Talkdesk Digital Showdown: Listening to your customers with Annette Franz

Annette Franz shares her experience as Talkdesk Digital Showdown host and talks about what the future will bring for those who listen to their customers.

On May 26, Talkdesk held its second Talkdesk Digital Showdown, featuring 6 AppConnect partners vying for a live audience’s vote in just 3-minute pitches, all to win a $10,000 donation to their selected charity.

With partner solutions across two key categories, AI & Automation and Employee Engagement & Productivity, this fast-paced event kept audiences on their toes. After coming down to two finalists in ‘pitch for your life’ moment, voice AI solution, Replicant, ended up taking home the title for their charity, BUILD, and won a spot at Opentalk 2021.

Annette Franz, CX leader and author, guest hosted the event to bring her customer-obsessed expertise to the Showdown stage. The team sat down with her after the event to talk about hosting the event and the future of innovation in customer experience (CX).

What were some of your favorite moments from Talkdesk Digital Showdown?

Annette: The presentations were all great, but I loved Benjamin Gleitzman’s presentation. It was so engaging and fun. Talking about the charities was pretty special, as well.

What does it mean to you for a company to be ‘customer obsessed’?

Annette: “Customer obsession” goes beyond “customer focus” to be, well, hyper-focused on customers, their needs and their expectations, and delivering value and a great experience at every interaction.

How do you see innovation impacting next-generation CX and customer obsession?

Annette: Brands should be innovating constantly—and they should be doing it with customers —to ensure they deliver value for customers and help them achieve whatever job it is they are trying to do. As long as they listen and co-create with customers, only time will tell what’s next for CX. But I’m thinking there will be a lot more convenient, relevant, and personalized experiences in our future.

Where are you excited for CX innovation to go next?

Annette: I’m looking forward to seeing how AI and automation factor into the experience. How will these tools facilitate those convenient, relevant, and personalized experiences of the future, not just for customers but also for employees? I think the focus on using these tools to aid in a better employee experience will pay off in spades for both employees and customers.

What advice would you give to competitors in our next Digital Showdown? Was there anything that the winner, Replicant, did to set themselves apart?

Annette: I really do think that the engaging presentations that tell a story bubbled to the top of this event. Both finalists were entertaining, and I think that made them memorable and pushed them to the top.

Many thanks to our competing partners, ProcedureFlow (finalist), Forethought, Aigent, Calabrio, and Tap My Back for joining us, and we look forward to our next Talkdesk Digital Showdown in November.

You can view a recording of Talkdesk Digital Showdown anytime to watch the action unfold, watch the Talkdesk AI Trainer showcase, and learn about the other amazing organizations that also received donations from Talkdesk through the event.

Many thanks to our competing partners, ProcedureFlow (finalist), Forethought, Aigent, Calabrio, and Tap My Back for joining us. We look forward to our next Talkdesk Digital Showdown in November.

Watch Replicant at Opentalk 2021 on-demand. They joined us pre show for “Rolling out the purple carpet” and hosted an insightful roundtable on “Why now is the time to adopt voice AI to enhance CX and maximize profits.” Once you log in, you’ll have access to these sessions and the complete library of exciting Opentalk 2021 content.