CX Files

Gary Slade is the Chief Commerical Officer at TP EMEA. He has many years of BPO and CX experience and he previously led the UK/Ireland operation at TP as CEO. In this conversation with Mark Hillary, Gary is talking about BPO stability and how this is becoming an important new measurement that companies need to focus on. If you are looking for a BPO partner then how do you know if they will still b...

In this episode of CX Files, Peter Ryan speaks with Sarah Leff about Interact CC's expansion into South Africa's Eastern Cape, exploring why the region is emerging as a compelling alternative to traditional CX hubs like Cape Town and Johannesburg. Leff explains that while South Africa has long been a natural partner for UK-based customer experience delivery - thanks to cultural alignment, language...

Chris Chance is the Senior Vice President for East Africa at CCI Global. He is based between Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. CCI Global is headquartered in the UAR, but has extensive operations across Africa - they aim to be the largest and most respected BPO in Africa through a combination of offering innovative services with a focus on impact sourcing and community uplift. In this conversation with...

Steve Sullivan is the founder of Channel Doctors. He is based in Bournemouth in the UK. Channel Doctors is a specialist advisory company focused on CX, contact centers, and especially issues such as data protection and GDPR. Peter Ryan called Steve after seeing a LinkedIn post on managing customer rage. Are customers more angry today and how are companies dealing with it? How can it be managed in...

Melanie Disse is the Principal Consultant and Tech Adviser to Melanie Disse Consulting. Melanie Disse Consulting is a CX & VoC consulting firm helping businesses leverage CX as a   key competitive differentiator to drive business performance through understanding customer   experiences. Melanie is based in Auckland, New Zealand. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Melanie outlines how companies...

Gareth Bray is Business Development Director and WhatsApp Guru at Premier CX. He is based in Odiham, Hampshire, UK. Over 100 billion WhatsApp messages are sent daily by users - that's more than a million messages on the platform every second. Between 1 to 3 billion of these daily messages is a customer talking to a business. Gareth was on the Meta team when they launched WhatsApp in Europe so he h...

CCW 2026 took place at the end of February 2026 in Berlin. Peter Ryan was there on the conference floor. He took a microphone and tried to capture several comments and ideas from the delegates - what was the conference about and what were the key themes that people in CX are focused on in 2026? https://www.ccw.eu/en/ CCW conference delegates who spoke to Peter Ryan: Monika Röhr-Łukasik Axendi http...

Michel Stevens is Course Director at the CXM Academy. He is also a managing partner at goCX. He is based in Antwerp, Belbium. The CXM Academy aims to  build training for   the real world - interactive and culturally relevant.  In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Michel talks about CX events. Why are so many of them so repetitive? Why are they flooded with the same speakers talking about the same...

Roger Barlow is Director of LATAM Translations. He is based in São Paulo, Brazil. Roger is British and has lived in Brazil since 1998. Since 2001 he has focused on helping Brazilian companies engage with a global audience. This involves a significant amount of translation from and to Portuguese. Multilingual CX is a subject we have often covered on CX Files so Mark decided to call up  Roger becaus...

Michael Gray is the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Spacial Working. He is based in London, UK. Spacial Working is focused on helping companies to create a flexible work environment that embraces both working from home and working in offices. The aim is to create a flexible arrangement that works well for the company and employees. The media often reports that WFH is finished and most empl...

Jacqui Turner founded the Turner Corner Leadership Academy. She is based at Great Malvern, which is close to Stratford-Upon-Avon in the UK. The academy is focused on customer service training, leadership programmes and coaching interventions. Training followed by coaching with Jacqui's team has been proven to make training much more effective, in terms of staff productivity, performance and busine...

Rob Joubert is the founder and CEO of Boomerang BPO. He is based in Cape Town, South Africa. 2025 was the 20th anniversary year for Boomerang, so at the end of the year Peter Ryan called Rob to talk about BPO and CX trends and what it takes to build a successful BPO operation from the ground up. 20 years into the journey, what has Rob learned about what clients want from a BPO partner in the 2020s...

Last November, Leigh Hopwood, CEO of the CCMA (Contact Centre Management Association), was on the CX Files talking about the 25th anniversary of the European Contact Center and Customer Service Awards (ECCCSAs). https://cxfiles.libsyn.com/cxfiles/leigh-hopwood-ccma-25-years-of-the-ecccsas At those awards on November 25th 2025, The Best Customer Service Into Europe award was won (gold) by TUI worki...

This special live episode was recorded on January 21, 2026 live in London, UK. This is the 400th episode of the podcast. Lian Rowlands quizzed Peter and Mark about the origin of CX Files and what they plan for the future of the podcast... Thanks to everyone who attended the live event in London last night - it was great to see so many friends of the podcast out in person! https://www.linkedin.com/...

Happy New Year for 2026 from Peter and Mark at the CX Files podcast. We asked our listeners to send some thoughts about 2025 and the year ahead... If you listen to this episode you will hear messages from the Netherlands, Philippines, UK, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and Brazil... that's North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia all covered! Contributors listed in the...

Celebrate CX Files Episode 400 — Join Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan Live in London for an Exclusive Networking Event! CX Files Episode 400 Live in London – January 21, 2026 Join  Mark Hillary  and  Peter Ryan , co-hosts of the  CX Files  podcast, for a special  live networking event in London  as they celebrate the show's 400th episode! This informal evening brings together members of the global Cus...

In this special episode of the CX Files, we are looking to the end of 2025 and into 2026. Peter Ryan called Paul Smith and David Rickard - two expert advisers on CX and BPO - to talk about what just happened in 2025 and their top predictions for CX in 2026. --- Paul Smith Principal Consultant, Quinn Growth Advisers  Salt Lake City, Utah, USA https://www.linkedin.com/in/swsalesexec/ https://quinngr...

Nick Jiwa is the founder and president of CustomerServ. He is based in Houston, Texas, USA. In this episode Nick talks to Peter Ryan about the importance of people in CX - in particular in BPOs. He asks why people have always been central to the customer experience, but now it sounds like everyone is just focused on AI and automation?  It's time to refocus on people and culture because this is how...

Leigh Hopwood is CEO of the CCMA (Contact Centre Management Association) and Chair of  the European Customer Contact Alliance. She is based in London, UK. Peter Ryan called Leigh to talk about the European Contact Center and Customer Service Awards (ECCCSAs), which celebrate their 25th anniversary on November 25th, 2025. It sounds like an Iron Maiden song. On the 25th of November in the year 2025...

Gerry Brown is known as the customer lifeguard. His ambition is to save the world from poor customer service. Gerry is Canadian and based in the south of the UK. Gerry has written a book titled 'When a customer wins, nobody loses.' He has a podcast and he is a regular speaker and adviser, regularly hosting CX workshops. Mark called Gerry to ask about his book and the post-pandemic CX environment....

Paul O'Hara is the Executive Vice President of Business Development at TP EMEA. He is based in the Tyneside area of North-East England. Paul recently published an article on Customer Think magazine titled "AI Won't End BPO - It'll Supercharge It." Mark called Paul to ask Paul about the article. What was Paul trying to say? How does he believe that AI and human-focused customer service can be blend...

Elona Ymeri is the service delivery manager at Assist Digital. She is based in Tirana, Albania. Elona spoke to Mark Hillary about the role of smaller BPO destinations. What can they offer that is harder to find from the big locations? Is the continued influence of AI and other automation technology reducing the need to consider working in locations where large numbers of agents can be found? Elona...

Joanne Morrison is the founder of Outmarket. She is based in Toronto, Canada. Outmarket is a specialist marketing agency that is focused on BPO and CX companies. Telling potential customers about your services has always been important, but as BPO gets more complex, more international, and AI changes how marketing can function, it is more important than ever to get great advice. Peter Ryan called...

Miguel Familia is the CEO and co-founder of Wise BPO. He is based between the Dominican Republic and St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Miguel has a long history in CX, but one year ago he decided to create a new BPO brand - serving clients from the Dominican Republic. Peter called Miguel to learn about his story of creating a new CX brand, his background in this industry, the advantages of the DR, and...

This week we have a group of CX and BPO experts who recently visited Georgia. This nation of 3.6m people is positioned on the Black Sea, at the intersection of Europe and Asia, and is working hard to position itself as an attractive destination for CX and BPO sourcing. Peter Ryan talked to people who travelled with him to visit Georgia this year to explore questions such as the ease of doing busin...