The Contact Center Gurus

Wes Dudey spent his career designing customer journeys. Then a massive heart attack — six cardiac arrests, 55 shocks, a 1% survival odds — followed by kidney failure, put him inside a journey he didn't design. In this first episode of CX Gurus, host Jess talks with Wes about what he learned as a patient that he never fully understood as a CX executive: what customer effort actually costs someone l...

In this episode of Contact Center Journeys, Fred Stacey sits down with John Coulter, SVP of Sales at Five Star Call Centers, to talk about developing future leaders in today's remote world — and how mentorship, networking, and staying connected keep our industry growing strong.   Timestamps / Chapters: 00:00 – Developing leaders in a remote world 02:30 – John's journey through the contact center s...

Is customer service just a stepping stone, or can it be a meaningful, long-term career?   In this episode, Fred Stacey sits down with Nate Brown, Head of Education & Enablement at Metric Sherpa and co-founder of CX Accelerator, for an honest conversation about careers in customer experience, mentorship, leadership, and why CX still matters more than ever.   Nate shares his journey from frontline c...

He walked into a random job fair with no plan, and walked out with a career that took him from answering phones to running contact centers across the globe, without a college degree.   In this episode of Contact Center Journeys, host Fred Stacey talks with Tyler Orrell about the unlikely path, the hard lessons along the way, and what keeps him up at night as AI reshapes the global contact center i...

Is AI transforming the contact center, or is the industry focused on the wrong things?   In this full episode of the Contact Center Journeys Podcast, Fred Stacey sits down with Bill Staikos, CEO & Managing Partner at Be Customer Led, to break down the real future of customer experience, AI, and the workforce.   Bill shares powerful insights on: Why companies misunderstand AI's role in CX - The dan...

Gina Gibson — CEO of Think Forward and host of The Tech Matchmaker podcast — has led digital transformations for organizations ranging from 50 to 45,000 agents. In this episode she shares her journey from agent to CEO and her vendor-agnostic playbook for future-proofing the contact center. In this episode: Gina's origin story: from frontline agent to CEO The vendor-agnostic approach to matching te...

Justin Robbins is a thought leader in customer experience with a human-centric approach to workplace engagement and over two decades in CX operations and leadership. He joins Fred to unpack why disengagement happens at work — and the practical moves leaders can make to restore trust and motivation. In this episode: Justin's origin story and the paper-route lesson in honoring preferences Why diseng...

Laura K. Zegar is founder of Quantum CX, a customer service and customer experience consulting practice specializing in contact center transformation. Formerly VP of contact center and CX oversight at Bank of America and an Accenture management consultant, Laura got her start in 1999 in Equifax's check-authorization department — and 27 years later she's helping contact centers maximize AI and auto...

  Episode Notes: Lorne Wood, founder and managing director of Better Call Center QA, brings over 30 years in contact center quality assurance and BPO. His career began on an evening-shift suicide crisis line — and the lessons he learned there about helping people over the phone have shaped a no-nonsense approach to fixing what technology alone can't. In this episode: Lorne's origin story: crisis l...

Cynthia Carrese is Founder and Managing Director of C2 Strategic Partners, a customer success and leadership strategist who turns contact and sales centers into places where performance and fun go hand in hand. With a career spanning Fortune 500 powerhouses and fast-moving startups, she scales operations, boosts KPIs, and builds cultures that inspire. In this episode: Cynthia's origin story across...

Valerie McSorley is an award-winning producer, podcast host, and networking expert with deep roots in the contact center and customer experience industry. Over 25+ years she's turned relationships into results — and she joins Fred to talk about connection as a strategy, not a soft skill. In this episode: Valerie's origin story and 25+ years of building communities Why connection is a strategy, not...

Shellie Plymale, CEO of Plymale Enterprise Group, brings over 30 years of experience transforming contact center operations — from omni-channel strategy to performance optimization. With a Six Sigma background and APAC leadership on NICE CXone, she delivers high-impact, vendor-agnostic solutions. In this episode: Shellie's origin story and 30-year path Applying Six Sigma discipline to CX and EX Om...

Every contact center leader makes the same bad bet every morning: overstaff and burn labor, or understaff and burn your CX. The traditional 8-hour shift was built for a world that no longer exists. In this episode, host Darren Prine sits down with **Jon Brown, SVP of Client Results at LiveOps**, to break down **precision staffing** — a flexible, on-demand model that schedules agents in 30-minute i...

Every contact center has an AI graveyard. Failed chatbots. Pilots that never scaled. The root cause is almost never the technology — it's a lack of AI readiness, unclear use cases, and AI that was built to respond rather than resolve. In Episode 5 of the Contact Center Gurus Podcast, host Darren Prine is joined by Mike Schulman, VP of Channel Sales at Yellow.ai, for a no-hype breakdown of what sep...

The BPO industry is splitting in two — commodity providers heading toward irrelevance, and transformation partners capturing all the growth. In this episode, Darren Prine sits down with Siddharth Victor, SVP & Head of Support Services at Movate, to break down why the traditional BPO model is structurally misaligned with what clients actually need — and what the shift to outcome-based CX looks like...

Most healthcare contact centers have tried chatbots and been burned. But what's possible today with AI agents is dramatically different. In this episode, Darren Prine sits down with Rebecca Clyde, Co-Founder and CEO of Botco.ai, to break down what AI in regulated environments actually looks like when it's built right — from day one. What you'll hear in this episode: Why early chatbots failed healt...

Jim Murphy didn't start out building contact centers. He started with a pager business out of a college apartment in the San Fernando Valley. Then the 1994 Northridge earthquake flooded his inventory, FEMA sent a $2,000 check, and a business mentor told him to stop pretending and get a real office. Thirty years later, Jim is the CEO and Co-Founder of BroadVoice — a cloud communications company ope...

Most organizations buy AI and call it a day. But that's exactly where the real work begins. Darren Prine sits down with Wayne Butterfield, Founder of STX-AI, to unpack why so many AI initiatives fail — not because of the technology, but because of what happens after the purchase. What you'll learn: Why procurement is the starting line, not the finish line What post-deployment scaffolding actually...

Guest: Adam Fenwick, SVP Global Alliances, Boost.ai Topic: Conversational AI in contact centers Focus: Strategy, design, regulation, and scale Audience: CX leaders, contact center executives, IT and digital leaders Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.

Guest: Tyler Dixon , SVP of Sales at LivePro Host: Darren Prine — The Contact Center Gurus Podcast Connect with us: Website: https://cloudtechgurus.com/ YouTube: The Contact Center Gurus Podcast Produced by Darren Prine and the Cloud Tech Gurus team. Subscribe for more insights from industry leaders.

This episode dives deep into the balance between automation and human connection in modern customer support. Dan O’Connell , CEO of Front , joins Darren Prine to unpack how Front powers over 9,000 businesses to deliver seamless, personalized service at scale — using AI the right way. From breaking silos to redefining collaboration, Dan explains why the best companies are moving toward unified cust...

Can analytics turn your contact center from a cost center into a driver of revenue and loyalty? In this conversation, Darren Prine and Jim Iyoob explore the new era of QA, one that’s powered by AI, data, and predictive insights. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why QA must evolve from checking boxes to changing behaviors How predictive coaching helps agents improve before they fail What happens when...

What happens when AI meets the human side of customer experience? In this episode, we discuss: How to break down silos across voice, email, chat, and social Where AI is making the biggest impact today (agent assist, routing, analytics) Why balancing automation with empathy is the real differentiator How CX leaders can shift from cost centers to revenue drivers Hidden costs of tech sprawl and the s...

Host: Darren Prine Guests: Brad Garner & Aaron Symbolik (Krista) What can AI really do for enterprises right now? Spoiler: it’s far more than chatbots and hype. In this episode, we dive into real-world wins, missed opportunities, and why leaders can’t afford to “wait and see” when it comes to AI adoption. Key topics include: Enterprise-wide AI impact: beyond ChatGPT How AI solves bottlenecks acros...

Guest: Martin Hobratschk, CEO of Cognita Knowledge Management Host: Darren Prine, Cloud Tech Gurus Episode Overview Knowledge management is often overlooked — or worse, misunderstood. Many companies think a SharePoint folder or Google Docs library is enough. In reality, these “digital landfills” slow down agents, frustrate customers, and hurt retention. In this episode, Darren speaks with Martin H...