INTERVIEW Robinder Koura – Content Guru
“I love this type of technology, cloud is great, there is a big opportunity in Contact Centre right now, and the
Channel is a great way to grow.” Robinder Koura, Partners Director - Global, Content Guru
A sea change for Koura
New into his role at Content Guru, Robinder Koura, Partners Director – Global, is on a mission to elevate the
vendor’s channel activities on home soil and abroad. Here he talks about the big opportunity in the Contact Centre
Comms Business Magazine
(CBM): Is the Content Guru
brand where you want it to
be?
Robinder Koura (RK): I think,
from a partner perspective,
there is still a bit of Contentwho?
When you look at
Gartner (Contact Centre as
a Service – October 2019)
they see us as the highest for
ability to execute out of all
the vendors and we are in
the leader’s segment. It’s an
education thing, we’ve had
a few partners who came up
against Storm (the platform)
in the past who didn’t realise
it was us, but that is starting
to change.
Content Guru has been
mostly a Channel business,
through Vodafone, but has
been doing more direct also.
We are looking to grow
rapidly with Channel which
is why I have come on board.
We have a good story and the
company is looking at the next
5 years and how they take
advantage of the opportunity
going on in the Contact
Centre space.
I love this type of
technology, cloud is great,
there is a big opportunity in
Contact Centre right now,
and the Channel is a great way
to grow. I think it’s a good
combination.
CBM: What is your take on the
different models available to
partners now?
RK: We o er all the models to
partners so they can choose
what works for them. ere is
a lot of talk about the referral
model in the Channel right
now, especially in the UK. e
core of cloud and softwarebased
activities is changing
and continues to change the
market. at is the biggest
change in the last 20 years.
In our space most of the big
players have been doing the
same thing with some slight
di erences for 20 years now.
Now there is a fundamental
change in the solutions and
approach to selling I would
say it’s less about needing
people on the ground to put
solutions in and making
money that way and more
about, as clique as it sounds,
the trusted advisor approach.
Customers come to partners
because they are trusted, and
those partners have probably
taken them through multiple
technology changes over the
years.
I think there is so much
more selection involved now
from a customer perspective.
ere could be at least 10
players at least in each sale
where there might have been
2 or 3 previously and the IT
manager would have said
they want a solution from
one of three vendors. Now,
they might have 10 solutions
and all of them are pretty
viable and with SaaS it’s
pretty easy to change if things
don’t go well. at is when
the relationship becomes the
most important thing because
customers need partners put
the right solution in front
of customers and make sure
it matches up with their
objectives.
CBM: What made you come to
a Contact Centre specialist?
RK: I just see more value
on the Contact Centre side
right now. e Uni ed
Communications side
is starting to get a little
commoditised. Microsoft
Teams has come out into the
market and some of the big
corporations we speak to are
considering Teams. It’s not the
best solution around but as
part of the O ce 365 it is very
compelling. is could put a
lot of pressure on the market.
CBM: What do partners really
need to get to grips with in
2020?
RK: I think there is some real
evolution with Customer
Experience (CX) which
partners need to understand.
With any business the
interaction with the customer
is key and now it needs
to happen over di erent
types of channels. at is
fundamentally changing from
a Contact Centre perspective.
If people want to contact you
via Twitter then everyone can
see that and as a company you
have to be on top of it because
it can a ect your brand. Not
only is it about omni-channel
but it is also spreading in
terms of how this CX solution
engages from the sales and
marketing and customer
service side of things. I think
this where a lot to the CX
vendors are working right
Robinder Koura, Partners Director – Global, Content Guru now.
20 | Comms Business Magazine | March 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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