Podcasts about csat

Most leaders think they are delivering a great customer experience. Pierre Charchaflian of IBM says they are delivering yesterday's version. The new standard is not fixing problems when customers report them. It is knowing about the problem before the customer does, and solving it before they have to ask. That shift, from reactive to anticipatory, is what separates the brands that customers stay loyal to from those they leave without explanation. The technology to do it exists right now. Most companies are not using it. Pierre has spent 25 years at the intersection of data, technology, and customer experience, and he says this transformation is unlike anything he has seen before. The window to act is open. It will not stay that way. What You Will Learn About Anticipating Customer Needs With AI: What agentic AI actually is in plain language, why it is fundamentally different from prior AI capabilities, and what it means for your CX strategy starting now Why IBM's research found that technology stack limitations, not budget or talent, are the number one barrier preventing CMOs from delivering the customer experience they already know they need to deliver How agentic search engines are becoming a direct threat to brand digital presence, and what leaders need to do before their customers' AI agents start bypassing them entirely Why anticipating a customer's need before they express it is now a measurable competitive advantage, and what separates the companies building that capability from the ones still reacting How AI can read sentiment, detect frustration signals across structured and unstructured data, and trigger a response before a customer decides to leave Why conversion is the metric that tells the truth about whether your customer experience is actually working, and what NPS and CSAT consistently miss Download IBM's Win the Moment report now: https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/en-us/report/customer-intent?utm_id=Stacy-Sherman-AdobeSummit-LinkedIn-IBVCMOStudy-04-16-26 #IBMPartner Have a question or thoughts to share? Leave a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/StacySherman Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

What happens when ADHD and betrayal trauma collide in the same family? This episode is one of the most important conversations we've had on the podcast — and it's one that doesn't get talked about enough in the recovery space.Hali Roderick, CPC, ACC, sits down with two incredible therapists to unpack how ADHD shows up across every part of the betrayal trauma family system — from the person with problematic sexual behaviors, to the betrayed partner, to the children caught in the middle.Monifa Ellis-Addie, LMFT, CSAT, CCSP Monifa is a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in anxiety and intimacy issues that spawn from incongruences in sexuality. Her work supports individuals navigating the complex process of healing after sexual betrayal. Website: Banyon Therapy Group Instagram:  @intimateanswers Podcast: Hope & Healing ChatsMorgan Ellsworth, LAMFT, CCSP Morgan is a therapist who specializes in supporting individuals navigating the impact of betrayal trauma within family systems. She is especially passionate about helping teen and adult children process the complexities of betrayal in the family system, while also supporting parents as they learn how to best care for and support their children through the healing process.  Website:  Ellsworth Family Therapy  Instagram: @healing.betrayed.families Podcast: Healing Betrayed FamiliesEnjoyed This Episode?If this conversation resonated with you, here are three ways you can support the show:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a Review

David & Sherie continue talking about the CSAT model of addiction recovery for the addict or offending partner, covering the last 4 tasks including: Task 5 — Rigorous honesty + therapeutic disclosure, task 6 — Restitution and relational repair, task 7 — Trauma/shame resolution + secure attachment, and task 8 — Maintenance and growth. Listen to learn more!

Holden Svirsky came to animal behavior sideways — through a layoff, a shelter volunteer shift, and the slow realization that what she'd studied about human learning applied just as well to dogs. Now a behavior consultant and longtime shelter professional, she chairs the Pet Professional Guild's Shelter and Rescue Committee and thinks carefully about what sustains people in this work over the long haul. In this conversation, she talks about connection as a genuine antidote to feeling out of control, why "the vibes were off" is a perfectly valid observation, and what a fortune cookie about sailing taught her about troubleshooting — and about not mistaking a rough patch for a failure. https://colleenpelar.com/164-k-holden-svirsky-ctc-csat

Pe zi ce trece, reforma statului, aia care ne-a fost propusă de Nicușor Dan, pare să se îndepărteze de noi, cei care tânjim după ea în timp ce orbecăim prin realitatea românească.Autoritatea - de la mare la mic - se încăpățânează să ia decizii contrare bunului simț, fără a explica public ce anume câștigăm din ele. Este cazul unui misteriios contract de lobby pentru relația cu SUA, încheiat la nivel de CSAT, care nu știm, pur și simplu, la ce ne ajută. În ce context este el încheiat și cum arată azi relația României cu administrația lui Trump știm, și tocmai de-asta ne întrebăm care e rostul acestui contract. Tot cu americanii avem și „saga” proiectului energetic de la Doicești, unde vedem statul că se zbate să finanțeze ceva ce nu arată, cel puțin economic, deloc bine. De ce? Nu știm.Această falie care se cască între cetățeanul de bun simț și statul român se vede încă și mai bine aici, aproape. Recenta ieșire catastrofală a purtătorului de cuvânt al poliției, în replică la un nou material de presă al Recorder, ne-a arătat tuturor ce înseamnă tupeul și impunitatea și ce mare e costul pe care-l plătește o instituție condusă de acești oameni fără nimic în cap. Numai că, în loc să fie sancționat, acesta este mângâiat pe zisul cap de ministrul de Interne. Realități paralele, pur și simplu.Cam despre asta am vorbit la ediția de săptămâna asta a emisiunii.Vă așteptăm din nou joia viitoare, pentru un nou tur ghidat prin Țara Lor.Mulțumim tuturor! Pe joi!-----------Fiind un produs editorial al unor organizații de presă independentă - Dela0 și Centrul de Investigații Media (CIM) - Judecata de Acum se bazează pe suportul financiar al publicului. Ne puteți sprijini cu un abonament lunar prin patreon: www.patreon.com/judecatadeacum. Mulțumim!

Operations leaders face a brutal dilemma: cut contact center costs or protect customer satisfaction. This episode reveals the hidden expenses of in-house teams and the specific strategies that reduce costs while improving CSAT through technology and structured outsourcing. Optimize CEC City: Wexford Address: 7000 Stonewood Dr. Website: https://www.optimizecec.com/

David & Sherie continue talking about the CSAT model of addiction recovery, covering the first 4 tasks including: Task 1 — Break through denial and stabilize, task 2 — Understand the addiction system, task 3 — Build a recovery program, and task 4 — Three Circles boundaries. Listen to learn more!

In this episode (#333), we address a question from a betrayed partner who is about three years into sex addiction recovery and betrayal trauma healing with her partner. Although he has been sober, involved in 12-step recovery, working with a sponsor, and the couple has gone through formal therapeutic disclosure, she still experiences intrusive mental images connected to his past acting out. We explain that these images are not evidence that she is failing in her healing. They are trauma responses. The early season of discovery, trickle-truth, searching for evidence, finding secret accounts and online ads, and trying to piece together reality created a chain of traumatic events that the nervous system may continue to store as danger.We discuss how intrusive thoughts can feel “random,” even when they are not. A betrayed partner may be triggered not only by obvious reminders of the betrayal, but also by subtle cues such as a tone of voice, silence, emotional distance, stress, fatigue, or even positive closeness. The body can remember danger before the conscious mind understands why. Because of this, healing includes learning to distinguish the past from the present through grounding tools, breath work, somatic calming, the 5-4-3-2-1 technique, journaling, orienting to current safety, and sometimes trauma-focused professional help such as EMDR, brainspotting, somatic therapy, or work with a CSAT or partner trauma specialist. The goal is not to erase memory, but to reduce the intensity, frequency, and dominance of the trauma response.We also emphasize that the addict in recovery can play a powerful role in helping rebuild present-day safety. When his partner is triggered, his job is not to collapse into shame, become defensive, or demand that she “move on.” Instead, he can stand shoulder to shoulder with her against the trauma, respond with genuine curiosity, validate the pain his actions caused, and use the language of safety: “I can see something is coming up for you. What do you need from me right now?” Proactive transparency, consistent check-ins, emotional vulnerability, and accountability help reduce the partner's need for hypervigilance. Ultimately, the measure of healing is not whether intrusive images never appear again, but whether they become less intense, less frequent, easier to recover from, and less able to rob the partner of peace in the present.For a full transcript of this podcast in article format, go to:  Why Do Intrusive Mental Images Still Hit Me—Even Years Into His Recovery?Learn more about Mark and Steve's revolutionary online porn/sexual addiction recovery and betrayal trauma healing program at—daretoconnectnow.comFind out more about Steve Moore at:  Ascension CounselingLearn more about Mark Kastleman at:  Reclaim Counseling Services

Most SaaS leaders are asking the wrong question. They obsess over NPS and CSAT scores, celebrate high satisfaction ratings, and then watch customers quietly disappear. In this episode, Jeff Mains sits down with Rick DeLisi — co-founder of The Effortless Experience, creator of the Customer Effort Score (CES), and Chief Evangelist at Glia — to challenge one of the most dangerous myths in customer experience: that satisfaction equals loyalty.Rick reveals why the real driver of customer retention isn't how happy customers feel — it's how hard they had to work to get what they needed. He introduces the concept of "insidious disloyalty," explains why product failures are actually service failures in disguise, and lays out how AI can dramatically reduce customer effort when deployed correctly. For SaaS founders focused on retention, this episode is a fundamental shift in how to think about keeping customers.Key Takeaways4:22 — **The wrong question** — Rick explains why CSAT and NPS are company-centric metrics that don't predict future loyalty. The right question: "How much effort was required for you to get what you needed?"6:35 — **Insidious disloyalty** — Customers who leave without saying a word are more dangerous than those who complain. Silent churn gives you no opportunity to recover the relationship or learn from the failure.10:04 — **Customers want to stay** — Customers don't want to switch vendors. The goal isn't to build loyalty — it's to stop destroying it with high-effort experiences.11:23 — **Mitigate disloyalty, don't try to promote loyalty** — Promoting loyalty is less fruitful than eliminating the friction that causes customers to start looking elsewhere.14:37 — **There's no such thing as a product failure** — Every product failure immediately becomes a service issue. Future loyalty is shaped by how the service team responds, not by the failure itself.29:15 — **The biggest misconception about customer service** — Not every interaction is a relationship-building moment. Forcing fake friendliness on transactional interactions feels disrespectful, not warm.31:41 — **Neither extreme works** — Full automation fails just as surely as requiring humans for everything. The winning approach is intelligently routing issues to AI or live agents based on complexity.41:59 — **Surveys are just the entry point** — Quantitative survey scores tell you almost nothing. The real insight comes from qualitative follow-up conversations, and you need far fewer than you think.45:35 — **What customers are actually loyal to** — Customers aren't loyal to your company. They're loyal to their own decision to become your customer. Probe how your product makes them feel about themselves.45:58 — **The reframe** — Stop asking what customers think of you. Start asking how customers feel about themselves as a result of choosing you.Tweetable Quotes"The single question you can ask right after a service interaction to predict future loyalty: How much effort was required for you to get what you needed?" — Rick DeLisi"Insidious disloyalty is the customer who quietly disappears in the night. No explanation. No opportunity to recover. You didn't even learn anything." — Rick DeLisi"Trying to promote loyalty is far less fruitful than mitigating disloyalty." — Rick DeLisi"There's no such thing as a product failure. The moment something breaks, it becomes a service issue — and your customer's future loyalty depends on how you handle it." — Rick DeLisi"Customers aren't loyal to your company. They're loyal to their own decision to become your customer." — Rick DeLisi"Stop asking what customers think of you. Ask how customers feel about themselves as a result of being your customer." — Rick DeLisi"Your success in marketing is getting a customer to think about you 1% more. Your success in service is the moment they forget it was ever a problem." — Rick DeLisi"AI should be a part of every interaction — making things easier for customers, easier for your frontline, and more efficient for your company." — Rick DeLisiSaaS Leadership Lessons1. The metric you're measuring may be the reason you're losing customers. CSAT and NPS are lagging, company-centric indicators. They make you feel good but don't predict churn. Customer Effort Score — how hard someone had to work to get what they needed — is the far more accurate signal. Build your CX measurement strategy around effort, not satisfaction.2. Silent churn is the most expensive kind. Customers who leave without complaining are more costly than angry ones. Vocal detractors give you a chance to save the relationship and learn from it. The quiet exits give you nothing. Map your customer journey specifically to identify where insidious disloyalty can take root — low engagement, repeated friction, unanswered needs — before customers start shopping elsewhere.3. Your job isn't to create loyalty. It's to stop destroying it. Customers who sign up with you are already loyal — they just made the decision to trust you. Your real job is to protect that trust by removing friction at every touchpoint. Every high-effort support interaction is a crack in the foundation of a relationship that took real sales effort to build.4. Every product bug is a customer service test. When something breaks, customers don't remember the bug — they remember how you handled it. A fast, effortless resolution can actually strengthen loyalty. A slow, frustrating one will cost you the relationship even if you technically solved the problem. Invest in your service response capability as seriously as you invest in product quality.5. AI reduces effort — but only when it knows its lane. Generic AI frustrates customers. Vertical, context-aware AI resolves routine issues instantly and hands off complex ones to live agents with full context already loaded. The bar for good AI in service is simple: does it make the customer's experience easier or harder? If a customer has to fight through your automation, you've made the problem worse.6. In B2B SaaS, your champion's ego is part of the product. The person who bought your software has personal equity in that decision. When your product makes them look smart, delivers real ROI, and gives them a competitive edge internally, they become your best retention tool. When it doesn't, they quietly stop defending you. Probe how your product makes your champions feel about themselves — not just how it performs on paper.Guest Resourcesrick.delisi@glia.comwww.glia.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-delisi-1122257/Episode SponsorThe Futureproof Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfkXKUPZ5xuOqMPR7_gzGybncTtavyR1NThe Captain's KeysSmall Fish, Big Pond – https://smallfishbigpond.com/ Use the promo code ‘SaaSFuel'Champion Leadership Group – https://championleadership.com/SaaS Fuel ResourcesWebsite - https://championleadership.com/Jeff Mains on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkmains/Twitter - https://twitter.com/jeffkmainsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/thesaasguy/Instagram - https://instagram.com/jeffkmains

David & Sherie outline the CSAT (certified sexual addictions therapist) model of addiction recovery. This is a great episode for someone just starting the path of recovery to know more about Dr. Patrick Carne's model and why it's so effective. This includes a model that follows this order: Crisis → sobriety → integrity → intimacy → growth (skills + support + truth). Listen to learn more!

Anger is one of the most misunderstood emotions in betrayal trauma — but still shapes every interaction, every conversation, and every attempt at repair.In this powerful conversation, I'm joined by Matt Wenger, LPC, CSAT, CCSP to unpack what anger actually is, what it's protecting, and why nervous system regulation is the key to responding rather than reacting.Because anger isn't the problem. It's the nervous system underneath it that determines what happens next.Matt is the Executive Clinical Director of Begin Again Institute, a treatment center that offers Trauma Based Intensives for Men seeking recovery from porn and sex addiction. He has served more than 1,500 families since 2019. Matt's expertise is in men's addiction, betrayal trauma, childhood trauma, couple's recovery and the spiritual aspects of recovery. Matt holds a Master's degree in Couples and Family Counseling and is credentialed as Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT), and Certified Clinical Partner Specialist (CCPS). If you would like to connect with Matt: beginagaininstitute.com matt.wenger@bai.care https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-wenger-19b883294/Connect With Me + Continue Your HealingIf today's episode resonated with you, you don't have to walk the healing journey after betrayal alone. I create trauma-informed resources, conversations, and learning experiences to support individuals and couples navigating infidelity, betrayal trauma, and relational repair.Here are a few ways to stay connected and continue your healing:Join me at a Retreat or IntensiveIf you're craving deeper, in-person support and embodied healing, I'm helping facilitate upcoming experiences created specifically for betrayed partners.⁠⁠⁠Register for my 90-minute Zoom workshop⁠⁠⁠ called Boundaries That Build Safety: Reclaiming Your Power After Betrayal. Happening Thursday, April 30th at 6 PM Pacific Time.⁠Email Hali⁠⁠ to join the⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Interest list for an upcoming course for parents called Intentional Parenting After Betrayal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, hosted by Hali and her daughter, Morgan Ellsworth. The⁠ ⁠⁠Courage to Thrive Betrayal Trauma Intensive⁠⁠⁠ takes place August 25-28 in Spanish Fork, Utah and offers a structured, trauma-informed space to understand betrayal trauma, regulate your nervous system, and rebuild self-trust.Free Resources & DownloadsAccess free tools, guided practices, and educational resources designed to support nervous system regulation, self-trust, boundaries, and clarity after betrayal.

In this episode, I talk with Jason VanRuler about why we keep missing each other in conversation and what's actually going on beneath the surface. We explore the five communication types - peacemaker, advocate, thinker, harbor, and spark - and how our upbringing, attachment styles, and even shame shape the way we speak and listen. Jason offers a practical way forward: growing in self-awareness, understanding the person in front of you, and shifting from trying to win or convince to actually connecting.​​Jason VanRuler, MA, CSAT, is a psychotherapist, author, and nationally recognized speaker specializing in communication, attachment, and relationships. He's the author of Discovering Your Communication Type and Get Past Your Past and founder of a thriving private practice. Known for blending insight, story, and strategy, Jason leads workshops, retreats, and intensives that explore the patterns shaping how we connect, lead, and thrive. His work creates space for clarity, growth, and lasting change. He lives with his wife and three children and enjoys travel, cycling, and fly fishing.Jason's Book:Discovering Your Communication TypeConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below NEW PODCAST: American Evangelicals - A History PodcastA thoughtful, deep dive into one of the most talked-about movements in American history.Support the show

Benjamin Yerushalmi, senior vice president of partners and alliances at OutSystems OutSystems launched its redesigned Elevate partner program in late February – a ground-up rethink that moves away from volume-based incentives toward a point-based earned level model weighted toward AI credentials and delivery outcomes. To walk through what changed and why, I spoke with Benjamin Yerushalmi, OutSystems’ senior vice president of partners and alliances and a three-time CRN Channel Chief, who came to OutSystems from Automation Anywhere and before that spent seven years at Salesforce building global alliance teams. That arc across three major technology waves gives him an interesting vantage point on what actually gets partners to invest – and how the pitch changes when you’re not working for a juggernaut. The most substantive part of the conversation is about where the services work is moving. Ben describes a clear shift toward front-end advisory – design, architecture, change management, understanding how AI agents will function alongside people – and away from pure back-end implementation. Partners are also doing more objection handling earlier in the cycle, including making the case against what Ben calls “vibe coding tools.” His line: you’re using a vibe coding tool, you’re gonna get vibe code. We also got into the Elevate mechanics: the Elite Delivery Partner credential (earned per individual, not per organization, which changes the calculus for smaller shops), how OutSystems is weighting points toward Agent Workbench and ODC to drive partner behavior toward newer AI products, and Ben’s framing of the competitive landscape as convergence and coexistence rather than zero-sum competition with Microsoft, ServiceNow, and Salesforce. OutSystems is an enterprise play, and not every shop in our audience is landing these deals. But the conversation about where partner economics are heading in the agentic AI era applies well beyond any single vendor’s program. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show. My guest today is Benjamin Yerushalmi, senior vice president of partners and alliances at OutSystems, the enterprise low-code and AI development platform. Ben is a three-time CRN channel chief who spent the last decade-plus building partner ecosystems at Salesforce, Automation Anywhere, and now OutSystems – three companies that each represent a different wave of technology transformation, from cloud CRM to intelligent automation to what’s now being called the agentic AI era. OutSystems recently launched Elevate, a ground-up redesign of its partner program that shifts the incentive model away from volume and toward outcomes, customer satisfaction, and AI credentials. Now, OutSystems may not be a name that’s top of mind for a lot of solution providers in our audience, but the conversation we had touches on questions that are very much in play for every partner right now. What does an agentic AI engagement actually look like from a services standpoint? How is the work shifting from implementation to advisory? And what do you do when a customer asks why they shouldn’t just use a vibe coding tool instead? Let’s get right into it. My chat with Ben Yerushalmi. Robert Dutt: Ben, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Ben Yerushalmi: Thank you for having me. Robert Dutt: The last time we spoke, you were at Automation Anywhere – it was their event in Austin a couple years ago. Before that, you were with Salesforce, now OutSystems. Three very different platforms, but in all of them you’ve been building or revamping a partner ecosystem around a technology wave. What’s the thread that connects those experiences for you? What have you learned about what actually works when you’re asking partners to bet on something, especially when it’s early innings of that particular wave? Ben Yerushalmi: Great question. It’s interesting, because three very different experiences. When you’re with a company like Salesforce, Salesforce is a juggernaut in a lot of respects. There are a lot of partners who are very invested in your success. They’ve got big business units, big practices, and there’s a clear ROI. Salesforce is creating a lot of demand in the market. When you’re with a mid-sized software company like Automation Anywhere or OutSystems, the challenge is still the same – you have to present them with a reasonable business case for investing in your technology and then going to market with you. Because you don’t have a shiny blue cloud on your business card, I think it’s a much bigger challenge. You have to do things like build a partner program that’s designed for growth, build a partner program with clear benefits to the partners about how they’re going to lean in, why they’re going to lean in, how they’re going to engage with your brand. It is a slightly different challenge – or a vastly different challenge. And when you’re with the smaller companies, the need to move fast is so urgent, especially where we are right now in this market with AI impacting everything we do. Messaging is changing, the go-to-market models are changing, the expectations of our customers are changing. Building a program that can be flexible, fast-moving, and built for growth is just super critical. Robert Dutt: OutSystems has been around for 25 years now, but Elevate feels like a pretty significant rethink of how you engage partners. I suspect your previous answer may have covered some of the territory, but what was broken – or not working well enough – about the old model that made you say, “All right, fresh sheet of paper, let’s do something new here”? Ben Yerushalmi: Look, nothing was broken. We had a functioning partner program that evolved over time, and none of the iterations it evolved through looked like the market we’re in today. We really needed to take a step back and strategically look at the program, think about what needed to be built in that could move at the pace of the market and give the ecosystem the things it was going to need to grow. For example, if you look at the old program – big emphasis on new logos, big emphasis on partners that had the implementation skills. Both super important, but only a fraction of how our partner ecosystem adds value to our brand, to our customers, and in the things they do to drive outcomes. We really had to reposition the program. First, pivot everything toward AI – everything from how we measure financial impact, to how we reward training and enablement, to how we measure CSAT and outcomes. Everything had to shift to AI. We also had to acknowledge all of the different ways that partners add value. Not just sourcing new logos, but co-sell, resell, managed service, MSP, ISV – and not just new logo acquisition, but growth in our existing accounts. Partners source business in our existing accounts. Partners are the best set of people to go in – especially when they apply their AI expertise, their industry expertise – and really grow our footprint at those accounts and truly drive outcomes and value for our customers. We had to acknowledge that. We also had to think about what we could build into the program to incent our ecosystem to be thinking about industries, to be thinking about agentic solutions, and to drive that behavior. Robert Dutt: One of the things that jumps out about Elevate is the shift toward earned levels based on outcomes and customer sat rather than just volume. That’s a trend we’re seeing across the industry. But it does raise the question: does that model inherently favor larger partners who can invest in multiple certifications and have that CSAT infrastructure, or is there a path for smaller partners as well? Ben Yerushalmi: There is. We have a number of examples of smaller-scale partners that have achieved some of the higher levels in the program. We also have examples of smaller partners who are on path to achieve Elite Delivery Partner status – because it’s not one credential per person. One person can have multiple credentials across the different disciplines. It doesn’t necessarily favor large partners. Now, when we launch Global Strategic – which would be a tier sitting above Platinum – that may, just because of sheer scale, favor larger partners. That said, our company is going to run on the strength of our Silver partners, our Gold partners. It truly takes partners across all of those levels to build a healthy go-to-market. I’m not terribly concerned about where smaller partners are going to find their place in the program. The other thing – and I’ve gotten a lot of questions about this – the Premier level in the old program basically maps to Gold in the new program. Platinum is effectively the level above that for partners to strive for. Robert Dutt: You’ve weighted agentic AI credentials pretty heavily in the point system, for obvious reasons. How are you credentialing something that’s that new and that quickly evolving? What does an agentic AI competency look like for a partner today versus what you expect it to look like a year from now? Ben Yerushalmi: You tell me what the market’s going to look like a year from now. What we’re doing right now is putting emphasis on our AI-built components. For example, Agent Workbench is going to carry a higher number of points in the program than O11. ODC is going to have a higher number of points than O11. As we continue to release additional AI-built products, we’ll continue that over-weighting. It’s simple – it’s trying to encourage a behavior. Staying at pace with the market is a massive challenge. One of the things we need to make sure is that as fast as we’re moving, as fast as our messaging evolves to meet the demands of the market, our partners have to come along with us. Partner enablement is one of the most important things we’re going to do this year – around messaging, around hands-on product enablement on all of the innovation we’re bringing to market. Because we want to encourage partners to go out and get those credentials, we’re putting the weighting in the program. It’s also a faster path to up-leveling within the program. Retooling all of your practitioners is something we need all of our partners to do – it’s a big undertaking. Robert Dutt: Everyone in the industry is talking about agentic AI. You touched on the role of Agent Workbench and how it’s a core piece for you. Curious what you’re hearing from a partner economics standpoint – when a partner takes on an agentic AI engagement, what does that actually look like? Is it a dev project, a consulting engagement, something that becomes a managed service? What are you seeing as the motion for partners today? Ben Yerushalmi: That’s a great question. We’ve historically had – maybe a small army, but a really great ecosystem of – partners with strong technical skills that did a really great job of implementing. We were a leader in the low-code space, implementing rapid application development and doing great things for our customers. We had a lot of folks that were really strong on the back end of a project, on the implementation side. What we’re seeing now with agentic is that there’s a lot more work for partners on the front end – on the design, on the architecture, on thinking through the downstream change management implications, the way agents are going to have to work within the current corporate and IT environment. Just to use the most common example: if you’ve got an agent working alongside humans with humans in the loop, that impacts how an organization functions. You need to be thinking through those things on the early side of these engagements. So we’re seeing a shift to more work on the front end, because you’re not just thinking about how do I architect the solution and how do I build it – you’re thinking about all of the downstream impact on how an organization functions. We’re also seeing a lot more experimentation. What can these tools do? What can these agents really do? Our partners are being asked what the best technology is. Our partners are being asked to evaluate us alongside other technologies. We’re seeing competition from all directions, and our partners really need to understand how to sell the value of our platform and handle a lot of the objection handling earlier in the cycle. Why can’t I just use a vibe coding tool, for example, versus Mentor or Agent Workbench? We always go back to the platform messaging – if you’re using a vibe coding tool, you’re going to get vibe code. At the end of the day, you still need a platform that takes care of governance, security, privacy, compliance. But our partners are being asked all those questions up front. There’s a lot more advisory that now goes into any level of engagement. Robert Dutt: Along the same lines but with a slightly different take – where are you seeing partners actually generating revenue with agentic AI today, versus where is it still more of “we see the opportunity, we’re investing, and expect the payoff in a year or so”? Ben Yerushalmi: Look, I think the end state for a lot of this is envisioning multi-agent systems operating within our customers’ technology and corporate environment. We are starting to see that emerge, and we’re starting to see our partners build multi-agent workflows – not just one-offs. These are starting to look like repeatable solutions, which is really great. Think about areas like claims processing – that’s one where you see a lot of examples. You’re starting to see people build claims assessment agents, claims orchestration agents, claims adjudication, and these are repeatable solutions. You’re also starting to see a lot of things, especially on consumer-facing apps, where digital agents are handling a lot of the customer interface. Those are things that are repeatable and can be used across industries. You’re starting to see really interesting things with voice-enabled agents. I listened to a demo just today where it was every bit as good as talking to a human – a natural language conversation, all built on the core components of OutSystems, and it can be used across industries. You’re also starting to see complex industry use cases. As we go to market in finance, in manufacturing, in public sector, we’re seeing our partners bring repeatable solutions for a joint go-to-market. In addition to the things we’re building, we’re starting to see our partners lean into those industries, bring those repeatable solutions, and color outside the areas where we’re investing so we can cover off other industries. We’re also launching a program within Elevate that contains the framework for industry-focused go-to-market programs. Robert Dutt: A bit earlier, you mentioned there is a space and a motion for the smaller deep-dive specialist kind of partner to succeed with you. Given that a lot of our audience – especially here in Canada – is smaller solution providers, MSPs, VARs, people who live in the Microsoft ecosystem and serve the mid-market, can you elaborate on what makes for a successful partner for OutSystems in that space? What are the common threads you see, and what do those partners typically get out of it? Ben Yerushalmi: One of the things we’re seeing is partners investing in getting the Elite Delivery Partner status. Before, we just had Delivery Partner – a fairly low threshold. Now we have the Elite Delivery Partner threshold, which is an indication to our customers that our partners, big and small, know our platform every bit as well as our professional services team. Reaching EDP is something that can be done by large and small partners alike, and that’s where we’re going to tend to recommend partners who have achieved those higher levels. Those are the partners that will likely get subcontracting work from us – that becomes super important. It also doesn’t take a large partner to invest in an industry solution. You need to be thinking about the demands of the market you want to serve and where you want to make those investments. It doesn’t take a large partner to offer a managed service. Those are all things that drive faster time to market and faster time to value for our customers. Having a niche in a market where you can sell is also important, because financial impact is a big component of how you level up in the program. We have small to mid-sized partners that have achieved the top tier. You need to be thinking about the buckets of contribution – co-sell, resell, anything adding financial impact, new logos, credentials, CSAT, program track. All of those buckets contain a lot of different areas to earn points for partners that don’t have a giant GSI logo. It was really designed for partners of all sizes. Silver, Gold, even Bronze partners are adding a ton of value to our customers. Our sellers recognize who they need to align with in a given market. We’re also putting tools in the hands of our PAMs and sellers so they can understand the capability, capacity, and competency of every partner in our ecosystem – who knows how to sell our platform, who has flawless delivery, who has expertise in a given industry or geo or domain – so that we can really arm our sellers with the information they need to align with the right partner. Robert Dutt: For a partner who’s living in that Microsoft-centric world and has started delivering Power Platform to their customers, what’s the conversation? Is there a both/and at different tiers of the market, or do you see OutSystems occupying a fundamentally different space? Ben Yerushalmi: Great question. Look, just about everywhere I’ve worked, I’ve competed with Microsoft – I’ve never worked for Microsoft. They’re a great company. Here, as at Automation Anywhere, the question of how we compete with Microsoft has come up. I think at the end of the day, it’s going to be co-opetition in a lot of ways, because there is room for coexistence at a lot of our customers. If you step back and look at the competition – from vibe coding tools to a lot of the traditional players – I think where we all converge is around agentic. The Gartner BOAT quadrant – Business Orchestration and Automation Technology – came out about nine months ago. It has the automation players, the low-code players, some of the big ISVs like Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Microsoft, and the process orchestration players like Pega and Appian – and where we all converge is around agentic. I need to be able to compete and win against each one of those players and understand exactly how I’m going to do that. But I also have to understand that in any enterprise architecture, we’re going to need to coexist. We have partnerships with a number of the companies we compete with in that quadrant. I always want to win when we’re going toe to toe, but the right solution for a customer may have one, two, or more of those players in a given solution. There are some great companies in that mix, and we’re going to need to work alongside them. Robert Dutt: You’ve now built partner programs across cloud CRM, RPA, and low-code/agentic AI – three waves of technology. If you had to tell a solution provider today where to place their bets for the next three to five years in terms of building a practice and generating new service revenue – not necessarily OutSystems-specific, but across the industry – what would you tell them? Ben Yerushalmi: Flexibility has to be inherent in everything people do. The ability to move at speed and adapt has to be critical. Every company is under pressure to do something with AI – not I think, I know. So people who are investing need to be thinking about skating to where the puck is going. I woke up too early this morning and was reading the news, and there was a fully AI-enabled humanoid robot at the White House. You see stuff like that and you think, where is all of this headed? But you know there is a world of changing work patterns, a world where AI touches every aspect of everybody’s job. You’ve got to think about the technologies that are going to help companies get to that clearly agentic future. And at OutSystems, we obviously believe we are well positioned to tackle that challenge. But you also have to think about this: it’s not just having those hands-on keyboard skills anymore. Customers want people who can take them on that journey. They want partners who can help them think about what are the high-value use cases, how are we going to architect that into our existing enterprise architecture, how are we going to build the applications – and then also manage all of the downstream implications and continue to evolve what we’ve built. Because if you look at a lot of the technologies out there today, they’re cool, they’re exciting, but the second you roll them out, you’re creating technical debt. You need to be making bets in platforms that are going to evolve with the market. Robert Dutt: Last question. A year from now, what does success look like for Elevate? What’s the number or the outcome that tells you this worked? Ben Yerushalmi: What we rolled out in February was half of the vision. There’s still a lot coming. Working through the roadmap of additional elements to Elevate is going to be really important – everything from how we leverage MDF and rethink that model, to how we rebuild our resell model to promote growth in the market, to continuing to stay ahead of the enablement challenge. But if I step back – when I originally talked about Elevate, it was about building a program built for growth. As we continue to be a partner-first organization, success looks like seeing partners successful in the program, being able to level up to wherever they want to be contributing, having partners invest in solutions that drive faster time to value for our customers and really help them move into this agentic future, and having our partners clearly driving successful outcomes with AI and agentic for our customers. At the end of the day, it’s not about Elevate partner program success. It’s really about OutSystems, and OutSystems customer and partner success, that matters. If we can sit quietly in the background and see our partners successful, see us continue to grow, and see our customers realize amazing agentic outcomes on our platform – that’s success. And then I can just sort of ride off into the sunset. Robert Dutt: Sounds like a plan – although it sounds like you’ve already got phase two well in mind, so I don’t think you’re riding off any time soon. Ben, thank you for taking the time. I appreciate it. Ben Yerushalmi: Thank you. Robert Dutt: There you have it, Ben Yerushalmi from OutSystems. I’d like to thank Ben for his time – and I thought it was a pretty candid look at how a vendor thinks about structuring a partner program in a market that’s moving as fast as this one. And I want to thank you for listening, as always. A few things that stood out for me from this conversation. First, the shift Ben described from partners doing mostly back-end implementation work to doing a lot more on the front end – design, architecture, change management, helping customers think through how AI agents are actually going to work alongside their people. That’s not unique to OutSystems. If you’re a solution provider building any kind of AI-adjacent practice right now, that front-end advisory is where the value is moving, and it’s a different set of muscles than a lot of partners have built over the years. Second, his point about the Elite Delivery Partner credential being something an individual can earn – not something that requires organizational scale – was worth paying attention to. As the industry moves toward outcome-based partner programs – and it is, across the board – understanding which programs are genuinely accessible to smaller firms and which just say they are is going to be a real differentiator in where you invest your time. And third, the convergence point. Ben talked about the Gartner BOAT category putting low-code vendors, automation vendors, process orchestration players, and the big ISVs like Microsoft, Salesforce, and ServiceNow all in the same quadrant. His argument is that agentic AI is the thread that ties them all together. Whether that’s true or just convenient framing, it’s worth thinking about – because wherever you sit in the channel, you’re going to be navigating that convergence whether you planned on it or not. If you’re enjoying the ChannelBuzz.ca podcast, you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most podcast directories. Ratings and reviews are always appreciated – they do help people find the show. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

You know, one of the things I've learned from doing this podcast… is that the health of a community isn't just about hospitals or doctor's offices. It's about information. It's about access. And most importantly… it's about the conversations we're willing to have. Recently, I had the opportunity to spend some time at the Lake Oconee Health Fair, surrounded by some incredibly knowledgeable professionals, researchers, and providers who are right here in our region, doing work that is not only impressive… but in many cases, life-changing. And as I listened to these keynote speakers, I found myself thinking something pretty simple: More people need to hear this. Not just the folks who were in the room that day… but all of us. So today, you're going to hear a couple of those conversations, a glimpse of what's happening in the world of health and wellness right here around Lake Oconee. But more importantly… this is the beginning of something new. We're launching a new podcast called Health at the Lake ,where we'll be sitting down with doctors, specialists, and experts to talk about the issues that matter most… especially as we age, but really for anyone who wants to live better, longer, and with a higher quality of life. No fluff. No confusion. Just real conversations with people who know what they're talking about. So think of today as your preview… A front-row seat to the kind of insight that could make a real difference in your life, or in the life of someone you care about. Guests: Dr. Nic Chronos, MD; For more information: Lake Country Medical Group Website: https://lakecountrymedicalgroup.com/ Phone: 706-484-4004 Cindy Martin, LMFT, CSAT, CMAT, EMDR Website: https://www.cesmtherapy.com/ Email: cindy@cesmtherapy.com Phone: 404-981-5458 Sponsors: Tim Broyles State Farm Insurance https://mydowntownagency.com/ Lake Oconee Family Fitness & Fero Fit https://loffc.net/ Second Chance Boutique https://colinc.org/second-chance-boutique/

In this episode, I sit down with Jenna Riemersma to talk about something I believe many men in porn addiction recovery need to understand: the role painful emotions play in keeping us stuck.Most men trying to overcome porn addiction think the answer is more discipline, control, and resistance. But in my own life and in the lives of the men I work with, I've seen that the deeper issue is often not just lust. It's emotional pain. It's shame, loneliness, fear, pressure, self-sabotage, and the inner burdens we keep trying to escape. Porn becomes a fast way to numb, soothe, distract, or feel relief—but it never heals the deeper wound.That's why this conversation with Jenna is so powerful. Jenna is a CSAT supervisor, IFS therapist, and the author of Move Toward. In this episode, we explore how Internal Family Systems, also known as parts work, can help men understand their porn addiction triggers, respond to relapse differently, and begin real emotional healing instead of just fighting symptoms. We talk about why shame and porn addiction are deeply connected, how self-sabotage works in recovery, why painful emotions are not the enemy, and how healing begins when we stop running from what hurts and start moving toward it with courage and compassion.We also break down Jenna's simple but powerful framework: Notice, Know, Need. This gives men a practical tool to use in real time when they feel triggered, overwhelmed, ashamed, lonely, or pulled toward porn. Instead of staying trapped in the old cycle of urge, escape, and regret, this framework helps us slow down, understand what is happening inside, and meet our real needs in healthier ways.Learn more about Jenna Riemersma:WebsiteFree Guided Move Toward MeditationsBooks:Move TowardAltogether YouIFS IntegrationWorkshop:On-Demand Workshop for Altogether You — Get 15% off Jenna's workshop with discount code: AY15Link to Blog Article for this EpisodeVisit No More Desire Tools for Recovery for recovery tools and training, including my free eBook, Workshop, The RAIL Method ™ and more to help you break free from porn.If you're tired of trying to quit porn on your own, the No More Desire Academy gives you a structured path to recovery through coaching, brotherhood, practical tools, and step-by-step training. Join before May 1st to lock in the $130/month Founding Member rate. Learn more here.If you want deeper, more personalized support, I also offer 1-on-1 porn addiction recovery coaching. We'll work directly on your patterns, emotional triggers, recovery plan, and long-term growth. Apply here to explore coaching with Jake Kastleman.Support the showNo More Desire

Adam Nisenson, LMFT, CSAT — known as The Betrayal Shrink — is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Sex Addiction Therapist who specializes in helping men heal from partner betrayal trauma.Drawing on both his clinical training and his own experience of infidelity and betrayal, Adam created a male-focused framework for recovery that blends empathy with practical understanding of the emotional, psychological, and identity challenges men face after betrayal. He is the author of A Man's Guide to Partner Betrayal: Overcoming the Pain & Repercussions of a Cheating Partner, and he offers coaching, courses, support groups, and educational resources tailored to men navigating shame, loss, and rebuilding. Adam's mission is to ensure that no man has to process betrayal alone and to support profound growth and resilience beyond the painIn This EpisodeAdam's websiteAdam's podcastMen's betrayal partner groupBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.---Thank you for listening!If you want to support the show, I've got three options and every bit helps.$5.00 PayPalhttps://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/NPKS32G8KVSN2$10.00 PayPalhttps://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/495AMDFXQFC3L$15.00 PayPalhttps://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/M7V5RREUKVD8JThank you to our Sponsors: Jane App - use code GUY1MO at https://jane.app (https://jane.app/book_a_demo)

AI is moving fast, but most customer experience programs still get stuck in the same place: teams chase tools, dashboards, and “shiny” promises while the real work and the real problem stay fuzzy. We wanted a grounded conversation about customer experience strategy that actually holds up inside complex organizations, especially when trust, risk, and regulation are part of daily life.Jeannie Walters is joined by Dr. Elizabeth ErkenBrack, Head of Strategy in the Office of the CEO at Qualtrics. They sat down at the Qualtrics X4 Summit 2026 in Seattle to talk about starting with the outcome you're trying to achieve, defining who you're designing for, and mapping the work that needs to change before you ever “plug in” AI. They get specific about where automation helps and where the human touch still matters most, particularly in vulnerable moments like healthcare, financial services, and other deeply personal journeys.They also dig into the ROI side of experience management: how to shift from CX as a cost center to CX as an investment, how to connect NPS and CSAT to action, and how to tie experience improvements to attributable revenue through churn, retention, conversion, and operational changes. A key takeaway is governance: measurement and execution often sit in different silos, and bringing them into lockstep is an executive decision. If you're trying to make CX “count” in the C-suite, this gives you language and structure that leaders can align around.If this helped you rethink how you're framing your next CX initiative, subscribe, share this episode with a teammate, and leave a review so more people can find it.Follow Elizabeth ErkenBrack on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-erkenbrack-phd-380b5b30/Resources Mentioned:Qualtrics -- https://www.qualtrics.com/Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.comLearn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.comExperience Investigators -- https://experienceinvestigators.comEnjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact.Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

Today's Featured Sponsor:  Werkz holsters In this episode, Rich Brown sits down with John Hearn of Two Pillars Training to break down what the data actually tells us about defensive gunfights—and how most training completely misses the mark. John has built a reputation for digging into real-world incidents, analyzing patterns, and applying that information to how we should actually train. From distances and timing to decision-making under pressure, this conversation challenges assumptions and replaces them with reality. They dive into what the numbers reveal about how fights really unfold, where traditional training falls short, and how armed citizens can better prepare for the moments that matter most. If you're serious about training with purpose—not just going through the motions—this episode will change how you think about practice. In 2021, John founded Two Pillars Training and began to offer unique curriculum focusing on decision making while shooting in addition to classic skills with pistol and carbine. Besides hands-on shooting classes, John has presentations focusing on the data side of the self-defense world. His interests include human performance under life and death stress, historic gunfights, crime data, and criminal typologies.   John has a Master's degree in criminal justice with a concentration in Research Methods. He has instructor credentials from the FBI, FLETC, NRA-LEAD, Rangemaster, CSAT, Centrifuge Training, Tactical Anatomy Systems, Kentucky National Guard, and many others.   Finally, John is a Life Member of the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation. John Hearne's Webstie: https://twopillarstraining.com/

This podcast episode with Sakari and Mark explores the history, limitations, and future of CSAT and experience management in IT. Experts discuss how traditional metrics like CSAT and NPS can be complemented with deeper insights to drive meaningful improvements in service delivery.Key TopicsHistory and origins of CSATLimitations of traditional satisfaction metricsThe rise of experience management and XLAsHow to interpret and act on experience dataCultural and regional differences in feedbackThe importance of standardized and comparable dataTools and strategies for continuous improvementCheck out The Workplace, an IT mockumentary series season 1! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFiSC5-kZIZBpuTcQ5XI7RjX3be-ud-CP

In this milestone 100th episode of Adjusted Reality, listeners are invited into a powerful and human conversation with trauma expert Michelle Mays LPC, CSAT-S. An author, innovator and licensed professional counselor with more than 20 years of clinical experience, Michelle specializes in betrayal trauma, attachment wounds and relational healing. As the founder of the Relational Recovery Institute and author of The Betrayal Bind, When It All Breaks Bad and other transformative works, she brings both professional expertise and personal insight to this meaningful discussion. Together, Dr. McAllister and Michelle explore what betrayal trauma really is and why it impacts far more than emotions alone. Michelle explains how betrayal disrupts the nervous system, alters one's sense of safety and often manifests in physical symptoms that many people don't initially connect to emotional pain. The conversation sheds light on common stress responses, chronic nervous system activation and why hope can sometimes feel more frightening than despair in the early stages of recovery.This special episode blends science, compassion and hope, offering reassurance to anyone navigating betrayal recovery while reinforcing the mind-body connection at the heart of whole-person health. Tune in for an inspiring and honest conversation about resilience and healing!In the Adjusted Reality podcast, well-known athletes, celebrities, actors, chiropractors, influencers in the wellness industry, and other podcasters will talk with host Dr. Sherry McAllister, president, F4CP, about their experiences with health and wellness. As a special gift for listening today visit f4cp.org/health to get a copy of our mind, body, spirit eBook which focuses on many ways to optimize your health and the ones you love without the use of drugs or surgery. Follow Adjusted Reality on Instagram. Find A Doctor of Chiropractic Near You.Donate to Support the Chiropractic Profession Through Education. Order the Adjusted Reality book: https://www.f4cp.org/adjusted-reality/

There are few phrases in ecommerce more expensive than, “Hi, just wondering where my order is?”. It sounds harmless. Polite, even. But behind that sentence is friction. Doubt. A small crack in trust. And if you're getting a lot of them, you don't have a response-time problem. You have a design problem.In today's Playbook, Jevon Le Roux from Keeyu joins a group of smart operators tackling the same issue from different angles. Alongside Hamish McKay, Boozebud's Damien Smithand Erin Williamson, and the Starshipit tracking example, the message is consistent: Stop optimising how fast you answer complaints. Start designing the experience so they don't happen.In today's playbook:Why reactive CX metrics like response time and CSAT don't solve WISMO complaintsHow proactive ecommerce ops intercept stalled, lost or delayed orders before customers noticeThe hidden impact of checkout mistakes and why post-purchase order editing reduces support loadHow to remove surprises with early, high-stakes communicationWhy branded tracking pages reduce anxiety between dispatch and deliveryThe operational shift from clearing tickets to preventing themConnect with JevonExplore KeeyuKeeyu's main episodeOrder Editing's episodeBoozebud's episodeSMS us to request a guest!Support the showWant to level up your ecommerce game? Come hang out in the Add To Cart Community. We're talking deep dives, smart events, and real-world inspo for operators who are in it for the long haul. Connect with Nathan BushContact Add To CartJoin the Community

In this episode of Meet the Practitioner, Mark Bewick engages with Donna Xanthidis and Sharon Aggarwal from Invesco to discuss the evolution and practical applications of IT Experience Management (ITXM). They explore the limitations of traditional metrics like CSAT, KPIs, and SLAs, emphasizing the need for a more human-centered approach to feedback and communication. The conversation highlights the importance of actionable insights derived from customer experiences and the positive impact of effective communication on service delivery. The episode concludes with practical advice for organizations looking to implement ITXM, encouraging a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability.TakeawaysCSAT metrics are often incomplete and don't provide full insights.Effective communication enhances the user experience significantly.ITXM allows for a more human-centered approach to IT services.Feedback should be actionable and lead to real improvements.Prioritization should be based on user experience, not just internal assumptions.Positive feedback can motivate teams and improve service delivery.Implementing ITXM can lead to a culture of continuous improvement.Don't be afraid to start the process of gathering feedback.Data from ITXM can reveal unexpected insights about user preferences.Flexibility in approach allows for quick adjustments in strategy.Donna XanthidisAssociate Director, Technology Customer Experience at Invesco Ltd.https://www.linkedin.com/in/donna-xanthidis-b06945103/Sharon AggarwalService Delivery Manager, Manager Global Server Operations at Invesco Ltd.https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-aggarwal-89a888/--Subscribe to our newsletter:LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/it-experience-insights-6996053129205026816/⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://happysignals.com/itxm-insights

Many leaders still believe high customer satisfaction scores mean the experience is working. That belief creates a costly blind spot: customers say they're satisfied and then quietly leave, taking revenue, renewals, and referrals with them. In this solo episode of Doing CX Right®, Stacy Sherman explores why Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) became the standard, from the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index to today's dashboards, and why it no longer predicts loyalty in a world where switching is easy and comparisons are instant. Stacy shares practical ways to drive real customer loyalty: Identify why "nothing went wrong" isn't enough to create memorable experiences Ask questions that reveal what customers truly value Measure behavior: repurchase, renewal, and referral rates instead of opinion scores Redesign onboarding and service touchpoints so customers feel supported, not lost CSAT isn't useless, but it measures baseline competence, not competitive advantage. Listen now to discover why satisfaction is just the starting point, and how to turn customer experience into lasting loyalty. Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies. Book time with Stacy here.

Interviu cu istoricii Armand Goșu și Cosmin Popa, la 4 ani de război în g4media. „Nu exclud un scenariu care să reaprindă conflictul diplomatic între București și Kiev” / „Putin construiește un regim fascist într-un cămin de bătrâni” / „A crescut ostilitatea față de Europa” / „Războiul are efecte morale devastatoare asupra rușilor”. Sunt câteva idei desprinse din interviu. Articolul complet pe  g4media.ro PressOne trece în revistă 4 ani de război în Ucraina: Ce știm sigur - și aproape sigur - despre ajutorul militar pe care România l-a acordat Kievului până acum. După 4 ani de război în Ucraina, provocat de invazia militară a Rusiei, declanșată pe 24 februarie 2022, România continuă să facă o ciudată excepție printre țările NATO și UE, în ceea ce privește transparentizarea clară a ajutoarelor militare acordate până acum Kievul. În ciuda secretomaniei afișate de București, există câteva certitudini legate de ajutorul militar concret pe care România l-a acordat până acum Ucrainei Cea mai importantă donație pentru armata ucraineană făcută de România: un întreg sistem antiaerian Patriot PAC 3, de ultimă generație România mai oferă sprijin în ceea ce privește pregătirea piloților ucraineni pe avioanele F-16 PressOne vorbeste si despre Ciudata „suveică” România-Bulgaria în materie de exporturi de armament care ajung, prin ricoșeu, în Ucraina Această pseudo-„ambiguitate strategică” a fost parafată în perioada președinției lui Klaus Iohannis, când toate cifrele clare, legate de cantitatea și tipul de ajutor militar acordat Kievului au fost secretizate în CSAT. Venirea la Cotroceni a lui Nicușor Dan nu a schimbat această paradigmă. Emblematică rămâne, din acest punct de vedere, declarația făcută de noul ministru al Apărării, Radu Miruță, care a explicat de ce „nu e bine” să se știe cât armament a dat România Ucrainei. Ajutorul pentru Ucraina a depășit miliardul de euro, dar autoritățile de la București nu spun ce anume „s-a dat” în acest ajutor ............................................................................................................................................................................. Serviciile de informații trebuie restructurate fundamental. România a pierdut războiul hibrid cu Rusia - spune Corneliu Bjola, profesor al Universității Oxford din Marea Britanie într-un interviu pentru spotmedia.ro Seful grupului de cercetare “Oxford Digital Diplomacy”, consideră că Nicușor Dan a fost tratat cu superioritate în SUA de către oficialii americani, expunându-se gratuit într-o încercare dificilă de a reface relațiile privilegiate cu Washingtonul, în contextul în care SUA se retrag din Europa. ...................................................................................................................................................................... Comisia de Deontologie din cadrul Colegiului Psihologilor din România și Poliția Capitalei s-au autosesizat în cazul Ion Duvac, în urma dezvăluirilor făcute de PressOne. Poliția Capitalei face apel către toate persoanele „care consideră că au fost victime ale unor astfel de comportamente (n.red. hărțuire) să se adreseze poliției, în vederea formulării unei plângeri” scrie PressOne. Investigația arată cum Ion Duvac, doctor în psihologie și membru în Comisia de Deontologie și Disciplină a Colegiului Psihologilor din România, își hărțuiește sexual pacientele prin propuneri sexuale explicite și cere poze cu părțile intime ale femeilor, încă de la prima ședință, potrivit unei înregistrări ajunse în posesia redacției. În aceeași înregistrare, Duvac afirmă că nu e prima dată când face acest lucru.  ............................................................................................................................................................................................. Bolojan amenință cu revocarea miniștrii și secretarii de stat, dacă România pierde bani din PNRR Premierul Ilie Bolojan a avertizat că miniștrii și secretarii de stat riscă revocarea din funcție dacă România va pierde fonduri din Planul Național de Redresare și Reziliență (PNRR), subliniind că răspunderea pentru neîndeplinirea angajamentelor va fi politică, dar și administrativă. Declarațiile au fost făcute, luni, în cadrul reuniunii Comitetului Interministerial de Coordonare a PNRR, desfășurată sub coordonarea prim-ministrului și a ministrului Investițiilor și Proiectelor Europene, Dragoș Pîslaru.

Walk Your Buyer's Journey: Finding the Friction Points Killing Your Customer Experience When was the last time you actually experienced what it's like to be a customer of your own company? Most operators and Seconds-In-Command are so deep in the weeds of delivery that they've never walked the buyer's journey from first contact to final goodbye, which means customer experience issues go unnoticed until they become complaints. The exercise is simple but revealing: map out every single step from that first phone call or website visit all the way through fulfillment, including timelines between steps and who the customer interacts with at each point. Together you'll cover a case studio of a company that discovered two major friction points through this process. The businesses winning right now aren't always the ones with the best product or pricing - they're the ones making it easy and pleasant to work with.  You'll hear all about: 00:29 - Introduction: Walking the buyer's journey - what does it actually look like to do business with you 01:02 - The reality check: It's rare that you have firsthand experience being a customer of your own company 01:14 - Why minor problems go unnoticed until they become customer complaints 01:26 - The exercise: Start mapping from the very first phone call, email, or website visit 01:47 - How to map it: Take a blank piece of paper and document every single step, no matter how small 02:15 - Include timelines between steps and who in your company interacts with the buyer at each point 02:37 - Map all the way to the last touch: fulfillment, project close-out, or the final goodbye 02:45 - Two key things to analyze: How many people are they interacting with? Where are the significant time gaps? 03:16 - Critical insight: Buyer's remorse sets in as soon as payment is processed 03:37 - Real example: Landscaping company case study reveals two major issues 03:50 - Issue #1: Admin takes initial info, then client waits a week or more for the design team to contact them 04:14 - Issue #2: Multiple waiting periods create a roller coaster of excitement and frustration 04:57 - The harsh truth: Silence and time kill deals 05:17 - How gaps create anxiety even for clients who stick around 05:23 - The coffee shop analogy: Two long lines might look like success, but customers are actually frustrated 06:03 - Important caveat: Not every gap is bad - custom work takes time, but are you managing expectations? 06:19 - Your homework: Walk the buyer's journey yourself or have a team member act as an internal secret shopper 07:00 - Level up move: Ask a recent customer to walk you through their experience (15 minutes of insight) 07:17 - Fall retreat preview and the four CSat questions discussed at the last event 08:05 - Question #1: Who owns customer satisfaction? (If everyone owns it, no one owns it) 08:33 - Question #2: What decisions in the past year impacted CSat most (positive or negative)? 08:43 - Question #3: What complaints led to the most significant operations changes? 08:53 - Question #4: What opportunities exist in your buyer's journey to improve customer experience?   Rate, review & follow on Apple Podcasts Click Here to Listen! OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE If you haven't already done so, follow the podcast to make sure you never miss a value-packed episode. Links mentioned in the episode: Second First Membership Second First One-on-One Coaching Second First on Instagram Second First on LinkedIn Megan Long on LinkedIn

In this episode, Shaun Brown discusses the evolution of IT experience management, emphasizing the importance of communication, reputation, and understanding user needs. He shares insights on measuring success through SLAs and CSAT, practical applications of experience management, and the value of feedback in driving change. The conversation highlights the shift towards a more human-centered approach in IT, focusing on building relationships and enhancing user experiences.TakeawaysExperience management is the evolution of IT service management.Building relationships is key to IT reputation.Communication is crucial for user satisfaction.SLAs measure speed, not user satisfaction.CSAT may not drive meaningful change.Lost productivity hours can highlight areas for improvement.Experience management should focus on user needs.Feedback is essential for continuous improvement.IT experience management is a team effort.Understanding emotional impact is vital in IT services.Shaun Brown: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunjbrown/Subscribe to our newsletter:LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/it-experience-insights-6996053129205026816/⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://happysignals.com/itxm-insights

In this engaging episode of MSP Business School, host Brian Doyle takes listeners through a comprehensive exploration of Technology Business Reviews (TBRs) and their evolving role in the MSP industry. TBRs have shifted from data-heavy presentations to become more strategic and client-focused, addressing clients' growing needs around cybersecurity, compliance, and risk management. Brian Doyle delves into a structured approach to Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), breaking down the process into four distinct phases. Each phase targets specific aspects of technology management—from setting a solid foundation in Q1 to addressing security and risk in Q2, examining health and assets in Q3, and culminating in a year-end summary. By consistently updating scorecards, roadmaps, and strategic plans, MSPs can provide clients with a clearer view of progress and maintain transparency and trust in their business relationships. Key Takeaways: Brian Doyle emphasizes the need for MSPs to transition TBRs from sales meetings to strategic planning sessions to better engage clients. Implementing a quarterly QBR cadence helps in systematically addressing security risks, assets, and compliance, ensuring consistent client engagement. The joint strategic plan is crucial for aligning technology goals with business objectives, providing clarity on project impacts and fostering better decision-making. Regular feedback loops, such as CSAT and Net Promoter Score surveys, are vital for maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders in client organizations. Documenting risk assessments and client decisions is essential for liability protection and demonstrating value in MSP services.   Show Website: https://mspbusinessschool.com/ Host Brian Doyle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briandoylevciotoolbox/ Sponsor vCIOToolbox: https://vciotoolbox.com

Episode web page:  Episode summary: In this episode of Insights Unlocked, host Nathan Isaacs sits down with Amy Wigdahl, principal solution marketing manager at UserTesting, to discuss the trends transforming the banking and fintech landscape as we approach 2026. Amy shares how financial institutions are moving beyond basic digital convenience to create more empathetic, personalized experiences powered by AI and customer insight. Key themes and takeaways: AI-driven personalization with a human touch: Banks are leveraging generative AI to make digital interactions feel more personal, aiming to replicate the warmth and familiarity of in-branch experiences. The goal is to use technology to support customers at critical life moments—without coming across as intrusive or robotic. From broad strategies to precision targeting: With profit pressures rising and competition intensifying, banks are shifting from generic, one-size-fits-all approaches to hyper-targeted experiences. Success hinges on understanding the unique needs, motivations, and emotions of specific customer segments. Loyalty in the age of choice: As most consumers now use multiple financial providers, customer loyalty is fragile. Trust, clarity, and relevance are emerging as the new drivers of loyalty—outpacing even new product offerings. Amy emphasizes that customer experience must be clear, emotionally reassuring, and responsive to evolving financial pressures. The importance of customer insight: Truly understanding customer needs is at the heart of effective personalization. Insights gathered from real users inform everything from onboarding processes to new service design, ensuring banks stay relevant and build lasting trust. Actionable advice: Banks and fintechs should continuously gather and apply customer insights to design experiences that build trust and reduce friction. Executives and product leaders are encouraged to “walk in their customers' shoes”—try opening an account or using a service themselves to spot opportunities for improvement. Resources & links Amy Wigdahl on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amywigdahl/) Nathan Isaacs on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanisaacs/) The CSAT playbook for modern banks (https://www.usertesting.com/resources/guides/csat-playbook-for-banks) Learn more about Insights Unlocked: https://www.usertesting.com/podcast

Do pets actually grieve, or are they reacting to routine changes and stress in ways we don't recognize? And how much of what we label as “grief” is really our own emotion spilling over into the way we interpret their behavior? In this episode,  Amy talks with Kate LaSalla, a pet behavior consultant, companion animal end-of-life death doula, and certified pet loss and grief companion, about what pet grief can look like, what might just be pet care routine disruption, and what to do when your dog or cat's behavior changes after a loss. BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:The most common behavior changes pets show after a loss, and why the relationship mattersHow human grief and anger can affect a surviving pet's anxiety and fearfulnessWhen “normal” changes become a medical concern, and when to loop in your vetWhy “animals understand death, not disappearance,” and what that means for households with multiple petsWhat to do if you're grieving too, but still need to support your pet's routines and provide good pet careCONNECT WITH KATE LASALLA WEBSITE | Rescued By TrainingOTHER LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Rescued By Training blog post on pets and grieving Advanced care directive “When is it time to say goodbye?” download And be sure to check out all the other fantastic posts and resources on Kate's page!Questions or a story you want to share? Leave a voicemail at Petparenthotline.com or join the Pet Parent Hotline Insiders Group.Support the showExpert Pet Advice for busy pet parents! Love the show? Leave a 5-star review so more pet parents can find us, and share this episode with someone who needs it. Follow:

Betrayal doesn't just hurt—it changes how you attach, trust, and feel safe.Dr. Laney Knowlton (LMFT-S, CSAT-S, CPTT-S, CCPS, CST, CCRDS-S, RAE) joins Amie and Alana and explains how betrayal trauma impacts attachment styles, why disorganized attachment is so common after infidelity, and how healing can happen even if your relationship doesn't survive.If you've ever wondered “Am I broken forever?”—this episode is for you.Together, we unpack:Why betrayal often creates disorganized attachmentHow attachment styles shift after traumaThe difference between innocent trust and earned trustWhy healing is possible—even if your partner never changesHow recovery can lead to deeper connection, confidence, and joyConnect with Dr. Knowlton by visiting her website, checking out her worksheets, or reading her book, Healing From Betrayal, Infidelity, and Problematic Sexual Behaviors Chapters00:54 Introducing Dr. Laney Knowlton04:07 Understanding Attachment Styles09:59 Impact of Betrayal on Attachment14:06 Navigating Betrayal and Recovery17:06 Challenges in Seeking Support22:15 Understanding Normal Responses to Trauma24:46 Stages of Recovery25:08 The Role of Healthy Sexuality37:58 The Path to Self-Connection and JoyRegister Now!Rise, Renew, Restore Somatic Healing Retreat in Costa Rica -  Ready to experience deep somatic healing? Join us this July for a transformative 5-day intensive created specifically for women healing from betrayal trauma or navigating divorce. This is your opportunity to reconnect with your body's wisdom, release what you've been carrying, and heal alongside other women who truly understand your journey. Questions or topics you'd like us to address? Send us an email with “Choose To Be” as the subject to podcast@chooserecoveryservices.com. Watch us⁠ on YouTube.Follow us on Instagram: @choose_recovery_services⁠Schedule⁠ a complimentary consultation.Join our email list to be notified when new episodes air.More from Choose Recovery ServicesBeyond the Facade Podcast - Podcast geared toward helping men live authentically and in harmony with their values.Choose Healing - Weekly support group for women who have recently experienced betrayal and are needing help coping with the symptoms of trauma. Intensives - Accelerate your healing journey with one of our intensives. Foster connection with others who share similar experiences, creating an immersive environment that enables profound transformation in a short period of time.Help. Her. Heal - This program is for men seeking to learn more about empathy, conflict resolution, and healthy communication. Beyond the Facade: Men's Healing Group - We help men move through the pains of addiction, relationship healing, managing emotions, and moving past shame. You'll learn how to better connect with others, understand your own emotional experience, and build a deeper sense of self respect.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Empowered Divorce Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ with Amie Woolsey for those who are leaning toward divorce.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dating From Within - Amie Woolsey hosts this workshop which teaches you how to date yourself first. Learn how to know if you are ready to date again and what a healthy relationship looks like. Should I Stay or Go? - Self-paced course designed to be a companion on your journey toward self-discovery and personal empowerment. Trauma Trigger Kit - Triggers can come out of nowhere. Keep a Trauma Trigger Kit on hand to help you use your five senses to stay grounded and connected to yourself.Believing in You - In this program Amie teaches you how to work WITH your brain instead of against it. Learn tools that will help you move forward to trust, love, and finding joy once again.Intimacy Within ⁠- Creating healthy intimacy with your partner begins with creating healthy intimacy within. Amie's self-paced course and guidebook will walk you through the seven levels of intimacy. Learn how to embrace authenticity and vulnerability even in the face of potential rejection.

Why Customer Success Can't Be Automated (And What AI Can Actually Do) In this special year-end episode of the FutureCraft GTM Podcast, hosts Ken Roden and Erin Mills sit down with Amanda Berger, Chief Customer Officer at Employ, to tackle the biggest question facing CS leaders in December 2026: What can AI actually do in customer success, and where do humans remain irreplaceable? Amanda brings 20+ years at the intersection of data and human decision-making—from AI-powered e-commerce personalization at Rich Relevance, to human-led security at HackerOne, to now implementing AI companions for recruiters. Her journey is a masterclass in understanding where the machine ends and the human begins. This conversation delivers hard truths about metrics, change management, and the future of CS roles—plus Amanda's controversial take that "if you don't use AI, AI will take your job." Unpacking the Human vs. Machine Balance in Customer Success Amanda returns with a reality check: AI doesn't understand business outcomes or motivation—humans do. She reveals how her career evolved from philosophy major studying "man versus machine" to implementing AI across radically different contexts (e-commerce, security, recruiting), giving her unique pattern recognition about what AI can genuinely do versus where it consistently fails. The Lagging Indicator Problem: Why NRR, churn, and NPS tell you what already happened (6 months ago) instead of what you can influence. Amanda makes the case for verified outcomes, leading indicators, and real-time CSAT at decision points. The 70% Rule for CS in Sales: Why most churn starts during implementation, not at renewal—and exactly when to bring CS into the deal to prevent it (technical win stage/vendor of choice). Segmentation ≠ Personalization: The jumpsuit story that proves AI is still just sophisticated bucketing, even with all the advances in 2026. True personalization requires understanding context, motivation, and individual goals. The Delegation Framework: Don't ask "what can AI do?" Ask "what parts of my job do I hate?" Delegate the tedious (formatting reports, repetitive emails, data analysis) so humans can focus on what makes them irreplaceable. Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction and AI Updates from Ken & Erin 01:28 - Welcoming Amanda Berger: From Philosophy to Customer Success 03:58 - The Man vs. Machine Question: Where AI Ends and Humans Begin 06:30 - The Jumpsuit Story: Why AI Personalization Is Still Segmentation 09:06 - Why NRR Is a Lagging Indicator (And What to Measure Instead) 12:20 - CSAT as the Most Underrated CS Metric 17:34 - The $4M Vulnerability: House Security Analogy for Attribution 21:15 - Bringing CS Into Sales at 70% Probability (The Non-Negotiable) 25:31 - Getting Customers to Actually Tell You Their Goals 28:21 - AI Companions at Employ: The Recruiting Reality Check 32:50 - The Delegation Mindset: What Parts of Your Job Do You Hate? 36:40 - Making the Case for Humans in an AI-First World 40:15 - The Framework: When to Use Digital vs. Human Touch 43:10 - The 8-Hour Workflow Reduced to 30 Minutes (Real ROI Examples) 45:30 - By 2027: The Hardest CX Role to Hire 47:49 - Lightning Round: Summarization, Implementation, Data Themes 51:09 - Wrap-Up and Key Takeaways Edited Transcript Introduction: Where Does the Machine End and Where Does the Human Begin? Erin Mills: Your career reads like a roadmap of enterprise AI evolution—from AI-powered e-commerce personalization at Rich Relevance, to human-powered collective intelligence at HackerOne, and now augmented recruiting at Employ. This doesn't feel random—it feels intentional. How has this journey shaped your philosophy on where AI belongs in customer experience? Amanda Berger: It goes back even further than that. I started my career in the late '90s in what was first called decision support, then business intelligence. All of this is really just data and how data helps humans make decisions. What's evolved through my career is how quickly we can access data and how spoon-fed those decisions are. Back then, you had to drill around looking for a needle in a haystack. Now, does that needle just pop out at you so you can make decisions based on it? I got bit by the data bug early on, realizing that information is abundant—and it becomes more abundant as the years go on. The way we access that information is the difference between making good business decisions and poor business decisions. In customer success, you realize it's really just about humans helping humans be successful. That convergence of "where's the data, where's the human" has been central to my career. The Jumpsuit Story: Why AI Personalization Is Still Just Segmentation Ken Roden: Back in 2019, you talked about being excited for AI to become truly personal—not segment-based. Flash forward to December 2026. How close are we to actual personalization? Amanda Berger: I don't think we're that close. I'll give you an example. A friend suggested I ask ChatGPT whether I should buy a jumpsuit. So I sent ChatGPT a picture and my measurements. I'm 5'2". ChatGPT's answer? "If you buy it, you should have it tailored." That's segmentation, not personalization. "You're short, so here's an answer for short people." Back in 2019, I was working on e-commerce personalization. If you searched for "black sweater" and I searched for "black sweater," we'd get different results—men's vs. women's. We called it personalization, but it was really segmentation. Fast forward to now. We have exponentially more data and better models, but we're still segmenting and calling it personalization. AI makes segmentation faster and more accessible, but it's still segmentation. Erin Mills: But did you get the jumpsuit? Amanda Berger: (laughs) No, I did not get the jumpsuit. But maybe I will. The Philosophy Degree That Predicted the Future Erin Mills: You started as a philosophy major taking "man versus machine" courses. What would your college self say? And did philosophy prepare you in ways a business degree wouldn't have? Amanda Berger: I actually love my philosophy degree because it really taught me to critically think about issues like this. I don't think I would have known back then that I was thinking about "where does the machine end and where does the human begin"—and that this was going to have so many applicable decision points throughout my career. What you're really learning in philosophy is logical thought process. If this happens, then this. And that's fundamentally the foundation for AI. "If you're short, you should get your outfit tailored." "If you have a customer with predictive churn indicators, you should contact that customer." It's enabling that logical thinking at scale. The Metrics That Actually Matter: Leading vs. Lagging Indicators Erin Mills: You've called NRR, churn rate, and NPS "lagging indicators." That's going to ruffle boardroom feathers. Make the case—what's broken, and what should we replace it with? Amanda Berger: By the time a customer churns or tells you they're gonna churn, it's too late. The best thing you can do is offer them a crazy discount. And when you're doing that, you've already kind of lost. What CS teams really need to be focused on is delivering value. If you deliver value—we all have so many competing things to do—if a SaaS tool is delivering value, you're probably not going to question it. If there's a question about value, then you start introducing lower price or competitors. And especially in enterprise, customers decide way, way before they tell you whether they're gonna pull the technology out. You usually miss the signs. So you've gotta look at leading indicators. What are the signs? And they're different everywhere I've gone. I've worked for companies where if there's a lot of engagement with support, that's a sign customers really care and are trying to make the technology work—it's a good sign, churn risk is low. Other companies I've worked at, when customers are heavily engaged with support, they're frustrated and it's not working—churn risk is high. You've got to do the work to figure out what those churn indicators are and how they factor into leading indicators: Are they achieving verified outcomes? Are they healthy? Are there early risk warnings? CSAT: The Most Underrated Metric Ken Roden: You're passionate about customer satisfaction as a score because it's granular and actionable. Can you share a time where CSAT drove a change and produced a measurable business result? Amanda Berger: I spent a lot of my career in security. And that's tough for attribution. In e-commerce, attribution is clear: Person saw recommendations, put them in cart, bought them. In hiring, their time-to-fill is faster—pretty clear. But in security, it's less clear. I love this example: We all live in houses, right? None of our houses got broken into last night. You don't go to work saying, "I had such a good night because my house didn't get broken into." You just expect that. And when your house didn't get broken into, you don't know what to attribute that to. Was it the locked doors? Alarm system? Dog? Safe neighborhood? That's true with security in general. You have to really think through attribution. Getting that feedback is really important. In surveys we've done, we've gotten actionable feedback. Somebody was able to detect a vulnerability, and we later realized it could have been tied to something that would have cost $4 million to settle. That's the kind of feedback you don't get without really digging around for it. And once you get that once, you're able to tie attribution to other things. Bringing CS Into the Sales Cycle: The 70% Rule Erin Mills: You're a religious believer in bringing CS into the sales cycle. When exactly do you insert CS, and how do you build trust without killing velocity? Amanda Berger: With bigger customers, I like to bring in somebody from CX when the deal is at the technical win stage or 70% probability—vendor of choice stage. Usually it's for one of two reasons: One: If CX is gonna have to scope and deliver, I really like CX to be involved. You should always be part of deciding what you're gonna be accountable to deliver. And I think so much churn actually starts to happen when an implementation goes south before anyone even gets off the ground. Two: In this world of technology, what really differentiates an experience is humans. A lot of our technology is kind of the same. Competitive differentiation is narrower and narrower. But the approach to the humans and the partnership—that really matters. And that can make the difference during a sales cycle. Sometimes I have to convince the sales team this is true. But typically, once I'm able to do that, they want it. Because it does make a big difference. Technology makes us successful, but humans do too. That's part of that balance between what's the machine and what is the human. The Art of Getting Customers to Articulate Their Goals Ken Roden: One challenge CS teams face is getting customers to articulate their goals. Do customers naturally say what they're looking to achieve, or do you have a process to pull it out? Amanda Berger: One challenge is that what a recruiter's goal is might be really different than what the CFO's goal is. Whose outcome is it? One reason you want to get involved during the sales cycle is because customers tell you what they're looking for then. It's very clear. And nothing frustrates a company more than "I told you that, and now you're asking me again? Why don't you just ask the person selling?" That's infuriating. Now, you always have legacy customers where a new CSM comes in and has to figure it out. Sometimes the person you're asking just wants to do their job more efficiently and can't necessarily tie it back to the bigger picture. That's where the art of triangulation and relationships comes in—asking leading discovery questions to understand: What is the business impact really? But if you can't do that as a CS leader, you probably won't be successful and won't retain customers for the long term. AI as Companion, Not Replacement: The Employ Philosophy Erin Mills: At Employ, you're implementing AI companions for recruiters. How do you think about when humans are irreplaceable versus when AI should step in? Amanda Berger: This is controversial because we're talking about hiring, and hiring is so close to people's hearts. That's why we really think about companions. I earnestly hope there's never a world where AI takes over hiring—that's scary. But AI can help companies and recruiters be more efficient. Job seekers are using AI. Recruiters tell me they're getting 200-500% more applicants than before because people are using AI to apply to multiple jobs quickly or modify their resumes. The only way recruiters can keep up is by using AI to sort through that and figure out best fits. So AI is a tool and a friend to that recruiter. But it can't take over the recruiter. The Delegation Framework: What Do You Hate Doing? Ken Roden: How do you position AI as companion rather than threat? Amanda Berger: There's definitely fear. Some is compliance-based—totally justifiable. There's also people worried about AI taking their jobs. I think if you don't use AI, AI is gonna take your job. If you use AI, it's probably not. I've always been a big fan of delegation. In every aspect of my life: If there's something I don't want to do, how can I delegate it? Professionally, I'm not very good at putting together beautiful PowerPoint presentations. I don't want to do it. But AI can do that for me now. Amazingly well. What I'm really bad at is figuring out bullets and formatting. AI does that. So I think about: What are the things I don't want to do? Usually we don't want to do the things we're not very good at or that are tedious. Use AI to do those things so you can focus on the things you're really good at. Maybe what I'm really good at is thinking strategically about engaging customers or articulating a message. I can think about that, but AI can build that PowerPoint. I don't have to think about "does my font match here?" Take the parts of your job that you don't like—sending the same email over and over, formatting things, thinking about icebreaker ideas—leverage AI for that so you can do those things that make you special and make you stand out. The people who can figure that out and leverage it the right way will be incredibly successful. Making the Case to Keep Humans in CS Ken Roden: Leaders face pressure from boards and investors to adopt AI more—potentially leading to roles being cut. How do you make the case for keeping humans as part of customer success? Amanda Berger: AI doesn't understand business outcomes and motivation. It just doesn't. Humans understand that. The key to relationships and outcomes is that understanding. The humanity is really important. At HackerOne, it was basically a human security company. There are millions of hackers who want to identify vulnerabilities before bad actors get to them. There are tons of layers of technology—AI-driven, huge stacks of security technology. And yet no matter what, there's always vulnerabilities that only a human can detect. You want full-stack security solutions—but you have to have that human solution on top of it, or you miss things. That's true with customer success too. There's great tooling that makes it easier to find that needle in the haystack. But once you find it, what do you do? That's where the magic comes in. That's where a human being needs to get involved. Customer success—it is called customer success because it's about success. It's not called customer retention. We do retain through driving success. AI can point out when a customer might not be successful or when there might be an indication of that. But it can't solve that and guide that customer to what they need to be doing to get outcomes that improve their business. What actually makes success is that human element. Without that, we would just be called customer retention. The Framework: When to Use Digital vs. Human Touch Erin Mills: We'd love to get your framework for AI-powered customer experience. How do you make those numbers real for a skeptical CFO? Amanda Berger: It's hard to talk about customer approach without thinking about customer segmentation. It's very different in enterprise versus a scaled model. I've dealt with a lot of scale in my last couple companies. I believe that the things we do to support that long tail—those digital customers—we need to do for all customers. Because while everybody wants human interaction, they don't always want it. Think about: As a person, where do I want to interact digitally with a machine? If it's a bot, I only want to interact with it until it stops giving me good answers. Then I want to say, "Stop, let me talk to an operator." If I can find a document or video that shows me how to do something quickly rather than talking to a human, it's human nature to want to do that. There are obvious limits. If I can change my flight on my phone app, I'm gonna do that rather than stand at a counter. Come back to thinking: As a human, what's the framework for where I need a human to get involved? Second, it's figuring out: How do I predict what's gonna happen with my customers? What are the right ways of looking and saying "this is a risk area"? Creating that framework. Once you've got that down, it's an evolution of combining: Where does the digital interaction start? Where does it stop? What am I looking for that's going to trigger a human interaction? Being able to figure that out and scale that—that's the thing everybody is trying to unlock. The 8-Hour Workflow Reduced to 30 Minutes Erin Mills: You've mentioned turning some workflows from an 8-hour task to 30 minutes. What roles absorbed the time dividend? What were rescoped? Amanda Berger: The roles with a lot of repetition and repetitive writing. AI is incredible when it comes to repetitive writing and templatization. A lot of times that's more in support or managed services functions. And coding—any role where you're coding, compiling code, or checking code. There's so much efficiency AI has already provided. I think less so on the traditional customer success management role. There's definitely efficiencies, but not that dramatic. Where I've seen it be really dramatic is in managed service examples where people are doing repetitive tasks—they have to churn out reports. It's made their jobs so much better. When they provide those services now, they can add so much more value. Rather than thinking about churning out reports, they're able to think about: What's the content in my reports? That's very beneficial for everyone. By 2027: The Hardest CX Role to Hire Erin Mills: Mad Libs time. By 2027, the hardest CX job to hire will be _______ because of _______. Amanda Berger: I think it's like these forward-deployed engineer types of roles. These subject matter experts. One challenge in CS for a while has been: What's the value of my customer success manager? Are they an expert? Or are they revenue-driven? Are they the retention person? There's been an evolution of maybe they need to be the expert. And what does that mean? There'll continue to be evolution on that. And that'll be the hardest role. That standard will be very, very hard. Lightning Round Ken Roden: What's one AI workflow go-to-market teams should try this week? Amanda Berger: Summarization. Put your notes in, get a summary, get the bullets. AI is incredible for that. Ken Roden: What's one role in go-to-market that's underusing AI right now? Amanda Berger: Implementation. Ken Roden: What's a non-obvious AI use case that's already working? Amanda Berger: Data-related. People are still scared to put data in and ask for themes. Putting in data and asking for input on what are the anomalies. Ken Roden: For the go-to-market leader who's not seeing value in AI—what should they start doing differently tomorrow? Amanda Berger: They should start having real conversations about why they're not seeing value. Take a more human-led, empathetic approach to: Why aren't they seeing it? Are they not seeing adoption, or not seeing results? I would guess it's adoption, and then it's drilling into the why. Ken Roden: If you could DM one thing to all go-to-market leaders, what would it be? Amanda Berger: Look at your leading indicators. Don't wait. Understand your customer, be empathetic, try to get results that matter to them. Key Takeaways The Human-AI Balance in Customer Success: AI doesn't understand business outcomes or motivation—humans do. The winning teams use AI to find patterns and predict risk, then deploy humans to understand why it matters and what strategic action to take. The Lagging Indicator Trap: By the time NRR, churn rate, or NPS move, customers decided 6 months ago. Focus on leading indicators you can actually influence: verified outcomes, engagement signals specific to your business, early risk warnings, and real-time CSAT at decision points. The 70% Rule: Bring CS into the sales cycle at the technical win stage (70% probability) for two reasons: (1) CS should scope what they'll be accountable to deliver, and (2) capturing customer goals early prevents the frustrating "I already told your sales rep" moment later. Segmentation ≠ Personalization: AI makes segmentation faster and cheaper, but true personalization requires understanding context, motivation, and individual circumstances. The jumpsuit story proves we're still just sophisticated bucketing, even with 2026's advanced models. The Delegation Framework: Don't ask "what can AI do?" Ask "what parts of my job do I hate?" Delegate the tedious (formatting, repetitive emails, data analysis) so humans can focus on strategy, relationships, and outcomes that only humans can drive. "If You Don't Use AI, AI Will Take Your Job": The people resisting AI out of fear are most at risk. The people using AI to handle drudgery and focusing on what makes them irreplaceable—strategic thinking, relationship-building, understanding nuanced goals—are the future leaders. Customer Success ≠ Customer Retention: The name matters. Your job isn't preventing churn through discounts and extensions. Your job is driving verified business outcomes that make customers want to stay because you're improving their business. Stay Connected To listen to the full episode and stay updated on future episodes, visit the FutureCraft GTM website. Connect with Amanda Berger: Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn Employ Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered advice. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and do not represent those of any company or business we currently work for/with or have worked for/with in the past.

Today I have an amazing guest who is a true expert on all things addiction! Duane Osterlind is a therapist who has been working in the field of addiction for two decades and who hosts the podcast The Addicted Mind. We discuss:- What is sex addiction?- How do couples repair after betrayal trauma/PTSD?- What is "deceptive sexuality"?- What is the role of childhood trauma in eventual sex addiction?- What's an "intimacy disorder"?Duane is a great speaker with lots of great ways to understand this issue, and is compassionate and fair to both partners in this discussion. We also discuss the timeline of repair, the changes he has seen in who struggles with sex addiction over the course of his career (hint: changes in age and gender), and how dealing with shame is an integral aspect of healing from sex/porn addiction and the havoc it can wreak on relationships and your life overall.Here are all of Duane's links!Novus Mindful Life CounselingThe Addicted Mind PodcastShame To ResilienceInstagram: The Addicted Mind Instagram Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/addictedmindpodcast/

Send us a textReady to stop grinding and start scaling? We dive into a clear, no-fluff blueprint for using agentic AI to grow sales, improve margins, and reclaim your time. Instead of one-off prompts, you'll learn how autonomous agents perceive context, plan multi-step workflows, make decisions, and execute tasks across your stack—then learn from outcomes to get better week after week.We walk through the five domains where agents deliver immediate wins: customer support that resolves faster and cuts cost per ticket; lead generation that researches prospects and tailors outreach to lower CAC; marketing engines that ideate, create, test, and iterate across channels; back-office automation that reconciles books, tracks invoices, and manages inventory; and forecasting that sharpens demand, revenue, and cash flow accuracy. Along the way, we plug real numbers into the conversation—10x service cost reductions, 40–60% time-to-output cuts, and double-digit revenue lift—so you can benchmark your own progress with confidence.Measurement is the unlock. You'll get a compact KPI framework tied to the P&L: revenue growth rate, ROI per initiative, gross margin improvement, operating cash flow accuracy, CAC and lifetime value, time-to-output, error rates, cost per transaction, CSAT, and NPS. We also share practical guardrails to deploy safely: approvals, escalation paths, SOPs, and team training that make adoption stick. The human edge—strategy, empathy, and brand—stays at the center while agents handle the repetitive execution. If you've wondered how to leverage AI without losing what makes your business special, this is your roadmap.Subscribe for more playbooks, share this with a founder who needs it, and leave a review to tell us which KPI you'll track first.Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com. And don't miss Grant McGaugh's new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

What exactly is arousal? Is it more than just sexual? In this episode, you'll learn the four types of arousal (uppers, downers, all-arounders, and deprivation) and how we use addiction to avoid intimacy ("into messy"). Along the way, you'll also find out why recovery is not a "don't touch your penis" program and how the skill of "tension holding" can transform your relationships. Great conversation!Chris Chandler (LMHC, LPCC, EMDR, CSAT-S) is a licensed therapist, coach, and Clinical Advisor at Relay Health. He is also the founder of Christian Recovery Groups LLC, a national program helping men and women heal from compulsive and addictive behaviors through faith, community, and neuroscience-informed recovery practices. Over the past 20 years, Chris has led thousands through individual and group recovery experiences. His mission is simple: to restore people to wholeness by integrating clinical insight with authentic, Spirit-filled community because true recovery happens in relationship.Schedule a 30-minute consultation with Chris here.Andrew Engstrom is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with Seattle Christian Counseling, where he helps individuals and couples heal by understanding themselves better first. Andrew is certified in MDFT (a holistic approach to counseling treatment) and uses PREPARE/ENRICH in pre-marital and marital counseling. He offers support and insight for overcoming obstacles that stand in the way of forming lasting, fulfilling relationships with others and God.Learn more and connect with Andrew here.See a preview of Chris and Andrew's intensives here.Support the showTake the Husband Material Journey... Step 1: Listen to this podcast or watch on YouTube Step 2: Join the private Husband Material Community Step 3: Take the free mini-course: How To Outgrow Porn Step 4: Try the all-in-one program: Husband Material Academy Thanks for listening!

How do you scale customer support from 10 people to more than 2,300—while keeping humanity, psychology, and operational excellence at the center? In today's episode, we sit down with Jason Katz, former early Peloton leader and now founder of Lentil Labs, to explore how customer experience transforms when technology, empathy, and data-driven insights collide.Jason shares the wild hypergrowth journey of Peloton's support team, the surprising lessons he learned rebuilding their entire support tech stack, and why he believes the future of CX is defined by operational efficiency, AI-assisted support, customer psychology, and intentional service design. We talk through the “peak-end rule,” how brands can engineer memorable customer moments, the right (and wrong) ways to use AI for delight, and why internal tools, not customer-facing ones, often determine whether teams deliver a 5-star experience.You'll also hear about Jason's new company, Lentil Labs, and his mission to build lean, powerful CX tools that fill the 15–25% “gap” every support team still feels, even with best-in-class platforms.----------------------------------------------------00:00 – Intro02:40 – Why Jason is only now on Numbers and Narratives04:20 – Peloton rocket ship: scaling support from 10 to 2,300 agents08:30 – Lentil Labs: why support teams still need that extra 15–25%12:00 – CSAT vs cost: what really matters in modern support ops13:10 – The Peak-End Rule: Kahneman, cold water, and remembered pain21:40 – Designing support journeys: peaks, friction, and AI handoffs31:40 – Surprise & delight.46:40 – Using AI to detect peaks, trigger escalations, and support your team52:30 – Ending well: service recovery, positive endings, and Jason's final advice

Dr. Skip Speer and Tami talk about doomscrolling and hopescrolling, the features of each, and how to tailor your algorithm to lift you up at every stage of recovery. They then answer participant questions about sex addiction, including narcissism, gaslighting, and therapist obligations as mandatory reporters.    TAKEAWAYS: [1:49] Doomscrolling versus hopescrolling – how to engage in what serves you.  [7:01] Using your phone to numb out? Try this instead. [8:50] What is the difference between a CSAT and a regular therapist?  [13:25] Do we really need a couples therapist?  [20:24] The importance of accountability in therapy. [26:57] Programs for sex addiction with narcissistic traits. [37:25] The danger of denial in recovery.  [41:03] Dealing with a sex offender changes the recovery game.  [44:49] Key differences between narcissism and sociopathic behaviors.  [46:45] How can I financially separate myself from my betraying partner?  [50:05] My partner is looking at underage porn. Should I report him?  [54:33] Is the term 'gaslighting' used too loosely?  [56:30] What are the obligations of a mandatory reporter?  [58:30] What is the likelihood that underage porn addicts will ever ask for help if they know they will be reported?    RESOURCES: Seekingintegrity.com Email Tami: Tami@Seekingintegrity.com Sexandrelationshiphealing.com Intherooms.com Out of the Doghouse: A Step-by-Step Relationship-Saving Guide for Men Caught Cheating, by Robert Weiss Prodependence: Moving Beyond Codependency, by Robert Weiss Sex Addiction 101: A Basic Guide to Healing from Sex, Porn, and Love Addiction, by Robert Weiss Cruise Control: Understanding Sex Addiction in Gay Men, by Robert Weiss Seeking Integrity Podcasts are produced in partnership with Podfly Productions.    QUOTES "It feels better to comfort than confront, but at the end of the day, recovering addicts need accountability."  "In real recovery, we're looking for anything that is problematic or helping us escape in unhealthy ways."  "You know what your partner is not willing to do. So what are you willing to do?"   

Behind the Screen: The Impact of AI Companions on Adolescents Evaluation and Credit:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/medchat84 Target Audience This activity is targeted toward primary care physicians and advanced providers. Statement of Need This will be a two-part podcast that will focus on the psychological effects of cyberbullying and AI companions. This will be specific to adolescents and teens. As a result of the growing prevalence in digital engagement, a by-product has been cyberbullying. The psychological effects of cyberbullying are unique in that they differ from traditional bullying due to the anonymity and permanence. Additionally, with the growing popularity of AI companions a second podcast will address this topic. Both podcasts will address the psychological effects and provide tools for providers to use to screen for subtle signs as well as resources. Objectives Define what constitutes an AI companion and differentiate from interactive AI-enabled toys. Discuss how frequent interaction with AI companions can influence psychological and social development of adolescents and teens. Identify behavioral and psychological signs that may indicate an adolescent/teen has or is developing an unhealthy reliance on AI companions. Moderator Mark McDonald, M.D., MHA, CPE System Vice President Pediatric Medical Affairs Norton Healthcare Medical Director, Norton Children's Professor, University of Louisville School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics Division of Pediatric Critical Care Speaker Michael Eiden, Ph.D, LCSW, LCADC, CSAT, CCSMichael Eiden, PhD, LCSW, LCADC, CSAT, CCS Licensed Clinical Social Worker Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor Certified Sex Addiction Therapist Certified Clinical Supervisor Board Certified Sex Therapist EMDR Trained Eiden Integrative Counseling Planner and Moderator Disclosures  The planners, moderator and speaker of this activity do not have any relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. Commercial Support  There was no commercial support for this activity.  GrantThis episode is supported by a grant from the Kentucky Medical Association's 'Small STEPS, Big Impact' campaign, a two-year initiative that encourages patients to achieve long-term success through taking simple steps that can add up to make a big impact on their health. The campaign focuses on five key areas (screenings, tobacco use, exercise & nutrition, physician visits and stress) and offers straightforward strategies and support for patients. It is a partnership between the KMA and its charitable arm, the Kentucky Foundation for Medical, made possible by a grant from the Kentucky Department for Public Health. For more information, visit SmallSTEPSKy.org.   Physician Credits Accreditation Norton Healthcare is accredited by the Kentucky Medical Association to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Designation Norton Healthcare designates this enduring material for a maximum of .50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Nursing CreditsNorton Healthcare Institute for Education and Development is approved as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the South Carolina Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. This continuing professional development activity has been approved for 0.50 ANCC CE contact hours. In order for nursing participants to obtain credits, they must claim attendance by attesting to the number of hours in attendance.   For more information related to nursing credits, contact Sally Sturgeon, DNP, RN, SANE-A, AFN-BC at (502) 446-5889 or sally.sturgeon@nortonhealthcare.org. Social Worker CreditsThis activity will provide .50 hours of required continuing education units. National Association of Social Workers, Kentucky Chapter (NASW-KY) is an approved provider for social work credits through the Kentucky Board of Social Work. NASWKY#06/30/25. For information about social worker credits, please send an email to cme@nortonhealthcare.org. Resources for Additional Study/References Internet Addiction Assessment (IAA) https://psychology-tools.com/test/internet-addiction-assessment Parent Tools – Operation Parent https://www.operationparent.org/ Parent Tools – Children and Screens https://www.childrenandscreens.org/ Digital companionship or psychological risk? The role of AI characters in shaping youth mental health https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39798495/ Artificial Intelligence and Adolescent Well-being https://www.apa.org/topics/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning/health-advisory-ai-adolescent-well-being SmallSTEPSKy.org   Date of Original Release | Nov. 2025; Information is current as of the time of recording. Course Termination Date | Nov. 2027 Contact Information | Center for Continuing Medical Education; (502) 446-5955 or cme@nortonhealthcare.org   Also listen to Norton Healthcare's podcast Stronger After Stroke. This podcast, produced by the Norton Neuroscience Institute, discusses difficult topics, answers frequently asked questions and provides survivor stories that provide hope. Norton Healthcare, a not for profit health care system, is a leader in serving adult and pediatric patients throughout Greater Louisville, Southern Indiana, the commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond. More information about Norton Healthcare is available at NortonHealthcare.com.

This episode is sponsored by AGNTCY. Unlock agents at scale with an open Internet of Agents.    Visit https://agntcy.org/ and add your support.   Why do today's LLMs forget key details over long context, and what would it take to give them real memory that scales?   In this episode of Eye on AI, host Craig Smith explores Manifest AI's Power Retention architecture and how it rethinks memory, context, and learning for modern models. We look at why transformers struggle with long inputs, how state space and retention models keep context at linear cost, and how scaling state size unlocks reliable recall across lengthy conversations, code, and documents. We also cover practical paths to retrofit existing transformer models, how in context learning can replace frequent fine tuning, and what this means for teams building agents and RAG systems.   Learn how product leaders and researchers measure true long context quality, which pitfalls to avoid when extending context windows, and which metrics matter most for success, including recall consistency, answer fidelity, task completion, CSAT, and cost per resolution. You will also hear how to design per user memory, set governance that prevents regressions, evaluate LLM as judge with human review, and plan a secure rollout that improves retrieval, multi step workflows, and agent reliability across chat, email, and voice. Stay Updated: Craig Smith on X:https://x.com/craigss  Eye on A.I. on X: https://x.com/EyeOn_AI   

Garry Balinon is Head of ICT Office of DOST Region VI and Developer of SmartGov. SmartGov is an AI-enabled smart office platform for government that boosts efficiency, transparency, and service delivery. It unifies HR and talent (recruitment, onboarding, performance, L&D, rewards), workforce tools (attendance, shared calendars, morale), and citizen services (CSAT, transactions, public info) with built-in analytics. This episode is recorded live during the 2025 Regional Science and Technology Week in Western Visayas organized by DOST Region VI, held at Robinsons Roxas, Capiz.In this episode | 01:12 Ano ang SmartGov? | 03:44 What problem is being solved? | 10:16 What solution is being provided? | 15:53 What are stories behind the startup? | 28:17 What is the vision? | 31:36 How can listeners find more information?SMARTGOV | Website: https://smartgov.dost6.phDOST REGION VI | Website: https://region6.dost.gov.ph | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DOSTRegionVICHECK OUT OUR PARTNERS:Ask Lex PH Academy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://asklexph.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (5% discount on e-learning courses! Code: ALPHAXSUP)Argum AI: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://argum.ai⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PIXEL by Eplayment: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://pixel.eplayment.co/auth/sign-up?r=PIXELXSUP1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Sign up using Code: PIXELXSUP1)School of Profits: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://schoolofprofits.academy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Founders Launchpad: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://founderslaunchpad.vc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hier Business Solutions: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hierpayroll.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Agile Data Solutions (Hustle PH): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://agiledatasolutions.tech⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Smile Checks: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://getsmilechecks.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CloudCFO: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cloudcfo.ph⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Free financial assessment, process onboarding, and 6-month QuickBooks subscription! Mention: Start Up Podcast PH)Cloverly: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cloverly.tech⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BuddyBetes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://buddybetes.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HKB Digital Services: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://contakt-ph.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (10% discount on RFID Business Cards! Code: CONTAKTXSUP)Hyperstacks: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hyperstacksinc.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠OneCFO: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onecfoph.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (10% discount on CFO services! Code: ONECFOXSUP)UNAWA: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://unawa.asia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SkoolTek: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://skooltek.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Better Support: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bettersupport.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Referral fee for anyone who can bring in new BPO clients!)Britana: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://britanaerp.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wunderbrand: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://wunderbrand.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠EastPoint Business Outsourcing Services: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://facebook.com/eastpointoutsourcing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DVCode Technologies Inc: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dvcode.tech⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠NutriCoach: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://nutricoach.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Uplift Code Camp: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://upliftcodecamp.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (5% discount on bootcamps and courses! Code: UPLIFTSTARTUPPH)START UP PODCAST PH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://patreon.com/StartUpPodcastPH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PIXEL: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://pixel.eplayment.co/dl/startuppodcastph⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://phstartup.online⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Edited by: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tasharivera.com⁠⁠

Host: Bob Furniss (without co-host Amos) Guest: Daniel Thomas, Informa Location: ICMI Conference Expo Floor Guest Background Daniel Thomas approaches contact center industry from a research background Surveys audiences and writes research reports Has "front row seat" to industry transformation Conducts the annual State of the Contact Center survey About the State of the Contact Center Report Comprehensive benchmark study surveying contact center professionals Covers multiple verticals including: Training and skills Compensation and salary Technology use Leadership perceptions Strategy Tracks year-over-year progress Recent additions include AI and workforce training questions Key Surprising Findings 1. Contact Centers as Strategic Intelligence Hubs Major shift: Contact centers increasingly viewed as "strategic customer intelligence hubs" rather than cost centers Described as "customer intelligence and nervous system" No other department has closer customer proximity or more customer data C-suite now acknowledges value with direct data funnels informing executive decisions 2. AI Perceptions and Impact 72% believe AI will transform roles, not replace them Only ~25% think AI will lead to workforce reductions AI expected to handle "level one, rote, monotonous, repetitive work" Agents will focus on: Complex needs and edge cases Soft skills: empathy, communication, problem solving, critical thinking 90% of surveyed leaders believe humans necessary as AI overseers Gartner prediction: 40% of agentic AI projects will fail by 2027 (often due to neglecting human oversight) Agent Evolution Agents increasingly viewed as: Consultants Solutions architects Higher-tier problem solvers "White glove service" providers Rising expectations due to AI support Agents becoming intelligence providers to C-suite More analytical roles: identifying trends, patterns, creating intelligent summaries Top AI Implementation Concerns Customer resistance (top concern) Data accuracy Data privacy and security Lack of proper AI governance Workforce and Quality Management Insights Workforce Models (Nearly Equal Three-Way Split) In-office full time Hybrid Fully remote Models remain transitional and subject to change Increased scheduling flexibility critical for retention Quality Focus Shift Traditional metrics: CSAT, utilization, average handle time New priority: Agent experience rising in importance Recognition that internal customer experience drives external customer experience Customer Satisfaction Challenges Current CSAT surveys often lack nuance Can't distinguish between: Poor agent performance vs. poor company policy Single bad experience vs. overall satisfaction Need for more qualitative feedback mechanisms "Watermelon effect": High metrics but poor actual experience Channel Evolution Significant jump from multi-channel to omni-channel implementation Growth in non-traditional channels: Social media SMS/text Video Technology enabling unified customer history across channels Key Takeaways Successful organizations treat contact centers as "valuable strategic sources of intelligence" Organizations not recognizing this value are "dropping the ball" and will "see the consequences" Contact centers serve as the "hub" and "nervous system" reaching everywhere in the organization When no one knows the answer, they turn to the contact center Notable Quotes "If your agents aren't excited about AI, then you actually haven't communicated to them how enriching and transforming it could be" "Agents are increasingly going to play a role where they are the eyes and the ears... providing the intelligence back to the C-suite" Contact centers as "the strongest data... the hub... the nervous system that reaches in everywhere else"

Why will agentic AI redefine every digital interaction, and what foundation do enterprises need to make it safe, trusted, and real time? In this episode of Eye on AI, host Craig Smith sits down with Jeff Lunsford to unpack how a neutral customer data platform like Tealium becomes the control plane for agentic systems. We cover how to collect and unify first party data responsibly, enforce consent and identity across channels, and feed the right context to models so agents can act with confidence in the moment. You will hear how real time profiles, event streams, and deterministic identity power personalization, automation, and transactions across web, mobile, ads, email, and customer support. Learn how leading enterprises are preparing for agentic commerce that could double digital interactions, why governance and privacy must be embedded into delivery teams, and which standards enable safe transactions and payments with agents. You will also hear how to build an "agentic front door" for your business, design guardrails and spending allowances, choose where to run reasoning and inference, and measure impact with metrics like conversion rate, ROAS, CSAT, and cost per resolution. ​​Stay Updated: Craig Smith on X: https://x.com/craigss Eye on A.I. on X: https://x.com/EyeOn_AI

A CMO Confidential Interview with Jim Lecinski, Clinical Professor of Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, author, and former Google VP. Jim discusses why he believes marketers are often overly focused on using AI for productivity improvements versus business growth, the gaps between marketers and the C-Suite highlighted by recent Gartner research, and the difference between "big frontier models" and "shiny objects." Key topics include: why you should avoid "gray market AI", how to manage the 5 AI risks (privacy, accuracy, regulatory, personnel, and reputation), and the false precision that accompanies a focus on intermediate measures like Click Through Rate (CTR). Tune in to hear why he's not a fan of Cannes and how AI helped figure out a wedding invitation calling for "casual to semi-formal beach attire."What should CMOs actually do with AI right now—and how do you avoid chasing shiny objects? Mike Linton sits down with Jim Lecinski, Professor of Marketing at Northwestern's Kellogg School (and author of The AI Marketing Canvas and Winning the Zero Moment of Truth) to unpack the AI application layer: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Jim explains why CEOs-CFOs obsess over growth (not merely efficiency), how to reframe marketing dashboards around business outcomes, and his simple two-by-two for AI use cases (internal productivity vs. external value creation). We cover privacy, legal/regulatory, personnel, and reputational risks—and how to mitigate them—plus a pragmatic roadmap: center on a leading frontier model and layer vetted apps instead of stitching together fragile point solutions. Jim also shares candid takes on Cannes vs. Effies and ends with a challenge: personally build something with AI before year-end.You'll learn:* Growth over cost-cutting: aligning with CEO-CFO priorities and measuring ends, not means* The AI use-case 2×2: internal productivity vs. external, customer-facing value creation* Practical examples (e.g., apparel personalization) that lift CSAT, CLV, and revenue* The 5 risk buckets (privacy, accuracy, regulatory-IP, personnel, reputation) and guardrails* How to choose core models (GPT, Gemini, Claude) and avoid “tool soup”* Why awards that honor outcomes beat awards that celebrate activityGuest: Jim Lecinski — Professor of Marketing, Northwestern Kellogg; former VP Customer Solutions (Americas) at Google; author of The AI Marketing Canvas (2nd ed.) & Winning the Zero Moment of Truth.Host: Mike Linton — former CMO of Best Buy, eBay, Farmers Insurance; CRO of Ancestry.com.Sponsor: Better marketing is built on Quad. See how better gets done at (https://www.quad.com/resources/research-and-tools/return-of-touch-consumer-engagement-has-an-omnichannel-revival?utm_source=cmoconfidential&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=001_brand&utm_id=podcastnl1031&utm_content=a-paidemail&utm_vp=)If you're enjoying the show, please like, subscribe, and share with your leadership team. New episodes every Tuesday; companion newsletter on Fridays.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by AGNTCY. Unlock agents at scale with an open Internet of Agents.  Visit https://agntcy.org/ and add your support. How is Coxwave Redefining AI Evaluation? In this episode of Eye on AI, host Craig Smith is joined by Yeop Lee, Head of Product at Coxwave. Together they explore how teams move beyond accuracy-only metrics to outcome focused evaluation with Coxwave's Align. We look at how Align measures satisfaction, trust, and task completion across chat, email, and voice, how LLM as judge pairs with human review, and how product teams search conversations to find hidden failure patterns that block adoption. Learn how leading companies design an evaluation stack that guides prompts, agents, and UX, which pitfalls to avoid when shipping updates, and which metrics matter most for success, including completion rate, CSAT, retention, and cost per resolution. You will also hear how to run experiment tracking with model and prompt change logs, set up governance that prevents regressions, and choose between SaaS and on premise deployments that meet security and compliance needs. Stay Updated: Craig Smith on X: https://x.com/craigss Eye on A.I. on X: https://x.com/EyeOn_AI

This episode is sponsored by AGNTCY. Unlock agents at scale with an open Internet of Agents.  Visit https://agntcy.org/ and add your support. Why do so many chatbots fail in the real world, and how can AI agents actually fix customer support? In this episode of Eye on AI, host Craig Smith explores how teams move beyond scripted bots to production-grade AI agents that resolve real issues across chat, email, and voice. We look at what makes agents reliable at scale, how to configure them safely, and how to manage them like digital workers alongside your human team. Learn how leading companies approach agent onboarding and governance, which pitfalls to avoid, and which metrics matter most for success, including resolution rate, CSAT, and cost per resolution. You will also hear how to enable actions like refunds and returns through secure procedures, design human handoff that customers appreciate, and build an omnichannel rollout plan that scales responsibly. ​​Stay Updated: Craig Smith on X:https://x.com/craigss Eye on A.I. on X: https://x.com/EyeOn_AI

Ruth O'Brien, Senior Director of AI Support at Intercom, and Declan Ivory, VP of Customer Support at Intercom, dive into Fin Procedures – a powerful new way for Fin AI Agent to handle complex, multi-step queries. Hear how Intercom's own support team is using Procedures in practice, and the impact customers are seeing so far – from higher resolution rates to improved CSAT.Learn more about Procedures here: https://fin.ai/proceduresWatch this episode on YouTube:Follow the peoplehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthieob/https://www.linkedin.com/in/decivory/NewsletterSign up for The Ticket on LinkedIn: A newsletter bursting with insights and advice for support leaders who are navigating the shift to AI-first CS. https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-ticket-7158151857616355328/Say hiLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercom/X: https://x.com/intercomhttps://www.fin.aiSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

ISV leaders from Automation Anywhere, DataVisor, and Sumo Logic share battle-tested strategies for deploying AI agents at scale, including pricing models, proof of concepts and ROI.Topics Include:Panel brings together ISV leaders from automation, fraud detection, and security operations.Companies rethinking entire business processes rather than automating incremental portions with agents.Start with immutable data before tackling real-time changing data in production.Intent for change must come from board, CEO, and customers simultaneously.Challenge: proving agent value beyond CSAT when internal teams block deployment.Sumo Logic measures Mean Time to Resolution, aiming to cut hours to zero.DataVisor cuts fraud alert resolution from one hour down to twenty minutes.Customers demand reliability as workflows shift from deterministic to probabilistic agent decisions.Automation Anywhere spent three years making every platform component fully agent-ready.Focus on business outcomes, not chasing every new model release each week.Human oversight still critical—agents are task-oriented and prone to hallucinations and drift.Humans validate agent findings, then let agents scale actions across hundreds instances.Pricing experiments range from platform-plus-consumption to outcome-based to decision-event models.Token pricing doesn't work due to varied data modalities and complexity.Next two quarters: more POCs moving to production with productive agents deployed.Future prediction: enterprise apps becoming systems of knowledge powered by MCP protocol.Participants:Jay Bala - Senior Vice President of Product, Automation AnywhereKedar Toraskar – VP Product Partnerships, DataVisorBill Peterson - Senior Director, Product Marketing, Sumo LogicJillian D'Arcy - ISV Senior Leader, Amazon Web ServicesSee how Amazon Web Services gives you the freedom to migrate, innovate, and scale your software company at https://aws.amazon.com/isv/

Text us your questions and thoughts!We're excited to welcome Linda Lipovetsky, Senior Principal Customer Advocacy Manager at Unqork, whose career journey demonstrates that landing your dream role is less about polished résumés and more about delivering value, embracing radical transparency, and showing up where it counts. From a pandemic hackathon with her 10-year-old son to a gutsy LinkedIn pitch that opened the door to Unqork, Linda's story is a masterclass in building opportunity through courage and creativity.As she shares, her “operating system” is radical transparency—oversharing by design (within confidentiality) to break down silos, speed decisions, and help customers plan with the truth. No euphemisms, no carefully massaged answers—just candor that builds trust and accelerates outcomes.In this episode, we discuss:How to network into companies by creating a visible impact Self-advocacy strategies that feel naturalWhy traditional metrics like NPS and CSAT fall short (and which signals truly predict renewal and customer trust)How CS and Advocacy can claim a bigger seat at the tableThe realities of remote work, energy management, and why staying close to technology gives you long-term career liftReady to rethink how you advocate for yourself, your customers, and your career? This episode is packed with practical strategies you can start applying today—so tune in and enjoy!

What if you could finally prove that emotions, not just price or product features, are the real drivers of revenue, retention, and revenue growth? Too many leaders know their teams create powerful emotional connections, yet they're told “emotion is a soft skill” by the very people who control the budgets. That disconnect leaves organizations stuck defending their work instead of proving its true impact. In this episode, Stacy Sherman changes that conversation. She explains why legacy metrics like CSAT and NPS fall short, and how companies like translate small emotional gestures into massive financial results. More importantly, she shares a clear framework that shows leaders exactly how to measure emotional ROI and three practical steps you can take this week. By the end, you'll see why emotion isn't a soft skill; it's the new currency of customer experience and the most strategic advantage your business has. Learn more at   Book time with Stacy Sherman through this   Listen to HBC full episode