 Hi, this is your spin party and welcome to TFR newsroom and today we have with us once again Nick Myers Senior director at Akamai is great to have you on the show. Great to be back. So This year once again, Lino which is part of Akamai now won a lot of you know awards at his TV awards Of course including the people's choice award. So quickly. Just tell us, you know What is the importance of this award? Not only in you know tech industry, but in many other industries It is one of the most coveted awards there. So let's let's tell our viewers the importance of this award Yeah, CBA awards celebrate sales and customer support across all types of industries across all types of Verticals we were considered against companies much bigger than ours much More established and which with much bigger budgets and customer support teams than ours Which makes it really special that we've been able to do so much makes such an impact for our customers at at a Comparably smaller scale than a lot of the other folks who who we were up against What is the importance of this award for lino akamai's support team? It's always a special award for us every year that we've entered and competed and and won it's always meant a lot to our support team that We could be recognized in the industry as a leader in the customer support space Since that was our intention when we built the company in the first place It's especially special this year because of the acquisition that we went through so one of the fears that I think a lot of our our customers had and Maybe even some folks internally had is that the things that made lino'd really special would go away or that they would get overshadowed by By competing priorities and this is recognition that they weren't we were able to Meet and exceed our our standards for customer support Through an acquisition And I can tell you that we have all the tailwinds to continue to do that moving forward We have 100 of the backing of akamai to continue to be the best customer support team on that in the industry Once again, thanks for that. Now. Let's talk about that What are the categories that you know, you won the award? Which are the categories that we are like? Hey, this is you know, what was exciting and then you're like We also you know one in this category either you were expecting or not expecting and you're like This is really incredible for our team and actually as I said you folks are kind of gold standard when you support So it also helps other organizations other industries. Hey, this is how we should do support Number one award for us every year is that coveted people's choice award for customer support We were able to win again this year third time in the row in a row That that award is so special to us because it's the one that goes into public voting So the rest of the awards throughout the stevy awards are voted on by a judges panel um, this one the people's choice award we go out we uh, The stevy awards asks people to vote ask the customers to cast their vote Have their voice represented in the stevy awards and we won again Again for the third time in a row that one will always be the most special to us We also won the silver award for best customer support in the computer services industry That's a really special award to us too because it's that overarching entire customer support Experience that whole holistic view of the customer support at your company Getting silver when we got bronze last year is Is really cool to us that we were able to improve and show the judges that we were able to improve thirdly, um, there's always Very specific awards that uh, the because the stevy's puts out and this year We were considered and we won a bronze for our training program So we have a really special training program that we've talked about on the show before And uh to be recognized by the judges to be able to have this very special This very unique training program where we bring in folks from Different industries who don't have the background In technical support that a lot of other Companies require just as a baseline to get into the door and being able to train those folks to help customers Um at the level that can win stevy awards Is really great recognition to our training team and our commitment to training folks internally. Yes, you're absolutely right We did talk about the training but since we are talking with this award So let's also talk about you know, because when we reflect on that discussion and when we look at these awards So so talk about The training that you folks have what makes it so special that it even won an award there The training program is so unique. We really haven't found Um an analog which which was really exciting because when we We came to the conclusion that we had to create this training program It was a brand new it was a brand new thing, you know, you go out into the industry and you look for analogs you look for Uh folks that that have done this successfully and we really couldn't find one So we built it from the ground up to be able to train these folks to deliver exceptional customer support and a highly technical a very technical uh field um One of the things that we brought on last year, which i'm especially proud of is that we've uh partnered with a local nonprofit called hope works, which is Designed to serve underprivileged youth in camden, southeastern philadelphia specifically to get them jobs in This industry and others we've actually worked with the trainers at hope works to help us Bring folks up to a baseline point where we can hire them as interns at linode in customer support Finish their training at linode and then hire them as full-time employees at linode. That's been such a Uh a success for us not only in the quality of the employees that we've gotten and increasing, you know diversity of thought and diversity of background on our support team, which was Already something that's super important to us But another source of being able to do that But also just being able to contribute to that community to our community to be able to help um This nonprofit that we all feel very passionate about Has been a really big motivating factor to our training team and to the company as a whole also All of these awards, you know, all of the decision They have no value without talking about customers, right? Because that's what we're trying to do We are serve them and then we are recognized for the for the work that we are doing for our customers So talk a bit about what does this mean for for customer? And also, how does this continue to encourage inspire your team to further improve the experience for your customers and users? I think getting that Getting this achievement is that that once a year thing if we can accomplish it that Kind of wraps up wraps up the year and is that extra boost, you know, it's like when When the the rocket boosters in space have to adjust themselves And they have to kind of shoot all the rockets around 360 to to orient itself This is kind of that for us So we don't we don't fall into a slump and then have to get reboosted up by the steve awards It's that thing that happens every year that kind of realigns us reconfirms that we're really good at what we're doing and also Remotivates us to go back out continue to perform the next year and be able to get golds silvers Hopefully mostly gold and silvers the next year for customers they can see that because we We never stop right that Getting a gold or a silver and a water any kind of recognition, whether it's the steve's or something else It's really important to not Make that the conclusion of something but rather just that accelerator that helps push You've even further. I think customers see that and for us Then getting us getting the people's choice award tells us that that customers do continue to see that because every year they're coming back out to vote for us as the best support in the industry and and That just feels so great to the customer support team and and it's translating the customers obviously Of course when you talk about customer support, you're using the term V It is a teamwork, but I also want to hear Your own thought process your own, you know experience not experience, but your own kind of Kind of you know emotions when you win the award because no you have been running the show You know leading the team there. So what does it mean for you personally? I think the obvious answer is pride, right? Um I'm not the person who's entering these awards. I'm not the person who is Creating every policy every customer decision. I'm not answering tickets. I'm not I'm not the front line of this support team Any more right? We're too big for that. We have a much bigger customer support team So from every layer From myself to our our senior managers or managers or our support leadership team down to the individuals on the support team That has all cascaded and remained As we've grown which is the hardest part about scaling a business, right? It's you see it on On the macro scale, you know a founder's vision It gets diluted layer by layer by layer as more people come in as other folks leave That original kernel of an idea or a vision or a mission gets a little bit grayer a little bit Misconstrued a little bit mistranslated We've been able to maintain that core vision that we had at the beginning of linode Up until the akamai acquisition end after and every person on the customer support team Maintains that and that makes me very proud. Do you have any kind of you know Message something that you want to say to your team not only for this achievement But also to keep improving. I do They've heard it so many times, but it's uh, it's worth repeating Never settle for good enough, right? There's always a little bit more we can push for there's always a little bit better that we can do There's always a little bit beyond The the baseline expectation that we can get and That's for customers on the surface But it's really for us. That's the thing that Helps me sleep at night. That's the thing that makes me feel satisfied when I get home And I think that's true for our team as well. So keep pushing Keep doing what you're doing It's it's paying off and it's it's worth it in the end and as The winner of some of these awards What advice do you have for other organizations? So that they can also Improve their own customer experience, which also means that you might see more competitors after listening your own advice But what advice you have jokes apart for so that companies can Dedicate resources once again motivate their teams to help their customers. I think the number one thing that's That comes to mind is Making sure you're seeing the forest from the trees or making sure that you have a holistic view of what What you're doing if if you hyper focus too closely on A metric or a situation or an initiative I feel like that's where we've gotten ourselves into trouble in the past even Even to the point of Slowing ourselves down, right? We talk about analysis analysis paralysis quite a bit Make a decision execute measure iterate improve Don't slow down. Just get better at measuring and get Better results out of iterating Understand what you're looking at and and look at it holistically look at the big picture Make sure you're connecting things with your core values and your mission statement and make sure that you're connecting it back to That founder's kernel of an idea, right? Make sure that you're staying true to that to that good idea Wavering when you should wavering when It makes sense, but never lose sight of that bigger picture Like thank you so much for taking time out today and share great insight Of course, congratulations on winning this award once again But thanks for great Shining great insights advice not just for teams, but also other organizations how they can improve their experience for their customers Once again, it was pleasure talking to you and I look forward to talking to you again soon. Thank you Likewise swap. Thank you