The CX Algorithm

Most organisations have a channel strategy. Very few have a journey strategy. And that gap — invisible from the inside, painfully obvious from the outside — is quietly undermining customer experience in banking, telecoms, retail, and beyond. In this episode of The CX Algorithm, Dr Eslam Afifi sits down with Oleksandr (Sasha) Zablotskyi, Head of Digital Channels at Openbank (Santander), to challeng...

Everything Is an Optimisation Problem — Including Your CX Strategy With Mohamed Soliman, Regional VP at Energy Exemplar What if the same algorithm running thousand-node energy grids is the one quietly running every customer experience strategy too — whether we name it that way or not? In this episode, Dr. Eslam Afifi sits down with Mohamed Soliman — the strategist behind Energy Exemplar's scal...

Episode Description What does it actually take to build customer relationships that last — not just satisfy, but genuinely endure? In this episode, Dr Eslam Afifi sits down with Kate Calling, founder of World Journeys, a bespoke luxury travel agency that has thrived for over 20 years through the internet boom, the rise of online booking platforms, and now the emergence of agentic AI. Kate unpacks...

AI is moving faster than most decision cycles — and leadership has never been more complex. In this episode of The CX Algorithm Podcast , Dr. Eslam Afifi is joined by Ana Herranz , executive & HR coach and co-founder of Game Changers for People and Talent , to unpack what leadership needs to become in the AI era: not more technical… but more human. Ana introduces a practical “inner algorithm”...

In this episode of The CX Algorithm Podcast , Dr Eslam Afifi is joined by David Carro Estrade Head of Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) at Samsung Electronics Iberia to explore a quiet but profound shift in customer experience: the return of intermediaries. For years, organisations worked to remove friction and get closer to customers. Today, AI agents are re-entering the middle — shaping decisions, filter...

AI is everywhere — but real value remains elusive. In this episode of The CX Algorithm Podcast , Dr Eslam Afifi is joined by Kiron Ravindran , Professor and Department Chair of Information Systems and Technology at IE Business School , to cut through the noise and examine what’s actually working — and what isn’t — in today’s AI-driven organisations. Together, they explore why so many AI initiative...