#800: Five9 VP of CX Jenn Edwards on building great customer experience when behavior shifts

Summary

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Podcast Summary

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX

Episode #800: Five9 VP of CX Jenn Edwards on Building Great Customer Experience When Behavior Shifts
Release Date: January 19, 2026
Host: Greg Kihlström
Guest: Jenn Edwards, VP of Customer Experience at Five9

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Episode Overview

This episode explores how shifting consumer behaviors—driven by economic pressures and evolving expectations—are forcing brands to rethink customer experience (CX). Host Greg Kihlström and guest Jenn Edwards (VP of CX at Five9) discuss insights from Five9’s recent CX report, focusing on key tensions between consumer demand for deals and the expectation of premium service. The conversation dives into the strategic role of AI in navigating these trends, balancing cost-efficiency, personalization, and loyalty building.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reconciling Deals-Driven Behavior and Quality Experience ([03:11]–[04:29])

• Report findings: 45% of consumers are motivated primarily by savings/deals, but 72% factor in quality of customer support when choosing where to buy.
• Strategic takeaway: These expectations are complementary, not competing. Brands should enable both value and experience to drive loyalty.
  • Jenn Edwards (03:14):
    “I would invite leaders to think about this as complementary expectations, not necessarily one or the other.”

2. Fragmentation in Consumer Behavior and Business Planning ([05:14]–[07:07])

• Economic challenges: Tariffs and inflation are causing fragmented consumer responses—some spend less, some spend more for the right product.
  • 24% felt unaffected by tariffs, while others looked for deals or were willing to pay more for specific items.
• Implication: Single-path strategies no longer work. Brands must rely on scenario-based planning and robust data to meet diverse consumer needs.
  • Jenn Edwards (06:19):
    “Single path strategies are not...a place where we can dwell.”

3. AI as a Consumer-Facing Differentiator ([07:55]–[09:52])

• Consumer adoption: Large segments—including older demographics—now use AI, not just millennials and Gen Z.
• Best practices:
  • Start with consumer willingness and meet varying demographics where they are. (e.g., Mason’s approach for their diverse, multi-generational audience)
  • Focus on answer optimization, easy research/comparison, and seamless service design.
  • Ensure technology solves real problems and delivers tangible business and customer outcomes.
  • Jenn Edwards (09:42):
    “Let’s not let the technology get in the way of the experience. Like, what problem does it solve and what are the outcomes we’re going to get from it?”

4. Using AI to Build Lasting Loyalty ([09:52]–[12:51])

• Trust & transparency are critical to adoption and lasting loyalty, especially among millennials and Gen Z.
  • Consumers must have an easy option to reach a human when AI falls short, or risk abandonment.
  • Balance where AI is injected in the journey—sometimes at midpoints to assist or nudge the process, not just at the start.
  • Jenn Edwards (12:51):
    “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”

5. Key Metrics and Measuring Success ([14:02]–[17:47])

• KPIs to focus on:
  • Repeat purchases within the same channels.
  • Completion rates in AI/self-service channels.
  • Feedback after interactions (e.g., thumbs up/down).
  • Rate of repeat engagement—are customers returning to the same AI-enabled process?
• Journey-centric measurement is vital; track where customers bounce channels (from AI to human and vice versa).
  • Jenn Edwards (14:30):
    “Where you can see repeat engagement through the same path is a good way to look at that, I would say.”

6. Evolving Measurement Frameworks for a Fast-Changing Landscape ([17:47]–[22:39])

• Market context: Holiday shopping windows are lengthening, shopping behavior is shifting.
  • 62% report shopping early, with only 13% waiting until December.
• Operational advice:
  • Don’t “set and forget” dashboards or strategies; adapt rapidly and regularly.
  • Engage in day-in-the-life observational practices—get into contact centers, retail stores, and on the frontlines to understand real experiences.
  • Prioritize the “moments that matter” in the journey where impact is highest.
  • Jenn Edwards (19:03, 21:39):
    “The best thing I have done in my career by far is go into the contact centers, go to the retail stores as well, talk to the leaders that are on the front lines…”

7. The Future of AI in Retail CX ([22:39]–[25:35])

• Emerging capabilities:
  • Real-time orchestration of experiences, creating more seamless and “slick” customer journeys integrating multiple touchpoints.
  • AI will become just another part of CX infrastructure, much like the cloud has—something that’s assumed, not marveled at.
  • Jenn Edwards (24:05):
    “I would say it’ll become a little bit more of the fabric, but we’ll get real about what it’s actually capable of doing and where it should be applied.”

8. Staying Agile as a Leader ([26:14]–[26:57])

• Personal practice: Jenn stresses the importance of empathetic leadership—walking in customers’ or team members’ shoes, listening, using AI and data to inform decisions, but always remaining human-centric.
  • Jenn Edwards (26:14):
    “Spend time listening and learning from them, really asking good open-ended questions... as a customer experience leader and a marketing leader...it’s walking in their shoes and really listening to them that I find the most beneficial.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I would invite leaders to think about this as complementary expectations, not necessarily one or the other.”
  — Jenn Edwards [03:14]

• “Single path strategies are not...a place where we can dwell.”
  — Jenn Edwards [06:19]

• “Let’s not let the technology get in the way of the experience. Like, what problem does it solve and what are the outcomes we’re going to get from it?”
  — Jenn Edwards [09:42]

• “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”
  — Jenn Edwards [12:51]

• “Where you can see repeat engagement through the same path is a good way to look at that, I would say.”
  — Jenn Edwards [14:30]

• “The best thing I have done in my career by far is go into the contact centers, go to the retail stores as well, talk to the leaders that are on the front lines…”
  — Jenn Edwards [19:03, paraphrased at 21:39]

• “I would say it’ll become a little bit more of the fabric, but we’ll get real about what it’s actually capable of doing and where it should be applied.”
  — Jenn Edwards [24:05]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:11] – Reconciling consumer demand for deals vs. premium experiences
• [05:14] – Effects of fragmentation and scenario-based CX planning
• [07:55] – AI as a differentiator, meeting diverse market segments
• [09:52] – Building loyalty with AI; why trust and transparency matter
• [14:02] – KPIs for tracking AI/CX success; repeat engagement and channel stickiness
• [17:47] – Rapid CX evolution; building adaptive frameworks
• [19:03] – Using “day in the life” observation to drive agility
• [22:39] – The future of AI in CX; seamless integration and real-time orchestration
• [24:05] – What’s next: AI becomes embedded infrastructure
• [26:14] – Jenn’s approach to staying agile: empathetic leadership and learning

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Summary Takeaways

• Today’s retailers have to treat savings and service as dual, not dueling priorities; embrace scenario-based, data-driven planning.
• Successful AI integration requires empathy, transparency, and a relentless focus on removing friction for real customer problems—not technology for its own sake.
• Measurement frameworks must evolve with consumer behaviors, blending real-time data and lived experience from the front lines.
• In the near future, AI will become a standard, invisible backbone of CX—brands will focus more on where and how to apply it meaningfully rather than if.
• Agility comes from constant listening, observation, and openness to change, not just dashboards and data.

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Transcript

[Jen Edwards]

The agile brand.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Welcome to Season eight of the Agile Brand Podcast. This season we're going all in on Expert Mode, MarTech, AI and Customer Experience, talking with the people and platforms behind.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

The brands you know and love.

[Greg Kilstrom]

I'm Greg Kilstrom, your host and I help Fortune 1000 companies make sense of martech, AI and marketing ops. Hit subscribe or Follow to make sure you always get the latest episodes and leave us a rating so others can.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Find us as well.

[Greg Kilstrom]

And make sure you check out our sponsor Tech Systems, an industry leader in full stack technology services, talent services and real world applications. For more information, go to teksystems.com now let's dive in when 62% of your.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Customers are making decisions based on deals and discounts, is investing in premium customer experience a luxury you can still afford? Or is it the only thing that can actually save you? Agility requires brands to move beyond seasonal planning and into a state of continuous listening. It's about having the insight and infrastructure to pivot your customer experience strategy in real time based on economic signals and shifting consumer priorities. Today we're going to talk about decoding the often conflicting signals that consumers sent during the last holiday season. 59 posted some of their findings in a report that we'll link out to in the show Notes. We're going to explore how deep seated economic pressures are reshaping shopping habits and how AI is moving from a back office tool to a frontline differentiator that can deliver both the savings that customers crave and the experiences that build loyalty. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Jen Edwards, VP of Customer Experience at Five9. Jen, welcome to the show.

[Jen Edwards]

Hey Greg, thanks for having me. It's great to be here. I'm looking forward to our discussion today.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Yeah, looking forward to it definitely. And before we dive in though, why don't you give a little background on.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yourself and Your role at 5 9?

[Jen Edwards]

Sure. My name is Jen Edwards and I've been with Five9 for a couple of years now. I lead Global Customer Marketing and North American growth marketing for 5 9. I spend a great deal of time working with our customers and understanding the their business challenges and the things that they're trying to achieve. And Five Nine is, you know, for those of you that maybe don't know about us, we optimize customer experiences across voice, digital self service and AI to help companies deliver great customer experiences.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Yeah.

[Framer Advertiser]

Love it.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Well, yeah, let's dive in here and let's dig in. Yeah, we're going to start with I mentioned the report that we'll certainly link to in the show notes as well. But your report found that 72% of customers consider customer support quality when deciding where to shop. Yet we also see an overwhelming drive for deals. So from a strategic C suite perspective, what do brands do? You know, how should brand leaders reconcile these two competing demands for both bottom line value as well as a premium experience?

[Jen Edwards]

I mean, who doesn't love a good deal?

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Right? Right.

[Jen Edwards]

Of course, with that being said, we should really think about these priorities as complementary expectations because, you know, 45% of the consumers in the research that we did are motivated by better savings or deals, but 72% of them factor in support quality and the experience that they're going to have when they do that. So, you know, in terms of thinking about that and when you start to, you know, obviously we're going to get to the AI bit here, so we may as well dive right into it, you know, you know, where do you place the AI in the experience so that it's going to be a leverage point, you know, where we'll deliver cost efficiency for them and then obviously preserve the premium experiences, you know, that are going to deliver the differentiation that you really need to create that brand, you know, loyalty that we're all looking to drive. So, you know, I really think, and I would invite leaders to think about the, this as complimentary expectations, not necessarily one or the other.

[Framer Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jen Edwards]

As we move into the, you know, into this, as we work through this, like, changing world that we're in. Yeah, it's very fast.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Yeah, well, and that's kind of a, that seems to be a theme here. You know, there's a bit of fragmentation or even, it's kind of, I would imagine even within any single consumer there's, there's almost a paradox of, you know, you know, the, the survey touched on the impact of tariffs and, and costs associated with those. Consumers are really split between the deal seeking that we already mentioned on simply spending less or even spending more to get what they want and maybe the experience that they want. So how does this kind of fragmentation in consumer response change the calculus for retailers when it comes to things like planning inventory, pricing, messaging for the year ahead?

[Jen Edwards]

Yeah. So only 24% said that they wouldn't actually feel impacted by tariffs. Right. And you know, 34% said we're going to look for more deals and I'm going to spend less overall because of what it is that I want to purchase. And 21% more said that they plan to spend more to get the items that they want. So like, people will pay for it. Now what I would say is if they're paying for it, then they're going to expect that it's a great experience. Right. Because if it's, if it's not, then you're not going to go back and spend that extra money. So that is definitely something that we want to take into account. So single path strategies are not, it's, it's not a place where we can dwell. Whether you're, honestly, whether you're a consumer or in business these days. You're, you're, you know, how many times do we find ourselves like, you know, kind of multitasking or looking at things from different angles to find the right outcomes that we want. So we really need to, you know, think through that and understand how our particular audiences are going to be conducting their shopping. You know, I mean, the good news is we're all, we're all actually consumers, but we do need to be really careful about not like, you know, injecting our own biases into that. So like, going back to the data and using the data is one of the best ways I think that you can, can really think through that. So strategically thinking about like the scenarios that we just talked through, scenario based planning and like, is your particular product that you're selling one of those where people will pay more for it, but then at the same time they're going to opt into wanting, you know, the right experience because they know they are paying more? Yeah, very savvy. We're all very savvy these days. Everything's at our fingertips.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Right, right. Well, and, and to that, to that point, you know, one of the, looking at, at some of the other numbers from the, the holiday shopping season in, in general, one thing that struck me was just, you know, I'm, I've been talking with marketers for quite a while. You know, we're in year eight of the show, so talk with plenty of marketers, lots of marketers using AI. I was really struck by how much consumers are using AI and how much they used it. And your report certainly mirrors that as well. You know, 45% of consumers would consider using AI if it meant better savings or deals. What are some of the best ways that you're seeing retailers use AI to deliver on this promise? Not just as a backend operational function, but in direct customer facing interactions.

[Jen Edwards]

Yeah. So, you know, I think what's interesting is to start where the consumers have a willingness to use it. And obviously a lot of people will say well, that is going to be, you know, the millennials and Gen Z. Right. So we do see that the younger generations are willing, have a willingness to use it. So like 39% of millennials and 34% of Gen Z. But we also interestingly have, have companies like Mason and companies who, they're over 100 years old, they are still processing quite a few checks, their demographics are quite wide and their family of companies are quite interesting. And they really took that to heart and met the customers, all their demographics, those who were signing and sending checks and the younger generations that like we just want to get in there and get it done, they took that into heart while they were designing their self service. And I think the companies that succeed are the ones that are understanding where the willingness is and leveraging things like this type of research and all the other research that's out there. I also think that there is a lot to do with answer optimization and how your, you know, what you're putting out there for your customers to be able to do the research and the comparisons and making it easier, easy for them. So those are things that I would really be thinking about. And really when we're talking about implementing AI, it's like, let's not let the technology get in the way of the experience. Like what problem does it solve and what are the outcomes we're going to get from it? Does the work that we're going to put into this, the money, the investment and the time give the return that we need as a business both from a bottom line standpoint and a loyalty standpoint.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Well, yeah, and I think that's a great segue to again, certainly finding deals as we agree is a priority for consumers. But the loyalty part, let's talk a little bit more about that. It's like how does a brand look at. Because I think the finding deals and some of those other things, they're very important to the bottom line to get more customers and acquisition. But loyalty is that, you know, is kind of the holy grail there. Right. So it's how do you use AI to help build lasting loyalty?

[Jen Edwards]

Yeah. So trust and transparency is like something I failed to mention but is really, really going to be quite important and it is critical to actually adoption, which goes back to the first point that we made here is do not let the technology be put in place for the sake of technology's sake because you will lose the trust which will then mean that you are never going to get the loyalty. And what we do know in this research is that there's a willingness within all the demographics to actually try. The Millennials and Gen z are like 46, 50%. They want the option to get to a human easily. And if that doesn't happen, you know, I sat on a panel actually earlier this year with the retail, the retail teams and we had Gen zers talking about it and they did actually say like, if it's a bad experience with AI, then I won't, I won't use it again. Like I'll abandon it. So I think that you really need to understand which points in in the experience and there's a lot of conversation around also the mid points in the experience where you're injecting AI or suggestions and recommendations in to help move someone through the process but also improve the experience so we don't always have to think of like it might not originate, you know, there, but you may, you know, someone may come to the site, leave the site, come back to the site, you know, after you've sent an email or you've pushed a text. And you know, while we're putting it up front and with consumers, I do also recommend, and I think what's really like striking is the use of the data in the back end and in AI to actually pull those insights out while you're in the middle of like peak season and things of that nature. That can be really helpful. So net net, what I would really say is look at the journey and really start to understand the points in which it's going to make make a great value to the customer. Otherwise don't put it in there.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Right, right.

[Jen Edwards]

I mean, just don't like, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

[Framer Advertiser]

You know that moment when marketing wants a landing page, design mocks it up.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

And engineering says, yeah, we'll get to it.

[Framer Advertiser]

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[Podcast Narrator/Host]

So let's, let's talk about this from, from a measurement perspective as well. So you know, certainly there's going to be core KPIs that, that don't change or you know, are sort of standard no matter what trends come or go. But as things are evolving, as you've said, what KPIs or other other metrics should marketing and CX leaders be using to really track the business impact of their, their AI and these, these customer support investments?

[Jen Edwards]

So I, I would be looking at repeat purchases within the same channels. Coming back to the AI, you know, was it so good that you were like, oh, I'm going to opt into doing it this way consistently. Right. And, and are you seeing that? So if you are, you know, let's just say you are calling in, but then you're within a chatbot and they're answering things, do they stay in and do they actually complete what they're trying to, getting, getting the information they're trying to do? Like maybe it's delivery tracking. A lot of times we're doing that on our phone obviously, but you can still know, call in here where, where it is and things of that nature. Do you stay within the channel you're in? Are you having to switch because you're not actually feeling that you have been able to accomplish what you set out to do? If transactions are actually completed within that, then, you know, and when you're asking for the feedback, are you actually getting like, hey, thumbs up, this was good or you know, not so much. I think that's a big thing to look at. Um, so are they completing and then are they coming back to it again? Where you can see repeat engagement through the same path is a good way to look at that, I would say.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Yeah, yeah, I, I think that's where that, you know, there's certainly value in looking back and the, the survey after, after the thing was done, whatever the thing is. But there's a, there's so much value in understanding the journey as it progresses or, or not if, if they stay on that one channel. To your point, there's a lot of value in understanding how many people are bouncing from. I mean, I know I've bounced from a few AI chats myself to real people and in other cases I prefer not talking with people you know, it's, it depends on the, the case and the, the day and the need and all those things. So.

[Jen Edwards]

Yeah, it's very true. Right. It's the emotional, the emotional, I guess, part of the purchase of what exactly is it that you are doing at that time and whether that requires, whether you're like, I'm good and I don't need the support or I need the empathy, which goes back to the trust and the transparency. So being able to easily access that. And you know, there may even, there are even points in some transactions where you're going through it, you're with a human, and then they're like, okay, and we're going to put you back in here and you're all set and you can complete it and you're good. The other thing I would say is like, how fast are you able to complete that? Because if you can, like, people will choose AI if it's like, I can get the outcome I want more effectively or it will personalize the experience more for me. So that's another point where I think we, we see people going in and really kind of considering that. And you know, when we talk about the metrics. Right. For me, it's the repeat, I'm coming back. We're seeing people come back and they're using the same process. They're not doing some crazy workaround.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Yeah, yeah. And I think there's, there's, you know, your, the research was really valuable and in a lot of ways, but I think one of the things that I think is always valuable about things like this is capturing this moment in time of. I think there's so many things going on, which Is1 is AI. I mean, technology in general is always progressing, but I think AI is obviously with so much investment and just focus on it, the tools are becoming better, the models are becoming better, all of those things. But at the same time, consumers are becoming more comfortable with it. Marketers and CX professionals are becoming more. So there's, there's multiple parallel lines, you could say, going at the same time. And so, you know, how do marketers, you know, taking a snapshot is really helpful to be able to look and, and course correct or whatever. But how do you suggest having a framework to measure things? Because in six to 12 months, I, I would imagine just like we saw a huge uptick in AI usage and consumers this last holiday season, I can only imagine what it's going to look like.

[Jen Edwards]

Yeah.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

You know, December 2026, like, how do you, how do you think of measurement when Things are constantly evolving like that.

[Jen Edwards]

Yeah. And. Right. So in the research, we saw that 62% of them are. We're going to shop early. Right. So periods are expanding. So, you know, we know we're always on. And. And essentially when we did that research, now 20% of them had already started, 32 are going to actually go, like, not wait for the major sales, and 24 are. Are going to actually go to the traditional Black Friday and. Or Cyber Monday. They were. They were looking at that. And only 13%. We're gonna actually shop in December.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Yeah.

[Jen Edwards]

Which is very interesting. Right. And I can tell you just in my personal life, I hear people all the time being like, I've got my holiday shopping done and it's August, and I'm like, oh, why I want to be you when I grow up. Right, right. Because I'm not there. But what. When that is occurring, I think this is, you know, this is where we get into interesting parallels. So we're talking about retail, but we have retail finance and other things that, you know, we. We do support. And we have a customer, Northwest Mutual, who won one of our awards. And a lot of what we did with them is we took all the. The insights on the back end and were working with. They were working with their quality assurance teams and looking at that and then optimizing the experiences that way. So you have both the front end and the back end starting to come together. And, you know, there's a big part of me that says we want these dashboards regularly. Another thing that I'm a huge fan of is a day in life. Best thing I have done in my career by far is go into the contact centers, go to the retail, like, the stores as well, talk to the leaders that are on the front lines, make sure that, you know, if, you know, you have a plan, you put it in place and then, you know, are resetting it and forgetting it. I don't think anybody's doing that these days. But now you've got, you know, both the front end and the back end and the technology and the ability to pivot a little more to a lot more quickly than you had in the past. And I would say making that work for both the customers and the employees is where you get really great outcomes.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I. And I think with. With the pace of change, setting it and forgetting, it could be a few days at this point and not months or years or whatever it might have been in the past.

[Jen Edwards]

So I think that's a really good point. And what I would recommend is at that point that you are really as a team looking at the things and the moments that matter and you can't look at everything. And you know Gene Bliss, who is a amazing customer experience leader. Right. Gene has always said like there might be some parts of this experience that you're just not going to touch, you don't actually need to stress out about. And then there are others that are like, if we do not get this right, game over. Right. So there are some like principles that will always be there and that is one of them. We can't do everything. So what actually matters, what matters to the company, but what matters to the customer and the experience. And if you look at it that way, then we start to be able to kind of, to your point, not get overwhelmed by the amount of what we're taking in and getting lost in the data for the sake of having so much data.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Yeah, yeah. So looking ahead a little bit, you know, with, with AI becoming more deeply integrated into the customer journey as, as it already is, but you know, only stands to be more integrated. What's a capability that maybe isn't widely discussed today but that you believe will be a non negotiable component of successful retail a few years from now?

[Jen Edwards]

I think that the real time orchestration is obviously front and center right now, but more of the thinking and I feel like sometimes I feel like you, you stop your experience and maybe you go back to it, you abandon a car and then you're getting an email or whatever. I feel that over time we will continue to be more, for lack of a better term, slick in integrating that into how it shows up in our lives and how we kind of keep that continuous engagement. It still feels somewhat divorced to me. Like I know we're following our tracking and then this shows up over here, but that to me becomes even more seamless.

[Framer Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

So as we wrap up here, a couple last questions for you. First one, if we were having this interview one year from now, what is one thing that we would definitely be talking about?

[Jen Edwards]

So one thing we would definitely be talking about a year from now is the fact that a, like we wouldn't be talking about AI, we'd actually be talking more about brands and the teams and this will just be part of how we do it and people. Well, I would say it'll become a little bit more of the fabric, but we'll get real about what's actually, it's actually capable of doing and where it should be applied.

[Framer Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jen Edwards]

I really think that over the course of the next year we're going to see a lot more of that. There's just been, there's been a lot of expenditure going on and now we're a couple of years into this and companies are starting to really, you know, understand is this working, is it not working? Where should it be applied in the course of the experience? And then there's also, you know, some portion of what's going on for human beings where I think we're all like, I don't really want to talk to a bot, maybe I want to actually talk to a real human. So companies finding that balance, I think those are the things that we're going to be talking about more than that. And AI starts to look like what you saw with SaaS and everything else. It's just part of the infrastructure and how we're doing this, how we're doing this going forward and we're applying it a little bit more methodically and thoughtfully.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Yeah, yeah, agree, agreed. And I think, you know, I do wonder, I probably need to make a like predicted date by, or whatever is, I do wonder, you know, we don't talk about the World Wide web or the information superhighway anymore, do we? You know, so like when do we stop saying AI?

[Jen Edwards]

You know, I think we're, I don't think like it stops but I think we're on that journey. And in my head as I have been sort of going on this journey, I keep thinking to myself like I can remember when we were selling software and it was on premise and then it was hosted and now it's in the cloud and now we don't, we don't talk like yet we don't talk about the cloud.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Right, right. Yeah, yeah. If it's, if it's on prem, it's like an almost an oddity or like a relic or something or. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Well Jen, thanks so much for joining today. One last question for you before we wrap up here. We what do you do to stay agile in your role and how do you find a way to do it consistently?

[Jen Edwards]

Yes, day in the life, best way to stay agile, get out in either my customers or my team's shoes. Spend time listening and learning from them, really asking good open ended questions. I certainly do use AI to ask all the questions there and to formulate my data and to really kind of help me be more effective. But to me at the end of the day as a customer experience leader and a marketing leader, one that's responsible for customers and a team of employees, it's walking in their shoes and really listening to them that that I find the most beneficial. I always learn so much from them and it's just really engaging and enjoyable for me.

[Podcast Narrator/Host]

Yeah, love that. Well, again I'd like to thank Jen Edwards, VP of Customer Experience at Five9, for joining the show. You you can learn more about Jen and Five9 and access the report by following the links in the show. Notes.

[Greg Kilstrom]

This episode is brought to you by Tech Systems. They're leaders in full stack, tech services, talent solutions and helping companies put it all in action. You can learn [e-mail] and thanks again for listening to the Agile Brand podcast. If you like the episode, hit subscribe and drop a rating so others can find the show too. And if you're interested in consulting, advisory work, or if you need a speaker for your next event, feel free to reach out. Just visit GregKillstrom.com that's G R E G K I H L S t r o m.com the Agile brand is produced by Missing Link, a Latina owned, strategy driven, creatively fueled production co op from from ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. Until next time, stay curious and stay agile.