CX without the BS

Is AI Actually Going to Replace You? | Telarus Partner Summit 2026 REVIEW

August 27th, 2026  |  18 mins 33 secs

ai agents, ai hype, ai in sales, ai tools, ai voice clone, b2b technology, business communications, ccaas, channel partners, contact center, customer experience, cx, level365, sales strategy, tech advisor, tech channel, technology advisor, technology service distributor, telarus partner summit, trade show, tsd, ucaas, unified communications

AI Costs More Than Your Employees | Uber Blew Its ENTIRE AI Budget in 4 Months

July 1st, 2026  |  18 mins 35 secs

ai agents, ai bubble, ai chatbot, ai costs, ai customer service, ai hype, ai in business, ai infrastructure, ai replacing jobs, ai roi, ai vs humans, air canada chatbot, brian nichols, ccaas, chatbot fail, contact center, conversational ai, customer experience, customer experience strategy, customer service ai, cx without the bs, data center backlash, enterprise ai, future of work, human vs ai, nvidia ai cost, technology advisors, uber ai budget, uber claude code, ucaas

The pitch was "fire your expensive people, the software's cheaper." Turns out the software isn't cheap... and it can't replace the human. So companies bought BOTH.

Channel Partners 2026 REVIEW | The Half-Empty Room And What It Told Me About The Channel

April 21st, 2026  |  20 mins 6 secs

2026 channel trends, avant, avant special forces, ccaas, channel event review, channel futures, channel marketing, channel partners, channel partners 2026, channel partners 2026 review, channel partners conference review, channel partners expo review, channel partners review, channel partners vegas, channel sales, channel vendor review, customer experience, cx, informa, lead generation, msp summit, sales enablement, technology advisors, telarus, telarus partner summit, tsd, ucaas

My honest review of Channel Partners 2026 - Robert Irvine keynote, a half-empty room, and every reason the Old Guard channel model just cracked wide open in Vegas.

How to Spot a Bad Phone Provider in Under 2 Minutes

February 20th, 2026  |  1 min 50 secs

billing transparency, business phones, ccaas, customer experience, cx, hidden fees, it buying, onboarding, porting, smb tech, support, telecom, ucaas, vendor selection, voip

Most buyers don’t realize they purchased a support problem until after onboarding starts - these two pre-sign questions force vendors to show their true support model and their real fees.

Why UCaaS Quotes NEVER Match the Bill

December 16th, 2025  |  48 mins 38 secs

business communication, business phone systems, ccaas, channel sales, customer experience, customer journey, customer support, customer trust, cx without the bs, hidden fees, m&a impact, mergers and acquisitions, phone system pricing, tech advisors, tech sales, ucaas, unified communications, vendor transparency

Why do UCaaS quotes never match the bill? In this episode of CX Without the BS, Brian Nichols and Stephen Howard break down the pricing games, broken incentives, and quiet BS that keep customer experience stuck.

How Do I Fix Bad Customer Service at My Business?

October 14th, 2025  |  52 mins 1 sec

agent experience, ai in cx, call center, ccaas, chatbots, contact center, csat, customer complaints, customer experience, customer journey, customer loyalty, customer retention, customer service, cx, cx metrics, employee engagement, first contact resolution, generative ai, help desk, hold times, human support, ivr, nps, omnichannel, reduce churn, self-service, service design, small business cx, support tips, ucaas, voice of customer

Is AI fixing CX or just getting in the way? In this no-BS episode, we show how to use AI where it helps, bring humans back where it matters, ditch vanity metrics, and fix the basics that win loyalty.

How to Make Customers LOVE Your Call Center

June 14th, 2024  |  48 mins 36 secs

ai in customer service, ai replacement, automation, brian nichols, bs in cx, business leadership, business strategy, ccaas, charlie newark-french, cloud-based technology, contact center, contact center management, contact center of tomorrow, contact center tech, customer engagement, customer experience, customer experience management, customer experience technology, customer journey, customer loyalty, customer retention, customer satisfaction, customer service agents, customer service management, customer service technology, cx industry, cx innovation, cx solutions, cx tech, cx without the bs, digital transformation, entrepreneurship, future of cx, hyper science, industry insights, industry trends, innovation, innovation in cx, machine learning, marketing fluff, mortgage processing, radiologists, ringcentral, sales and marketing, sharpen cx, smb market, stability, startup scaling, technology disruption, thought leadership, tom milligan, ucaas, usable ai, venture capitalist

Charlie Newark-French, CEO of Sharpen, discusses how practical AI and innovative solutions are transforming the contact center industry to create customer experiences that people love (or at least don't hate as much).

The CX Dilemma: To AI or Not to AI

May 23rd, 2024  |  44 mins 56 secs

ai analytics, ai in cx, ccaas, covid-19 impact, customer engagement, customer experience, customer journey, customer service, cx challenges, cx industry, cx infrastructure, cx providers, cx solutions., cx without the bs, digital transformation, human-centered approach, intellisense, master agent, michael delsignore, sentiment analysis, technology adoption, technology services distributor, ucaas

In this inaugural episode of "CX Without the BS," industry veteran Michael Del Signore shares his insights on the transformative impact of COVID-19 on the customer experience (CX) industry, highlighting the importance of a human-centered approach to technology adoption and the need to separate fact from fiction in the hype surrounding AI and automation.