Cloud computing may have enabled new ways of doing business, but gaps in human communication and working relationships must be bridged as well. Many large enterprises struggle to maintain the interconnectedness that enables a thriving culture and service-based ecosystem, but new companies born in the cloud era are working to nurture teamwork through open dialogues and a commitment to success as a unified organization — not only at the individual level.

For Christina Kosmowski (pictured), head of global customer success at Slack Technologies Inc., the communication-centric startup is the optimal place to show how many different barriers can be broken in this era of cloud computing.

“I think it’s so important to realize that technology is really important, but if we can’t apply that into the business setting and to specific outcomes and use cases, it doesn’t become valuable over time,” said Kosmowski.

Kosmowski recently sat down with Jeff Frick, co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference in San Francisco. (* Disclosure below.)

Throughout her career, Kosmowski has stressed that a unified team is key to success at the enterprise level. Through her implementation of this guiding principle at Slack, one of the industry’s fastest-growing startups, the customer success leader is proving human relationships should be an industry priority.

Saying yes to everything

Before she worked within a team, Kosmowski maximized her connections by saying yes to everything. “Being open to trying new things and learning new experiences will give you opportunities you didn’t even realize you had,” she said.

From starting her college soccer team to establishing the London office at her first job, Kosmowski created a reputation for herself as the person a team could count on to volunteer and follow through. “I was known as the person who always liked to start and build things from scratch,” she said “I always wanted to be that yes person and experience these new opportunities.”

Kosmowski’s leadership mentality grew into a focus on team efforts, spurred on by early motivations in varsity college soccer. When the rest of her team wasn’t playing at her level, Kosmowski realized her efforts alone wouldn’t be enough to carry them to a win and that they’d need her help to improve as a whole.

“I was able to challenge them to match my level, and we were ultimately able to get … into the top six teams in the country,” she said “That was the first time I realized it’s not just about me. I can work as hard as I can, but if I can’t empower the team and I can’t bring all the cross-functional leaders along with me, we aren’t going to achieve what we need to achieve.”

A team effort

Kosmowski took that perspective on effective team integrations into her professional career, unifying across departments for better customer and internal experiences at Salesforce.com Inc. In her latest role building Slack’s customer service, virtually from the ground up, Kosmowski is placing an even greater focus on relationships with users, partners and people within the company.

To ensure the constant value delivery expected from a subscription model, Kosmowski connects departments across Slack to identify pain points and develop solutions that require intelligence from all teams. The company builds features and in-app education and works with customers to understand their needs, and it has created a network of peer-to-peer relationships for the best possible user experience.

One initiative that has made a significant impact on customers and company culture is the red account program, which brings the company together to swarm around issues or risks experienced by customers.

“We have product feedback sessions where we’re able to bring that advocacy back,” she said. “We have a lot of surveys and net promoter score. We’re measuring and looking for accountability about how we’re doing with our customers.”

Focusing on people for better tech

A successful company begins with an inclusive culture. Studies show that diverse teams are more productive and have a positive impact on a business’ bottom line, with more perspectives enabling an enhanced ability to discover issues and solve for them. Placing value on all members of a team has the added benefit of retention, something the tech industry currently struggles with, specifically among its systemically underrecognized female employees.

Through her work nurturing team cohesion at Slack, Kosmowski has seen that it can take many different points of view to identify the root cause of an issue. “We’ve built an organization that really focuses on customer maturity and value,” she said. “We look at things we can do to give value and outcomes and affect people the way they’re working today.”

As she continues to work through the challenges of maintaining that level of communication at scale, Kosmowski is buoyed by the work of others pushing for a focus on inclusion and human relationships in the industry.

“We are in a really fortunate time right now,” she said. “I think our time is now, and it’s so great to see all these women come together. We’re the ones that can do this.”

Here’s the complete interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE was a paid media partner for the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference. Neither Girls in Tech, the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE