Once you are into CX, you never leave... this summarises how Martin Anderson explains the journey he has taken over the past 21 years building the Lemon Contact Centre near to Durham in the north-east of the UK.

Peter Ryan talks to Martin about the entrepreneurial nature of BPO and CX, how he got started, and how he manages to compete in a business where the competition can be both local and global.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-anderson-%F0%9F%8D%8B-b5372123/

https://www.lemoncontactcentre.co.uk/

Jonas Berggren is the Head of Global Accounts EMEA at Transcom. He is also a member of the Transcom EMEA management team. He is based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Jonas has a long history designing customer experience processes, but he is also well known as an innovative thought leader. He publishes a popular LinkedIn newsletter titled "Transform Customer Service" that explores the future transformation of CX. 

Often the newsletter looks to the future of CX, but recently it has been exploring how AI is immediately changing the CX landscape.

In this episode of CX Files Mark Hillary talks to Jonas about some of his newsletter themes and how he sees the future of CX in both the short and long term...

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonasberggren2/

Transform Customer Service Newsletter:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/transform-customer-service-6992863124731113474/

https://transcom.com/

 

Erin Broecker is the Senior Director for Global Content Strategy at Teleperformance. She is based in Sacramento, California.

Erin is focused on content. How it is created and how it is published. She is endlessly thinking about how people within our industry learn about CX strategies. Erin plans which organizations Teleperformance can work with to create greater insights into the industry and how the company can publish this information.

Erin talked to Peter Ryan about content creation and how to use networks like LinkedIn to publish it for a global audience.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-b-411150a/

www.teleperformance.com

 

Ricardo Pedroza is the USA Executive Director of PROCOLOMBIA - the government agency focused on developing business, foreign investment, and tourism for Colombia. With a recent change of government, many in the BPO industry have been talking about how Colombia can continue the CX success of recent years. Listen to Ricardo explain the Colombian experience and their strategy for the future with Peter Ryan.

https://procolombia.co/en

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricardopedroza/

Peter Ryan called on Sean Goforth and Lynda Arsenault to give their feedback on a visit by a group of international BPO influencers and advisers to Georgia this week. In this call, Lynda and Sean are on the ground in Georgia giving their immediate feedback on the visit, hosted by Enterprise Georgia.

Sean Goforth is the research director at Ryan Strategic Advisory. He is based in Mexico City, Mexico.

Lynda Arsenault is a Foreign Direct Investment specialist advising several organisations including AHP International. She is based in Canada.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynda-arsenault/

http://www.ahp-international.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-goforth-9a4725b2/

https://ryanadvisory.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/enterprisegeorgia/

https://www.enterprisegeorgia.gov.ge/en

 

 

Victor Pereda is the CEO of Nearsol. He is based in Irvine, CA.

Victor and Nearsol have advised many startups on how to manage the transition from in-house CX to working with a partner to cope with the hypergrowth that happens when a new service takes off. In this episode he talks about some of this experience with startups and how small fast-growing companies can handle a sudden explosion in customer numbers.

http://nearsol.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-pereda/

 

Indu Badlani is the CEO at business process management experts Project Space and co-founder of StaffingExpert - a recruitment company focused on BPO and contact centers. She is based in Manila, Philippines.

Indu talked to Peter Ryan about how BPO and CX recruitment is changing, how CX careers are developing, and how the industry looks post-pandemic. What are the most common staffing challenges in the present environment?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/indu-badlani-b8408025/

http://www.project-space.co/

https://www.staffingexpert.com/

 

Simon Yoxon-Grant is the CEO of TLScontact. He is based in the UK. TLS is focused on providing visa and consular services so if you have had to travel since the pandemic - and you needed to apply for a visa for your destination - then it's possible TLS processed it.

With this detailed inside knowledge of who is traveling and where, Simon gives his views on how the travel industry coped with the pandemic, what the recovery will look like, and what might be coming soon with digital travel and biometrics.

https://www.tlscontact.com/en/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-yoxon-grant-b719914/

Claas van Delden is the Chief Growth Officer of Yoummday. He is based in Munich, Germany.

Yoummday is a highly flexible work-from-home CX specialist that has recently purchased Icon, the Prague-based BPO. In this episode, Peter Ryan asks Claas about flexible BPO in Europe and what the acquisition means for Yoummday and Icon.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/claas-van-delden-b7b3b2/

https://www.yoummday.com/

Cheryl Paarwater is Managing Director at Enerlytics & Call Lab BPO. She is based in Cape Town, South Africa.

In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Cheryl talks about the ongoing entrepreneurial nature of BPO and how CX is supporting career development in South Africa.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-paarwater/

https://call-lab.com/

 

Andrew Hall is the Chief Commerical Officer at Quantanite. He is based in Milton Keynes, in the UK.

In this interview he talks to Mark Hillary about some of the challenges and opportunities associated with content moderation and how many companies may now be taking a fresh look at offshore outsourcing to locations such as South Africa in the post-Covid business environment...

https://quantanite.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewghall/

 

Tony Won has a long career as a leading player support specialist in the gaming industry. Previously he was the head of player support at Riot Games and Epic Games - responsible for supporting titles such as Fortnite. He is usually based in Austin, Texas, but joined the CX Files from sabbbatical leave in South Korea.

Tony has argued on LinkedIn that player support is a different process to traditional customer service - the player is not always right to start with. In this discussion he talks about why player support is different and what other industries can learn from gaming.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonywon1980/

Hemant Puthli is MD and Partner at Neo Group. He is based in Mumbai, India.

Neo Group recently conducted a detailed study of business service and IT companies to determine which are really adopting a robust ESG strategy and which are just "greenwashing" their credentials. In this interview Hemant talks in detail about why ESG matters and how they conducted their research...

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hputhli/

https://www.neogroup.com/

https://www.neogroup.com/esg-adoption-survey-across-select-it-business-service-providers/

Michael Morrison is the Chief Revenue Officer at NCRI Inc. He is based in Toronto, Canada. Peter called Michael to talk about CX and BPO in Canada and how Canada has played a dual role as a nearshore BPO destination for the US as well as being an important market for customer service itself... come and listen to a discussion about the great white north! 🇨🇦🍁

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-morrison-9961052/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nrci-inc/

https://ncri.com/

Bill Colton is the CEO at Global Telesourcing. He is based in Arlington, VA, USA. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Bill talks about how celebrities can boost BPO brands and help specifically with attracting new talent. Could the right celebrity boost your hiring plans?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/billcolton/

https://globaltelesourcing.com/

Colson Hillier is the CMO of Alorica. He is based in New Jersey in the US. Mark called Colson for this interview because the most recent Gartner Magic Quadrant mentioned several examples of post-pandemic innovation and resilience being adopted by Alorica - such as virtual contact centers, GigCX, and permanently embracing WFH... in the conversation Colson talks about balancing resilience, innovation, and what Alorica learned from these unsual past two years.

https://www.alorica.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/colsonhillier/

Stefan Freyer is the Managing Director of Orphoz (a McKinsey company supporting cross-industry transformation and project management) - he is based in Berlin, Germany.

Stefan recently talked to Mark about the disconnect between grand visions of CX and the reality on the ground when implementing a project - so Mark called him back to record Stefan's ideas on this implementation gap for the CX Files.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefan-freyer-25274a1/

https://www.orphoz.com/

Natasha Rantanshi-Stein is the founder at Surfboard - a service that has reinvented workforce management (WFM) by turning it into team planning. Surfboard is focused on team planning for CX and this is a fast-moving area, especially since the pandemic created a sudden wave of flexible and home-based workers. Listen to Peter Ryan talking to Natasha about the evolution of WFM on this episode of CX Files...

https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-ratanshi-stein-69333723/

https://teamsurfboard.com/

Sara Sloman is the Director of Future Fleet at Paythru. Sara is based in the UK.

Sara's role is to imagine the future of the Electric Vehicle (EV) market - in particular for fleet users. She is focused on designing infrastructure, software, and payment systems that can make life easier for EV users - especially when out on the road and requiring a public charging station.

In this episode, Peter Ryan talks to Sara about the CX requirements for EV users and how the market is developing.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-sloman-4a3b2711/

https://paythru.com/

Annelien Marcus is a Recruitment Manager at Clarion People, based just outside of London in the UK... her focus is contact centre and CX recruitment so Peter Ryan called to ask about the latest recruitment trends and how the post-Covid recovery is shaping up.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/annelienmarcus/

https://www.clarion-people.co.uk/

Cathy Jooste is the CCO and US Nearshore director at Atento. She is based in Florida in the US.

Nearshoring is a strategy that is changing fast, especially because of the Covid experience where long distance travel became extremely difficult. Cathy talks to Peter Ryan about interesting new locations and how nearshoring is evolving.

https://atento.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathrine-jooste-a218663/

Daniel Hay is the CX and Digital Transformation Leader at Dow (Latam). He is based in São Paulo, Brazil.

With a 125-year history, Dow is one of the largest chemical producers in the world with products that include plastics, chemicals, and agricultural products - it's an enormous global B2B operation and Daniel explains how they have learned from B2C approaches to CX and how B2B is slightly different. 

https://corporate.dow.com/en-us/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielaehay/

Faye Joubert is VP of Service Delivery at iSON Xperiences. She is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Faye talked to Peter about the importance of CX and BPO partnerships, especially in the post-pandemic business environment where so many industries are coping with a rapid wave of change.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fayevaldajoubert

https://isonxperiences.com/

Nadia Pace is a board advisor and executive mentor - she holds non-executive positions on several corporate boards. She is based in Malta.

As a former CEO and with extensive CX experience, Nadia often advises on how to create success in the CX environment so Peter called to ask for her top advice.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadia-pace-13513618/

https://nadia-pace.com/

 

Aymen Ismail is the Head of Customer Engagement Solutions at smart Europe GmbH. He is based in Stuttgart, Germany.   The smart auto company was founded in Germany in 1994. The brand was originally famous for quirky small cars, such as the ForTwo. Now, the company is focused on EV production and battery technology.   The auto industry is surfing an extreme wave of change at present. Electric vehicles, autnomous vehicles, retail purchasing, leasing... change in the traditional dealer-focused business model is all around.   This also changes how customers build a relationship with auto brands. In this conversation, Peter Ryan talks to Aymen about the modern auto business and how to serve the day-to-day needs of customers alongside building long-term relationships.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aymenismail/

https://media.smart.com/eu

 

 

Steven Van Belleghem is an author and keynote speaker with a strong focus on CX. Based in Belgium, Steven has now written four books focused on CX and has spoken at around 1,000 events in over 40 countries.

In this episode of CX Files, Steven talks to Mark Hillary about the ideas contained in his most recent book and how customer loyalty will evolve in future.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenvanbelleghem/

https://www.stevenvanbelleghem.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Offer-You-Cant-Refuse-Customers/dp/9401470359/

Paul O'Hara is EVP of Business Development at Teleperformance EMEA. He is based in the Newcastle area of the UK.

Paul is on a mission to demonstrate the true value of great CX partnerships. Good CX can create value AND revenue and should not be seen as a cost to a business - if you design CX effectively then it can not only lead to happy customers, it can create more profit!

Paul talked to Mark Hillary about a recent blog he wrote on this subject and how CX can be seen as more strategic than just contact center processes.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulohara/

https://teleperformance.com/

 

Wiktor Doktór is the founder and CEO of Pro Progressio, he is based in Warsaw, Poland.

Pro Progressio supports the BPO and CX industry in Poland with research, advisory work, and events.

Peter talked to Wiktor during a recent Pro Progressio event in Gdańsk about the CEE region and opportunities in Poland.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktor/

https://klub.proprogressio.pl/pl

The Ryan Strategic Advisory Front Office BPO Omnibus Survey for 2022 is now published! In this edition of CX Files, Peter talks about the results - focusing on the top 5 countries globally - with a panel of leading global BPO and CX experts... the guests on this episode are:

Peter Ryan

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-ryan-montreal/

Sean Goforth

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-goforth-9a4725b2/

David Rumble

https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-rumble-4a4a09b/

Steve Weston

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-weston-1843152/

Andrew Wrobel

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewwrob/

Ann Harts

https://www.linkedin.com/in/annharts/

Marianne Rutz

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-rutz/

Rolana Rashwan

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolanarashwan/

Jacqui Turner is the founder of Turner Corner Learning Solutions, based in the UK. She specialises in customer service and team leader coaching.

Peter called Jacqui to explore the role of coaching and the evolving role of the agent inside customer service solutions.

Jacqui started a regular LinkedIn post called the 'Customer Service Dancing Queen' where she dances to music and talks about customer service issues every Friday. It started during the pandemic lockdowns, but continues to be popular today!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqui-turner-trainer/

https://turnercorner.co.uk/

 

Ivan Kotzev is a research analyst at NelsonHall - he is focused on CX transformation. In this episode, Ivan looks to the future. How is CX transforming in the post-pandemic environment and which technologies and innovations should you be watching out for?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivankotzev/

https://research.nelson-hall.com/

 

Mike Pipicello is the VP of Client Services for GlobalStep. He is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

GlobalStep is focused on gaming and digital services so in this edition we are focused on games and player experience - is this hi-tech sector ahead of other industries for CX design?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikepipicello/

https://www.globalstep.com/

Robin Harrison is the Group Chief Marketing Officer at Webhelp. He is based in the UK.

Robin has some strong views on the post-pandemic return to normal. Both employees and customers have changed, so CX strategies also need to evolve.

This is a view that CX Files endorses - as can be clearly heard in the introduction with Mark and Peter.

Research undertaken by Webhelp with Frost & Sullivan has shown that 92% of CX leaders intend to transform their CX inside the next 12 months - so there is an urgent need to review a post-pandemic strategy for modern CX.

During the interview, Robin mentioned the Webhelp Anywhere methodology that codifies much of this thinking - follow the link for more information.

https://webhelp.com/anywhere

https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrisonrobin/

[Apologies to listeners as Mark tested positive for Covid just after speaking to Robin and was still positive when recording with Peter - plus his neighbour decided to rebuild when the intro recording started!]

It's International Women's Day this week so Peter talked to two inspirational female CX leaders... and name-checked many others that we have also featured on the CX Files!

Alexandra Fus, Operations Manager at Valoris in Bucharest, Romania and Kathia Yacaman, EVP at Grupo Karim’s in Honduras talk about what has changed for women in CX - and what could still be improved! 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-fus-08b79417/

https://www.valoris.ro/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathia-yacaman-45216428/

www.grupokarims.com

www.altiasmartcity.com

Paula Kennedy Garcia is the global head of Trust & Safety and Content Moderation at Concentrix. Paula is based in Belfast.

In this episode, Paula explains to Peter the importance of a T&S strategy and how it's essential to protect both customers and employees when managing content moderation.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-kennedy-garcia-1b90b81/

https://www.concentrix.com/

Seandette Wiltshire is the founder and director of strategy and operations at The Contact Hub. She is based in Christ Church, Barbados.

The Contact Hub offers contact center and marketing services to companies in Barbados - and beyond. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Seandette talks about creating a new BPO in Barbados and how the region is developing a growing reputation for the quality of CX services.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/seandette/

https://gocontacthub.net/

 

Stephen Loynd is a great friend of the CX Files. He is the founder and principal analyst at TrendzOwl, based in Virginia, US.

Stephen joins the CX Files this time to explore the effect of the Great Resignation on jobs and careers in CX... will we see better careers, more flexibility, and the growth of GigCX?

Terry Rybolt is the Chief Revenue Officer of GigCX platform LiveXchange - he is based in Boston, MA. 

Terry has just published a new book called "Don't Fear The Gig Worker: GigCX And The Employment Reboot" - written with Mark Hillary from this podcast.

Peter Ryan talks to Terry about GigCX, the Great Resignation, and how work will look in the 2020s.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/terry-rybolt-808361/

https://livexchange.com/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QTSPPBR/

www.dontfearthegigcxworker.com

Shira Dodi is the VP of Global Support at Checkmarx in Israel.

In this episode Shira talks about cybersecurity, data protection, and how CX companies can protect important customer data.

https://checkmarx.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shira-dodi-0a0819/

Episode 200 of CX Files and we are talking to the person who gave this show it's name, William Carson, Director of Market Engagement at Ascensos in London, UK.

William talks about the post-covid Ascensos Local initiative and how to plan for the future of CX more generally.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-carson-ascensos/

https://www.ascensos.com/

 

Scott Broetzmann, President of Customer Care Management and Consulting

Scott is based in Virginia, close to Washington DC. His company has been surveying American consumers on anger and rage for almost two decades.

In this episode he talks about what causes customer rage and how to handle it - can it be avoided by better CX design?

www.linkedin.com/in/scott-broetzmann-6015741

www.customercaremc.com

Lisa Stoner is the global head of support operations at Uber, based in San Francisco, California. Lisa is also on the General Member Board of Transcom.

In this episode Lisa explore some of the challenges of hyper-growth, multiple customer channels, and how to innovate without breaking your day-to-day service to the customer.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-stoner-21529b6/

https://uber.com/

https://transcom.com/ 

A look ahead at CX in 2022 with...

Lian Rowlands, Director of partnerships at Conversations By Ami

Royal Wootton Bassett, UK

https://www.meetami.ai/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lian-rowlands-a26119

 

Stephen Lloyd

Founder and Principal analyst at TrendzOwl

Virginia, USA

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenloynd

https://www.trendzowl.com/

 

Peter Ryan

Principal, Ryan Strategic Advisory

Montreal, Canada

https://ryanadvisory.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-ryan-montreal

Happy New Year!

Peter Ryan, Principal, Ryan Strategic Advisory (Montreal, Canada) and Mark Hillary, CEO of Carnaby Content (São Paulo, Brazil) explore some of the big picture CX issues for 2022.

https://ryanadvisory.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-ryan-montreal

https://www.carnabysp.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/markhillary/

Review of 2021 and a look ahead to 2022 featuring:

Alistair Niederer, EMEA Head of TTEC

Paul O'Hara, SVP Business Development, Teleperformance EMEA

Peter Ryan, Principal Analyst, Ryan Strategic Advisory

https://ttec.com/emea/

https://teleperformance.com/

https://ryanadvisory.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aniederer/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulohara

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-ryan-montreal

Cognitive Copy and Ryan Strategic Advisory recently published the 2021 Offshore BPO Confidence Index. This research gauges BPO confidence in 12 global markets.

The report authors Matt Kendall and Peter Ryan explain the key takeaways from the research in this episode.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjqkendall/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-ryan-montreal/

https://ryanadvisory.com/2021-offshore-bpo-confidence-index-now-available/

https://www.cognitivecopy.com/research

Steve Mosser is the Group CEO & Chief Innovations Officer at Sensée. He is based in London, UK. 

Sensée is a work-from-home specialist, but has recently purhased The Contact Company, in Liverpool UK. This more or less doubled their size, but means they now offer both contact center and WFH options.

In this conversation, Steve focuses on the evolution of workforce management and flexible working patterns, why this is good for the clients and the agents, and how to create flexibility while still investing in agents - rather than creating a casual workforce.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-mosser-77136712/

https://www.sensee.co.uk

https://newsblog.sensee.co.uk/sensee-creates-a-powerhouse-in-uk-based-cx-outsourcing-with-purchase-of-the-business-of-the-contact-company/

 

 

Gill Marchbank is CEO and co-founder of ResQ, based in Hull, UK. ResQ is a customer service specialist that was recently named a 3-star company by the Best Companies organisation.

This is an accreditation focused on employee feedback and 3-stars means world-class - the only BPO with this accreditation in the UK.

In this episode Gill talks about building and maintaining a great employee culture and how that translates into great CX.

https://resqcs.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gill-marchbank/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/resq-contact-services-limited/videos/native/urn:li:ugcPost:6857209199257096192/

https://cert.b.co.uk/

Steve Gush is the head of EXP+ solutions EMEA at Sitel. He is based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

EXP+ is the digital solutions division of Sitel so in this episode Steve talks about how digital CX is changing customer interactions, agent support, and why we might all be interacting with brands using the metaverse in future!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-gush-92a5033/

https://www.sitel.com/

Ian Jackson is the CEO at Enshored, based in Los Angeles, California. Enshored is focused on innovative startups - especially e-commerce - but in this episode he talks to Peter Ryan about startup e-commerce and what this can teach the retail and e-commerce giants.

https://www.enshored.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianjackson2/