Next Matter

Imagine this: You’re about to kick off a new customer project, but you’ve run out of team members to work on it… So you hire _______ a) Elvis Presley b) Nelson Mandela c) Christian Lindner, Germany’s former Federal Minister of Finance In this episode of Cards Against Complexity, Matthias Boes (from valantic, who will share the space with Zendesk and us at CCWberlin!) chooses the only person from those options who probably knows a lot about numbers. And while this seems like an easy choice, Matthias’s pragmatic approach to this upcoming hire is just a reflection of how companies should tackle digital transformation: With data-driven decisions, a clear financial strategy, and a balance between innovation and business reality. Tune in to hear Matthias and Jan Hugenroth discuss the real numbers behind digital transformation here: https://lnkd.in/dq4PCU-h

“360-degree CX” isn’t a buzzword—it’s a way for your business to break silos and offer a better experience. In Episode 20 of the Cards Against Complexity podcast, Matthias Boes from valantic joins Jan Hugenroth to break down a major blocker to building a great CX: agents not having the full picture of their customers. The root of this problem is departments working in silos. Sales, Product, and Operations all hold valuable insights, but if they aren’t connected, CS teams are left guessing. That’s why valantic talks about a “360º customer experience,” and that isn’t just marketing CX lingo. It’s all about making sure… ➜ Sales shares all their intel on a customer’s needs and pains, making all customer service personalized ➜ Service teams have full context on all past interactions rather than viewing individual tickets in isolation ➜ Systems and tools are integrated across all departments so that agents have access to the same information as Sales and Operations …in order to remove friction, improve resolution times, and build a better CX. 🎧 Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/dq4PCU-h

Shhhh. We’re having our own silent disco—this time with a silent demo of Next Matter + Zendesk AI at CCWberlin 2025! 🤫🎧 Forget your average, noisy trade show demo. We’re keeping the show more private this time, with a headphone-powered demo of how our enterprise-grade workflows and Zendesk’s agent copilot solve the most complex Financial Services and Retail tickets every time, on time, and in full. 📅 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻? 25, 26, 27 February 📍 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲? Zendesk Booth (Hall 1, Stand 1A15) 👇 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀: 🛟 If you don’t have a CCW Berlin ticket, reach out to Jan Hugenroth or Djihed Hammada, or comment here and we’ll get you one for free 1️⃣ For a 1:1 demo, reach out to Jan and Djihed and book your custom slot 2️⃣ To join our daily Silent D…emo, drop by the Zendesk booth at 11:00 or 15:00 and learn how to automate enterprise-grade tickets, like: → A Financial Services company automating custom KYC compliance at scale → A B2B2C retailer meeting SLAs for high-volume tickets every day → A large enterprise streamlining indirect procurement for their global employee workforce See you at CCWberlin!

💳 A massive leap for embedded banking in Europe: Swan, a Next Matter customer, just raised €42M to fuel its expansion, led by Eight Roads and with support from Lakestar, Accel, Creandum, Hexa, and Bpifrance 💜 Scaling financial services involves a maze of compliance regulations, databases, escalations to the right stakeholders, and customer interactions. But Swan is achieving this feat while working with 150 companies and processing €1.5B in monthly transactions. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eMiW3GcJ Congrats to the entire team! 🎉

Sometimes, building a great customer experience means solving customer issues that aren’t technically “yours” to solve. Here’s an example from Aileen Beuchert’s team at Emons Logistics in this week’s episode of the Cards Against Complexity podcast. At Emons, dispatchers ensure shipments move efficiently, with a focus on innovative and sustainable transport solutions that reduce costs… …But the final delivery is outside their scope, and technically, they don’t have to justify issues to end recipients. Their business relationship is with the shipper, not the final customer. Still, as Aileen explains, the end customer will associate shipping issues with their brand, regardless of whether it’s under their control. That’s why Emons doesn’t just pass the blame when a customer complains about a shipping issue. They listen, investigate, and explain while being transparent in customer communications. 👇 Listen to Aileen and Jan Hugenroth discuss the complexities of delivering a great customer experience in logistics here: https://lnkd.in/djaMZUWf

Your most frustrating customer service tickets could actually be your biggest opportunity. Simple tickets (like password resets or those that can be self-served) make up the majority of requests for a CS team. But complex tickets, which involve multiple teams, systems, or compliance steps, consume a disproportionate amount of time and energy from your agents. When customers contact your service team, it’s often make-or-break for their relationship with your brand. And here’s the surprising part: tickets that start with complex, high-stakes problems often lead to a customer remaining more loyal when handled well. Research from Harvard Business Review shows that effective interactions with customer service end up increasing customer spending—even among those customers who were initially upset and frustrated. The challenge is clear: 👉 Complex tickets take more time, involve more stakeholders, and demand more precision from your team 👉 They’re high-risk, high-reward situations That’s why automating workflows for these scenarios is critical. It ensures your service team can focus on delivering exceptional service while letting automation handle the repetitive or chaotic parts. Frustrated customers aren’t your enemy. Complexity, unreliability, and inefficiency are.

Save the date: On March 6th, we’re pushing the boundaries of Zendesk AI in a live webinar with the Next Matter, Premium Plus - Zendesk's EMEA Partner of the Year, Internal Note, and Zendesk teams. 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲: automate complex, enterprise-grade tickets that require coordination between teams, systems, partners, and customers so that they’re resolved faster, reliably, and compliantly – every single time. To make it happen, Petro Vaxevanakis, our webinar moderator, is bringing in the expertise of Michael Guan, Thomas Verschoren, and other special guests to connect Zendesk Agent Copilot with our enterprise-grade workflow engine and automate tickets like… 👉 A financial services company onboarding a new customer, ensuring KYC compliance 👉 A B2B2C retailer handling a product claim while meeting tight SLAs 👉 A large enterprise procuring a new tech vendor that requires multiple approvals If you want to see this automation magic in action, sign up for the webinar here (yes, it’s a Next Matter workflow) 👇 https://lnkd.in/dDJ-N4xx

Here’s an example of how the best AI-powered logistics teams aren’t removing humans from the equation but rather making them more effective 🤖➕👥 It’s time for a new episode of the Cards Against Complexity podcast, and today Aileen Beuchert (Emons Logistics) shares what AI making logistics easier looks like: 🚛 Their dispatchers had to spend extra time in the morning manually planning routes for their shipments 💡 Now, their AI-powered tech stack analyzes routes to propose optimizations—freeing dispatchers from extra planning so that they focus on the logistical tasks that matter ✅ Humans still make the final call in building the final route, but they now work smarter It’s a shift that makes a huge difference in quality of life. But it also builds efficiency for Emons, letting them focus on innovative and sustainable transport solutions to reduce overall logistics costs. 👇 Listen to the full episode to hear Aileen and Jan Hugenroth discuss the role of AI in logistics: https://lnkd.in/djaMZUWf

The Next Matter team spends most of the time working remotely, but last week we took a step back to reflect, plan, and share a few pretzels in Munich (and you can join us next time!) 🥨 With a team that spans 17 countries, time together becomes even more valuable. At this offsite, we got that time and used it to… → Look back at what we built last year (and what we learned along the way) → Look ahead at new challenges and opportunities around AI, workflow automation, and service operations → Work together through workshops and hands-on collaboration → And, of course, celebrate the journey so far with some Bavarian food! 💙 Thank you to the team that makes it happen, and to Sebouh Yeghiayan (Intel Ignite) for hosting us! P.S. We’re hiring! Check out our open roles via the link in comments 👇 Next Mates in the picture: Jan Hugenroth Tassilo Benjamin Karunarathna Philippe Benamara Petro Vaxevanakis Pablo García Si Stephens-Manassiev Roberto Fernandez Diaz Alessio Madeyski Laia Gasparin Madison Kaylo Jacob Carlsson Basel Hashish Razvan Anisia Daniel Marchuk Michael Guan alina halbey Magdalena Michalak Dagmar Schledermann Michal Gumkowski Steve Duncan Ruxandra Anghel Shadi Rashed Allison McMillan Ana Gilda Rodrigues Djihed Hammada Iliyan Tatarov Łukasz Sobek Volodymyr Zaslavskyi 🚀 Łukasz Szmit

Imagine this: The Customer Service manager at your company has installed the wrong app for agents to work with. Luckily, it’s… a) Spotify, and now your agents can listen to bangers while resolving tickets 🔊 b) Duolingo, and your team can now reply to tickets in 9 languages 🦜 c) Strava, and agents can now run on a treadmill while talking to customers 🏃♀️ Mathieu Kiepferlé (StepStone Group) went with the most wholesome choice here. He explores this topic in depth in this episode of Cards Against Complexity, recorded at CX Fest - An adventure with the CX Community and focusing on one of CS managers’ worst nightmares: Choosing a tool for the CS tech stack that fails to meet the needs of the agents who use it. Implementing a new tool requires an investment of time, money, and energy. In the best-case scenario, this effort empowers agents, improves efficiency, and makes customers happier. In the worst-case scenario, it not only hinders productivity but also hurts the overall customer experience. 👇 Listen to Mathieu and Jan Hugenroth explore how to avoid these pitfalls (while managing CX across 30 countries) here: https://lnkd.in/dQVNb5zg