Meet the man on a mission to help businesses truly connect
Business communications are in a state of crisis, according to Tomas Gorny, CEO of Nextiva: although there are more ways to connect with customers than ever before, companies all over the world are missing the mark.
“We are living in the era of the customer. Expectations have never been higher, and while businesses are hearing more from customers, they are understanding less,” he says.
Born and raised in Poland, Gorny moved to the United States at the age of 20 to pursue the American dream.
More than two decades later, he now heads Nextiva and Unitedweb, providing products and services to over a million customers in more than 120 countries with a workforce reaching 1,500 in offices around the globe.
Nextiva offers cloud-based phone systems, conferencing, collaboration and web-based tools to boost flexibility, productivity and efficiency for businesses of all sizes across a variety of industries.
After a career which has seen him constantly evolving and looking ahead, Gorny based the spirit of the company on innovation – like a number of other successful tech leaders, he has a crystal-clear vision of the future of digital business and customer engagement.
With his earlier firms, he encountered problems with phone systems, customer relationship management and collaboration solutions; after realising many other businesses were experiencing the same issues, Nextiva was born in Arizona in 2008 to provide the solution.
“Our mission was to simplify business communications: our first slogan was to help every business, regardless of size, feel and operate like a Fortune 500 company, and we’ve backed this up with affordable pricing, easy to use products, and amazing service,” he explains.
Clients include the team behind Conan, the late-night talk show hosted by Conan O’Brien, who use the software when they host roadshows on location and still need to stay in touch internally and with external partners. Their chosen system had to be flexible but also reliable enough to handle the pressures of filming in front of a live studio audience.
The sheer volume of channels available to connect with customers risks leading to the failure of many businesses, says Gorny, as they become entirely disconnected from the customer journey and start to lose customers and staff.
"There’s more complexity but no clarity, leading to increased customer churn and poor staff retention – two expensive problems to fix," he states.
With Nextiva, he has used his passion for innovative thinking to find a solution to the problem of the state of an organisation’s communications.
Gorny, who is also on the board of directors for Endurance International Group, has set out to galvanise employees, partners, and customers with the best tools in the industry to help their businesses grow through his tech companies.
No stranger to surging ahead, Nextiva is venturing into a new territory with the release of NextOS, part of his vision from the start.
Described as "one platform, one workspace, zero friction", NextOS brings together all of Nextiva’s tools, including Voice, Chat, CRM, Email Marketing, Surveys, Analytics, AI, and Automation, to offer one convenient platform to create the ultimate customer journey, making it easier than ever to understand complex customer relationships and connect.
Dedicated to making a positive change in his community and further afield, Gorny is similarly philanthropic about his tech offerings: he aims to leave a mark by empowering businesses around the world through his innovative and reliable technology.
He has established the Gorny Foundation to benefit "people’s lives, our community and the organisations that are meaningful to us", with health research, education programmes, global advocacy and community support at its core. Nextiva Cares also works to give back to the local Phoenix community by teaming up with a non-profit group each month to donate time, funds, and resources; it recently launched a scholarship programme to support aspiring students studying Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts, Maths or Business to reach their highest potential.
“I want to leave a lasting impact on the people who advance our lives through innovation and hard work,” adds Gorny. “I want to empower businesses with the technology we offer and, at the same time, make a change to our communities by giving back whenever we can.”
To find out more about how NextOS can transform the way you communicate today, visit Nextiva.com.