CX Files

CX Outsourcers Special Edition: For the next two weeks CX Files will be published on both Monday and Thursday giving previews of the talks that will be taking place in Atlanta at the CX Outsourcers conference on May 1/2... --- Paula Kennedy Garcia is an old friend of the CX Files. She has senior experience in several leading BPOs and is know as a leader in CX innovation and new delivery models. Pa...

Alex Mead is the CEO of Total CX. He is based in Bahrain. Alex is a long time friend of the CX Files and he has featured before talking about the need for better CX advice and expertise across the industry. In this discussion with Peter he is talking about Bahrain and the opportunity for this region to emerge as a nearshoring BPO destination... Bahrain may not have been on your radar before, but l...

Nirali Amin is the SVP Global Solutions and Success at LivePerson. She is based in the US. LivePerson recently published a report focused on the state of customer conversations and the emerging "AI gap" between the willingness of customers to use and accept AI customer service solutions and the willingness of executives to roll out these solutions. This gap points to a bigger picture that is focus...

Chris Hague is the head of marketing at yoummday. He is based in Prague, in the Czech Republic. Chris was at the recent CCW conference in Berlin and he posted some of his thoughts online about his views on the future of BPO - based on the conference trends. In this conversation with Mark Hillary, Chris explores some feedback from the CCW conference and also asks what the BPO or CX specialist of th...

Rod Jones is a legend in the CX industry. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Rod is now a speaker, trainer, and coach - focusing his experience of contact centers and CX on the next generation of managers. Rod was 75 a few days back and he started his first business in 1972 - so he has experienced CX and customer service processes up close, or as an advisor, for over half a century. There are ve...

Matt Kendall founded Cognitive Copy, a B2B copywriting and ghost-writing specialist. He is based in Madrid, Spain. He recently launched a newsletter focused only on the BPO and CX community called BPO Bullhorn...  Mark Hillary called Matt to talk about BPO Bullhorn and why newsletters are still a useful way to build a community. Matt also reminded Mark that he has been on the podcast back in 2021...

Dr Lollie Mancey is an anthropologist and AI ethicist based in Dublin, Ireland. She is the Programme Director for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Digital tech and resilience) at the University College Dublin Innovation Academy. Lollie is focused on workplace performance and this includes how work/life balance should be managed and what causes anxiety and other issues that may damage work perforam...

Bruce Winder is the president at Bruce Winder Retail. He is a leading analyst focused on the retail sector, with a long history of senior management roles in the retail industry. Bruce is based in Toronto, Canada. Bruce talked to Peter Ryan about trends and challenges for CX in retail in the 2020s. https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucewindermba/ www.brucewinder.com    

Vaishali Dialani is a Senior CX Strategist at Konabos. She is based in Dubai, UAE. Vaishali is passionate about how data can be used to help both customers and brands by identifying preferences and trends. Peter Ryan called Vaishali to talk about making better business decisions by using data-driven analytics. https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaishalidialani/ https://konabos.com/

Rob Dwyer is the VP of Customer Engagement at Happitu. He is based in Wichita, Kansas. Rob also hosts the Next In Queue podcast - another CX-focused podcast. Peter Ryan called Rob to talk about CX lessons from his main day job, but also what he learns from talking to CX leaders across the world on his podcast. https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-robert-dwyer/ https://happitu.com/ https://podcasts.apple....

On February 5, 2024, British contact centre company The Contact Company (TCC) was put into adminstration. Struggling to recover from a cyber attack in 2022, the previously successful company found itself in the red. On February 7, 2024, the UK media - starting with the Liverpool Echo - explained that the assets and business of TCC had all been sold to the British work-from-home specialist Sensée b...

Mike Harfield is the COO and Co-Founder at Sigma Connected Group. He is based close to Birmingham in the UK. In this epsiode of CX Files Mark Hillary speaks to Mike about developing careers in CX. He explains how his company has explored impact sourcing initiatives across South Africa and the UK and how a focus on training, support, and developing genuine career paths for people working in CX help...

Nina Čaprić is the Government Relations Manager EMEA at NCR Voyix. She is based in Belgrade, Serbia. Peter Ryan called Nina to talk about her role managing government relationships. How is the public sector different to the private sector and do BPOs need to behave in a different way when national - or regional - governments are the client? https://www.ncr.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-cap...

Jo Garland is an experienced CX professional. She is based in Surrey in the UK, close to London. In this interview Jo is speaking in a personal capacity as Peter Ryan called to ask about her experience of a Master's Degree in Leadership at Henley Business School. Jo graduated in 2021 with a distinction so the research was clearly appreciated by the course supervisors. Jo used the experience of the...

Randy Arellano is the head of sales and marketing at DATAMARK. He is based in Dallas, Texas.  DATAMARK offers contact center and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services with delivery centers in the US, India, and Mexico. In this discussion with Mark Hillary, Randy talks about how rapidly the entire BPO landscape has progessed since the start of this decade. The period of the pandemic created a...

Every analyst and journalist is saying that AI will be important in 2024. It's obvious... but what are the less obvious predictions we can make for CX trends in the new year? CX Files host Peter Ryan (Canada) hosted a discussion focused on CX in 2024 featuring: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-ryan-montreal/ Mark Hillary  CX Files co-host (Brazil) https://www.linkedin.com/in/markhillary/ Lian Row...

It's the festive season. Mark and Peter have decorated the podcast for Christmas. Although many people will now be off work for the Holidays there are millions of CX agents out there still helping customers to get their presents on time. In this final CX Files of 2023, Mark and Peter look back at the key CX trends of 2023 and some of their favourite interviews from the year. CX Files will return o...

Adrian Swinscoe is well known in the CX community as an adviser, speaker, and writer. His Punk CX book argued for a new approach to CX and he also publishes the Punk CX podcast. Adrian also writes about CX in the business magazine Forbes. He is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Adrian argues for a new approach to designing and managing CX - especially when hiring...

In this discussion, Mark Hillary talks to Christine Heynes, Head of Customer Transformation, and Yvonne Quinn, Head of Customer Relations, at Southeastern Railway in the UK. Southeastern is the public-facing name of SE Trains Ltd - a train operating company that serves the south east area of England.   Southeastern serves the main London stations of  Charing Cross ,  Waterloo East ,  Cannon Street...

Sidharth Mukherjee is the Chief Digital Officer at Teleperformance. He is based in San Francisco, California. Sid is focused on all things digital and CX and in this conversation with Peter Ryan he talks about the explosion in interest in Generative AI in 2023 and how it can really be applied to improve the customer experience. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sidmuk/ https://www.teleperformance.com

Andrew McNeile is the Chief Customer Officer of ThinScale Technology. He is based in Dublin, Ireland. ThinScale enables remote and hybrid work using bring-your-own-device by ensuring that remote employees can connect securely. The company saw a boom as the pandemic forced office workers to work from home, but what does the situation look like now?  Is WFH and hybrid here to stay in CX and BPO? Mar...

Sagufta Janif is the Executive Director of Outsource Fiji. She is based in Suva, Fiji. Fiji is located in the South Pacific, east of Australia and north of New Zealand. It is an island country with a population of approximately one million people, but Fiji has been punching above its weight in CX and BPO. What is Fiji offering and why are so many companies interested in BPO from Fiji? Peter Ryan c...

Chris Hague is the head of marketing at Yoummday. He is based in Prague in the Czech Republic. Yoummday is based in Germany and offers a platform-based approach to CX that resembles the GigCX we have often talked about on CX Files, but in the interview Chris explains how Yoummday differs from the classic gig approach. Mark Hillary called Chris after reading an article Chris published asking if the...

Nerys Corfield is the founder and director of Injection Consulting. She is based in South Wales, close to Newport. Nerys posted on LinkedIn recently about how a retail bank is using digital non-voice customer service channels - it wasn't a compliment. Peter called Nerys to discuss why so many organisations are getting voice right, but are not paying attention to chat, email, and texting... why are...

Dianne McCoubrey is the VP of Sales at Grypp. She is based in Toronto, Canada. Grypp helps customer service agents to get closer to customers by providing an immersive video experience. In this conversation, between Mark Hillary and Dianne, the CX Files explores how video can be used to improve customer service interactions. Why is it not used more often today and can it be more than just a video...