Kel Kurekgi, Director of Support at Zapier, delves into the transformation of customer support teams, focusing on how to drop the victim mentality and gain a seat at the table. Kel discusses his journey from media to customer experience, sharing insights on overcoming challenges in the customer support sector. He emphasizes collaboration, empathy, and strategic storytelling as key elements in transforming customer support into a recognized business asset.

“We need to stop focusing on why we can’t do things and start focusing on what we can do. When people start realizing that the power is in their hands, to be able to tell the right story, their seat at the table, get their voice heard, that whole victim mentality in support will shift.” - Kel Kurekgi

Kel expands on how internal barriers, such as outdated mindsets or a lack of advocacy, can hinder support teams. By embracing strategic collaboration and owning their narrative, support leaders can redefine their value and influence company-wide impact.

Ken Mogensen, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Sneed Coding Solutions, discusses why treating BPO partners as direct reports transforms customer support into a sales engine. He explains vetting criteria, training approaches, and KPI alignment to ensure partners reflect the company’s values. Throughout the discussion, Ken shares lessons learned from scaling globally.

“Our partners should be committed to customer success because our success as a company and our growth are entirely contingent upon our customers growing and being successful. Our business partner should definitely have that same belief.” – Ken Mogensen

Ken highlights how applying core values, rigorous training alignment, and shared ownership transforms outsourced teams into trusted business growth partners. He explains how this approach supports global scalability, fosters deeper customer relationships, and cultivates a performance culture centered on results, not just transactions.

Peter Mullen, Strategic Brand and Growth Leader at Simply Systems LLC, discusses how customer experience can pivot from a cost center into a growth driver. He highlights a $3.7 trillion opportunity resulting from poor customer experience (CX) and explains why AI-driven personalization is now the new baseline. Peter outlines how immersive brand storytelling and C-suite alignment fuel BPO success.

“You want zero daylight between you and the brand you're supporting. You want a contact center that looks and feels like it's part of the company itself. You want your BPO partners to understand the brand storytelling, and you want the BPO team and everyone involved to fully buy into it.” – Peter Mullen

In this in-depth discussion, Peter Mullen illuminates how transformative leadership, rooted in resilience and personal adversity, reframes customer experience from a cost center to a strategic growth driver. He explores the $3.7 trillion opportunity lost to poor CX, details how AI-driven personalization is rapidly becoming a baseline expectation, and outlines pragmatic steps to align the C-suite's vision with business process outsourcing (BPO) partnerships for sustainable, revenue-focused outcomes.

Tim Wilbourn, SVP Support and Customer Success at Crexendo® Business Solutions, unpacks the challenge of linking CX metrics to revenue in a Wall Street-driven world. He outlines strategies for establishing clear expectations and promoting long-term initiatives. He also explains why short tenures hurt CX leaders and how to build sustained success.

“The first thing investors look at is revenue, then free cash flow. But customers are what drive all of that. So, think about it differently. Focus on how many customers have been implemented, the revenue generated from those implementations, and the outcomes that define success.” – Tim Wilbourn

Tim Wilbourn highlights how aligning customer success metrics with revenue KPIs drives sustained growth. He shows why embedding customer-focused OKRs across every department prevents short-term thinking and empowers leaders to advocate for long-term investments. With his “press release exercise,” Tim offers a straightforward method to unify teams around multi-year goals.

Matt Hartley, Head of Pixel Customer Care at Google, dives into why customer care must be its own strongest advocate within a large organization. He outlines how support teams can earn a “seat at the table” by tying their work to product and business outcomes. Matt discusses systems for cross‑functional touchpoints and using data plus storytelling to influence peers. He also shares anecdotes from building partnerships across product, marketing, and sales.

“You need to think through when you want to go fast and when you want to go far, who to involve in that discussion, and how to approach it continuously rather than as a one‑off to make sure you’re running the marathon, not just the sprint.” – Matt Hartley

In this in‑depth conversation, Matt shares actionable frameworks for aligning support goals with product roadmaps and weaving data and narrative into compelling cross‑functional dialogues. He discusses how to establish repeatable systems for collaboration, leverage AI‑driven insights for real‑time impact, and tailor storytelling to each stakeholder’s priorities.

Luke Squires, Customer Experience Director at Sykes Holiday Cottages, discusses how businesses can integrate transformational technologies like AI into their traditional customer support operations. He discusses the evolution of customer service, the exciting potential of AI, and how it’s becoming more accessible to companies. Luke emphasizes that while AI comes with challenges, it opens up many new opportunities for improving customer experiences.

“Technology is the best it’s ever been. It’s constantly evolving and becoming more accessible for companies. While it still comes with a significant cost, tools like AI are no longer a new concept. They’re now something businesses can adopt and start running with.” – Luke Squires

Luke Squires highlights the growing need to integrate AI-driven tools into traditional customer support. He explains how rapidly evolving consumer expectations, driven by pandemic-era digital behaviors and Gen Z's unique communication preferences, present challenges and opportunities. Drawing on his experience leading teams at the UK’s top holiday rental company, Luke recommends balancing automation with human empathy, leveraging real-time analytics to anticipate needs, and positioning support as a strategic growth driver rather than a cost center.

Enav Birnbaum, Director of Customer Solutions at Zencity, explores how customer support can directly impact revenue growth. She outlines her PhD background in international relations and explains how it informs her approach to solving real‑world challenges. She also reveals the cultural foundation that drives passionate service and fosters strong customer bonds.

“I believe that when managing a contact center, it is most important to keep your team members connected to your company's mission and vision, and to remind them why we need to provide top‑notch support and why we are here.” – Enav Birnbaum

From her early academic insights on social dynamics to Zencity’s hands‑on revenue results, Enav connects culture, proactive support, and data‑driven processes to show leaders how customer experience becomes a measurable growth engine. Listeners will discover why linking mission to daily actions transforms support teams from cost centers into trusted drivers of loyalty and profit.

Ash Rhodes, Business Consultant in Customer Experience at Ash Rhodes Consulting, shares how contact centers can break free from the “cost center” mindset. He dives into strategies highlighting the invaluable customer data gathered during service interactions. Ash reveals how internal advocacy reshapes a team’s influence. Finally, he explains how to speak the language of stakeholders to gain a permanent seat at the executive table.

“When we talk about customer success, there’s so much more to it. We must demonstrate our value and our raison d'être—our reason for existing—to the rest of the organization and beyond, and that is where we get in our own way.” - Ash Rhodes

Ash shares how being calm and empathetic in high-stress situations can guide us toward effective solutions in both bars and boardrooms. He shows that every interaction, when approached with confidence and care, can reduce tension and create stronger connections between people and teams.