In this News Desk interview, recorded at Celosphere 2022, Tom Smith speaks with Vivienne van Gestel-Becker, Director, Partner Development, Celonis, and Ryan Saunders, Director of Global Alliances, LivePerson. The three discuss the importance of Celonis and LivePerson’s partnership and how customers benefit from using LivePerson’s technology, which utilizes Celonis’ process insights.
Highlights
00:41 — Tom asks van Gestel-Becker to describe the partnership between LivePerson and Celonis and the benefits it has on customers. She says that as Celonis’ execution management system (EMS) evolves, the company looks to expand its product capabilities by joining forces with the coolest tech companies out there. This brings a new perspective and new use cases that maximize the value customers get from Celonis’ EMS.
01:45 — This is Saunders’ first time attending Celosphere, and he describes the powerful impact of the conference’s energy. He says attendees are looking to maximize the intense, passionate conversations that are being had as it relates to business optimization.
02:34 — Tom asks Saunders to describe what a use case looks like within the context of what LivePerson does. Saunders says LivePerson has always been on the “bleeding edge” of enabling brands to build relationships with customers. The company’s CEO invented web chat and brought the feature to many websites, allowing customers to ask questions during their digital journeys. The company realized that its customer base was switching to a more mobile direction, which presented the opportunity for brands to become a contact in the customer’s phone. The company’s focus relies on creating effective customer agents that reduce the level of effort it takes for a customer to get what they want.
03:50 — How is LivePerson help customers within the context of Covid disruptions? Saunders says the relationship between the organization and customers is transactional — the company is ingesting data from its customers, gaining valuable insights, and using the information to create recommendations for “conversations that are maybe better suited for messaging.” This means that LivePerson is understanding what customers are communicating and voice translating into a messaging channel. Customers are then authenticated and begin building relationships with brands — the brands are now a contact in the customer’s phone.
05:19 — What has Celonis brought to the table for LivePerson’s customers? Saunders explains how Celonis enables the company to look at multiple integration points within a process, to make better conversation flows that are better suited for the customer, even before the agent comes in, to ensure they are able to drive effective and impactful conversations.
06:49 — Saunders explains how many brands have built self-service tools, but customers do not find them effective because they want to ask a question and receive a direct answer. Van Gestel-Becker explains how Celonis is effective in “marrying the two focuses” of LivePerson (who focuses on the front end of operations) and Celonis (who focuses on the back end of operations). This simplifies the goals of LivePerson while enabling them to provide a better service for customers.
08:53 — Does Process Sphere apply to the types of use cases LivePerson is creating? Saunders agrees 100% because it will enable to company to have a stronger ability to map processes and mine the data. The full line of process mapping will maximize the efforts the company is making to create relationships between brands and customers.
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