Nextiva has a new President and Chief Operating Officer. Marc Stoll previously worked at Apple. Stoll served as VP Worldwide Sales Finance during the Steve Jobs era.
Small Business Trends contacted him via email to find out about his plans for the cloud communications company.
Making Use of Previous Experience
Stoll started by talking about his previous experience and how that would help him in his new role.
“My past has been all about scaling technology companies and improving their operations to enable accelerated decision making. Said differently, my past has explicitly prepared me for this this specific role.”
Touting Accomplishments at Apple
He has twenty years of experience that includes other companies like Compaq. His accomplishments at Apple include work on both the iPad and the iPhone. Annual revenue from global sales jumped $100B during Stoll’s time there.
“Details matter… To truly understand, improve operations, and scale a business, you have to understand and be into the details,” he wrote. “You simply cannot scale a business or provide an exceptional customer experience without them.”
Focusing on Customer Experience
He also went on to say how much customers matter. Stool wrote that he learned early on when working at Apple how the customer experience went beyond just the product.
“Every engagement with the company matters.”
He also underlined how important small businesses were to Nextiva
“The small business community will see a tremendous benefit from our new NextOS Suites. The Communication Suite gives access to our most popular tools, including Voice, CRM, and Analytics, for one low price.”
Looking at the Challenges
Stoll told Small Business Trends one of the challenges for this type of communication industry was rapid change. Customers want to be able to communicate with businesses wherever and whenever they want.
He said that while most companies have struggled to keep pace, Nextiva sees this trend as an opportunity to support SMB’s.
“Customers want to contact businesses however they please. For some customers, this means social media and live chat on a website,” he wrote.
Examining Diverse Communication Methods
“For others, this means calling support directly. All businesses now face the challenge of meeting customers where they are and providing diverse opportunities to connect.”
He went on to say many businesses are hearing more from customers than ever before. However, “troublesome” communications systems mean they understand less of what these people want.
Stoll says small businesses need to look at the big picture to fix the problem.
Combating Ineffective Use of Technology
“The way businesses communicate and use technology is becoming ineffective and unsustainable, and a holistic view of the customer journey is needed,” he says. He goes on to name some of the solutions that SMBs need to look at.
“Machine learning, artificial intelligence, and automation will continue to shape the future of the industry, and companies that use Nextiva five years from now are well positioned to become the leaders in their space.”
Nextiva offer a variety of business communication tools. For example, The NextOS platform supplies some innovative features. It gives small businesses real time individual insights into their customers. It makes use of some of the most modern and innovative technologies like predictive modeling too.
This technology uses data to predict outcomes. It’s a great way for small businesses to understand their customers reactions in real time.
Their phone services were rated by Small Business Trends as one of the best for small business last year.
Image: Nextiva.com