The Calling (formerly The Agile Contact Centre Podcast)

Ryan Klausner is the Head of Customer Experience at Who Gives A Crap. Who Gives A Crap is one of Australia’s leading toilet paper subscription services and operates as a profit-for-purpose social enterprise that donates a portion of the profits to improving sanitation for people around the world. In this episode, Ryan discusses how to turn a contact centre into a value centre, the role of AI and b...

Cameron Geason is the General Manager of Retail Operations at Origin Energy. Origin Energy is one of Australia's largest energy providers and delivers electricity, gas, and LPG for more than 4 million customers nationwide. In this episode, Cameron reflects on his career and how contact centres have evolved throughout his career. He talks about how Origin has incorporated AI into their operation an...

Simon Kriss is the Chief Innovation Officer at the Customer Experience Innovation Institute (CXII) and the author of ‘The AI Empowered Customer Experience’. The Customer Experience Innovation Institute aims to change how businesses engage with customers using innovative strategies, insights, and research. In this episode, Simon shares his insights into how AI can improve contact centre operations...

Marc Stickdorn is the CEO and Co-founder of Smaply. Smaply is a software design company specialising in journey mapping and management software used by businesses worldwide. In this episode, Marc explores what service design is and how to use it to improve customer and employee experiences using journey mapping. He emphasises the value of focusing on system design rather than KPIs and explains how...

Greg Curcio is the Director of Customer and Performance for Knox City Council. Knox is located in Melbourne’s southeast and is one of Victoria’s most populous municipalities with over 165,000 residents calling Knox home. In this episode, Greg shares his journey to Knox City Council and emphasises the importance of community engagement and maintaining the human element in the contact centre. He exp...

Sharon Melamed is the Founder and Managing Director of Matchboard. Matchboard is a matchmaking service between companies and suppliers to take the hard work out of making business connections. In this episode, Sharon shares how a love of matchmaking in her personal life led her to found Matchboard. She also explains how living and working overseas in Japan and the U.S.A. influenced her approach to...

At the time of this interview, Hefin Evans was the Head of Service for the Asia-Pacific region for Philips. Philips is a leading provider of healthcare technology and medical equipment to improve the health and well-being of communities globally. In this episode, Hefin shares his leadership journey and highlights the importance of balancing effective leadership, employee satisfaction, and customer...

Jaquie Scammell is the CEO and Founder of Service Q and has written several books on CX. Service Q creates and delivers culture transformation programs for businesses that want to change how they engage with customers and clients. In this episode, Jaquie shares her career journey and how her understanding of service culture has developed over time. She discusses the contents of her latest book, ‘T...

Adrian Swinscoe is a Customer Experience Advisor and the Author of “Punk CX”. For over 25 years, Adrian has worked with businesses to break the mould and take a more punk approach to the customer experience. In this episode, Adrian explains the Punk CX philosophy and what it means to embody the values of “investigation, agitation, and instigation”.    Resources and links: Punk CX website Adrian Sw...

AI has been on the lips of every industry in recent years, with contact centres particularly embracing the technology for servicing customers. Can it improve the employee experience as well? Luke Jamieson is a Solutions Consultant with Upland Software and a thought leader in EX and CX. Throughout his career, he has focused on exploring growth and opportunity in the customer service industry and ha...

Emma Stapleton is the Head of Customer Support at MECCA Brands. As Australia's largest beauty retailer with a thriving online store and over a hundred physical stores across Australia and New Zealand, MECCA is committed to delivering the ultimate beauty experience. In this episode, Emma will discuss the importance of designing a good employee experience and how that influences the customer experie...

Tim Buzza, Director of Workplace Flexibility at Verint (formerly Attune Work Solutions), joins us to discuss the transformative power of self-scheduling systems for contact centre agents. Verint’s innovative approach is reshaping the work-life balance, offering a new level of autonomy and flexibility in the workplace. In this episode, Tim demystifies the concepts of autonomy and flexibility in the...

Dina Levy is the Head of Customer Experience Channels at Zoom, and Phil is the Head of Go-To-Market for Zoom CX. Zoom started in 2011 as a video conferencing platform and has since grown into an all-in-one collaborative platform for businesses and people across the globe. In this episode, Dina and Phil explain how the latest technology from Zoom CX is changing the customer experience for businesse...

Peter Iansek is the CEO and Co-founder of Operative Intelligence. Operative Intelligence is a customer insights tool that uses AI to meaningfully improve the customer experience by helping to identify what customers need when they call the contact centre. In this episode, Peter tells the story of how he went from working in contact centres to founding Operative Intelligence, and how they use AI to...

Daniele Iezzi is the former General Manager of Customer Services for David Jones and the Country Road Group. David Jones is one of the world’s longest continuously operating department stores and has operated for more than 185 years. Country Road Group contains several of Australia’s most popular clothing brands: Country Road, Mimco, Trenery, Politix, and Witchery. In this episode, Daniele shares...

Elisa Iurato is the Chief of Community, Retail & Supporter Experience for World Vision Australia. World Vision is a global charity committed to providing aid and resources to help children, families, and communities across the world overcome poverty. World Vision is currently involved in 347 projects in 40 countries. In this episode, Elisa explains her role with World Vision Australia, how the...

Jono Kirk is the Executive Director of Supporter Experience at Compassion Australia. Compassion Australia is a not-for-profit organisation committed to providing access to healthcare and education to children around the world to lift them out of poverty. In this episode, Jono breaks down the reality of running a contact centre for a not-for-profit. He also dives into the employee experience, why i...

Today we have a quick announcement. We're changing the name of the show. From today, the podcast will be called 'The Calling: Your Guide to Leading Modern Contact Centres'. It's the same great content you've come to expect from us, but with a new name. And we already have a group of great episodes coming up. But you don't have to take our word for it, because we have two new episodes available in...

Dan Hill-Smith is the Chief Operating Officer at TSA Group   TSA Group is one of Australia’s leading specialists in outsourcing and CX consultancy and services. Dan on LinkedIn   About us: Stories, tips and practices to help you build adaptive teams who are ready for any challenge. Please follow, rate and review. We appreciate all your support. Check us out here: https://www.theagilecontactcentre....

In this episode we talk to Russ Murphy, the Director of Regional Service Centres at Service NSW.  Russ was a member of the team that began the transformation journey at Service NSW back in 2013. He shares the trials and tribulations of his leadership career and the approach they took from the early days of the very first service centre pilot to centralising services into their contact centres...

Scott Doyle has been on quite a leadership journey over the last 3 years.  This episode follows how Scott and the NRMA team have taken the disruption of Covid and used the constraints as an opportunity to take them to an even higher level of purpose driven leadership. And by listening to the needs of their people and customers they have created a new and even more successful operating model,...

In this episode we talk to Brad Shaw, entrepreneur, CEO and Leader, who has had a significant influence on the careers of many, many leaders as a coach and mentor. Brad reflects on the traits that he believes creates the most successful leaders in a complex, ambiguous world.   Brad is the CEO at Livepro, a knowledge management company that provides solutions specifically tailored for the uniq...

James is a stalwart within the Aussie contact centre market, he has seen a lot of change in his 15 years in the industry and shares with us his path to Director at SMAART Recruitment , his favourite tunes and a deep dive in the current recruitment market, how to think about the employee experience in your attraction strategy, and the key trends he sees over the next 5 years.  James authors th...

This time around we chat to Julie-Anne Hazlett , Manager, WFO Strategy at Call Design who is an inspiration, modest in her achievements, along with her teammates, the InternationElles, she played a significant role in campaigning for a Women’s Tour de France. The last time the Tour de France held a women's multi-day stage race was in 1988 but it returns again this July! JA talks to us ab...

Luke Jamieson is a true free thinker who is building great experiences for employees, he personifies the mantra, do right by your people and they'll do right by the customer.  In this episode we learn about Luke's very diverse career backgrounds from baking to droving cattle! he talks to us about his journey to building world class EX-CX cultures and how he found a beautiful intersection betw...