Business leaders today are navigating a landscape defined by constant change, rising customer expectations, and the need to make smarter decisions faster. Success depends on the ability to communicate that vision in ways that resonate with customers, employees, and the market at large.
In a recent episode of Flywheelr’s CXO Spotlight podcast, Chirag Khanijau sits down with C1 Chief Strategy Officer Candace Holt to explore how organizations can stay focused while continuing to evolve.
Candace shares perspectives on balancing innovation with clarity, aligning business priorities with customer needs, and embracing AI not just as a tool, but as a catalyst for smarter decision-making and stronger outcomes.
Q: When most companies are stuck in a tactical mode, how does strategy become sort of the guiding principle for a company?
A: As an example, AI is the biggest movement and shift we have seen in a while. But if you are buying AI tools and not thinking about the outcome you are trying to gain, you are just spending money. If you are not thinking about the processes you have to change to deliver that outcome, the tool will either expose the challenges you already have, or it will just be expensive. And people are not going to adopt it because they are not going to experience the intended value.
At C1, when we talked about our AI strategy, we took time to look at the part of that market we could realistically capture and what it meant for us. Then we looked inside our business and prioritized the areas where we could have the most strategic and disproportionate impact. For us, it starts with process change before any technology is introduced. That is how we have been thinking about it.
Q: How do you think about differentiation from your lens?
A: It's a great question, and it is really what came out of our strategy. We do three things: CX, which includes a lot of call center work, IX, which is infrastructure, and security. A lot of things that we do in security are wrapped around CX and IX, so you see securitized networks and securitized call centers.
Across those three areas, we work with strategic partners to go to the market. We differentiate through our services, especially our professional and managed services. We also focus on specific industries where we already have strong customer relationships. In those industries, we tailor our offerings and are working to AI-enable them. What we consistently hear from customers is that our biggest differentiator is our engineering talent and deep technical expertise across the board.
Q: What are you most excited about in your role and for the industry over the next three years?
A: I really am excited about being at the precipice of the transformation journey that we're on. I feel very good about the alignment we have and the clarity about what this business can do. I am really excited about the way the strategy and marketing teams are coming together to shape how we show up differently in the market. I think there are some really exciting pivots and rotations that we're going to make. I am excited about this team, the capabilities we have, the ideas we are bringing to market, and how aligned our leadership team is.
I also think the next three years will be really interesting to see the impact of AI and how the adoption of this technology materializes more meaningfully. Organizations are moving from talking about it to actually bringing it to life. That is going to create important learnings, new pivots, and changes across the market. It will be interesting to see that unfold.
Listen to the full podcast:
YouTube: Why Strategy Is the New Operating System - C1's CSO on the Bold Moves That Matter - YouTube
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