Tech March Madness: The Final Four
March 27, 2014
And then there were four. We’re down to the semi-finals in our tournament to determine the most customer-centric company in tech. Who will move on to the championship? You decide by casting your vote!
Zappos. Amazon. HubSpot. Instructure. After surviving two rounds of heated head-to-head match-ups, two of these companies will one step closer to being crowned the “Most Customer-Centric Company in Tech”. Who will it be? That’s for you to decide. But before you cast your votes, let’s take a quick look back at the tournament so far and the paths each semi-finalist took to get here. [new_royalslider id=”71″]
Deadline to Vote: Sunday, 3/30
Who will advance to the Championship? Get your votes in by midnight this Sunday, 3/30. The two finalists will be announced on Monday! Click the bracket below to cast your votes via Brackify!
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Calls from the Booth
We asked a group of the industry’s top customer success and customer support experts to weigh in on the tournament and provide their picks. Do you agree with their takes? Add your own in the comments section below.
Zappos vs. Amazon
Amazon vs. Zappos. Jeff Bezos vs. Tony Hsieh. In a tournament determining the most customer-centric company in tech it’s the matchup everyone saw coming. And would we really have it any other way? Of course, this is also a corporate family affair, and the similarities between the two contenders and their devotion to customer service and support runs deep. Will Zappos step outside of their corporate parent’s shadow or will Amazon continue to live up to its billing as “Earth’s most customer-centric company” and leave Zappos in the Las Vegas dust?
Vote now!
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“I am most impressed by Zappos. They have brought customer success to the forefront of their company culture and built a brand around it.”
— Karl Wirth, CEO of Evergage |
HubSpot vs. Instructure
It’s an exciting match-up between last year’s Tech March Madness champion and this year’s Cinderella. Both companies have a passion for delighting their customers baked into the foundation of their organizations, and both wear their mission, vision, values, and culture on their sleeve (take a look at HubSpot’s Culture Code and Instructure’s team bios for clear examples). Can HubSpot keep their repeat hopes alive, or will Instructure continue its streak as the hottest company in the tournament?
Vote now!
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“HubSpot does an excellent job of sharing useful information (not just marketing fluff) and specific actions people can take to solve real-world business problems. They help prospects and customers save time and build their internal capabilities. What impresses me the most is that the time spent using the materials from HubSpot ends up saving 5 or 10 times as much time trying to figure things out for ourselves. That is a great multiplier!”
— Jason Whitehead, CEO of Tri Tuns |
Who Should Have Made it Further?
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“Buffer — we love them. They answer everyone’s concerns via every platform at all times — Twitter, Facebook, email, phone call. Whatever your problem, Buffer helps you on a personal level (not as one big corporation).”
— Brian Gladstein, Founder of Explorics |
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“Optimizely — they’re a company that exemplifies being customer-centric, making sure every customer, no matter how big or small, is successful, engaged, and getting the value they expect. They have put together a truly impressive customer success organization that has developed scalable business processes using cutting-edge tools and ideas. They are able to understand at a granular level how users are getting value from their product, which customers potentially need their attention, and how can they proactively step in to help customers meet their business goals — all while being very contextual and smart about their engagement with customers.”
— Kaiser Mulla-Feroze, CMO at Totango |
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“Intuit has done a good job understanding its small business and consumer needs, and has removed many of the ‘barriers’ to working together. They are very big on the Customer Effort Score (CES — asking ‘how hard is it for you to do business with us?’ at each engagement stage). And their founder is rabid about customer success! When he sat on the Amazon Board during 1999-2000 when I was Global VP of Customer Service at Amazon I was impressed with his grasp of fine details of customer experience (and maybe he took away some Amazon insights).”
— Bill Price, Founder of Driva Solutions |
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“Salesforce.com pioneered the Customer Success category and deserves the credit for creating the space. But in terms of a culture focused on customers, I’m impressed with Rackspace. Hosting is such a commoditized and challenging space, but Rackspace built a brand promise around “Fanatical Support,” drove their culture toward it and delivered.”
— Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight |
Come back on Monday to find out who made the Finals, and don’t forget to vote!