CX Files

Ian Barkin is a well-known expert inside the BPO industry. He is an entreprenuer and investor, has founded 4 companies, has written popular LinkedIn courses on automation, is an external adviser to Bain & Company ... the list could go on. Most recently in the BPO world he was the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at SYKES until May 2021. Ian is based in Tampa, Florida. Mark saw Ian recently con...

Who managed the limousine logistics at the Academy Awards in Hollywood, California earlier this year? You might not expect it, but one of the leading customer care and dispatch services for luxury autos is based in Serbia. Marko Torovic is the founder of NSourcing, a specialist BPO focused on limo logistics and trucking. Peter caught up with him during his recent tour of Europe to talk about limos...

It's that time of year again - the 2023 Ryan Strategic Advisory Front Office CX Omnibus Survey is being revealed by Peter live in Poland at exactly the same time as this episode drops - so if you are downloading this on April 20th 2023, then you are one of the first to hear the results! Which are the most favoured offshoring locations around the world for CX and BPO? This is probably the largest a...

Call that a CX strategy? No mate, this is a CX strategy...! Anyone who follows Peter knows that he loves 80s pop culture so we can't avoid a reference to Paul Hogan here because this week CX Files is going down under. Peter talked to Simon Kriss - a CX veteran based in Melbourne - about what's happening in BPO and CX in Australia. https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonkriss/ https://www.auscontact.com....

Johan Steyn is a Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence advocate and thought leader. He was recognised by Swiss Cognitive as one of the top 50 global voices on AI. He is a Research Fellow at the School of Data Science and Computational Thinking at Stellenbosch University and an Adjunct Professor at the School of Business at Woxsen University. Johan is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mark Hill...

Kirk Laughlin is the Founder and Chief Analyst at Nearshore Americas. He is based in Connecticut in the US. Nearshore Americas is the definitive authority on knowledge service exports across the Caribbean and North, Central and South America.  Kirk recently hosted the CrossConnect Forum in London. This event was focused on introducing many Caribbean destinations to a British and European audience....

Chandni Bhatt is the Senior UK Manager for Member Happiness at Beauty Pie. She is based close to London in the UK. Beauty Pie is a member and subscription-based service offering cosmetics and beauty products to customers in the UK and US. In this discussion with Peter Ryan, Chandni talks about how D2C customer realtionships work and how to deliver great service within a member-based organisation....

Matt Sims is the President EMEA at Alorica. He is based in the UK. Headquartered in the US, Alorica has recently been leaning into Europe so Mark Hillary called Matt to explore the differences between the European and American CX markets and how economic uncertainty may affect CX and BPO strategies. https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-sims-7892542/ https://www.alorica.com/  

Stuart Knight is a technology executive with over 25 years experience leading multiple organizations in CIO and CTO roles. He is on the Leadership Team at flōswitch and he is based in Cardiff, Wales. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Stuart talks about the issues of technology redundancy and how BPOs need to address these issues if they want to optimize costs. With a possible recession looming...

Nathan Muniz is the founder of 247SECRETARY.COM. He is based in Ocala, Florida. 247SECRETARY.COM is a BPO that works with agents in the Philippines. Nathan has worked hard to specifically make his team a valued part of the local community in a great example of impact sourcing in one of the most popular destinations for offshore CX. In this interview, Nathan talks to Peter Ryan about how he started...

Marianne Rutz is the founder of Rutz Consulting. She has a long track record of advising BPO and customer service operations and she also hosts the popular Operational Excellence Podcast. She is based in Scotland. Peter Ryan heard an episode of Operational Excellence focused on the topic 'Where is your CX going wrong?' The episode focused on why companies keep making the same mistakes so he called...

Imagine if you were defined by the worst mistake you made for the rest of your life And  denied of opportunity , growth and personal success at every turn. That's how it is today for more than 200,000 incarcerated women in the United States. They, like all of us, made a mistake. Only their lapse in judgment came with a different consequence. Televerde has a unique business model. They create oppor...

Alistair Niederer is well known as a leader in the CX industry. He has led several major companies and was heading the Davies Group customer experience consulting business when the pandemic arrived in 2020 - leading to many months stuck in lockdown in a Toronto apartment.  Now back in his London base, Alistair is a non-executive director of Blackout Technologies, focused on WFH security. In this e...

John Sills is MD at The Foundation, based in London. The Foundation is a management consultancy focused on growth, but in this episode of CX Files Mark Hillary talked to him about his new book 'The Human Experience.' Published by Bloomsbury the book is out TODAY so this is a CX Files exclusive - probably the first media interview post publication of the book. The Human Experience is focused on CX...

Paige Webster is the Founder and CEO of Webster Global Site Selectors. He is based in Phoenix, Arizona. Paige is focused on site selection and economic development and he has advised companies seeking to invest in new regions all over the world. In this epsiode Paige talks to Peter Ryan about the complexity of site selection and how companies decide where to locate their offices and infrastructure...

Justin Custer is the Founder and CEO of ChatLingual. He is based in Boulder, Colorado. This CX Files episode delves into how digital chat is revolutionizing the way businesses interact with their customers; thus transforming the customer experience. Mark Hillary and guest Justin Custer discuss the benefits of digital chat for customers (and employees), including convenience, speed, and personalize...

Stephanie Todd is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is the founder and CEO of advisory firm Soul CX and has a history managing travel and airline customer service processes. After his own travel nightmares over the holiday season, Peter Ryan called Stephanie to ask about the problems airlines are facing at present. How do they recover from the pandemic disruption and rebuild customer loyalty -...

Mark Walton spent the past couple of years as CEO of specialist work-from-home BPO company Sensée. He stood down in May 2022 and then launched Cloudbase Partners with the Flex@Home Workspace Health & Safety audit app as the intial product. This app helps companies to audit their WFH environment to ensure the business knows their employees are working in a safe enviroment and their wellbeing is bei...

It's the end of 2022. In the last few days of the year you may be away from the office taking it easy, so why not catch up with this final CX Files for 2022? Peter Ryan talked to a group of CX experts and analysts to learn about their observations on 2022 and ideas for what to watch in 2023. The panel included: Rod Jones (Johannesburg, South Africa) Owner, Rod Jones Contact Centre Consulting https...

There is no guest this week because your hosts Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan decided to talk about their own CX highlights from 2022 as well as their favourite interviews from the CX Files this year. CX Files delivers 52 episodes every single year. It's like Bob Dylan's "never ending tour." We deliver a new episode every week and in this special Christmas 2022 edition we look back at the year... htt...

CX Files is not the only CX podcast out there! You probably know that already, but in this episode we have invited other CX podcasting peers to join us in taking a look back at the highlights of 2022 and forward into the expected CX trends coming in 2023... Peter Ryan leads the discussion and this episode features: Wiktor Doktór (Warsaw, Poland) CEO of Pro Progressio  https://www.linkedin.com/in/w...

Steve Mosser is the Group CEO and Head of Innovation at Sensée. He is based in London, UK. Sensée is a homeworking specialist. They design customer service and CX solutions using 100% WFH teams - and have done so for around two decades. When the pandemic arrived Sensée already had all their people at home anyway - they started advising clients on how to manage the crisis. In this interview, Steve...

Everyone is familiar with South Africa as a CX destination. Maybe you have also worked with Egypt and a few others too, but Martin Roe, the CEO of CCI Global, is on a mission to build far greater customer service capabilities in many other African nations. Martin is a Brit based in Dubai and Peter Ryan called him to talk about the development of many emerging CX destinations in Africa. https://www...

Roger Beadle is the founder and CEO of Limitless. Roger is based in London, UK. Peter Ryan caught up with Roger to talk about GigCX and how it offers the opportunity to do more than just change how customer service agents are paid - hiring agents that love the brands they support is just one example. Flexible CX is about far more than just WFH. https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-beadle-96048410/ ht...

Chris Gillen is the CEO of A Closer Look. He is based near to Atlanta, GA. A Closer Look is focused on CX market research and explores most of the major industry verticals. In this discussion with Peter Ryan he talks about research A Closer Look has carried out on the travel industry - focusing on the forthcoming holiday season and trends to watch for in 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgill...