The past two years have proven tricky for many prominent players in the CCaaS space.
Amid losses, some removed their CEOs while others plunged into bankruptcy.
Indeed, it has been a space of few success stories, with Five9 a notable exception.
Quarter after quarter, it has published double-digit growth, large enterprise contract wins, and several impressive customer case studies.
As the latter built, the vendor recorded a remarkable NPS score of 85 and surged into the leader square of the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant.
Yet, while success has so far seemed comfortable at Five9, the vendor now wants to go further and leverage new growth drivers.
Enter Niki Hall, the vendor’s new Chief Marketing Officer.
CCaaS: Where Fresh Ideas Are Welcomed
Sometimes, the CCaaS industry seems like a family business, with execs bouncing from one provider to another.
Yet, industry analysts have called for new blood, including Liz Miller, VP & Principal Analyst at Constellation Research.
“To push the boundaries of CCaaS, you need someone from the outside,” she told CX Today. “You can’t just bring in people from the industry, or all you’re going to get is more of the same.
“Bring someone in that you trust but is going to make you uncomfortable.”
With Hall, Five9 has found someone who meets those specifications as a boomerang hire who has since spent time with Selligent (now Marigold) and – more recently – Contentsquare.
While many contact center leaders won’t have heard of Contentsquare, their counterparts in sales and marketing will have.
Such industry recognition is partly to the credit of Hall, who made a splash with the business’s messaging – especially around compossibility – in a very crowded space.
As such, she brings not only experience and credibility but also a deep well of insight into the front end of the customer journey. That will aid Five9 in its ambitions to connect the customer experience.
The Ambition to Connect Customer Experiences
Having honed her outsider knowledge, Hall sees significant potential in connecting the entirety of a customer’s experience, from before a purchase, during a transaction, and thereafter.
“Often, marketing, sales, and service intelligence is siloed within functions – and that’s when customer experiences typically break down,” she said.
“By orchestrating that journey and having visibility across all these areas, there’s a massive opportunity to deliver truly differentiated, connected experiences, even outside the contact center.”
Five9 has already taken steps in this direction, most notably with its Aceyus acquisition last year.
Aceyus provides a platform that centralizes CX data inside a real-time dashboard, enabling curated data sets and a consolidated view of the customer.
Now, as Five9 onboards Aceyus and broadens its innovation, Hall may master the mouthpiece that amplifies the value of a connected customer experience.
However, this will be far from the only message that Hall and her team will magnify – as Five9 senses many more growth opportunities out there.
AI, Culture, and “BrandGen” = New Opportunities for Five9
Like every other CCaaS CMOs, Hall senses an opportunity in AI. Yet, for Five9 that is not just in the models themselves, but the data that feeds them.
With its newfound ability to create cross-function curated data sets, Five9 has a leg up on the competition here.
Hall recognizes this, wishing to flaunt the differentiator and the practical AI use cases it drives.
“Data has come a long way since the start of my career, and now we’re seeing how new tech – like AI – is becoming a jet engine for it,” she said.
“AI-powered analytics, insights, and guidance are particularly impactful in the contact center because they can boost customer satisfaction, maximize customer service agent productivity and efficiency, and minimize cost – all at the same time.”
Yet, as AI pulls the CCaaS market in new directions, Hall notes that Five9 must keep ahold of its “renowned culture”.
A “commitment to its people and the things that matter most to them” holds the foundations for this culture that celebrates people, creativity, and – critically – trust.
Hall has pledged to do her part in maintaining this culture and ensuring it persists within her team and beyond as they embrace a new marketing mindset.
The new CMO terms that mindset “BrandGen”, which combines brand and demand gen. “This symbiotic relationship is critical to the success of marketing,” she summarizes.
“My focus is to continue to elevate the Five9 brand, building and working with a team that is creative, passionate, and incredibly smart to drive tangible results that attribute to growth — not just for Five9, but for our customers and partners as well.”
Five9: Achieving Growth Across Continents
Even in the jam-packed CCaaS market, opportunities are aplenty for Five9, and the vendor has already enjoyed significant success.
Such success has fueled its expansion in the European and Latin American markets – with EMEA bookings growing by a massive 57 percent in Q3 of last year.
Yet, alongside the innovation and execution track record at Five9, Hall gives credit to Five9’s deep partner base. That includes the likes of Accenture, BT, Deloitte, IBM, and TELUS International – to name a few.
Five9 aims to solidify these partnerships in 2024 as the vendor works towards “big goals”.
While Hall couldn’t go into more details, she concluded: “What I can tell you is we’re investing heavily in innovation, in our people, and in leveraging our strong partner and customer ecosystem to build out solutions the market needs well into the future.
“I’m excited for this next chapter, and I know that excitement will translate to our customers, their end-customers, and the market overall.”
To learn more about the Five9 Intelligent CX platform and enjoy a sneak peek of that next chapter, you can request a demo here: https://www.five9.com/landing/blended-demo-offer
