Employee Spotlight: Q&A with Barrie Kuza, Vice President Customer Experience at Nasuni

Marketing Intern Emma Mulligan delves into the various backgrounds, stories, and roles of key individuals across Nasuni’s employee base. As she navigates her internship, Emma shares insights of her discoveries with Nasuni’s readers, offering a glimpse into the faces behind the operation. These monthly interviews will showcase the employees’ journeys and their experiences at Nasuni.

Q: You’ve been with Nasuni since its early days in 2011. What initially attracted you to the company?

A: Before joining Nasuni, I worked in customer support for smaller companies and started their support teams. I enjoy the challenge of being the first player-coach, and when I joined Nasuni, I had that opportunity. I was the first support engineer, but I also built the team and implemented fundamental processes. Plus, I thought the product was excellent.

My background is in computer science, and I started as a developer, but I soon found I preferred support, particularly for technical products. Nasuni was a perfect fit for me, and I liked the people. I haven’t been anywhere even half as long.

Q: Could you talk a little bit about your journey at Nasuni?

A: Absolutely. When I joined Nasuni, I started by building the support team. I spent five years focusing on customer support, then I transitioned to starting the sustaining engineering team under Matt McDonald.

Around that time, Paul Flanagan became CEO. He started several company-wide, cross-functional initiatives, one of which was called “Customer First.” This initiative aimed to examine the entire customer lifecycle, from lead generation to deal signing, support, and renewal. I was asked to lead that initiative. Six weeks in, after getting a sense of all the improvements needed to streamline the customer journey, I met with Paul. During this conversation, he shared his vision of an umbrella Customer Success organization which included Support, Professional Services, Training, and Technical Account Management. I came out of that meeting as the VP of this new organization. After about a year of leading the customer success, I was asked to take on product management. Having never done product management before; I was excited for a new challenge. However, having worked on the Nasuni product for many years, I knew it very well. I started the product management team under Russ Kennedy, our Chief Product Officer, focusing on customer needs, market demands, and determining new product features. I built the team and implemented processes, but after three and a half years, I missed working more directly with customers.

So, I formed the Customer Experience team, which includes four pillars: customer experience programs, new product introduction, the critical account program, and the technical account management. It is highly cross-functional, so when we see areas that need improvement in the customer experience anywhere along the customer journey, we can quickly drive those changes.

Q: As VP of Customer Experience, what is the primary goal of your role, and which techniques and strategies do you employ to achieve it?

A: The primary goal is to be the trusted advisor and make every customer who puts their trust in Nasuni a successful and happy customer. Our high retention rate is one of our prime performance indicators. We conduct an annual net promotor score (NPS) survey, which measures customer loyalty, and satisfaction with a company, product, or service. Our NPS score has increased significantly each year, reaching a current world-class level of 87. We also use KPIs to measure ourselves. By continuously improving our processes, product and ensuring high quality in both product and all customer interactions, we work to keep our customers satisfied and loyal.

Q: How do you collaborate with cross-functional teams to incorporate customer insights and feedback?

A: Having been part of almost every post-sale team here at Nasuni and having worked closely with pre-sales teams, I leverage the foundations we set with the original “Customer First” initiative. A key aspect we employ is the technical design review program. Every new deal undergoes a review of technical elements to ensure we only bring on customers who will be successful with our product.

Almost everything we do involves cross-functional collaboration. For example, the New Product Introduction (NPI) program works closely with engineering, product, marketing, training, and enablement teams. My team operates like a meta-organization, monitoring and helping to ensure everything runs smoothly across all teams.

Q: Your success rate speaks for itself. Nasuni is a high-growth company , averaging 30% ARR growth rate. How do you foresee Nasuni evolving to meet the increasing demand?

A: I’m truly excited to see the tremendous growth of our customers. We recently held our customer advisory boards in the US and Europe. Hearing both positive and constructive feedback from our customers and their success with the product is incredibly rewarding.

Seeing Nasuni expand over the last 13 years and the names and logos we have as customers is unbelievable. We recently had a user group meeting in Dallas at the Texas Rangers’ stadium because they’re a new customer. I even got to put on a World Series ring!

Our customers are truly fantastic. Continuing down this growth path and witnessing our customers’ success firsthand drives me every day.

Q: Thank you, Barrie! How do you like to spend time when you’re not at the office?

A: In my free time, I love to travel. This summer, I had the opportunity to visit Rome and Positano, which were both amazing! On a typical week, however, I like to unwind with some reading. I tend to grab either a romance novel, science fiction/fantasy, or a mystery—authors like Nora Roberts, Christine Feehan, and Nalini Singh, to name a few. I’m also a mother of four grown kids, so I love spending time with them!

As a marketing intern, understanding the role of the customer experience team is crucial for effectively reaching our target audience. Barrie’s insider perspective highlights the importance of cross-departmental collaboration to ensure customer satisfaction. However, my most significant takeaway from our conversation was not just Barrie’s impressive role at Nasuni, but the passion and commitment she brings to it.

Barrie and her team genuinely care about Nasuni’s customers, with trust as the foundation for every customer relationship. Her emphasis on transparency and loyalty resonates strongly with Nasuni’s values. Barrie is a critical player in the customer success team and a vital member of the Nasuni organization. Our conversation provided me with a clear understanding of why Nasuni’s NPS score remains so impressive.