Elevating Employee Experience, Customer Amazement & Conversational Business | DisrupTV Ep. 27
This week on DisrupTV, hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar sat down with three leaders:
- Mike Ettling, President at SAP SuccessFactors
- Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer at ShepHyken Presentations
- David Cancel, CEO at Drift
They explore the intersection of human resource transformation, customer service “amazement,” and conversational/AI-driven business models. The conversation brings together HR tech, customer experience, and digital strategy for modern enterprises.
Key Takeaways
Employee Experience as Strategic Differentiator
Mike Ettling outlines how HR platforms and experience design must evolve beyond transactions to reinforce culture, engagement, and adaptability in the workforce. (He frames SuccessFactors not as just a tool, but as a platform for elevating human potential.)
“Amazement” in Customer Service
Shep Hyken argues that going beyond customer “satisfaction” to deliver moments of amazement can create loyalty and brand ambassadors. Service isn’t just about meeting expectations—it’s about exceeding them in memorable ways.
Conversational Business & AI-Driven Engagement
David Cancel discusses how conversational interfaces (chatbots, messaging, “drift” engines) are transforming how companies engage with customers in real time—turning passive visitors into engaged conversations and sales opportunities.
Alignment Across HR, Service & Tech Strategy
The trio emphasizes that employee tools, customer interactions, and intelligent automation must not live in silos. Converging these domains yields exponential value.
Human + Machine Synergy Over Replacement
A recurring theme: automation and AI should amplify human capabilities, not replace them. The best designs give humans more bandwidth to focus on judgment, empathy, and creativity.
Final Thoughts
This episode makes it clear that the future of work and business is anchored in experience, conversation, and alignment. Organizational success will not come by automating everything, but by designing platforms, processes, and interactions that amplify what it means to be human.
Ettling’s vision for HR platforms, Hyken’s insistence on amazement in service, and Cancel’s push for conversational engagement coalesce into a powerful playbook: build systems that empower, experiences that delight, and automation that scales with purpose.
Leaders who focus on integration (HR + service + tech), empathic design, and human-machine synergy will lead in tomorrow’s markets.
Related Episodes
- Ep. 28 – “Trust, Narrative & Data Strategy” — exploring how brand narrative, data, and trust integrate in digital transformation
- Ep. 29 – “Visual Storytelling & Business Reinvention” — design, story, and innovation in business evolution
- Ep. 30 – “HR, AI & Workday’s Future” — deeper dive on human-centric HR in the AI era
