It’s a time of accelerating innovation for 8x8, especially in the contact center space, and I’m thrilled to welcome an exciting addition to our leadership team—Bruno Bertini, our Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Bruno is a recognized SaaS growth marketer with more than 15 years of experience in the customer experience (CX) and contact center space. Bruno brings to 8x8 an extensive track record of leading marketing teams to drive exceptional business results.

Most recently, he served as Global Vice President of Demand Generation and Growth Marketing at Freshworks. Prior to that, Bruno spent more than eight years as a marketing executive at Genesys where he led go-to-market transformations leveraging account based marketing, and developed growth marketing strategies and programs that consistently delivered positive business results. Most recently at Genesys, he held the role of Global Vice President, Partnerships, Alliances and Ecosystem Marketing, and prior to that, he served as Global Vice President of Americas Revenue and Growth Marketing.

I am excited to partner with Bruno as we continue to execute our vision and strategy and expand our innovation and presence in the contact center space. I asked him eight questions so that our customers, partners, employees, and supporters (thank you all) can get to know Bruno better.

1. How did you get involved in the contact center/customer experience space?

Bruno: Interesting story, I started my career in a role where I helped troubleshoot contact center help desk issues, which then slowly evolved into work involving communications, telephony, digital strategies, and customer engagement. In that first contact center help desk role working side by side with contact center agents, I listened carefully to their experiences, stories, and especially challenges. Later in my career working as a customer experience consultant, this gave me unique insights around bridging the internal workforce with the external customer-facing teams, and advising on an integrated experience strategy.

My early experience also includes supporting contact center implementations and evaluating their experience strategies from a consultant side. This provided me meaningful time with CX customers and business leaders to understand their challenges, opportunities, business drivers, and how they were approaching the evolution of their contact centers and digital transformation.

2. I find it interesting that you also started your career with insights from the Disney Institute’s business, marketing, and customer experience tracks. Of course, we all know Disney as a leader in creating exceptional customer experiences. What is a top takeaway that still resonates with you today as a business leader in the CX space?

Bruno: Well, it sounds very simple to say, but NEVER underestimate the power of a memory. Also, as business leaders, we are all writers and storytellers. If we are not purposely “telling our stories'' aligned to our values, we will eventually become hostages of the consequences.

3. What excites you most about the contact center space today? What do you think buyers need and appreciate most when considering a new vendor?

Bruno: There’s so much that excites me about the contact center space today. I believe we are experiencing a CX renaissance where customers—you, me, everyone—know what they want, how and when they want it, and their intentions are CLEAR and SHARP. Meanwhile, the majority of companies are trying to address this opportunity with a very fragmented “experience stack" that is extremely COMPLEX, hard to maintain, and not agile and ready to evolve as the world does. Buyers need a solution that can quickly take them to the next level to address today’s customer expectations and deliver business advantage.

4. You have a wealth of experience at other contact center and CX-focused companies including Genesys and Freshworks. What was it that attracted you to 8x8?

Bruno: There were a number of things, but there are two I’ll share here. The first one is how 8x8 views the customer experience and contact center space and its REAL ability to break down the silos between contact center agents and employees across the rest of the organization. From the front office to the back office, 8x8 provides a full 360-degree experience platform in an effortless and agile way for its customers.

The second thing that brought me here is that I personally believe that when you consume software, you also subscribe to a culture. This is another area where 8x8 SHINES: in its ability to innovate, provide reliable service, but very importantly, also be there for its customers, partners and employees.

5. How do you think your previous experience will benefit you and 8x8? How do you think being a first-time CMO will benefit you and the company?

Bruno: First of all, I am honored and incredibly excited to be a part of the 8x8 team! I basically grew up in different areas of the customer experience industry, from different software solutions and in different roles in consulting and marketing. I understand with a lot of clarity and hands-on experience the challenges and opportunities in this space and how marketing as a whole should work to support and accelerate growth.

As a first-time CMO, I believe my recent background in driving demand and growth—from brand to demand—will support and enable 8x8`s continued acceleration as a solution provider.

6. What are you looking forward to most in this new role? What are your first 30-day plans?

Bruno: First and foremost, I am looking forward to meeting our teams, and spending quality time with our customers and partners. If you are reading this, please reach out!

My first 30 days will be all about jumping right into the business opportunities and meeting our customers, partners, marketing and sales organizations. I’m really excited to tour and spend quality time in our offices around the world and attend as many events as possible.

7. What are you passionate about professionally and personally?

Bruno: Professionally, I am extremely passionate about supporting business growth, both directly with the internal GTM teams, but also indirectly by helping our customers to support their businesses and customers. That is soooooo powerful and energizing for me!

Personally, I’m a very down to earth person. I have a mini goldendoodle that I love to run with. His name is Rudy. I enjoy visiting my parents and sisters in Brazil, studying behavioral sciences, watching movies and listening to music, and every once in a while, playing video games with friends—that’s another technology space that’s so inspiring in its innovation.

8. Most people know what my number eight question has to be. What’s your favorite business book?

Bruno: If I have to choose one, it’s Robert Iger’s Ride of a Lifetime. The quote from the book I love best: "If you are in the business of making something, be in the business of making something great!"

Want to hear from Bruno directly? Check out the video below.