Stephen Pappas, Head of North American Operation & Senior Vice President, Panviva

Every services company talks about the importance of delivering a great customer experience. Many businesses spend thousands of dollars training and motivating employees on better customer service. Often, these training sessions take place at the corporate headquarters on topics ranging from telephone/email etiquette and objection handling to dealing with difficult customers. Training in a class room environment is good. But, it's even better to give real-time feedback to people dealing with a customer in a store.

The question to ask is, "should the training start from the bottom-up?" In the case of a retailers for example, people on the show floor should be directly trained on CX. Managers should be on the show floor regularly to see how customers are treated, their response and business outcome (i.e. are they buying or leaving the store unhappy?).

CX Connoisseur Steve Pappas thinks we should turn traditional CX on its head and that there is a huge disconnect between corporate strategies and the trainings happening at the headquarters, versus the reality of people who have their boots on the ground.

In this webinar, Parna Sarkar-Basu and Steve Pappas will:

- Discuss the importance of CX in the digital era
- Share tips on how you can improve CX
- Share how to look at CX
- Provide actionable tips on growing the business and increasing customer loyalty
- and more ...

Parna Sarkar-Basu, CEO and Founder, Brand and Buzz Marketing, LLC

Parna Sarkar-Basu, a tech evangelist, helps companies navigate the digital era and created the robot tech category and ecosystem, along with the founders of iRobot. Leveraging her two passions - technology and brand building - Parna humanizes corporate brands, builds thought leaders, simplifies the complex and creates industry buzz to elevate companies to new heights. Parna appears frequently at key industry events and speaks on a range of topics, including cognitive robotics, innovation for social good, technology trends, digital transformation, AI and impact on the workforce.

Recipient of multiple awards, Parna serves as a strategic advisor to entrepreneurs and executives in the U.S. and Europe, and works with them on a variety of initiatives, including corporate and product positioning, brand development, and market expansion. Parna has been instrumental in propelling tech companies into innovation leaders in highly competitive markets, including artificial intelligence, enterprise software, storage systems, robots, product lifecycle management and manufacturing. She has led marketing and communications functions for various global companies, including Kaminario, iRobot, iCorps Technologies, Invention Machine (acquired by IHS) and PTC.

A champion of STEM initiatives, Parna builds and supports programs to inspire women in technology and future innovators. She is the V.P. of Brand Marketing for WITI and serves on the boards of American Marketing Association Boston and WITI Boston.

Stephen Pappas, Head of North American Operation & Senior Vice President, Panviva

Steve Pappas has built a career transforming customer experiences. By taking a 360-degree view of the customer, Steve makes sure each employee has the actionable knowledge necessary to make better decisions and serve customers in a way that increases loyalty, referrals, sales and satisfaction.

In his role with Panviva, the omnichannel knowledge cloud company, Steve consults with hundreds of companies annually on their CX strategies. Industry associations, publications, and Fortune 500 companies invite him to speak and write about CX best practices in healthcare, finance, utilities, insurance and telecommunications.

A successful entrepreneur in his own right, Steve has built and sold six companies. Each company has held to the mantra of "the customer is at the center of the universe." When he is not driving CX strategy, Steve plays the guitar and mentors young entrepreneurs. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and sons.