Removing silos that leave customers stranded
In a conversation on the CX Chronicles podcast, Freshworks CCMO Mika Yamamoto explains why complexity gets in the way of good customer experience
Every week, Mika Yamamoto is on three or four flights. She bought premium luggage, but every seven months, it breaks. And every time she calls customer service, they act like they've never heard of her.
"By this time I'm not that calm," said Yamamoto, chief customer and marketing officer at Freshworks, on the CX Chronicles Podcast last week. On the episode, she also talked about another personal experience: scaling customer experience across major tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, SAP, and Gartner.
Her personal frustration reflects the complexity that plagues customer experience. Even the smartest companies create silos that leave customers stranded, cycling through the same explanations to agents who have no institutional memory.
"You don't love it when you get bumped to the third call and someone's like, 'Hey, Mika, what are you calling in about today?' And it's like, oh my god, it's 2025. What is going on?"
It's a problem that hits employees as much as customers. "You could be extraordinary at customer success or shipping product,” she said. “But if silos within an organization aren't talking to one another, it becomes very apparent to your employees because it becomes really complex to work at the company—and very complex for your customer, because you're clearly not talking to one another either."
At Freshworks, Yamamoto champions "customer zero" thinking—using Freshworks products internally to feel the same pain points as their 70,000+ customers.
"Customers just want to be heard, seen, and understood,” said Yamamoto. “If they have a problem, they want it resolved quickly. If it's not resolved quickly, give me an update and keep me informed."
