NiCE — Power Map

Executive & Signature Authority

Economic Buyer

Michelle Cooper

CMO

Budget allocated for 2026. Less than 1 year at NiCE — building 3–4 year technology vision. Driving platform consolidation. Wants high-level presentations, not 90-minute demos. Has not attended any sessions directly — Dor and Nikhin gatekeep what she sees.

Economic Buyer

Arun Chandra ASSUMED

COO (CMO’s boss)

Sits above Michelle in approval chain. Alex Atzberger meeting March 3. No direct engagement yet. Dor prefers bottom-up: evaluation results go to Michelle, who takes to Arun.

CEO

Scott Russell

CEO

Existing relationship with Alex Atzberger (Optimizely CEO). Top of approval chain. Dor does not want executive pressure applied — prefers bottom-up approach.

Champions (Actively Selling Internally)

Primary Champion

Dor Danieli

Global Marketing (Evaluation Lead)

Driving entire evaluation. Eliminated Jasper, Writer, Copy.ai in Optimizely’s favor. Coaching demo strategy, managing internal stakeholders. “A little bit in our camp” (55/45). Risk: adoption concern — “If the team will not use it... then I just bought something that I will use.” Managing scope down aggressively.

Content Champion

Michele Carlson

Content Marketing Lead

Strongest articulator of value from client side. Wants to replace Word doc workflows with centralized platform. Built brand voice program with Dor. Sharp evaluator: “What makes this marketing-specific vs ChatGPT with a logo?” Risk: supports Opal + DAM only — may resist scope creep beyond content creation.

Technical Evaluators

Technical Evaluator

Nikhin Dinesh

MarTech Lead

Full stack interoperability focus. Has “reservations” about DAM. Pushed on CMP vs. Monday.com equivalence, challenged experimentation vs. AB Tasty. Positioned by Dor as new focal point for broader ecosystem evaluation. Needs: DAM deep-dive, customer references, architecture session, stack cost analysis.

Technical Evaluator

Christine Sullivan

Integrated Campaigns, Global

Marketo integration for subject line A/B testing and persona-based content suggestions. Interested but not deeply engaged beyond 1/17 demo. No objections raised. Path to yes: Marketo integration demonstration.

Blockers & Skeptics

Blocker — Web Development

Jonathan Peterson

Web Development

Actively resistant to replatforming. Just built WordPress implementation — personal investment in current CMS. Long-time AB Tasty user. Most skeptical attendee across all sessions. 2/20 demo damaged credibility (poorly scraped site). Do NOT sell experimentation or CMS to him. Frame Opal + DAM as additive to his WordPress stack. 1:1 recovery session needed.

Blocker — Collective

“The Doers”

Content team, Nikhin, Jonathan

“The doers on the team do not want to replatform” (2/20 debrief via Matt sidebar with Michele). CMO consolidation is top-down; implementers resist. Phase 1 must be purely additive: Opal + DAM alongside existing tools. Platform consolidation is 2027+ at their pace.

Signature Path

Budget

Michelle Cooper

Budget exists and allocated for 2026. Approval path: Michelle → Arun → Scott. Threshold unknown.

IT / Security

Not identified

Public company security assessment required. Israeli HQ with 5 security questions in RFP. Azure/Microsoft shop.

Legal

Not identified

Paper process NOT started. Dan Tranter pushing MSA — 2–3 month AI legal review risk for public company.

Procurement

Not identified

Dor met procurement 1/13 — no name captured. Azure Marketplace potential.

Exec Sign-off

Arun Chandra ASSUMED

Alex Atzberger / Arun Chandra call March 3.

Signature

Unknown

At $230K, unclear who signs. Could be Arun Chandra or Scott Russell. Ask Dor.

Informal Influence Network

Dor Danieli → reports to → Michelle Cooper (CMO), who takes recommendation to Arun Chandra (COO), who reports to Scott Russell (CEO). Confirmed approval chain (2/9 follow-up).

Dor Danieli → positioned → Nikhin Dinesh as new focal point for broader ecosystem evaluation. Dor is not stepping back but wants Nikhin fully integrated on all communications (2/20).

Michele Carlson is the voice of the content team — strongest articulator of current-state pain and Opal value. Her endorsement carries weight with doers (2/20 full suite demo).

Jonathan Peterson carries weight as the person who built WordPress/AB Tasty infrastructure. His resistance reflects doer-layer sentiment and could influence Nikhin’s technical evaluation.

CMO vs. Doers tension: Michelle Cooper drives platform consolidation top-down. Implementation team (Jonathan, Nikhin, Michele’s content team) resists replatforming. Classic top-down mandate meeting bottom-up resistance.

Scott Russell (CEO) ↔ relationship ↔ Alex Atzberger (Optimizely CEO). Dor prefers bottom-up approach — does not want executive pressure (2/9). Use with caution.

Map Gaps

Who literally signs?

Can’t close without signature authority. Could be Michelle, Arun Chandra, or Scott Russell at $230K.

Ask Dor: “Once Michelle approves, who puts pen to paper?”

Dollar approval thresholds?

$230K could be above CMO’s autonomous approval ceiling, requiring COO or CEO sign-off.

Surface during value consulting readout: “At this dollar amount, does this stay within marketing’s authority?”

IT/Security review contact?

Public company security assessment required. No named contact, no timeline visibility.

Ask Nikhin: “Who on your IT team handles vendor security reviews?”

Legal contact?

Paper process not started. 2–3 month AI legal review risk for public company.

Initiate MSA send this week. Ask Dor: “Who in legal would receive the contract?”

Procurement lead?

Dor mentioned meeting procurement on 1/13. No name captured. Azure Marketplace could simplify.

Ask Dor for procurement contact when pricing is finalized. Explore Azure Marketplace path with Nikhin.

Jonathan Peterson’s full influence?

Most vocal skeptic — just built WordPress infrastructure, long-time AB Tasty user. Could campaign against replatforming internally.

1:1 recovery session. Frame as additive, not replacing his work. Gauge whether he’s a speed bump or a wall.

Missing evaluation committee members?

1/13 discovery mentioned 5–6 person evaluation committee. Only 5 NiCE attendees identified across all meetings.

Ask Dor: “Is the full evaluation committee the group we’ve been meeting with, or are there others?”