Talkdesk Appoints Charanya Kannan as First Chief Product Officer
Widely respected, award-winning innovator leads Talkdesk product development and strategy as the company prepares to revolutionize the contact center industry in 2020
Talkdesk, the cloud contact center for innovative enterprises, announced the appointment of Charanya (CK) Kannan as chief product officer (CPO). Kannan is Talkdesk’s first CPO and is responsible for leading the company’s 20-in-20 initiative; a bold move by Talkdesk to introduce 20 new products in the first 20 weeks of 2020. The selection of Kannan as CPO reinforces the company’s intent to dominate the contact center industry in 2020 with an aggressive product roadmap and delivery plan.
In this newly created leadership role, Kannan oversees product strategy, product management, product design, engineering, product partnerships and marketplace. Kannan joined Talkdesk in 2018, as vice president of product, followed by her promotion to senior vice president of product and product marketing. Prior to Talkdesk, Kannan held product leadership and management positions in Model N, Oracle Corporation and AT&T. Kannan also holds a master’s degree in Innovation Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
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Kannan’s appointment closely follows the recent announcement of Kathie Johnson as the company’s first chief marketing officer (CMO). According to global organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry, women now hold approximately 25% of the five critical c-level positions in the United States. However, that number declines sharply for women in leading product and technology executive management roles within the technology sector. With the addition of Kannan as CPO, the Talkdesk c-suite is now 40% female.
“We intend to storm the contact center market this year with a disruptive product line that bridges the gap between where our customers are today and where they want to be in the future. CK has an incredible ability to assess our customers’ needs, determine which products are likely to experience high-demand and put that product development plan quickly into action,” said Tiago Paiva, chief executive officer, Talkdesk. “As chief product officer, CK will continue to be a fierce leader within the organization to accelerate product development, ultimately resulting in increased revenue for Talkdesk.”
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This appointment comes during a period of unprecedented growth and momentum for Talkdesk. Since its inception in 2011, Talkdesk has grown to one of the most recognizable names in the contact center industry. Most recently, Talkdesk was positioned as a Leader in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service North America and named to the 2019 Forbes Cloud 100 list. Talkdesk has built its reputation as an industry disruptor through a rapid pace of innovation that has brought more than 600 features to the market over the past 18 months, including 200 patents in 100 days, which paved the way for the 20-in-20 program.
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