Philipp Beck has vacated the CEO hot seat at Luware, a position he has held since January 2011.
Yet, Beck – who also co-founded the company – will still grasp the strategic reigns, with a new person taking the CEO mantle and managing the operational side of the business.
Serge Gansner, Founder of E2E Technologies, will do so on a temporary basis until the Board secures a permanent successor.
Meanwhile, Beck will sit on the Board of Directors, molding the go-forward plans as the business prepares for its “next growth phase”.
“Leading the growth and expansion of Luware as CEO has been the most rewarding chapter of my life,” said Beck. “I am proud of the strong team we have built and confident in their ability to lead Luware into the future.
My attention will now shift to guiding Luware through strategic decisions as a shareholder and board member.
These plans will likely revolve around Nimbus, Luware’s hallmark customer experience platform.
Nimbus is a contact center solution for Microsoft Teams and has driven much of Luware’s success.
Indeed, the platform was among the first in Microsoft’s contact center certification program, with Luware at the forefront of the movement to turn the UC platform into a customer service hub.
Since then, many others have joined them. However, Luware has continued to differentiate through third-party integrations with several systems, notably various CRM solutions.
Such CRM integrations include Microsoft Dynamics, HubSpot, Salesforce, and many others – embedding caller information, automation, and a “360-degree view of the customer” within the Teams platform.
Luware has also built customized task routing, reporting, and automated quality assurance within the Teams environment.
In doing so, Luware has established a healthy base of 750 customers, including the likes of die Mobiliar, KBC, and UBS.
However, as more CCaaS stalwarts now compete via Teams, the competition increases.
Luware appears to recognize this, doubling down on the significance of the “next growth phase”.
Karel Strub, Chairman of the Board at Luware, echoed these sentiments while paying tribute to Beck’s leadership.
“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Philipp for his outstanding leadership and dedication to the company,” stated Strub. “His contributions have been instrumental in building a solid foundation for Luware and preparing the company for its next phase of growth.
While we search for a permanent successor, Serge’s expertise as a trusted advisor to the management team will effectively guide Luware through this transition.
Alongside founding E2E Technologies, interim CEO Gansner’s background includes several senior IT management positions at Swiss financial institutions.
Given Luware’s deep base of customers in banking and credit unions, the vendor will likely lean further into this vertical to aid its Microsoft Teams contact center differentiation efforts.
Yet, nothing is given, with Gasner pledging that Luware will continue innovating on Nimbus and its compliance recording portfolio to deliver the “highest quality” solutions.
In doing so, he will work hand-in-hand with Beck in an arrangement seemingly similar to last year’s RingCentral CEO transition – when Tarek Robbiati replaced co-founder Vlad Shumnis.
Let’s hope this one lasts a little longer than Robbiati’s three months at Luware’s enterprise communications competitor.
