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Introduction
In April 2025, Sprinklr announced a strategic shift dubbed “Project Bear Hug,” signaling its intent to prioritize enterprise customers while laying off a portion of its workforce. For many CX professionals, this raised eyebrows—and important questions. Are monolithic platforms still the future of customer experience management (CXM)? Or are agile, AI-powered, all-in-one platforms the smarter way forward?
From Konnect Insights’ perspective, this shift validates what we’ve known all along: today’s CX challenges require flexibility, speed, and intelligence—not bloated enterprise software stacks. In this article, we explore what “Project Bear Hug” really means for the industry, what brands should watch out for, and why Konnect Insights is the better choice for modern, customer-first CX teams.
What is Project Bear Hug? A Strategic Retreat into the Enterprise
With Project Bear Hug, Sprinklr has made it clear that its focus will be on its top 100 enterprise customers—those with the largest contracts, longest onboarding cycles, and most complex support needs. Sprinklr’s “Project Bear Hug” is a cost-optimization strategy focused on reducing operating expenses and shifting the company’s attention toward large enterprise clients. This has already resulted in layoffs and a clear intention to limit investments in mid-market or small-scale users.
“We are going to hug the enterprise and make that business profitable and cash-generating first.” — Ragy Thomas, CEO of Sprinklr
The move is bold, but it reflects a concerning reality for existing and potential customers: if you’re not a Fortune 500 brand with a multi-million-dollar tech stack, Sprinklr may no longer be building for you. That leaves mid-market companies, fast-growing startups, and even well-established regional brands at risk of being deprioritized.
The message is implicit but loud: if you’re not among their highest-paying customers, you may see slower support, less product attention, and fewer tailored solutions. Worse, you might be forced into enterprise-sized contracts for features and modules that don’t align with your actual needs.
Sprinklr’s shift illustrates what happens when a platform grows too large: agility fades, attention narrows, and innovation slows for the majority of users. In contrast, modern CX platforms like Konnect Insights continue to prioritize every customer—offering enterprise-grade power without sacrificing flexibility, affordability, or personalized support.
Why This Matters for CX Leaders???
The industry is shifting. CX is no longer just the domain of massive corporations. Every company, mid-size brand, and agile team now requires the same capabilities—without the enterprise baggage. Project Bear Hug represents more than a strategy; it exposes the vulnerability of platforms overly reliant on legacy sales models, complex integrations, and high-cost maintenance.
Here’s what brands should consider:
Deprioritized Support for SMBs and Mid-Market Clients:
With Sprinklr narrowing its focus on its top 100 enterprise customers, companies outside that list may begin to feel like second-tier users. From slower ticket resolution to less proactive account management, support resources are likely to be disproportionately allocated—leaving smaller teams to navigate complex tools without sufficient guidance.
Longer, Heavier Implementation Cycles:
Enterprise software often comes with enterprise-level complexity. As Sprinklr doubles down on high-touch, bespoke implementations for large clients, smaller brands may face longer onboarding timelines or be pushed toward templated rollouts that don’t reflect their actual needs.
Stagnation in Product Innovation for Non-Enterprise Segments:
Innovation tends to follow the money. When the product roadmap is dictated by the largest customers, features requested by mid-market or niche segments may never make the cut. That means less relevance, slower updates, and tools that aren’t evolving with your team’s goals.
Increased Support Wait Times Due to Layoffs:
With Sprinklr recently laying off over 100+ employees across departments, including support and operations, current and future clients may experience longer delays in assistance, reduced onboarding capacity, and slower turnaround for escalations or product bugs.
Complex and Unpredictable, Enterprise-Centric Pricing Models:
For many businesses, Sprinklr’s quote-based pricing already felt opaque. Add-ons for AI, BI, and automation are often treated as premium upsells. Now, with the platform skewing even more enterprise-heavy, the likelihood of simple, affordable, modular pricing becomes increasingly unlikely.
Why Konnect Insights Offers a Better CXM Strategy for 2025
While Sprinklr leans into enterprise exclusivity, Konnect Insights opens its platform to brands of all sizes—delivering agility, intelligence, and scale without the complexity.
1. Built-in Secure and Intelligent AI
At the heart of Konnect Insights is Konnect AI+, an advanced engine that transforms raw customer interactions into real-time, actionable insights. Brands can detect and analyze sentiment and emotional tone to identify anomalies and predict trends; AI is seamlessly integrated across every feature.
With enterprise-grade security architecture, Konnect AI+ processes sensitive customer data with the highest standards of compliance, encryption, and privacy. This ensures insights remain secure, confidential, and fully protected, whether you’re operating in a highly regulated industry or managing data across global markets.
👉 Explore Konnect AI+
2. True Omnichannel CX—Not Just Social
Sprinklr primarily leans into digital channels, but Konnect Insights unifies email, support call, social media, live chat, WhatsApp, review platforms, CRM, and more in a single dashboard. This gives brands a 360° view of the customer journey, ensuring every interaction is tracked, contextualized, and actionable.
With all conversations and tickets centralized, teams can avoid silos, reduce response times, and deliver more personalized experiences. Whether a customer tweets, chats, or emails—Konnect Insights ensures you’re never missing context.
👉 See how we manage Omnichannel Support
3. Unified, Configurable Dashboards
No more switching tools or paying consultants to visualize insights. Konnect Insights offers custom BI dashboards and advanced analytics, letting teams report in real time and optimize strategies.
These dashboards are fully configurable, allowing you to tailor data views for marketing, support, or leadership teams. With visual storytelling and drill-down capabilities, decision-makers can identify patterns, monitor KPIs, and act with confidence.
👉 Check out our BI Dashboards
4. Transparent Pricing with No Surprises
Unlike Sprinklr’s quote-based, multi-module setup, Konnect Insights offers a platform where AI, analytics, and automation are deeply embedded and ready to deliver impact—without needing long onboarding cycles. You can activate the exact capabilities your team needs and scale them as your CX strategy evolves. This modular approach offers unmatched adaptability, helping teams avoid tool fatigue and focus on outcomes. Whether you’re building workflows, analyzing conversations, or managing tickets, the power of AI is woven into your everyday operations — streamlining CX without adding layers of complexity.
👉 Review Konnect Insights Pricing
5. Fast, Dedicated Support for Every Customer
You don’t need to be an enterprise to be heard. Konnect Insights offers dedicated onboarding, training, and proactive support to every client. That means faster go-lives and better outcomes for CX teams. Our customer success team works closely with you from day one to ensure a smooth rollout and continuous optimization. Whether you’re scaling fast or refining workflows, we stay responsive—so your CX never stalls.
Project Bear Hug: A Wake-Up Call for the Industry
Let’s be honest: CXM is evolving too fast for rigid enterprise platforms. Sprinklr’s decision to deprioritize a large segment of its users is not just a business decision—it’s an indicator that agility is now more valuable than scale.
Modern brands need platforms that:
- Integrate effortlessly into their stack
- Empower every team member (not just analysts)
- Automate CX actions at scale
- Adapt quickly to customer feedback
Konnect Insights checks all the boxes—and continues to invest in features that bring insights and engagement under one roof for fast-growing brands and enterprises alike. It’s not just about having the right tools—it’s about how fast you can act on insights. And with Konnect Insights, action is always just a click away.
What This Means for Current Sprinklr Users
If you’re currently using Sprinklr and don’t fall in the “enterprise” category, now is the time to reassess:
- Are you getting proactive roadmap updates and support?
- Do you feel prioritized as a customer?
- Is your team leveraging AI without needing external consultants?
- Are you paying for modules you barely use?
If any of these questions raise red flags, it might be time to explore platforms like Konnect Insights that put your business needs first.
Final Thoughts: Choose Growth, Not Complexity
Sprinklr’s Project Bear Hug may benefit shareholders—but it leaves many CX teams behind. Konnect Insights was built for those teams—the ones who need power without the bloat, intelligence without the complexity, and support without the enterprise red tape.
If you’re ready to move from an aging enterprise-first model to an agile, AI-driven CXM strategy, Konnect Insights is your next step. Whether you’re scaling customer support, refining marketing engagement, or building end-to-end experience pipelines, Konnect Insights gives your team the tools to move faster and think smarter. It’s not just about adapting to change—it’s about leading it with the right CX solution that grows with you.
