In honor of International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating eight remarkable women who are reshaping the customer experience landscape. These leaders are harnessing cutting-edge technology and AI to create more personalized, efficient, and human-centered interactions, proving that innovation and empathy go hand in hand.
They are in good company with industry analysts whose research finds that AI makes a big difference in companies hitting their marks. In a recent report, Metrigy found that
80% of successful companies say AI-based products are speeding innovation vs. 55% of the non-successful group. And companies that use AI see these average improvements: revenue up 18%, customer ratings up 22%, and agent efficiency up 22%.
Join us as we spotlight these trailblazers and their game-changing contributions to CX.
Libby Healy knows the importance of AI tools for agents
Libby Healy, AI knowledge product owner at Waters Corporation, knows first-hand how important it is to have AI tools with the correct, up-to-date knowledge for agents to use while communicating with customers. She knows because she’s been there. Earlier in her career, she served as a customer service representative.
“I remember having a particularly difficult customer call once while I was in customer service. It lasted for hours. And, at one point the customer was crying. It was a very stressful call. And when the call ended, I did shed some of my own tears of frustration and anxiety. And I made a vow to myself. I said, ‘I am going to change this.’ Finally, now, 12 years later, I feel like I’m getting there,” Healy relayed.
At Waters Corporation, they sell chemical supplies to research labs, and their agents have advanced degrees in chemistry to properly serve their customers. Having the right, detailed information on their products is essential to inform customers conducting experiments requiring high levels of precision.
Having a thorough knowledge base that can be updated quickly has improved their customer service. As Healy said, “We were waiting for a solution like Expert for a long time.”
CXone Mpower Expert is intelligent knowledge management that meets your customers where they are whether via search, web, chat, digital channels, or phone.
Healy understands the power of giving the right information and building community among agents. She explained, “For us to have a place, a knowledge base, where you can go and ask a question in the customers’ words and be able to find answers from your colleagues all over the globe at your fingertips … it really helps you feel like you’re not trying to support your customers by yourself. You have the knowledge of all your teammates right at your fingertips. And that to me is extremely meaningful.”
Watch Healy’s Room Where It Happened video to see more about how
CXone Mpower Expert helped Waters Corporation.
Kristina Heidesch knows it’s critical to treat employees well
Kristina Heidesch, director of CEC channel product management at Marriott International, knows that excellent customer service starts with the employee experience. Heidesch explained, “Mr. Marriott always says, you take care of your associates, they will in turn take care of your guests. And that’s the philosophy we use in the call center side of technology. We’re making the associate user experience amazing, so they can provide amazing experiences for our guests.”
To modernize their operations in the cloud, Marriott chose
NiCE CXone Mpower. Key to its smooth implementation was training tailored to the agents.
Through monthly “all-hands” meetings with the company’s nine impacted functional groups, Marriott strategically presented easily digestible, audience-specific content about the new system.
“We started high-level, and then based on functionality, began working our way through critical elements and accountabilities,” said Heidesch. “When we spoke with technology teams, we got really technical; with agents, we focused more on training and experience.”
In addition to rolling out multiple job aids, how-to videos, and robust trainings, Marriott created a “white glove” program for associates that needed extra support. Through one-on-one interactions, Marriott offered tailored training that catered to the agent’s specific needs. “It was an agile approach that allowed us to rapidly deploy customer training support how and where it was needed most,” said Heidesch.
Read more on the successful roll-out of CXone MPower at Marriott and watch the Room Where It Happened video to hear about Marriott’s wins after only six months with
CXone Mpower.
Sharon Gamble knows that seamless operations result in positive metrics
Sharon Gamble, customer service administrator for the City of Forth Worth, Texas, knows that smoother operations in the contact center bring measurable results. Gamble said, “What’s amazing, is I went back and looked at where we were a year ago, just to see what statistics we reported, and this year, everything is so seamless, and I think that’s the greatest thing you could say about a product, is seamless.”
After a year with
NiCE CXone Mpower, its contact center enjoys fantastic metrics. The chat feature is answered on average in 8 seconds and the customer satisfaction rate is 83%. The customer satisfaction rate for their phone calls is at an astounding 90%.
Their success so far has encouraged them to go one step further with NiCE—to the cloud. Gamble exclaimed, “We are going cloud based! And I am so excited because we’re going to be on the latest version and I’m no longer going to have to worry about my server, and I know I have complete faith if anything … goes wrong, I’m in good hands.”
Get more details on how improved contact center operations have allowed them to help other divisions in the city.
Amy Latzer knows proactive communication creates unbeatable service
Amy Latzer is the COO of 211 LA, a non-profit providing essential services to community members in Los Angeles County. She knows that to get essential services to those who need them most, they have to know that the resources are available and how to access them. To do that, she uses
CXone Mpower to proactively communicate with them.
Latzer said, “We now offer our unhoused community an opportunity to register with us if they are interested in shelters or housing vouchers.” As soon as a spot opens up, a person in need of shelter hears about it right away. That can mean the difference between sleeping another night on the street or sleeping in a bed.
With CXone Mpower, Latzer can alert people of impending threats. She explained, “When we know inclement weather is in the forecast, we use CXone to proactively reach out via text with emergency housing resources and a link to chat if they have more questions, so they don’t need to get on the phone.”
Discover more about how partnering with
CXone Mpower has allowed 211 LA to fulfill their mission to make essential services accessible to all.
Tara Vieira knows that employees want digital tools for work-life balance
Tara Vieira, senior manager, scheduling at TD Bank, knows that digital tools in workforce management allow employees the work-life balance that they want. And by focusing on the employee experience, they are also focusing on providing an exceptional customer experience.
Vieira said, “At TD, we are both focused on the customer and colleague experience. … We aim to provide an effortless experience for our customers. … We also want to make sure we provide an effortless experience for our colleagues, to ensure that they have a healthy work-life balance and are engaged and to be happy to be working at TD.”
NiCE Workforce Management provides digital tools so agents can self-serve. Vieira explained, “For our colleagues, we want to make sure they have the opportunity to customize their schedules, to provide flexible voluntary scheduling options, in order for them to empower themselves to provide that work-life balance.”
With these agent scheduling options and improved workload forecasting, the results have been positive. Vieira shared, “Through our partnership with NiCE, we have really improved on our service-level consistency. … This is has resulted in service-level consistency across the day, week, and the month.”
Watch the video testimonial to see how TD Bank’s contact center metrics improved with
NiCE Workforce Management.
Michelle Seymour knows that efficiency relies on cutting-edge technology
Michelle Seymour, VP of contact center & e-Services at Maps Credit Union, knows that implementing cutting-edge technology is key to ensuring the most efficient operations in their contact center. She said, “I’m always looking for the next product, or even existing products, that we don’t have, that seem or sound like they will help us in that area, creating efficiency with anything.”
When she found
CXone Mpower AutoSummary, she was sold on its ability to cut down wasted agent time taking manual notes after an interaction. She stated, “AutoSummary is amazing because it does give a true, entire summarization of that whole interaction.”
And it wasn’t just contact center leadership that loved AutoSummary, but the employees too. Seymour explained, “As soon as staff saw the value it brought to them and the amount of talk and handle time CXone could cut down, they loved it.”
The results have been great. After a simple implementation, Maps Credit Union has seen their overall handle time of calls go down.
Read more about their journey with CXone Mpower and watch the video about the gains made with
CXone Mpower AutoSummary.
Amy Handlan knows that moving to the cloud is a gamechanger
Amy Handlan, call center engineer at General Motors, knows that cutting-edge technologies are found in the cloud, allowing General Motors to serve their customers better when they need it most—in emergency situations. She explained, “We handle emergency calls, we handle calls from vehicles. We needed to make sure that the functionality that we enjoy today was in the new platform, and of course, we wanted to take advantage of the emerging technologies that were coming out, such as AI, text-to-speech, or real-time transcription.”
Any concerns that Handlan had that the
cloud platform wouldn’t be able to handle their requests were quickly dispelled. Handlan said, “The flexibility that CXone has is incredible. … The answer consistently has been ‘there’s an API for that.’ So it’s really been fun watching this system be able to do just about everything we’ve asked it to do.”
With the customer service operations in the cloud, they reap the additional benefits of saving IT hours of time managing servers. They can devote more time to high-level work rather than just changing passwords.
Watch for more insights on how GM benefited by shifting to the cloud.
Denise Anderson knows that it’s imperative for CX technology to comply with regulations
Denise Anderson, senior manager credit card collections at First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO), knows that to serve their customers the best, they need CX technology that closely follows all the rules and regulations governing collections. “It is very important to have the latest CX technology from a standpoint of compliance. In collections we are heavily governed from TCPA, CFPB, and it’s very important that we know that we are calling within strict guidelines provided,” she discussed.
With
NiCE & LiveVox, FNBO was able to stay within regulations but found ways to reach out to their customers who would be otherwise difficult to contact. Their improved metrics surprised them—after the first year, their right party contact rate increased by 36%. Plus, they were able to achieve these improved metrics while reducing staff numbers.
The future is bright at FNBO. Anderson commented, “The doors are just wide open for the possibilities. And I hope to be involved in rolling out some more applications … to help our agents service our customers.”
Watch to see Anderson explain more on how
NiCE & LiveVox improved their outbound dialing operations.
Women lead the way in CX
Let’s hear it for the ladies! With visionary leadership, deep empathy, and a relentless drive for innovation, women CX leaders are leading the charge toward a more customer-centric world. As we look ahead, their influence will continue to break barriers and set new standards, proving that the future of CX isn’t just bright—it’s bold, dynamic, and driven by unstoppable women.
