Citing the future plans of headless CMS platform ContentStack, product, and technology leader Conor Egan illustrates the importance of product building and the role of technology.
“The right tech unleashes creative potential. The right tech means that IT and marketing can move simultaneously at the speed of business. If you’re worried about being stifled, you’re probably not using the right tech. In that case, it’s time to move away and consider the best mix of products to address your business goals holistically,” said Conor Egan, Product And Technology Leader, ContentStack.
With over 15 years of experience building products that have earned multiple software patents, won industry awards, and led digital transformation at the world’s largest brands, Egan talks about what makes or breaks a business with product development. He also discusses customer-centricity and how technology is the backbone of business success.
Excerpts from the interview
How do you suggest brands approach data given the evolving privacy landscape?
We strive for balance in how we think about our business – risk-taking vs stability and process vs enablement. But privacy is one area where we take an extreme position as you can’t balance privacy. From a product perspective, you build with extreme security in mind. You also choose tech partners based on who has the right features for your customer base and who has the best security measures in place.
The crackdown on tracking is another reminder that your own content is the only thing you have complete control over. An over-dependence on other networks and technologies can leave you vulnerable to technology shifts or regulatory actions. The better your content, the more likely you will keep your buyers engaged on the platforms you control.
As a result, the onus is on the brand to build programs and initiatives that customers want to experience. The goal shouldn’t be list building; it should be, “let’s blow their mind with an experience that they’ll welcome into their lives and share.” It isn’t easy, but many enterprise brands are nailing it every day, and using composable architecture solutions to do it.
Tell us about your process of building new products for the marketing community.
One of the main things that will make or break your business with product development is how well you know your potential customers and current customers’ needs. Without that knowledge, you’re shooting in the dark. For new products, we focus on what will help enterprise IT, and marketing departments accomplish what they never thought possible. We understand these needs by constantly contacting our customers throughout their journey with us.
We also know landing a customer is only half the story; meeting their evolving needs is the other half. This is why we are so focused on customer centricity at Contentstack. It’s in our DNA. We intentionally gauge subjective customer sentiment through structured feedback loops, take the knowledge, and channel it to our product development team. That’s how we can be first-to-market with features like Automation Hub, which solves the integration hell customers face when they build out their tech stacks.
What would you say to teams who worry about tech compromising creativity in content?
It’s precisely the other way round. The right tech unleashes creative potential. The right tech means that IT and marketing can move simultaneously at the speed of business. If you’re worried about being stifled, you’re probably not using the right tech. In that case, it’s time to move away and consider the best mix of products to address your business goals holistically.
I studied jazz music when I was younger. You become great at improvising and communicating when you no longer have to think about the individual notes or keys, and the instrument becomes a means of expression. Good technology acts the same: it gets out of the way, and time can be spent on the creative aspects of marketing. Your questions are no longer “What can we do given our technology?” but rather “What should we do to improve the customer experience”?
What are your thoughts on product collaborations? Can it help strengthen customer experience?
Being able to use the best-in-breed tools yields the best-in-breed customer experiences. More and more enterprises are taking a composable approach to technology. It gives them the best tools to serve their customers and the agility to update them as their business needs change.
As a leader in composable technology, our entire business is built on product collaborations. We know where we excel – managing and delivering omnichannel content experiences at scale – and where we may need to tap into other products to provide the best customer experience. Our network of
Catalysts partners is a critical part of our community. At our recent customer conference ContentCon, our Levi’s client shared how the brand previously took 20+ weeks to launch new pages with siloed content and commerce. Now they can launch in days, including shoppable editorial. So, yes, product collaborations strengthen CX.
What are the future plans for Contentstack?
We are launching a community of customers and partners where they can share best practices one-to-one or one-to-many. We are also releasing features, such as Marketplace and Automation Hub, which are aimed at making product integration and collaborations easier. We are continuing our mission to make MACH – or Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless solutions – accessible through the non-profit MACH Alliance and other education and customer support efforts. Our goal is to future-proof enterprise technology and propels current and future digital experiences.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 represents a robust cloud-based CRM solution with features such as pipeline assessment, relationship analytics, and conversational intelligence. It utilises AI-powered insights to provide actionable intelligence via predictive analytics, lead scoring, sentiment analysis, etc. Currently, Microsoft operates in 190 countries and is made up of more than 220,000 employees worldwide.
HubSpot is an inbound marketing, sales, and customer service software provider, offering robust CRM and automation solutions. Some of its products include Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Operations Hub, Content Hub, Commerce Hub, Marketing Analytics and Dashboard Software. Guided by its inbound methodology, HubSpot enables companies to prioritise innovation and customer success.
Monday.com is a project management software company, offering a cloud-based platform that enables businesses 
Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Freshworks is a global AI-powered business software provider. Its tech stack includes a scalable and comprehensive suite for IT, customer support, sales, and marketing teams, ensuring value for immediate business impact. Its product portfolio includes Customer Service Suite, Freshdesk, Freshchat, Freshcaller, Freshsuccess, and Freshservice. Freshservice for Business Teams has helped several global organisations to enhance their operational efficiency.
Talkdesk offers an innovative AI-powered customer-centric tech stack to its global partners. The company provides generative AI integrations, delivering industry-specific solutions to its customers. Talkdesk CX Cloud and Industry Experience Clouds utilise modern machine learning and language models to enhance contact centre efficiency and client satisfaction.
The company offers comprehensive cloud-based solutions, such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, Gaming Consoles, Microsoft Advertising, Copilot, among other things, to help organisations offer enhanced CX and ROI. Its generative-AI-powered speech and voice recognition solutions,such as Cortana and Azure Speech Services empowers developers to build intelligent applications.
IBM is a global hybrid cloud and AI-powered 
Uniphore is an enterprise-class, AI-native company that was incubated in 2008. Its enterprise-class multimodal AI and data platform unifies all elements of voice, video, text and data by leveraging Generative AI, Knowledge AI, Emotion AI and workflow automation. Some of its products include U-Self Serve, U-Assist, U-Capture, and U-Analyze. Its Q for Sale is a conversational intelligence software that guides revenue teams with AI-powered insights, offering clarity on how to effectively keep prospects engaged.
Google Cloud accelerates every organisation’s ability to digitally transform its business. Its enterprise-grade solutions leverage modern technology to solve the most criticial business problems 
8×8 offers out-of-the-box contact centre solutions, assisting all-size businesses to efficiently meet customer needs and preferences. It offers custom CRM integrations support and integrates effortlessly with third-party CRMs like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Zendesk, and more. Offering global support in all time zones & development teams in 5 continents, its patented geo-routing solution ensures consistent voice quality.
Sprinklr is a comprehensive enterprise software company for all customer-focused functions. With advanced AI, Sprinklr’s unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform lets organisations offer human experiences to every customer, every time, across any modern channel.
Upland offers a comprehensive suite of contact centre and customer service solutions with products including InGenius, Panviva, Rant & Rave, and RightAnswers. InGenius enables organisations to connect their existing phone system with CRM, further enhancing agent productivity. Panviva provides compliant and omnichannel capabilities for highly regulated industries. Whereas, Rant & Rave, and RightAnswers are its AI-powered solutions, 
Zoho Social, a part of Zoho’s suite of 50+ products, is a comprehensive social media management platform for businesses and agencies. The Zoho Social dashboard includes a robust set of features, such as Publishing Calendar, Bulk Scheduler, and Approval Management to offer businesses all the essential social media publishing tools. Its monitoring tools help enterprises track and respond to relevant social conversations.
Hootsuite, headquartered in Vancouver, is a social media management platform that streamlines the process of managing multiple social media accounts. Some of its core offerings include social media content planning and publishing, audience engagement tools, analytics and social advertising. Its easy-to-integrate capabilities help marketing teams to schedule and publish social media posts efficiently.
Brandwatch enables businesses to build and scale the optimal strategy for their clients with intuitive, use-case-focused tools that are easy and quick to master. Bringing together consumer intelligence and social media management, the company helps its users react to the trends that matter, collaborate on data-driven content, shield the brand from threats and manage all the social media channels at scale.
Zoho Corporation offers innovative and tailored software to help leaders grow their business. Zoho’s 55+ products aid sales and marketing, support and collaboration, finance, and recruitment requirements. Its customer analytics capabilities come with a conversational feature, Ask Zia. It enables users to ask questions and get insights in the form of reports and widgets in real-time.
Salesforce-owned Tableau is an AI-powered analytics and business intelligence platform, offering the breadth and depth of capabilities that serve the requirements of global enterprises in a seamless, integrated experience. Marketers can utilise generative AI models, AI-powered predictions, natural language querying, and recommendationsons.
Fullstory is a behavioural data platform, helping C-suite leaders make informed decisions by injecting digital behavioural data into its analytics stack. Its patented technology uncovers the power of quality behavioural data at scale, transforming every digital visit into actionable insights. Enterprises can increase funnel conversion and identify their highest-value customers effortlessly.
Contentsquare is a cloud-based digital experience analytics platform, helping brands track billions of digital interactions, and turn those digital 
Amplitude is a product analytics platform, enabling businesses to track visitors with the help of collaborative analytics. The platform leverages the capabilities of 
Adobe Experience Cloud offers a comprehensive set of applications, capabilities, and services specifically designed to address day-to-day requirement for personalised customer experiences at scale. Its platform helps play an essential role in managing different digital content or assets to improve customer happiness. Its easy-to-optimise content gives users appropriate marketing streams, ensuring product awareness.
Started in 2005 in a Sweden-based small town, Norrköping, Voyado offers a customer experience cloud platform that includes a customer loyalty management system. This platform helps businesses design and implement customer loyalty programs, track customer 
TapMango provides a comprehensive, customisable, flexible and feature-rich customer loyalty program. The loyalty tools include an integrated suite of customised consumer-facing technology, easy-to-use merchant tools, and automation algorithms, all aimed at enhancing customer experience. Adaptable to any industry, TapMango’s platform helps merchants compete with larger chains, converting customer one-time purchases into profitable spending habits.
Adobe Experience Cloud offers a comprehensive set of applications, capabilities, and services specifically designed to address day-to-day requirements for personalised customer experiences at scale. Its innovative platform has played an essential role in managing different digital content or assets, to improve customer happiness or satisfaction. Some of its products include Adobe Gen Studio, Experience Manager Sites, Real-time CDP, and Marketo Engage.
