This live conversation at Google Cloud Next 2026 features Dana Kantor of Inspira Financial, senior director of vendor and technology optimization, and Shashank Verma of EXL, global head of digital customer experience. Hosts Alison Kosik and Rebecca Knight guide the discussion on journey mapping, friction reduction and sprint-based delivery.
Kantor brings deep domain knowledge in health benefits and retirement services and they emphasize using historical customer interaction data to surface underlying needs and accelerate iterative eight- to 12-week sprints. Verma highlights EXL data and AI capabilities and they prioritize first-call resolution and using artificial intelligence, or AI, to automate low-to-medium complexity interactions while assisting agents in real time.
Discussion focuses on long-term partnership strategies, data-led contact center transformation and AI-driven customer experience. Key indicators of successful transformation include improved agent experience, operational efficiency and measurable customer sentiment gains. The conversation provides practical guidance for organizations pursuing digital transformation, customer experience improvement and contact center modernization using cloud platforms and data analytics.
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Dana Kantor, Inspira Financial & Shashank Verma, EXL
This live conversation at Google Cloud Next 2026 features Dana Kantor of Inspira Financial, senior director of vendor and technology optimization, and Shashank Verma of EXL, global head of digital customer experience. Hosts Alison Kosik and Rebecca Knight guide the discussion on journey mapping, friction reduction and sprint-based delivery.
Kantor brings deep domain knowledge in health benefits and retirement services and they emphasize using historical customer interaction data to surface underlying needs and accelerate iterative eight- to 12-week sprints. Verma highlights EXL data and AI capabilities and they prioritize first-call resolution and using artificial intelligence, or AI, to automate low-to-medium complexity interactions while assisting agents in real time.
Discussion focuses on long-term partnership strategies, data-led contact center transformation and AI-driven customer experience. Key indicators of successful transformation include improved agent experience, operational efficiency and measurable customer sentiment gains. The conversation provides practical guidance for organizations pursuing digital transformation, customer experience improvement and contact center modernization using cloud platforms and data analytics.
Dana Kantor, Inspira Financial & Shashank Verma, EXL
Dana Kantor
Sr. Director, Vendor and Tech OptimizationInspira Financial
Shashank Verma
Global Head of Customer Experience – DigitalEXL
This live conversation at Google Cloud Next 2026 features Dana Kantor of Inspira Financial, senior director of vendor and technology optimization, and Shashank Verma of EXL, global head of digital customer experience. Hosts Alison Kosik and Rebecca Knight guide the discussion on journey mapping, friction reduction and sprint-based delivery.
Kantor brings deep domain knowledge in health benefits and retirement services and they emphasize using historical customer interaction data to surface underlying needs and accelerate iterative eight- to 12-week s...Read more
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What tends to break down first when the customer experience isn't seamless and there are friction points?add
What is the primary problem you are trying to solve with Inspira, and how are you using AI to improve first-call resolution and reduce friction in customer support?add
Do you plan ahead in a longstanding partnership, and how do you ensure you deliver measurable value quickly (for example, with short sprints and by focusing on low‑hanging fruit, automation, and assisting human agents)?add
Dana Kantor, Inspira Financial & Shashank Verma, EXL
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Alison Kosik
>> Welcome back to Google Cloud Next '26. We are streaming live here in Las Vegas. I'm Alison Kosik alongside Rebecca Knight, and we're about to talk about a really long partnership, which is really important in this space.
Rebecca Knight
>> Well, what's so clear at Google Cloud Next is just how strong the partner ecosystem is here. So it's really exciting for our next guests.
Alison Kosik
>> Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So we've got Dana Kantor. She's a vendor and of tech optimization with Inspira Financial. Welcome to theCUBE. And Shashank Verma, the Senior Vice President for Customer Service Transformation Lead at EXL. Welcome to theCUBE.
Shashank Verma
>> Thank you for that.
Alison Kosik
>> So first I want to hear about what your companies each do, and then I want to hear about this longstanding partnership, how long it's been going on and really what's been the driver for that? Dana, you first. Sure.
Dana Kantor
>> So at Inspira we-
Alison Kosik
>> Inspira, excuse me.
Dana Kantor
>> Oh no, no problem. At Inspira, we have a unique product set where we are financial services with handling both health benefits and retirement services. Typically, you'll see companies really separate those two, but think of HSAs, FSAs, as well as rollover 401(k)s. That's what we focus on.
Alison Kosik
>> Yeah. Yeah. And your company?
Shashank Verma
>> Yes. So we are a data and an AI company. We help transform our clients' businesses. We understand domain really well. So we are able to bring our data expertise, our domain expertise, and our AI expertise to drive transformation results and outcomes for our clients.
Alison Kosik
>> And so you both have been in a partnership for how long? And Dana, you can go first. For how long and what do you think has been the main driver that's kept that partnership going?
Dana Kantor
>> Yeah. So the partnership between EXL and Inspira started with some outsource staffing. We worked with the BPO side of their business for the last 13 plus years and having support for our contact center. And there's a really, really deep understanding of our customer needs on a day-to-day basis, which as we work toward our transformation has been a critical reason that we chose to continue with Shashank side of the business.
Rebecca Knight
>> So you sit at a very unique place, as you said, in terms of health, wealth, retirement, and benefits. How has that shaped the way Inspira views the customer experience?
Dana Kantor
>> Yeah. So when we think about that, these are really personal choices that people are making every day. And so typically these are benefits provided most often from a corporate environment. So your employer is providing who you're going to work with, but it's really important for us to support each of our account holders, right? And these are things that people aren't always really comfortable with, their lifecycle events. They're trying to pay for healthcare. They're planning for their futures. And so we're always focused on providing better health, greater wealth, and supporting our account holders that way.
Alison Kosik
>> How do you ensure consistency of experience across diverse products that she's talking about and customer touchpoints?
Shashank Verma
>> So having worked with Inspira for so long time, we are practically an extension of their team, right? So we understand every customer journey, all the nuances that it brings and all the touchpoints with regards to the customers. And given that we are a data company, we use all those customer insights to learn what the customers are really expecting wherever there's friction in the journeys, how you can reduce those friction, learning from all those customer interactions and using all that massive data intelligence that Inspira is sitting at to improve customer experience for that.
Rebecca Knight
>> So a lot of companies talk about CX, but in Inspira, it really sounds like a connective tissue. When that experience isn't seamless, when there are those friction points, what tends to break down first, at least from the customer's perspective?
Shashank Verma
>> Do you want to go first?
Dana Kantor
>> Go ahead.
Shashank Verma
>> So usually the customers can call up for anything and whatever that they need. Largely what we've seen and that's a journey and that's what we've been driving with Inspira as well. When they're calling for certain reasons, what we are trying to do is provide them the resolution on that first call itself. Don't have so many handoffs and they don't have to call us back for following up on all of those interactions and whatever reasons that they're calling up for. So that's the single biggest thing that we're trying to solve is provide resolutions to the customer as quickly as possible and on that phone call itself when they're reaching out in terms when they need help. So that is the single biggest driver that we are using over there. And what we are really doing with Inspira is we're using AI to learn from all the historical interactions that Inspira has been having with their customers, really knowing what are the reasons or the intense customers are reaching out for, building those customer journeys, removing friction, because what we don't want to do is just automate a broken journey. So we're trying to reduce and minimize all those friction points for the customers and building those sound journeys for them.
Dana Kantor
>> Yeah. I would say it's been really incredible to unlock some of the insights. And I think we have a lot of ideas of what we think is wrong and what we think matters to our customers and account holders, but they've been able to show us the actual reasons and allow for us to not just make small improvements but really shape a true transformation.
Rebecca Knight
>> So give us some examples of the customer and what you thought was the problem but what in fact was going on. Because as you said at the outset, these are really personal, intimate moments in someone's lives. They're planning for retirement. They're thinking about their health.
Dana Kantor
>> Yeah. So I think it's really, if you think back basically on contact center, right? We have a reason marked in a system of why someone called. But when you think about the surface reason, that is what they needed help, but there's always an underlying. So maybe you needed your account balance, but why did you need your account balance? We want to understand like, what are you dealing with? What are you planning for and how can we best support that?
Alison Kosik
>> Where are you seeing the biggest impact so far? Is it with customer outcomes, efficiency, innovation?
Dana Kantor
>> I think what's been exciting is that we can make changes at a rapid rate and even though we're piecing it together, it's not waiting two years. It's, "Okay, we've learned this. Let's make that change now and continue on the journey."
Alison Kosik
>> Yeah. Yeah.
Shashank Verma
>> So I think knowing Inspira that well, I think the foundation is not cost. The foundation really is to improve customer experience and helping customers at the times of need. But while you're doing that, what is also happening is you're making the business a lot more efficient and that's where a bit of efficiency comes in, but truly it is they want to build a foundation with the customers that the growth is fostered on providing best experience to the customers and that is the core foundation on which Inspira is thinking of expanding their business. So that's really important.
Rebecca Knight
>> How much of the challenges are you seeing are about the systems and the data and the technology versus the humans who have to do the work and align teams in new ways of working together?
Shashank Verma
>> So I think it's a combination of all of those, right? And now given the technology that exists, that using your own historical data, you can understand so much about your customers, which used to take months and years to understand. I think it's a combination of a number of things, right? One, how well you understand your customer journeys and use AI for low and medium complexity interactions that AI can provide resolution 24/7 to the customers right there on the first contact, right? For more complex interactions, which needs a higher level of human decision making empathy, that is where the interaction seamlessly gets transferred to the human agents, but we use AI real time to assist these agents so that they don't have to look for information in 10 different places. You're learning from your best agents, you're learning from your historical interactions to provide the next best actions as real time nudges so that the agents are well-equipped to provide the best experience and the resolution to the customers. And while you're doing that, obviously the core foundation is underlying data. And like in my 25 years of experience and working on this, I have not come across any company that says, "All my data is in order." So there is tremendous opportunity of organizing your data better and learning from all your data that exists and that's what we have been able to try to do with Inspira really well.
Alison Kosik
>> Are there specific metrics or measurements or signals that you see that tell you that this transformation is just working?
Dana Kantor
>> There's a lot of different metrics we could use to evaluate that, but certainly understanding the different insights and the top drivers are really important. And then of course reducing certain types of tasks from that are manual, right? So there's a lot of opportunity there as Shashank was saying, where we can adjust our workflows and really automate tasks and make sure that the human element is focused on value add rather than small tasks.
Rebecca Knight
>> Well, I'm interested to hear, Dana, and also from you, Shashank, is what has changed as you've made progress from the customer's experience in terms of how they experience Inspira as well as the workers who, as you said, are working alongside AI. They now have the context in front of them and they are maybe perhaps more empowered to make decisions.
Shashank Verma
>> Absolutely. So I can start and then you can add in. So I actually think when you think about insights and business metrics, right? There are really three important ways in which we are measuring this, all metrics later to customers, right? And this could be average handle time used to be relevant in the past. It's not relevant anymore, right? It's not about the average handle time, it's more about the experience and the resolution and that's what we are measuring, right? Are you able to provide the best resolution in the quickest possible manner? The customers don't have to call you back multiple times for the same reason, making sure it's done, right? The customer sentiment, NPS and CSAT, now you can get all of that real time and your historical data can tell you that very, very effectively. The second aspect is the agent behavior, right? In contact centers, when you're taking hundreds of phone calls every single day, it's not an easy chart and making their lives easier so that they don't have to focus and worry about finding information from different systems and putting you on hold and getting you the right answers, but equipping them in that moment to provide the best answers. So the agent experience is equally important. You make it easier for them, they'll be able to provide a much better experience for their customers. So we're tracking a lot of metrics around that and clearly we've seen a big take in the agent experience getting better with all of this AI assistance available being real time. And then it's all around the operational health and effectiveness and bringing all those insights to the business leaders so that they can make the right decisions for their business real time and do the right thing for their customers.
Alison Kosik
>> Dana, what are your priorities coming up, let's say in the next six to 12 months?
Dana Kantor
>> There's so much work to do.
Alison Kosik
>> Stressing you out.
Dana Kantor
>> Yes, absolutely. I think over the next six to 12 months we'll continue down the path of...
Alison Kosik
>> Oh, a little interruption announcement. We go to closing time on this show. We don't stop. He'll stop talking a minute. The microphone can pick it up. Feel free to continue.
Dana Kantor
>> Okay.
Alison Kosik
>> So six to 12 months, what are those priorities?
Dana Kantor
>> Sorry.
Alison Kosik
>> That's okay. I know it's jarring.
Dana Kantor
>> Sorry. I really lost my train of thought there.
Alison Kosik
>> You know what? Let me talk with you about it then. Do you plan ahead when you have this kind of partnership, especially a longstanding partnership? I mean, the things that you know that maybe she doesn't know yet that you may be thinking about already.
Shashank Verma
>> So see, I mean, I understand just like any other business, the business leaders at Inspira are very, very demanding, right? So obviously Dana and her team have got... I mean, gone are those days where you can wait for nine months, 12 months, 18 months to show value. So the way Inspira and EXL are driving this together, there are small quick sprints. These are like eight or 12 week sprints and every sprint we are able to show small steps and small value to the business and that keeps going and you can scale all of this up really, really fast and add value to the business. So that's how we really trying to start with the low hanging fruits and the easiest interactions with the low to medium complexity interactions, automating a lot of those, but also assisting the human agents making their lives easier, as I said, to drive a lot of this for their business.
Rebecca Knight
>> Because it makes them more engaged, more productive, have a higher job satisfaction, and then therefore the company benefits because they have lower turnover. As we know, these are high burnout jobs, as you pointed out.
Shashank Verma
>> That's a great point, Rebecca. And another thing that where we can really use AI is by helping the agents, not doing a broad brush when it comes to training and coaching them. Now you can have insights where you can identify personalized coaching and training needs and developer needs for those agents to drive continuous improvement for the business. So those are the kinds of initiatives that we've lined up for Inspira to drive for their business.
Alison Kosik
>> Such a great conversation. Thanks so much for coming on theCUBE today.
Dana Kantor
>> Thank you so much.
Alison Kosik
>> And you've been watching theCUBE, the live technology coverage that you want to watch. Thanks for watching.
Alison Kosik
Rebecca Knight