The start of a new calendar year always brings excitement for me both personally and professionally. Lately here at 8x8, I’ve been channeling that extra spark in building a high-caliber sales team, and the epitome comes in our new Global Vice President of North America Sales, Brian Paterson.

Brian is a recognized executive SaaS sales leader with a proven two-decade track record of developing incredible teams and successful customer and partner relationships that result in substantial revenue growth. Most recently, Brian served as Vice President of North America Vertical Sales at Twilio after a successful run as VP of Worldwide Sales at ASAPP, a research-based AI software provider focused on enhancing customer experience team productivity.

Prior to that, Brian held Vice President of Sales roles at Genesys and at Oracle where he led sales for Oracle’s Service Cloud and Social Cloud offerings. Before that, he was instrumental at Microsoft as the company’s enterprise sales director.

You can see I’m so excited to welcome Brian to 8x8. As his wealth of LinkedIn recommendations show, he excels at building high-performance teams and a culture that fosters cross-functional innovation, creativity, and collaboration. I’m so excited to partner with Brian as we continue to execute 8x8’s vision and strategy and expand our innovation and presence, especially in the contact center space.

I asked Brian eight questions so that our customers, partners, employees, and other much-appreciated supporters can get to know him better.

1. What do you think is key to being a successful sales leader in today’s SaaS landscape?

Brian Paterson (BP): For me, it’s all about earning and keeping trust. That includes trust among the team, trust among the broader organization, and most importantly, trust among our customers.

2. You have built incredible sales teams at other SaaS companies including Twilio, Genesys, Oracle, and Microsoft. What do you focus on when it comes to a high-performing team?

BP: High-performing teams come from a focus on the ownership of everybody’s business, individual and team execution, and the innate drive to go above and beyond to deliver successful business outcomes to our customers.

3. What was it that attracted you to 8x8, and how do you think your previous experience will benefit you here?

BP: 8x8’s current capabilities and roadmap for the platform were quite enticing. However, the potential among the existing customer base, as well as the opportunity to expand the customer community at 8X8, was what really caught my attention.

As to my experience, I have a diverse background at enterprise tech companies, and if that has taught me anything, it’s the value of successfully managing change. Flexibility and an insatiable appetite to serve and support my team are what will benefit me most at 8X8.

4. What excites you most about the UCaaS, CCaaS, CPaaS space?

BP: I can sum it up in one word: innovation. Since the pandemic, this space has had a surge in innovation and customer expectations. 8x8 offers award-winning solutions, and I am excited to be a part of our and our customers’ transformation through continued innovation.

5. What do you think are the greatest needs for these technology buyers today, especially contact center buyers who are navigating the need to innovate quickly?

BP: Organizations today face two major challenges: differentiation and innovation. They must be able to quickly adapt to changing customer expectations and serve those expectations efficiently and effectively on customers’ preferred communication channels. It’s all about creating exceptional customer and employee experiences. Personalization is key to building strong customer relationships. Moreover, the agent experience is a top priority for all organizations. By implementing intuitive applications, AI augmentation, and process automation, organizations can reduce agent fatigue and training time for new agents, resulting in happier agents and customers, as well as cost savings and higher CSAT.

6. What are your thoughts around 8x8’s XCaaS single platform offering for CCaaS, UCaaS, and CPaaS?

BP: For starters, you can manage a whole heck of a lot more with less complexity. That’s a game-changer. That’s competitive differentiation. Why would anyone want three RFP cycles versus one?

7. What are you most looking forward to in this new role at 8x8, and what are your first 30-day plans?

My first 30 days are focused on listening, learning, and understanding what motivates the team at 8x8. It’s important to understand what we need to start, stop, and continue to exceed the objectives of the organization.

8. What are you passionate about professionally and personally?

Selflessly investing in people is what makes me happiest. I am a coach at heart. So the success of my team is what I’m most passionate about professionally.

Ensuring the success, growth and safety of my family is what I’m passionate about at home. I am blessed to have had a full home with two grown sons and an elementary school-age daughter. My wife and I are dedicated to raising good human beings and nothing makes me happier than to receive a thoughtfully written or handmade card from my family. Well, that and not having our three-year-old chocolate lab tear out our landscaping by the roots, coupled with a few more National Championship wins for my Georgia Bulldogs!