding to higher CSAT

How to evaluate readiness and select the right system

Resources Mentioned

Martin’s Book: MVP KB: A Practical Guide for Customer Service Knowledge Management

Free Assessment Toolkit: https://www.cognita-km.com/toolkit

Cognita Knowledge Management: https://www.cognita-km.com

Cloud Tech Gurus: https://www.cloudtechgurus.com

Connect with Martin

Website: https://www.cognita-km.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hobratschk/

Connect with Darren

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenprine/

Website: https://www.cloudtechgurus.com

Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.

Welcome & Background – Jeofrey’s journey and why Gen Z is the focus of his new book.

Why Gen Z is Changing Everything – habits, buying power, and expectations.

The Importance of Trust and Peer Reviews – how Gen Z validates decisions.

Customer Experience Intelligence (CXI) – using data and insights to serve Gen Z.

Balancing Human Touch and AI – why this generation expects both.

Workshop Preview – frameworks and takeaways from the Next Generation CX Workshop.

Final Thoughts & Calls to Action – Jeofrey’s three key takeaways.

Resources Mentioned:

Next Generation Customer Experience Workshop: https://bit.ly/NexGenCXFL

Del Mar Research: https://delmarresearch.com/

Next Generation Customer Experience (Book by Jeofrey Bean): https://a.co/d/5jdqTe2

Connect with the Guests:

Jeofrey Bean – LinkedIn | Website

Darren Prine – LinkedIn | Cloud Tech Gurus

Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.

While the book(s) on Customer Success were already written years ago, embracing Customer Success is still a challenge for many CEO’s and CSL’s. In a sea of opinions, it is easy to follow those who tell you what you like to hear and call uncomfortable messages Fake News.

Follow the lead of the Usain Bolt’s and Tom Brady’s in Customer Success and learn a handful of strategies to achieve 28% higher Net Revenue retention.

#Balto #SupportLogic #Ozonetel #CloudTechGurus

Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.

About Vicki Brackett

Recognized as a subject-matter operations expert on virtual/work-at-home environments and leadership development, Vicki Brackett has written for and been interviewed by Forbes, Fast Company, Fortune Magazine, CFO Magazine, CEOWorld, HR News, Woman Diversity, Training Magazine, ICMI, Contact Center Pipeline and a host of other publications, news outlets and podcasts on creative work-at-home, leadership and employee engagement strategies.

Vicki is the author of ‘The Leadership Toolbox - Manage Less Achieve More,’ a book about her experience leading contact center organizations from 200 to 2000+ people across industries ranging from consumer technology, education, automotive, cosmetics, nutrition & other consumer products. Her book showcases a systematic approach to leadership that can transform organizations into top-performing status at an accelerated pace, where employees love coming to work, are engaged & help move the organization forward.

Vicki Brackett is the architect of Virtual Live Labs™, a transformative methodology, that combines interactive consulting and leadership development, simultaneously, to drive operational excellence and increased leadership skills for all levels of leadership, including front-line supervisors. Results include:

• Higher employee engagement and performance

• Accelerated employee retention

• Reductions in employee absenteeism

• Increased employee productivity/utilization

• Higher customer satisfaction

• Increased sales revenue

• More bottom-line contribution

This systematic approach accelerates improvement to KPIs in both work-at-home and hybrid environments by integrating Virtual First™ leadership tools. Organizations become more nimble, and able to maneuver through the current, ever-changing business climate. Leaders become active leaders and learn to break down challenges, coordinate viable solutions across teams, & execute - with results that can be measured.

Episode Sponsors www.supportlogic.io www.balto.ai/guru www.ozonetel.com www.cloudtechgurus.com #balto #supportlogic #ozonetel #cloudtechgurus #cx #customerexperience #contactcenter #AI #NLP #CCaaS #QA #QM

Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• Advantages of cloud contact centers
• How to track agent productivity.
• New innovations in contact center space.
• How AI can be integrated into the contact center space.
• How contact centers are moving towards conversations.

Episode Sponsors www.supportlogic.io www.balto.ai/guru www.ozonetel.com www.cloudtechgurus.com #balto #supportlogic #ozonetel #cloudtechgurus #cx #customerexperience #contactcenter #AI #NLP #CCaaS #QA #QM

Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.

Hear how a national non-profit organization nearly doubled their internal NPS employee satisfaction score by using proven tools and concepts to address and improve their agency's culture and by using technology to assist in employee engagement in a nearly 100% remote working environment.

Short list of how we live our culture of KCAs (Key Cultural Attributes)

1. President’s Council focus on Culture (detail below), which includes both front-line staff and leaders
   1. A Culture Turned
   2. KCAs
   3. KCA focused company-wide events
   4. Upcoming in January: KCA training for leaders
2. Hurricane Ida $26k dollars
3. Karen Soileau Scholarship Fund
4. Strategic Goal is to invest in our employees
5. Hiring of SVP of HR & Diversity
6. Rollout of leadership 360s
7. COA accreditation – anticipate passing with flying colors are every 4 year accreditation that looks at things such as training, quality client rights, financial governance, HR practices, etc.
8. Yammer
   1. the All Company Community which includes President’s message in which employees can directly engage with President
   2. plus employee created communities such as pets, food, gaming, personal finance
9. Using technology to remove layers of bureaucracy and creating transparency

Episode Sponsors

www.supportlogic.io

www.balto.ai/guru

www.ozonetel.com

www.cloudtechgurus.com  

#balto #supportlogic #ozonetel #cloudtechgurus #cx #customerexperience #contactcenter #AI #NLP #CCaaS #QA #QM

Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.