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With a robust background as a Global Product and Sales Leader, Nick Parmar has consistently propelled global sales growth and spearheaded business development in highly competitive sectors such as enterprise B2B SaaS, CPaaS, CCaaS, UCaaS, and cloud services. His strategic focus on enhancing Total Experience (TX) through Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX) has set him apart in the industry.
In the initial decade of his career, Nick focused on mobile hardware and software applications tailored for complex enterprise needs. Over the recent decade, his attention has pivoted to the Collaboration industry, covering Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), and Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS). His professional journey includes pivotal roles at OpenMarket (acquired by Infobip), mGage (acquired by Kaleyra and later by Tata Communications), Nexmo (acquired by Vonage), Wavecell (acquired by 8×8), and Tata Communications. In his latest role, he led as a Sales Leader and Business Unit Head, managing the CPaaS and CCaaS portfolios for Tata Communications.
Throughout his career, Nick has engaged with numerous enterprise customers, enhancing their operations to deliver outstanding Customer Experience. He has observed the difficulties customers encounter with fragmented Collaboration products and services, often struggling to integrate the right mix of platforms to optimize CX. As the Business Unit Head of CPaaS and CCaaS at Tata Communications, Nick played a crucial role in developing a new product line, the Customer Interaction Suite (CIS), which unified services to facilitate enhanced CX.
Nick has been happily married for 15 years, and together with his wife, they’ve built a vibrant life in sunny Southern California. Their love story began in 2008, thanks to a dating site—a nod to Nick’s early passion for technology. They are proud parents of two energetic wonderful kids: a 12-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son, along with their 3-year-old GoldenDoodle, who is practically a third child! Their household is a whirlwind of activity, from soccer and baseball games to fencing and taekwondo practices, not to mention cello lessons.
Though Nick’s busy schedule doesn’t leave much time for sitting down with a book, he’s found a way to indulge his love for reading by listening to audiobooks on Audible during his morning and evening dog walks. Recently, he’s been inspired by Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson and Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle—books that fuel his passion for innovation and leadership.
Nick holds an MSEE from Monmouth University and a BSEE in Electronics Engineering from DDIT. Over the years, he has also earned executive education certifications from Columbia University, MIT, and the Kellogg School of Management.
About The Series
This is the tenth installment in the “One Expert, One Topic” series, where field experts select a topic and share essential insights using Matt Abrahams’ What/So-What/Now-What format. Presented in written form, it allows you more time to absorb the topic and guides you on where to go for further learning. Writing is both challenging and time-consuming; we are grateful to our contributors for sharing their wisdom in this format.
Topics in this contribution: Twilio, Genesys, Zoom, Salesforce, Qualtrics, Talkdesk, Sprinklr, Vonage, 8×8, Cisco, Tata Communications, Shep Hyken, Rich Hein, IBM Consulting, RedPepper, Forbes, Emarsys, SAP, Vonage, Ericsson, Northwestern University, RCG Global Services, Tata Communications, CX Today.
What
Customers have countless options, with numerous brands competing for their attention. To stand out, brands must create meaningful and memorable experiences that captivate and engage customers, fostering emotional connections that lead to loyalty and repeat business. Customer experience (CX) encompasses the overall perception and emotional connection a customer has with a company across all touchpoints and interactions, from initial contact through the entire customer journey.
To deliver exceptional CX, brands must meet key expectations, including personalized interactions, a seamless omnichannel experience, and quick, efficient service. Customers also value proactive support, transparent communication, empathy, continuous improvement, and robust data security. Meeting these expectations enhances customer satisfaction, loyalty, and overall experience.
Numerous SaaS platform companies collaborate with brands to facilitate a meaningful customer journey. With a plethora of SaaS platforms available, brands often use multiple platforms to achieve optimal results. Here are some examples of taglines from different SaaS platform companies, reflecting their commitment to providing the best CX, despite their origins as specialized, siloed platforms:
- Twilio: “Connect the dots across your customer journey with better data + AI. Twilio is the industry-leading and trusted platform that efficiently powers your customer engagement innovation.”
- Genesys: “Transform your CX for the age of AI. Deliver the future of customer and employee experience today. All built on the #1 AI-powered experience orchestration platform.”
- Zoom: “One platform for limitless human connection.”
- Salesforce: “Build lasting relationships that drive growth with Marketing Cloud.”
- Qualtrics: “Go all-in on making every experience count.”
- Talkdesk: “Our mission – Rid the world of bad customer experiences.”
- Sprinklr: “Unparalleled AI. Unmatched Productivity. Unified Customer Experience.”
These SaaS platforms can be categorized under collaboration services (CPaaS, CCaaS, or UCaaS), marketing automation platforms, customer experience management platforms, and customer engagement platforms. In recent years, the explosion of generative AI has exponentially benefited all players in the ecosystem. Generative AI enhances customer experience by enabling personalized interactions, efficient customer support, proactive problem-solving, automated content creation, sentiment analysis, and continuous learning from customer data.
There is no doubt that the implementation of AI in customer experience (CX) is expected to significantly boost revenue. According to Boston Consulting Group, companies that effectively utilize generative AI anticipate cost savings and increased productivity, which directly contribute to revenue growth. Specifically, 54% of leaders expect AI to deliver cost savings in 2024, with roughly half of these expecting savings to exceed 10% (BCG Global).
Brands have discovered numerous ways to engage with their customers and deliver top-tier CX by utilizing multifaceted platforms, often integrating multiple solutions to achieve an ideal, seamless experience.
So What
Imagine you are purchasing an item from your favorite retailer, which has both physical and online stores. As a loyal customer, you receive promotional coupons via SMS, email, or through the retailer’s branded app. These promotions are typically triggered by a marketing automation or customer engagement platform. After making your purchase, you receive shipping notifications from a third-party logistics company, either directly or through the brand, if you have enabled such notifications. Upon receiving your item, you might call the brand for support, which is facilitated by a Contact Center platform. If the agent needs to escalate the issue, they might consult internally through the contact center platform or an internal Unified Communication tool like Slack.
Throughout this customer journey, at least 3-4 different platforms are used, with data stored either in these platforms or consolidated into a single platform using a workflow tool like Zapier to integrate the various SaaS platforms. Siloed CX platforms present significant challenges for brands striving to deliver seamless and personalized customer experiences. These challenges include:
– Fragmented Customer Data: Siloed systems hinder a holistic understanding of customers, leading to disjointed interactions and missed personalization opportunities.
– Inconsistent Customer Journeys: Disparate tools and data create fragmented experiences, causing customer frustration and potential churn.
– Limited Personalization: Siloed data prevents brands from leveraging insights to deliver tailored experiences, resulting in lower engagement and loyalty.
– Operational Inefficiencies: Managing multiple platforms increases complexity, costs, and response times, hindering overall operational efficiency.
– Difficulty Measuring CX Impact: Dispersed data complicates accurate measurement of CX initiatives, making it harder to identify areas for improvement and justify investments.
– Negative Impact on Employee Experience: Siloed systems can frustrate employees, leading to decreased productivity and morale due to the need to navigate multiple platforms.
– Reduced Agility and Innovation: Siloed platforms hinder adaptability to changing customer needs and market trends, making it challenging to stay competitive and deliver innovative solutions.
To overcome the challenges posed by siloed CX platforms, organizations are increasingly adopting unified CX solutions that integrate data and processes across various channels and departments. This approach facilitates seamless customer journeys, enhances operational efficiency, and provides valuable insights for data-driven decision-making. SaaS companies are expanding and reinventing their core capabilities to build these unified CX platforms. Over the past decade, there has been significant consolidation in this space through key acquisitions. Companies are not only acquiring horizontal communication capabilities but also integrating these services to provide a unified view for their customers, effectively addressing the issue of siloed CX. Some major players are either building these capabilities in-house or accelerating their development through acquisitions. Notable acquisitions in the collaboration space include:
– Over the past decade, Vonage has acquired several companies, including Nexmo (CPaaS), TokBox (Video API), NewVoiceMedia (CCaaS), Over.ai (Conversational AI), and Jumper.ai (Conversational Commerce).
– 8×8 has made similar acquisitions, such as Wavecell (CPaaS), Jitsi (Video API), Callstats.io (Video Monitoring), and Fuze (CCaaS).
– Genesys, a CCaaS provider, has acquired Interactive Intelligence (CCaaS), Exceed.ai (Conversational AI), Pointillist (Customer Journey Management), and Radarr (Social Listening).
– Twilio, traditionally a CPaaS provider, has made over a dozen acquisitions, including SendGrid (Email Platform), Segment (CDP), Zipwhip (CPaaS), and Boku (Mobile Identity).
– Cisco has acquired over 200 companies over the years, with notable acquisitions in the collaboration space, such as WebEx Communications (UCaaS), IMImobile (CPaaS), and Duo Security (Multi-factor Authentication).
– Tata Communications recently acquired Kaleyra (CPaaS) to enhance their existing CPaaS and CCaaS offerings, launching the Customer Interaction Suite (CIS).
Companies like Zoom have developed in-house CCaaS platforms built on top of their core UCaaS offerings. Similarly, Twilio has integrated CCaaS capabilities with their CPaaS and CDP platforms. Sprinklr, which began as a social monitoring platform over a decade ago, has recently pivoted its business model to become a new entrant in the CCaaS market, focusing on broader CX capabilities.
Now What
The distinctions between various XxaaS platforms, initially designed for specific functions, are increasingly blurring. SaaS companies will keep on innovating to provide the best possible CX, regardless of where the customer journey begins or ends. Customers expect a unified experience to create those memorable moments, independent of the number of platforms working behind the scenes to deliver it.
The evolution of these platforms is leading to enhanced Customer Experience (CX) and collaborative Employee Experience (EX), ultimately achieving Total Experience (TX). Both EX and CX are crucial components of an exceptional TX for enterprises. Engaged and satisfied employees result in improved customer service, higher productivity, and lower turnover, which in turn leads to better business and financial outcomes for organizations.
The XxaaS platform lines will keep on blurring with customers as the focal point and will see more and more consolidation in the industry to fine tune the Total Experience (TX).
Total Experience (TX) = Customer Experience (CX) + Employee Experience (EX)
The future of customer experience is filled with exciting possibilities. By staying informed and proactive, CX providers can ensure they not only meet but exceed client expectations. Start exploring these trends today and take the first step towards transforming your service offerings.
Feel free to reach out to me for further discussion or if you have any questions. Let’s shape the future of CX together!
CX is a an ever-evolving phenomena and here are links to few good articles and blogs:
Top Customer Service and CX Predictions and Trends for 2024 – Shep Hyken
Data, Predictions and Participation: Navigating the Nuances of Next-Gen CX in 2024 – Rich Hein
7 customer experience trends in 2024 – IBM Consulting
The Future of CX: Emerging Technologies and Trends for 2024 – RedPepper
10 Trends Every CX Leader Needs To Know In 2024 – Forbes
Break Down the Silos or Break Your Customer Experience – Emarsys, An SAP Company
Around the World With CX Insights – Vonage, Part of Ericsson
It’s Time to Radically Rethink the Customer Experience. Here’s How to Get Started – Prof. Mohanbir S. Sahney, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
Customer xDNA – A Platform for Creating the Invincible Organization and Winning Outcomes – RCG Global Services
Employee experience (EX) and Customer experience (CX) – both are the essential components of an exceptional Total experience (TX) for your enterprise – Tata Communications
CX Directory / Marketplace with a list of major players – CX Today
