Quality Conversations with Klaus

This episode marks two firsts in the season. One: the first person from Klaus joining to talk about customer service careers. Two: The first person who thinks AI is coming for our jobs! But there is a lot of nuance in that answer. Listen in to find out what Mervi Sepp Rei, PhD, Klaus' Head of ML and Data thinks are the most important skills in customer service today, and how her work benefits those wanting to get smart about customer service data: klausapp.com/blog/quality-conversations-mervi-sepp-rei

As the founder of ElevateCX, Sarah Hatter brings together customer experience folks from far and wide. We explore the impact of AI and she emphasizes that the need for connection & empathy are not going anywhere. Listen for tips on how, as a customer service professional, you can be the best human in your role. Read the full transcript at klausapp.com/blog/quality-conversations-sarah-hatter

Klaus' guest this episode is Mercer Smith. Mercer is a dynamic and driven CX leader who has worked with companies like Wistia, Atlassian, Trello and now PartnerHero. Mercer likes to empower customer service teams, so we talk about what that looks like in an era of change. How do you persuade a team to embrace AI when they are wary? How do you embrace AI if you are wary? Find the full transcript and show notes here: klausapp.com/blog/quality-conversations-mercer-smith

Our guest this episode is Declan Ivory, VP of Customer Support at Intercom. Grace and Declan discuss the need for support teams to prepare for AI, and their role in refining tools like chatbots. With Intercom's release of smart bot, Fin, Declan has a unique viewpoint both at a strategic level and on the frontlines.

In this episode, we talk to Sylvain Mlodyszewski, looking at new tools in the AI space and some new career paths that will unfold as a result. Sylvain hails from Ultimate, a company that helps other businesses use AI to enhance and automate customer service. So he knows a lot about how different companies and people are successfully evolving with these new technologies. He emphasizes the need for upskilling, and we discuss the emergence of roles like chatbot managers and automation specialists. Find the full transcript and show notes at klausapp.com/blog/quality-conversations-sylvain-mlodyszewski

Hosam Hassan is a customer service agent turned entrepreneur, and is now Director of CXT Strategy at PartnerHero. Automating parts of his workflow proved a huge stepping stone for him. He weighs in on upcoming trends and gives practical advice on how you and your team can take a step up by embracing new technologies. Find the show notes and transcript here: klausapp.com/blog/quality-conversations-hosam-hassan

Quality Conversations with Klaus is back! This season, we'll tackle the topic of AI and customer service careers. This first episode explains AI for you in human terms. Our guest Christopher Penn is renowned for making the complicated accessible – and, actually, it's not even as complicated as you might think. Find the show notes at klausapp.com/blog/quality-conversations-ai

We're quickstarting the year with a quality conversation with Inna Grynova, the Head of Support at Shares. Inna breaks down the valuable lessons she's learned from scaling support teams, as well as the importance of getting conversation samples right within quality assurance to find your blind spots.

John & Niclas sat down with Clemens Behrend, the former Global Director of Customer Support at Bitpanda, to discuss the practical uses of AI in customer support, why crypto companies should be monitoring quality internally, as well as the potential pitfalls of outsourcing.

This week's episode is an absolute treat! John & Niclas speak with Arielle Yoder. Arielle is the Customer Experience Quality Manager at Fi, a smart dog collar company based in New York. Arielle shares how they keep their pack of customers happy with personalized customer interactions, and why a transparent QA process is important for teams from the get-go.

Our hosts Niclas & John didn't have to look far for this week's guest. Stephanie Robilliard is the Project Manager for Service Operations at VanMoof, a next-generation e-bike company based in Amsterdam. The three Amsterdammers discussed the influence that globalization & automation have had on customer expectations in the B2C sphere, and Stephanie spilled the beans on how peer reviews have helped VanMoof nurture a collaborative feedback culture.

This week, Klaus' conversational experts Niclas & John speak with Christian Osmundsen. As the Global Head of Support at Deliverect, Christian shared his many nuggets of wisdom on support quality, building a strong team, and how not to crash and burn - as well as the most valuable lesson he learned while working at Netflix.

Quality Conversations with Klaus returns! Meet your new hosts Niclas & John as they speak with Ines van Dijk. Ines founded her own quality consultation company after many years of working in frontline support at Automattic. She shared her knowledge on how to relieve stress and burnout in customer service, inspire a growth mindset within agents, as well as how to develop a solid quality framework.

Our special guest this week is Brandon Latteri, a Customer Success Manager at Gong. Brandon spoke about the hyper-specialized future of customer success, how revenue intelligence can lead to better conversations, and a little about his superpowers. Put some kindling on your fire and settle in!

Welcome to another episode of Fireside Chats with Klaus. This week, Valentina sat down with Emilie Robert, who is an Enterprise Customer Success Executive at Zendesk. Within the knowledge-packed 20 minutes, you'll hear how Emilie managed to maintain warm relationships with her customers despite the pandemic, how being seen as a partner by your customers can make a world of difference, as well as the surprising parallels between film production and customer success. Get cozy and enjoy!

Welcome to the Fireside Chats with Klaus. The host of today's episode is Martin Kõiva, the CEO & co-founder of Klaus who gave our regular host Valentina an evening off so that for once she could also enjoy the show from the audience. Not only is this episode special because Martin tries his hand at being a podcast host - but it's also a rare opportunity to get to know how customer service is done at Pipedrive, one of the latest European unicorns. What's more, this episode's guest Mara Vicente, VP of Customer Service at Pipedrive, took on the job when Martin left Pipedrive to found Klaus. Intriguing, right?

This week, we tooted a bit of our own horn with Martin Kõiva, the CEO and one of the co-founders of Klaus. You'll find out how remote-first hiring, a cross-departmental practice called catfooding, and a Georgian shashlik bar have all contributed towards Klaus' success, as well as what's cooking for Klaus in 2021. Enjoy!

Welcome to the freshest episode of Fireside Chats with Klaus, the CX series revealing the successes behind the coolest support leaders on this planet. We're proud to present this episode featuring Ahmad Baydoun, Operations Manager at a leading customer experience management company. Ahmad started his journey in the company 11 years ago, and today Ahmad works with quality on the operations team. Within the 330,000 (!) person company, Ahmad leads an account for 500+ employees. Pretty impressive, huh? Let's dive into it right meow.

In this episode, we'll be talking to Andrea Badgley, Happiness Engineer at Automattic - the creators of WordPress.com, Tumblr, WooCommerce, and more! While being one of the biggest players in the tech industry, Automattic is also known for delivering some of the most outstanding customer experiences. Andrea Badgley, Happiness Engineer at Automattic, sheds light on how one of the largest remote support teams in the world can also be one of the best providers of customer service.

In this episode, we'll be talking to Emma, Tobin, and Reanne from Education Perfect. EP faced explosive growth in support volumes as a result of a worldwide switch to e-learning, while also making the switch to working remotely as a team. They shared their experiences of how to maintain stellar support quality and team cohesion.

Welcome to Fireside Chats with Klaus and Valentina. In this episode, we'll talk to Lauren Fearn, the Senior Manager of Global Core Support at Zapier. As a remote company spread across various timezones, the folks at Zapier are true champions of asynchronous communication. Lauren provided us with jam-packed insights on how they make it all work, as well as how they stick to their motto of “keeping support weird”.

Welcome to Fireside Chats with Klaus and Valentina - our brand new video series where we discuss the hottest topics in the world of CX with support leaders from around the world. In the first episode, we'll be talking to Stacy Justino, Director of Customer Happiness at Wistia - the creators of the video marketing software we all love to use. Improving remote work experience was one of the goals Wistia's team set for themselves at the beginning of 2020. Little did they know they'd get an intensive crash course just a few months into the year.