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 Customer Experience (CX) community for drinks, conversation, and connection.

Mark will be flying in from São Paulo, Brazil, and Peter from Montreal, Canada — a rare chance to meet both hosts in person. They will also have copies of the CX Files book - to be launched at this event in London.

During the event, Mark and Peter will record a short live segment for the 400th episode in front of the audience, marking this milestone moment in the CX Files journey.

Tickets are free, but you do need to register so we can control the numbers. Click this link to register your place for this live CX Files event.

https://cxfiles.eventbrite.com

 

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.

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Paul Smith

Principal Consultant, Quinn Growth Advisers 

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

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

https://quinngrowthadvisors.com/

 

David Rickard

Partner, Everest Group

Clanfield - near Portsmouth, UK

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

https://www.everestgrp.com/

 

Summary:
In the CX Files podcast episode 399, hosts Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss 2025 highlights and 2026 predictions with Paul Smith from Quinn Growth Advisors and David Rickard from Everest Group. Key points include the significant AI hype in 2025, the lack of differentiation in the market, and the slow progress of AI in customer experience (CX). They predict that 2026 will see more AI pilots moving into production, increased competition from in-house GCC capabilities, and a need for better buyer-seller communication. They also emphasize the importance of understanding customer needs and the potential impact of an AI bubble.

 

Traci Freeman holds a number of roles, including as the managing member of Believe Consulting, but in this conversation we focused on her role as a partner of the Africa Federation of GBS Associations.

This federation is aimed at unlocking Africa's potential in the BPO, CX and ITO sectors. Enhancing Africa's standing as a hub for innovation, knowledge exchange, and technological advancement, promoting partnerships, youth employment, and digital enablement while driving best practices and standards.

Mark Hillary called Traci at her base in Johnannesburg, South Africa to talk about the work of the federation and the opportunities for CX and BPO across all of Africa.

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

https://www.linkedin.com/company/africa-gbs-federation/

https://africagbsfederation.org/

SUMMARY

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the Africa Federation of GBS Associations, an initiative led by  a team including Traci Freeman to promote Global Business Services (GBS), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), and IT services across Africa. The federation aims to manage perceptions of Africa as a high-value destination, foster knowledge sharing, and support regional development. Key countries like Egypt and South Africa are leveraging their experience to help emerging markets like Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana. The federation, launched in February 2024, includes members from various African countries and aims to host global community engagement events by 2026-2027.

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 pandemic to focus her research on how the CX and BPO environment changed because of the move to a work-from-home and hybrid business model.

We have often talked about the corporate experience of WFH on this podcast, but in this interview Jo goes into more detail on how WFH looks from a research perspective.

How did office-based employees emulate the experience of working in a team when they all had to work from home? What worked and what is essential now that this is now normal? How can managers with remote teams ensure that they enable the creation of teams, no matter how the team is constructed  and how are we building a flexible future for CX?

Do you have the leadership skills and structures in place to really manage in a remote environment?

These are the questions that Jo and Peter explore in this edition of the CX Files

https://www.henley.ac.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/garland-jo/

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

Episode 300 of CX Files... here's to another 300 in the future! Mark & Peter

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 wave of flexible working practices and work-from-home (WFH) that has persisted across the industry.

This has also led to new expectations around data security - to protect customer data when services are being delivered using a hybrid of WFH and in-office teams.

Randy also talks about how AI is offering new opportunities to support agents inside the contact center and improve the customer experience. 

With all these developments available equally to the big and medium players, Randy argues that there is no longer a need to work with the giant BPOs if you want to access the latest technology and flexible working practices - it is equally possible in mid-size partners now.

A modern BPO is not stronger just because they have more agents. They are stronger because they have insight and ideas for how to transform CX processes and the ability to work in partnership with their clients - size is no longer a marker of service quality.

BPO has transformed inside this decade and we are only at 2024 - listen to Randy explain what has changed and why it is important for CX executives to understand this evolution.

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

https://datamark.net/

 

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 Rowlands

Principal Consultant, Tayma Solutions (UK)

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

Stephen Loynd

Founder and Principal Analyst, TrendzOwl (USA)

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

 

 

 

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 on January 11 with a panel of expert analysts exploring the trends to watch for in 2024.

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

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

 

 

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 a customer service specialist. He argues for genuine partnership rather than the traditional client and supplier relationship.

The punk approach is to tear up the traditiional rules and try something new.

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

https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/

 

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, London Bridge, St Pancras, Victoria and Blackfriars. The network has route mileage of 540 miles (870 km), with 180 stations.   Christine and Yvonne explore the complexities of managing customer expectations on a major rail network and how to manage daily complaints and refund demands alongside building a CX strategy for the future.   They also explore the importance of finding the right CX partner. They are happy to talk about their relationship with Teleperformance, a contract that has been extended. It's interesting to note how they see Teleperformance as a CX expert that can guide the rail company, rather just just a supplier of customer service solutions. This collaboration recently won an award (best cross functional collaboration) at the ECCCSAs 2023.   In the interview, Yvonne answers the first question - Christine joins from the second question.   https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-heynes-40233a104/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonne-quinn-18366a297/ https://www.ecccsa.com/2023-finalists/    

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?

Mark Hillary called Andrew at his base in Dublin to catch up and see how he thinks BPO will evolve...

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

https://www.thinscale.com/

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 called Sagufta at her base in Suva to explore these questions.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sagufta-janif-social-impact-entrepreneur/

https://outsourcefiji.com/

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 traditional BPO model - contact center and customer service employees - is dead...

Chris argues that there is a more positive and flexible future where agents can choose the brands they are working with, choose their working hours, and choose to work from home. They get more flexibility and also earn more - and this flexible approach costs the brand less.

Is this flexible model of CX going to replace traditional BPO? Listen to Chris and decide for yourself...

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-hague/

https://www.yoummday.com/en

Kwame Agyei is the founder and CEO of Appoynt. He is based in London, UK with operations in Ghana.

In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Kwame tells the story of how and why he founded Appoynt during the Covid pandemic and the opportunity for more businesses to work with partners in Ghana.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwame-agyei-b3ab1333/

https://www.appoynt.co.uk/

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SUMMARY

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the growth of BPO services in Ghana, highlighting Kwame Agyei's venture, Appoynt. Kwame, an accountant by background, founded Appoynt during the COVID-19 pandemic to leverage Ghana's talent and regional advantages. The company specializes in back-office support, accounts receivable, and customer support for SMBs in the US and UK. Kwame emphasizes the importance of understanding market capabilities and building trust through quality service. They also discuss the potential impact of proposed US legislation on offshoring and the emerging potential of Ghana as a BPO hub.

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 so many companies dropping the ball when it comes to digital channels?

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

https://www.injectionconsulting.co.uk/

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 call between a customer and agent?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianne-mccoubrey-7a87b510/

https://grypp.io/

David Neale is the Chief Growth Officer at Nutun CX. Mike Butler is the Executive Director of Sales and Marketing at Nutun CX. David and Mike are both based in the UK, but Nutun operations are in South Africa.

Every BPO says that they do Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Every annual report features an update on Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance (ESG) these days... but are BPOs and clients really taking this seriously?

The team at Nutun believes that their approach raises the bar. It involves employees and clients and they can see a dramatic improvement in employee engagement because of the work they do in the local community - this directly leads to better performance and better CX.

The CX world is seeing a strong focus on cost at present as many countries are facing up to an uncertain economy, but is the real way to evaluate ESG not just that it is a good thing to do, but it is also good for business?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-butler/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-neale-08b80011b/

https://www.nutun.com/

https://melloneducate.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4wMzJ03Jvc

 

 

Diane Edwards is Director of the consulting and professional services unit at the Mona School of Business & Management in Kingston, Jamaica. 

Diane has a long history in BPO management and promotion and she led JAMPRO, the Jamaican trade and investment agency for over 9 years, until 2022.

In this CX Files episode, Peter Ryan talks with Diane about the compliance implications of the Jamaican Data Protection Act 2020. This law comes into force on December 1, 2023 and many companies are still not ready.

Is this a Caribbean and nearshore version of the rush for GDPR compliance we all saw a few years ago in Europe?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-m-edwards-mba-a1a9501/

https://www.mona.uwi.edu/msbm/

https://jis.gov.jm/data-protection-act-regulations-to-be-tabled-in-parliament-soon/

Michele Rowan is the founder and president of the Work From Home Alliance. She is based in Virginia in the US.

The CX Files talked to Michele over two years ago in 2021. At that time we were leaving the worst period of the pandemic - the lockdowns were over and a vaccine was just starting to roll out. Michele then predicted that WFH and hybrid working would remain a permanent feature of BPO and CX. The new normal would include WFH.

Mark Hillary caught up with Michele to see what the WFH Alliance has been doing in the past two years and what Michele thinks of her prediction from 2021.

Michele also contributed a foreword to the recent book 'GigCX: The Benefits of a Flexible Workforce' by Mark Hillary, Terry Rybolt, and Brian Pritchard - as featured on the CX Files episode from last week.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-rowan-6006516/

https://www.wfhalliance.com/

https://www.amazon.com/GigCX-Benefits-Workforce-Brian-Pritchard/dp/B0CJB9WV7N

 

Terry Rybolt is the Chief Revenue Officer at LiveXchange Technologies. He is based in Boston.

LiveXchange is a platform that allows companies to augment their existing customer service processes with a team of gig workers - a bench of GigCX. This talent can be called on daily or occasionally, as and when it is required. It works for companies that manage their CX internally and also if a BPO is managing the process.

Terry recently published a new book - co-authored with Mark Hillary - on GigCX so Mark called him up to ask about the book and some of the trends in GigCX that Terry has been recently observing.

Follow the link below for more information on the new book:

https://www.amazon.com/GigCX-Benefits-Workforce-Brian-Pritchard/dp/B0CJB9WV7N/

https://www.livexchange.com/

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

 

Beza Tekola is a doctor. She is a gastroenterologist based in Fairfax, Virginia. Beza founded Suture BPO to help manage the back office processes within healthcare organizations. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Beza talks about why healthcare needs BPO expertise and what is especially important about the healthcare industry.

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

https://www.getsutured.com/

 

Jon Yarlett is the founder and COO of Intelligent Sourcing magazine. He recently founded a new trade association focused on impact sourcing titled the Impact Sourcing Alliance. The role of the new alliance is to support the education and information sharing of Impact Sourcing globally across the broad BPO and CX community.  

Jon is an old friend of CX Files and has often published articles by Peter and Mark in his magazine. In this discussion with Peter he explores why impact sourcing has become so important to the CX community and what the new alliance hopes to achieve. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-yarlett-91282aa/

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

https://www.intelligentsourcing.net/

 

Cheryl Paarwater is the founder and Managing Director of Call Lab BPO - based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Cape Town faced a recent wave of violence during a series of taxi strikes. Peter called Cheryl to find out what's really happening and why we should still have confidence in CX services from South Africa.

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

https://call-lab.com/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66445019

 

 

This is just a short alert to let you know that CX Files will be back from our summer break tomorrow - remember to tell your friends and contact Peter Ryan or Mark Hillary if you have ideas or questions for the show...

https://cxfiles.libsyn.com/cxfiles

 

Enea Dervishi is the Operations Director at Simetrix Solutions. He is based in Durres, Albania.

Last month, Enea published an article in Customer Think titled "From Beaches To Business: Is Albania's BPO Wave About To Break?"

The article kicked off a fevered discussion on LinkedIn because it did not focus on the usual BPO regional comparisons - how many airports, graduates etc... it directly compared the BPO possibilities in Albania with much larger and established destinations such as South Africa and India.

Albania is on track to join the EU soon and although it is in Europe, companies there can compete with many regions that are much further away. Is it a hidden gem for European nearshoring?

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss this and then Mark speaks with Enea in the interview.

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

https://simetrix-solutions.com/

https://customerthink.com/from-beaches-to-business-why-albanias-bpo-wave-is-about-to-break/

SUMMARY

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the emerging CX delivery destination of Albania, highlighting its potential to compete with established BPO hubs like South Africa and the Philippines. Enea Dervishi, Director of Operations at Simetrix in Albania, notes the country's 20-year experience in BPO, multilingual capabilities, and cultural alignment with Western markets. Albania's proximity to Europe and its agile, personalized service are key attractions. Dervishi emphasizes the need for coordinated promotion and plans to expand Albania's presence in both the US and Europe, targeting American companies unfamiliar with Albania's BPO capabilities.

For 280 episodes Mark and Peter have always ensured there is a new CX Files episode every single week. However, as it is a very quiet time of year we decided this year that it's not fair on our guests to ask them to appear when few are listening.

We will be back in the first week of September - see you then! 

If you are taking a summer break then have a great time (it's winter here in Brazil!)

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan 

Alistair Niederer is well known on the CX Files - he was a guest just a few months ago, but was invited back as he has now changed role and he published an important new white paper on ESG.

Most leaders are now concerned about their Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance (ESG) measures - but are they really focusing on change or just how to score well in the audits? Alistair has been focused on exploring ESG in CX and BPO and he talks about his recent research in this episode.

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

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

https://www.intelligentsourcing.net/esg-essential-to-bpo-competitiveness/

 

BPO Guide to ESG

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aniederer_bpo-guide-to-esg-activity-7069295941454835713-XVe_?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

 

It's the first CX Files Q&A session with Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan. Listen in to hear Mark and Peter answer audience questions and talk about the latest industry trends and news.

In this discussion Mark and Peter talk about:

• Why are IVRs so bad?
• Will AI drastically reduce agent numbers?
• What are the latest trends in WFH?
• Was Queen at Wembley 1986 the best concert movie ever?
• Tribute to our friend Dominic Pannell

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

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

 

Keith Gait is the CEO of the CX Foundation. He is based in the UK. The CX Foundation publishes research, blogs, a podcast, and hosts many different events focused on CX. Member organisations are drawn from across the industry.

In this discussion Keith talks about the work of the CX Foundation, his new book "Definitely CX", and looks to the future of CX - managing the cost of living crisis and predicting how the role of the agent may be about to change.

https://www.cxfo.org/meet-the-team/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-gait-mba-ccxp/

Caskey Ndaba is the Executive Head: Channel And Distribution at Momentum Metropolitan Insurance Africa. Both Caskey and Momentum Metropolitan are based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

For this interview Caskey was on the road so Peter Ryan called him in Windhoek, Namibia.

Caskey talked about the challenges of building customer relationships in insurance when many customer interactions are difficult - for example, processing claims. He also talks about the differences in nuance between regions across Africa. How and why are customers different in each market?

https://www.momentummetropolitan.co.za/

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

 

Audrey William is the Principal Adviser at Ecosystm - she is based in Sydney Australia. In this conversation with Mark Hillary, Audrey talks about how companies can listen to their customers more effectively. This especially applies to collecting and using data more effectively to create insight into what their customers need.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/audrey-william-3a4a04/

https://team.ecosystm.io/

Amy Bennet Roach is the VP Sales and Marketing at Blue Ocean Contact Centers. She is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Amy talked to Peter Ryan about her views on the future for CX at present and in particular how smaller and medium-sized players can offer more agilty and flexibility when working with clients. Is smaller and more focused better?

Amy also talks about her own experience as a podcaster (Deep CX) and the insight that she has gained by talking to many people across this industry.

https://www.instagram.com/deepcx_podcast/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-bennet-roach-4bb5ba48/

https://blueocean.ca/

Peter Klayman is the VP of Strategy at Bottle Rocket Studios. He is based in Denver, Colorado.

Bottle Rocket is focused on the design of digital CX with a focus on helping to accelerate growth.

In this conversation with Mark Hillary, Peter talks about how to justify investment in CX and how to start thinking of the complete customer journey - extending beyond just customer service and contact centers alone. All customer-facing functions need to be coordinated and working together.

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

https://www.bottlerocketstudios.com/

Jeremiah Okello is the founder and owner of Collins Consulting International, a consulting firm focused on CX and BPO outsourcing and based in Nairobi, Kenya.

In this interview, Jeremiah talks about the CX market in Kenya and the wider emerging opportunities for CX in Africa with Peter Ryan.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremiah-okello-8875689/

 

Last week, both Peter and Mark were at the CxO Glasgow conference in Scotland. Peter was one of the event organisers. Mark featured on a panel exploring the future of CX with Stephen Loynd, the founder and principal analyst at TrendzOwl.

Once Mark was back home in São Paulo, he called Stephen at his base in Virginia, just outside Washington DC, to talk about the various discussions that took place in Scotland last week.

https://cxoutsourcers.com/

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

https://www.trendzowl.com/

In this special episode of the CX Files, Peter and Mark join with David Rumble, Rod Jones, and Traci Freeman to remember how the late Gareth Pritchard influenced and helped to shape the BPO/CX/GBS industry in South Africa.

We discussed how Gareth was instrumental in making South Africa a leading location for this industry and what his legacy may be in future.

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

https://capebpo.org.za/

https://www.bpesa.org.za/

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

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

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

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

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

 

SUMMARY:

The CX Files podcast episode paid tribute to Gareth Pritchard, a pioneer in South Africa's outsourcing and customer experience industry. Gareth's vision united regional fragmentation, promoting "Brand South Africa" globally. His efforts, including skills development and investor engagement, significantly advanced the country's BPO sector. His international experience and charisma facilitated high-level connections and constructive dialogues. Gareth's legacy extends beyond South Africa, influencing the African BPO sector's growth. His personal touch and commitment to individual development left a lasting impact on the industry and the community.

Barry Winkless is the Chief Strategy Officer at Cpl Group and Head of the Future of Work Institute Cpl. He is based in Dublin, Ireland.

CPL is a major HR and recruitment company that works across multiple industries - including CX. Barry is always considering the future of work for both employers and employees so in this discussion with both Peter Ryan and Mark Hillary he explores some of his ideas around how the evolution of work itself may change and affect CX executives.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-winkless-7357094/

https://www.cpl.com/ie

barrywinkless.com

 

Shane Jackson is the founder of Knowledge Rhino. He is based in Sarasota, Florida.

Shane is focused on data, analytics, and workforce optimization. In this interview he talks to Peter Ryan about the value of workforce management (WFM) and how critical it is for an efficient CX process.

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

https://knowledgerhino.com/

 

 

Sadiq Mohammed is the managing director of USMAART. He is based in Manchester in the UK. USMAART provides outsourcing consultancy support to retail, travel, energy and telecoms sector clients such as N Brown, Studio Retail, Music Magpie, Sky, Coast, Comparison Technology Ltd and many others.

Peter Ryan talked to Sadiq about how clients can find the right outsourcing partner for customer experience (CX) projects and what has changed in the selection process in recent years?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sadiq-mohammed-b281293/

https://usmaart.com/

 

Peter Ryan has been talking to Marianne Withers for some time about the special needs of vulnerable customers. Marianne is the founder and CEO of The Verity Centre, a boutique contact centre and BPO in Portsmouth, UK. Marianne is joined in the discussion by Cath Wohlers, LIAISE Manager at England Illegal Money Lending Team, to talk about how comanies can engage with their most vulnerable customers.

How can contact centres and BPOs help vulnerable people get their life back on track if they have been caught out by gambling addiction, loan sharks, or just huge increases in their regular energy bills?

How can BPO agents handle customer contact effectively when they may be talking to customers that are threatening to take their life if the company insists on collecting the debt?

Can it ever be moral to hire a BPO for collections and pay them only if they force customers to pay? This aggresive approach is common, but does it ever achieve results if it just forces customers into even more debt? How can a BPO force their employees to act in an aggresive way, ingnoring the need of any vulnerable customers.

The difference between what a company wants to do may not be morally correct. How do BPOs handle this dilemma?

The economy remains uncertain in many major economies at present, but in the past year the UK has had a very tough time with energy and property rental/mortgage prices soaring. How can BPOs help their clients to ensure bills are paid, but in a way that also accepts that vulnerable customers need more empathy that others?

 

Marianne Withers

Founder and CEO, The Verity Centre

Portsmouth, UK

https://tvc15.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne10/

 

Cath Wohlers

LIAISE Manager at England Illegal Money Lending Team

Liverpool, UK

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cath-wohlers-2a5328134/

Peter's recent article:

https://ryanadvisory.com/5-impacts-of-cx-bpo-mega-consolidation/

 

Peter Ryan leads a discussion on the recent wave of M&A activity in the BPO industry. What does it mean for CX innovation and diversity in the industry?

This emergency CX Files features these speakers joining Peter from his base in Montreal, QC, Canada:

 

Anne Bibb

Founder and CEO, Remote Evolution

Dallas, TX, USA

https://remoteevolution.com/

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

 

Lian Rowlands

Owner, Tayma Solutions 

Swindon, UK

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

https://www.meetami.ai/

 

Rod Jones

Founder, Rod Jones Contact Centre Consulting

Johannesburg, South Africa

https://rodjones.co.za/

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

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 contributing to a new feature of LinkedIn, collaborative documents. These resemble a wiki and allow several different experts to contribute ideas to documents and many of them were focused on BPO as an industry. 

Taking this as a start to the conversation, Mark called Ian to talk about BPO consolidation, AI, automation, and where customer experience specialists go from here?

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

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 and managing customer expectations when they demand luxury from start to finish.

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

https://www.nsourcing.net/

 

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 annual study in the industry and is updated annually. In this episode, Peter explains how the research was conducted, what it means, and where are the top 5 global locations that are seen as the best for CX services?

https://ryanadvisory.com/

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

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.au/member-services/membership-categories-and-fees

 

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 Hillary talked to Johan about the sudden attention on generative Artificial Intelligence, such as ChatGPT, and what it could mean for the customer experience. Will contact centers be replaced? Will the remaining human agents become super agents? Is this finally the end of the FAQ?

Listen to Mark and Johan talk about AI, ChatGPT, and how these emerging technologies could reshape the customer experience.

www.aiforbusiness.net

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

https://swisscognitive.ch/

David Powers is the VP of CX at Rooter Hero. He is based in Los Angeles, CA.

David is also a published author and the host of the CX Riot Radio podcast. 

This conversation between Mark Hillary and David came about because of a recent CX Riot Radio epsisode titled 'The Three-Faced AI God' where David talked about his experience of using AI in the contact center.

David's experience shows that AI has genuine value, but there is a big difference between the genuine application of AI to improve CX and what is promised by many commentators and "AI gurus."

David is both a CX leader and manager, in addition to his role commenting on the industry, therefore his direct experience with AI in the contact center provides a helpful comment on what is working, what is not, and what CX leaders can do to get the most from their AI strategy.

https://linktr.ee/caffcx

https://rooterhero.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjpowers2/

SUMMARY

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the pragmatic views of David Powers, VP of CX at Rooter Hero, on AI in customer experience (CX). Powers critiques the over-reliance on AI, which often frustrates customers and agents, and emphasizes practical AI use cases like agent assist tools and automated summaries. He highlights the importance of transparency and maintaining human interaction in CX. Despite AI's potential, many projects fail to generate ROI, with research suggesting that 95% are not creating value. Powers advocates for a balanced approach, using AI to enhance agent performance rather than replacing human agents, and stresses the need for common sense in AI implementation.

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. Peter Ryan talked to Kirk about the forum and the opportunity for non-US companies to take a closer look at the Caribbean region for CX and BPO.

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

https://nearshoreamericas.com/

https://crossconnectforum.com/

 

 

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.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandnib157/

http://www.beautypie.com/

 

 

 

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/