Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a recent chat I had with David Roberts, President and CEO of SugarCRM, the sales CRM platform focused on B2B growth. We talk about why sellers/salespeople don’t get any value from CRM systems, whether the advent of AI makes things better, whether organisations are taking a tool-first, problem-second approach, what they should be doing instead, and the role of contextual intelligence, amongst other things.

This interview follows on from my recent interview – Closing the experience gap – Interview with Qualtrics executives from X4 – and is number 580 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders who are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.

Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a series of interviews that I conducted at Qualtrics’ recent X4 event in Seattle and features conversations with Qualtrics executives at the event:

• Brad Anderson, President of Products, UX, Engineering & Security;
• Mark Hammond, SVP Core AI - starting at 14:59;
• Assaf Keren, SVP and Chief Security Officer - starting at 14:59; and
• Ali Henriques, Executive Director of Market Research - starting at 59:19.

We discuss the highlights and themes of the event, the experience gap, the future of AI, and what organisations should be considering, alongside topics such as the role of security and trust in customer experience and synthetic panels, also known as customer simulation models. There’s a lot in there, so do check it out.

This interview follows on from my recent interview – The enduring and evolving ‘craft’ of customer support – Interview with Nick Francis – and is number 579 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders who are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.

Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features Nick Francis, one of the co-founders of Help Scout, a leading customer support platform, who after operating as the CEO for the last 15 years stepped back from the position in late 2025 and has now moved into the Chairman role. I first talked to Nick on the podcast back in 2017 and he joins me today to talk about his time as CEO at Help Scout, some of the biggest challenges he faced during his tenure, the lessons he learned, the ‘craft’ of customer support, and with the emergence and rapid evolution of AI-powered technology, how he sees support evolving in the coming years.

This interview follows on from my recent interview – How executives can turn fragmented CX efforts into enterprise-wide customer obsession – Interview with Ray Gerber – and is number 578 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders who are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.