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# Adrian Swinscoe

Customer and Employee Engagement | Improving Customer or Client Experience | Marketing & Business Development

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Latest articles](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/?page_id=2318) - My blog focuses on all things related to building a more customer centric and human business, one that produces better outcomes for both its customers and its workers. Further, interviewing thought leaders, authors and leading business people who build businesses that customers love, great places to work and offer success strategies for executives and entrepreneurs are a feature of the blog.
- [Stories beat extrapolation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/10/stories-beat-extrapolation/) - Republishing here the latest edition of my monthly newsletter on LinkedIn (The Punk CX Dispatch – Insights from the frontlines for those ready to smash the status quo and create experiences people actually love.) You can subscribe here. Stories beat extrapolation In a recent article, I used a story to describe what an agentic workday
- [Measuring what matters in enterprise AI - Interview with Ashley Gross of The Alliance](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/10/measuring-what-matters-in-enterprise-ai-interview-with-ashley-gross-of-the-alliance/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Ashley Gross, the Founder and CEO of The Alliance, an enterprise AI strategy and advisory firm. Ashley joins me today to talk about how most service AI business cases are measuring the wrong side of the ledger, what an honest AI service
- [What does 'Agentic AI' actually mean for CX teams in 2026?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/10/what-does-agentic-ai-actually-mean-for-cx-teams-in-2026/) - I’d like to tell you a story about a social media marketing manager called Max. Prior to the advent of generative AI, a typical day for Max was normally filled with toggling between apps, hand-typing replies to overnight messages and comments, weeding out spam, trying not to lose a blank-page staring contest when trying to
- [The real bottleneck in customer experience AI - Interview with Brad Birnbaum of Kustomer](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/10/the-real-bottleneck-in-customer-experience-ai-interview-with-brad-birnbaum-of-kustomer/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Brad Birnbaum, Co-Founder & CEO of Kustomer, a top-rated AI Customer Service & CRM software platform provider. Brad and I talk about why the pace of AI adoption is not a technology problem, but rather the bottleneck sits elsewhere; how the idea
- [REDUX 3 Leading B2B Companies Share Their Secrets On How To Create A Personalized Customer Experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/10/redux-3-leading-b2b-companies-share-their-secrets-on-how-to-create-a-personalized-customer-experience/) - Below is an article that I am publishing as a bit of a REDUX. The article is about a conversation I had with three B2B companies almost ten years ago, where they shared their secrets to building and delivering a personalized customer experience. A lot has happened in the last few years. However, I suspect
- [Why marketers have an orchestration problem rather than a content problem - Interview with Eric Stine of Sitecore](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/10/why-marketers-have-an-orchestration-problem-rather-than-a-content-problem-interview-with-eric-stine-of-sitecore/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Eric Stine, the Chief Executive Officer of Sitecore, a global leader in AI-powered digital experience software. We talk about a range of things, including why the website still matters, but it’s not where discovery starts; why marketers don’t have a content problem,
- [REDUX Customer experience leaders: When was the last time you went to the gemba?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/09/redux-customer-experience-leaders-when-was-the-last-time-you-went-to-the-gemba/) - There is value in going to where the real interactions take place to see how people actually experience things and to learn what works and what doesn’t. In a world fraught with new technology and an abundance of data, this simple act is often overlooked. That is a mistake, and this old post reminds us
- [Eliminating the Coordination Tax - Interview with Dan O’Connell of Front](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/09/eliminating-the-coordination-tax-interview-with-dan-oconnell-of-front/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Dan O’Connell, CEO of Front, the customer operations platform built for collaboration. We talk about a range of issues, from where the CX landscape is heading to the Saaspocalypse, tokenomics, why (in experience terms) everything feels the same right now, the Coordination
- [The Dopamine Hit Of Perfect Customer Service](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/09/the-dopamine-hit-of-perfect-customer-service/) - Republishing here the latest edition of my monthly newsletter on LinkedIn (The Punk CX Dispatch – Insights from the frontlines for those ready to smash the status quo and create experiences people actually love.) You can subscribe here. The Dopamine Hit Of Perfect Customer Service Have you heard of “dopamine sites”? I hadn’t til about
- [The human edge in B2B customer experience - Interview with Anna Falcon of MCA Connect](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/09/the-human-edge-in-b2b-customer-experience-interview-with-anna-falcon-of-mca-connect/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Anna Falcon, VP of CX Transformation at MCA Connect - a Grant Thornton Company. We talk about why B2B firms must deliver B2C‑level experiences or risk losing relevance, what’s driving this imperative, why so many AI initiatives and transformations fail to deliver
- [Saaspocalypse article:Why Deep Specialism Beats Generalist AI in CX](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/09/saaspocalypse-articlewhy-deep-specialism-beats-generalist-ai-in-cx/) - Have you noticed that some of the leading and publicly listed customer technology vendors have been having a bit of a torrid time on the stock market lately? Indeed, many of them have been losing up to, and sometimes more than, 50% of their share price since the turn of the year. What has happened
- [Emotional triggers for a more impactful customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/06/emotional-triggers-for-a-more-impactful-customer-experience/) - In the age of the consumer, you need to have carefully designed customer experiences that trigger positive emotional responses.
- [Why contact deflection creates quiet loyalty erosion - Interview with Pasquale DeMaio, VP of Amazon Connect Customer](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/09/why-contact-deflection-creates-quiet-loyalty-erosion-interview-with-pasquale-demaio-vp-of-amazon-connect-customer/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Pasquale DeMaio, Vice President and General Manager of Amazon Connect Customer, Amazon Web Services’ AI-powered customer experience platform, which supports more than 20 million customer interactions daily across 42 countries. We talk about how every customer now expects concierge-level treatment, regardless of
- [Virgin Atlantic's concierge runs on just 7 data points](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/09/virgin-atlantics-concierge-runs-on-just-7-data-points/) - Virgin Atlantic didn't overengineer its AI Concierge. Seven contextual preferences, gathered through conversation, do the heavy lifting. The Gist What is Virgin Atlantic's "Minimum Viable Knowledge" tactic? It's a set of seven contextual preferences — like family size and weather tolerance — that retail staff typically surface through casual conversation, which the airline trained its
- [Reinventing the organisation to drive better customer and employee outcomes - Interview with Ricardo Semler](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/09/reinventing-the-organisation-to-drive-better-customer-and-employee-outcomes-interview-with-ricardo-semler/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Ricardo Semler, a champion of radical, employee-friendly corporate democracy, a vision he successfully realised during his 40 years as CEO of Semco Partners. He went on to build Semco Style Institute (SSI) on that foundation and has shared its learnings with companies
- [Are You Seeing Your Customer Experience Through Rose-Tinted Glasses?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/09/are-you-seeing-your-customer-experience-through-rose-tinted-glasses/) - Republishing here the latest edition of my monthly newsletter on LinkedIn (The Punk CX Dispatch – Insights from the frontlines for those ready to smash the status quo and create experiences people actually love.) You can subscribe here. Are You Seeing Your Customer Experience Through Rose-Tinted Glasses? Five9 recently published its 2026 Business Leaders CX
- [Why your contact centre cost model is broken - Interview with Robert Bradshaw of WiserOwl](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/08/why-your-contact-centre-cost-model-is-broken-interview-with-robert-bradshaw-of-wiserowl/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Robert Bradshaw, the founder and president of WiserOwl, a consulting firm that measures what contact centre work actually costs. We talk about how contact centres measure activity with extraordinary precision but cost it using an average that erases all of that precision,
- [REDUX What do the Bee Gees, words, a train company and customer experience have in common?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/08/redux-what-do-the-bee-gees-words-a-train-company-and-customer-experience-have-in-common/) - My wife and I travelled by train on a recent trip. Now, while we got to our destination and back again, both our outbound and inbound journeys faced delays and, as a result, we were proactively notified that we were due some compensation. So far so good. However, navigating the refund process has not proven
- [Why digital accessibility is no longer optional in an AI-first world - Interview with Jeff Coyle of Siteimprove](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/08/why-digital-accessibility-is-no-longer-optional-in-an-ai-first-world-interview-with-jeff-coyle-of-siteimprove/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Jeff Coyle, Head of Strategy at Siteimprove, an agentic content intelligence platform designed to unify accessibility, analytics, SEO/AEO, and content strategy. We talk about the idea that digital accessibility has often been treated as a compliance obligation or a “mission-driven initiative” by
- [REDUX Your frontline employees hold the keys to improving your customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/08/redux-your-frontline-employees-hold-the-keys-to-improving-your-customer-experience/) - In the midst of all the talk about the power and potential of artificial intelligence, it strikes me that the accumulated experience, insight and intelligence that exists within the heads of existing employees often gets overlooked. That’s a mistake. I was thinking about that the other day, and it reminded me of this piece that
- [REDUX How doing less is delivering more for this business, it’s employees and it’s customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/03/redux-how-doing-less-is-delivering-more-for-this-business-its-employees-and-its-customers/) - If everyone is trying to harness the same technology, then doesn't it, at some point, become harder and harder to stand out from the crowd? I've been pondering this idea lately, and thinking about it reminded me of a podcast conversation I had with Stephen Aarstol, Founder & CEO of Tower Paddle Boards, a direct-to-consumer
- [Using generative agent simulations to drive better experience outcomes in healthcare - Interview with Sri Narasimhan of CVS Health](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/07/using-generative-agent-simulations-to-drive-better-experience-outcomes-in-healthcare-interview-with-sri-narasimhan-of-cvs-health/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Sri Narasimhan, the VP of Enterprise Customer Experience and Insights at CVS Health, where he leads efforts to drive meaningful organisational changes based on customer, client, and patient feedback. We talk about a whitepaper that he recently co-authored with Simile CEO Joon
- [Beyond the “New New”: The Enduring Pragmatism of PegaWorld 2026](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/07/beyond-the-new-new-the-enduring-pragmatism-of-pegaworld-2026/) - Pega's latest event highlights its commitment to on measurable human and business impact It is not often that I sit in the audience at a technology vendor event and feel genuinely moved by a customer story. However, that’s what happened at Pegaworld, Pega’s annual customer event, in Las Vegas last month, when they shared a
- [Start with Strategy, Iterate Like a Band - Interview with Craig Crisler of SupportNinja](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/07/start-with-strategy-iterate-like-a-band-interview-with-craig-crisler-of-supportninja/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Craig Crisler, CEO at SupportNinja. Craig and I discuss why the CX industry is at an inflection point, why most CX problems aren’t actually people problems, how AI is exposing (and sometimes worsening) CX gaps, how new agents will learn in the
- [Ever Focus on How You End the Customer Journey?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/07/ever-focus-on-how-you-end-the-customer-journey/) - You should, and Zurich Insurance is redefining customer experience through the power of last impressions. When it comes to our personal lives, first impressions matter. Within seconds of meeting someone new, we often form opinions about them based on things like how they look, dress, act, as well as their emotional state. They also matter
- [The NiCE World London Takeover of the Punk CX Podcast Part Two](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/07/the-nice-world-london-takeover-of-the-punk-cx-podcast-part-two/) - Welcome to the NiCE World London Takeover of the Punk CX Podcast. This is Part Two of a two-part series of chats that I had with NiCE executives, a couple of their clients and an analyst while at NiCE World London at the beginning of July. In this episode, I have a chat with Taz
- [The NiCE World London Takeover of the Punk CX Podcast Part One](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/07/the-nice-world-london-takeover-of-the-punk-cx-podcast-part-one/) - Welcome to the NiCE World London Takeover of the Punk CX Podcast. This is Part One of a two-part series of chats that I had with NiCE executives, a couple of their clients and an analyst while at NiCE World London last week. In Part One, I have a chat with Michelle Cooper, Chief Marketing
- [Trust](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/07/trust/) - Republishing here the latest edition of my monthly newsletter on LinkedIn (The Punk CX Dispatch – Insights from the frontlines for those ready to smash the status quo and create experiences people actually love.) You can subscribe here. Trust As often happens, I was scrolling through some updates on LinkedIn the other day, and I
- [CX in the age of AI:  A leading outsourcer's perspective - Interview with Cathy Jooste and John Samuel of CGS](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/09/cx-ai-outsourcing-the-future-interview-with-cathy-jooste-and-john-samuel-of-cgs/) - Today’s interview is with Cathrine (Cathy) Jooste, President of the Business Process Outsourcing Division, and John Samuel, EVP and CTO, at CGS, a global provider of applications, enterprise learning, customer experience and outsourcing services. Cathy and John join me today to talk about how the BPO/outsourcing business has changed over the last 40 years, the
- [Is AI-Powered Service Going to Be More Expensive?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/07/is-ai-powered-service-going-to-be-more-expensive/) - New Gartner research warns that AI-powered service may cost more than the human workforce it replaces – and service leaders need to own that conversation before someone else does. You’d be hard pushed right now to find a board or a senior executive team that isn’t considering leveraging AI to help them reduce operational costs,
- [The emerging world of machine customers - Interview with Katja Forbes](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/07/the-emerging-world-of-machine-customers-interview-with-katja-forbes/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Katja Forbes, Author, Advisor & Keynote Speaker, about her new book: Machine Customers: The Evolution has Begun: How AI that buys is changing everything. We talk about what exactly a machine customer is, what proportion of both B2B and B2C transactions are
- [REDUX How middle managers can boost employee engagement and customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/06/redux-how-middle-managers-can-boost-employee-engagement-and-customer-experience/) - Last week I was at an event in Glasgow that featured a number of presentations by professionals in the contact centre space. One presenter shared data from Gallup's latest engagement research, which showed that in the United Kingdom, 10% of employees are engaged at work. That's a worrying statistic in itself, but it is even
- [Responsible AI isn't an optional layer, it must be foundational - Interviews from Pegaworld 2026 Pt2](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/06/responsible-ai-isnt-an-optional-layer-it-must-be-foundational-interviews-from-pegaworld-interviews-pt2/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is Part Two of a two-parter featuring a series of chats I had with Pega executives while at Pegaworld in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. In this episode, I talk with Matt Healy, Senior Director, Product Strategy & Marketing at Pega, and Tara DeZao, Senior Product
- [Inside Zendesk’s Service Dividend in Action](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/06/inside-zendesks-service-dividend-in-action/) - Back in October 2025, I interviewed Tom Eggemeier, CEO of Zendesk, and during our chat, Eggemeier introduced me to the idea of a ‘service dividend’. This idea holds that, while some companies are focused on pocketing the cost savings that come from applying AI to the bottom line, the most innovative brands in the world
- [Moving from Experimental Pilots to Proven CX Outcomes - Interviews from Pegaworld 2026](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/06/moving-from-experimental-pilots-to-proven-cx-outcomes-interviews-from-pegaworld-2026/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is Part One of a two-parter featuring a series of chats I had with Pega executives and one of their clients while at Pegaworld in Las Vegas last week. In this episode, I talk with Ken Stillwell, COO & CFO at Pega and Peter Lacroix, Head of Low-Code,
- [Make the customer the hero of your brand story](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/06/make-the-customer-the-hero-of-your-brand-story/) - Republishing here the latest edition of my monthly newsletter on LinkedIn (The Punk CX Dispatch – Insights from the frontlines for those ready to smash the status quo and create experiences people actually love.) You can subscribe here. Make the customer the hero of your brand story A couple of months ago, I published an
- [Customer experience is becoming autonomous - Interview with Andrew Bialecki of Klaviyo](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/06/customer-experience-is-becoming-autonomous-interview-with-andrew-bialecki-of-klaviyo/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Andrew Bialecki, the co-founder and co-CEO of Klaviyo, the autonomous B2C CRM that helps brands understand who their customers actually are – so every interaction feels personal. We talk about how customer experience is becoming autonomous, why every brand is becoming a
- [REDUX How the customer experience vision gap is holding many organisations back](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/06/redux-how-the-customer-experience-vision-gap-is-holding-many-organisations-back/) - In recent weeks, I've been having a number of conversations about what organisations are getting right and wrong when it comes to leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to drive better customer, employee and business outcomes. I keep coming back to the tortoise-and-hare analogy I've written about recently. However, when doing so, I've also been thinking about what
- [Speed without alignment creates experience debt - Interview with Jamie Homen of Mural](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/06/speed-without-alignment-creates-experience-debt-interview-with-jamie-homen-of-mural/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Jamie Homen, Chief Customer Officer at Mural, a leading visual work platform. Jamie and I talk about why speed without alignment creates experience debt, the role AI is playing in that, how organizations should be thinking about using customer interaction data to
- [Agentic Commerce in 3 Phases. Here's What's Coming Next](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/06/agentic-commerce-in-3-phases-heres-whats-coming-next/) - AI-enhanced storefronts. Autonomous agent-to-agent purchasing. What's the road ahead for agentic commerce? The Gist Agentic commerce is closer than many think. Retail leaders describe a three-phase shift from AI-enhanced storefronts to buying inside chat interfaces, and eventually autonomous agent-to-agent purchasing. Trust and clean data will decide winners. Consumers remain cautious about AI making purchases
- [Insights from Zendesk Relate - Interview with Tom Eggemeier, Shana Simmons and Cristina Fonseca](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/05/insights-from-zendesk-relate-interview-with-tom-eggemeier-shana-simmons-and-cristina-fonseca/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a series of interviews that I conducted with Zendesk executives while at Relate, their annual customer event in Denver last week. I talked to Tom Eggemeier, CEO, Zendesk, Shana Simmons, CLO, Zendesk, and Cristina Fonseca, VP Product, Zendesk. Some of the things we cover include the big
- [Artificial vs. Authentic: Aflac’s Intentional Approach to Humanizing AI](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/05/artificial-vs-authentic-aflacs-intentional-approach-to-humanizing-ai/) - A couple of years ago, I was speaking at a conference in Dubai on the topic of failure, fumbles, and fiascos in customer experience. One of the central themes of my talk was that more often than not, we design customer experiences that cater to the majority of cases. However, sometimes things go wrong due
- [Trust and transparency will be the CX differentiators of the future - Interview with Chris Angus of 8x8](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/05/trust-and-transparency-will-be-the-cx-differentiators-of-the-future-interview-with-chris-angus-of-8x8/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a recent conversation I had with Chris Angus, VP Sales EMEA at 8x8, a leading contact center and communications software provider. Chris and I talk about why AI is now table stakes in CX, but trust is not, where organizations are falling down when it comes to
- [The Half Of The Centaur Problem We Should Be Talking About](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/05/the-half-of-the-centaur-problem-we-should-be-talking-about/) - Republishing here the latest edition of my monthly newsletter on LinkedIn (The Punk CX Dispatch – Insights from the frontlines for those ready to smash the status quo and create experiences people actually love.) You can subscribe here. The Half Of The Centaur Problem We Should Be Talking About Are you familiar with the concept
- [Using orchestrated serendipity allowed one brand to improve its conversion rate by 15% - Interview with Gregg Johnson of Invoca](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/05/using-orchestrated-serendipity-allowed-one-brand-to-improve-its-conversion-rate-by-15-interview-with-gregg-johnson-of-invoca/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a recent conversation I had with Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca, a leading revenue execution platform. Gregg and I recorded this podcast while we were both at Adobe Summit in Las Vegas recently. We talk about why the buying experience is broken at the exact moment customers
- [Harnessing the Winds of Agentic AI at Adobe Summit 2026](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/05/harnessing-the-winds-of-agentic-ai-at-adobe-summit-2026/) - I imagine that being a brand right now must feel like being in a sailboat on the high seas and you are being buffeted by the strong winds of artificial intelligence (AI) blowing across the customer, employee and business seascapes. Now, while you can’t control the strength or direction of the wind or its impact
- [Why you don’t need a separate AI strategy - Interview with Charlene Li](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/05/why-you-dont-need-a-separate-ai-strategy-interview-with-charlene-li/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a recent conversation I had with Charlene Li about her new book, Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success (co-authored with Dr Katia Walsh). We talk about why 90 Days, why you don’t need a separate AI strategy, why most AI initiatives fail and fail to
- [Beyond the Demo: Qualtrics X4 Signals the Maturing of Experience Management](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/05/beyond-the-demo-qualtrics-x4-signals-the-maturing-of-experience-management/) - Last month, I attended Qualtrics’ annual customer event, X4, and this year it was different. It was different, not because it was in a new location – it was in Seattle this year, instead of Salt Lake City, where it has been held for the past couple of years. Or, because they have a new
- [Harnessing AI to orchestrate customer experiences at scale - Interviews with Luc Dammann, Nina Caruso & Vivek Pandya of Adobe](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/04/harnessing-ai-to-orchestrate-customer-experiences-at-scale-interviews-with-luc-damman-nina-caruso-vivek-pandya-of-adobe/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a series of interviews that I conducted with Adobe executives while at Adobe Summit last week in Las Vegas. I talked to Luc Dammann, President EMEA, Adobe and his colleagues Nina Caruso, Group Product Marketing Manager, Real-Time CDP, Adobe and Vivek Pandya, Lead Insights Analyst, Adobe and
- [When Social Listening Becomes Social Surveillance: The Question the Marketing Industry Doesn't Want to Ask](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/04/when-social-listening-becomes-social-surveillance-the-question-the-marketing-industry-doesnt-want-to-ask/) - This is a guest post by Sameer Ahmed Khan, Founder & CEO, Social Champ I want to tell you about two tools that do the exact same thing. The first tool scans Facebook, X, and YouTube. It reads public posts. It analyzes them for sentiment, emotional tone, and trending patterns. It tells you what people
- [The future of storytelling - Interview with Charles Melcher](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/04/the-future-of-storytelling-interview-with-charles-melcher/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a recent chat I had with Charles Melcher, Founder and CEO of Future of Storytelling and the author of a big new book called THE FUTURE OF STORYTELLING: How Immersive Experiences are Transforming Our World. Charles joins me to talk about his new book, why we often
- ["VUCA on steroids": Why your 'front office' needs a culture reset, not just AI](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/04/vuca-on-steroids-why-your-front-office-needs-a-culture-reset-not-just-ai/) - In a world of constant disruption, customer-centricity still wins — but execution now depends on leadership alignment and iteration. The Gist Culture comes before technology. The article argues that an integrated front office is not built on AI or platforms first, but on leadership vision, cultural alignment, and a customer-first mindset. The front office
- [Moving past bolt-on AI to strategic reimagination - Interview with Don Schuerman of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/04/moving-past-bolt-on-ai-to-strategic-reimaginaton-interview-with-don-schuerman-of-pega/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a recent chat I had with Don Schuerman, who is CTO and Head of Marketing at Pegasystems. Don and I had a chat about what the big themes of PegaWorld 2026, which will be taking place in Vegas from June 7th-9th, are, what’s actually working in the
- [Ready or not](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/04/ready-or-not/) - Republishing here the latest edition of my monthly newsletter on LinkedIn (The Punk CX Dispatch – Insights from the frontlines for those ready to smash the status quo and create experiences people actually love.) You can subscribe here. Ready or not A couple of years ago, I was asked to act as a sounding
- [Experience is Everything - Interview with Jeannie Walters](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/04/experience-is-everything-interview-with-jeannie-walters/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a recent chat I had with Jeannie Walters, who is the Founder and CEO of Experience Investigators, an international keynote speaker, and an author. Jeannie and I caught up at a recent event we were both at, and I took the opportunity to have a chat with
- [REDUX The three best gifts that you could give your customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/04/redux-the-three-best-gifts-that-you-could-give-your-customers/) - I've just returned to the office from the long Easter holiday weekend here in the UK. Now, Easter is one of those times of year when chocolate eggs are often given to children as part of the festivities in many households. That gifting got me to thinking about the idea of giving gifts, and it
- [The unstructured data revolution in CRM - Interview with David Roberts of SugarCRM](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/04/the-unstructured-data-revolution-in-crm-interview-with-david-roberts-of-sugarcrm/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a recent chat I had with David Roberts, President and CEO of SugarCRM, the sales CRM platform focused on B2B growth. We talk about why sellers/salespeople don’t get any value from CRM systems, whether the advent of AI makes things better, whether organisations are taking a tool-first,
- [Closing the experience gap - Interview with Qualtrics executives from X4](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/03/closing-the-experience-gap-interview-with-qualtrics-executives-from-x4/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a series of interviews that I conducted at Qualtrics’ recent X4 event in Seattle and features conversations with Qualtrics executives at the event: Brad Anderson, President of Products, UX, Engineering & Security; Mark Hammond, SVP Core AI - starting at 14:59; Assaf Keren, SVP and Chief Security
- [REDUX How customer experience professionals can build relevance and impact in large organisations](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/03/redux-how-customer-experience-professionals-can-build-relevance-and-impact-in-large-organisations/) - This REDUX of a previously published piece that came to mind when I wrote "How CX leaders can turn insights into measurable business outcomes" earlier this month, and how an essential part of the work of CX leaders and practitioners in large organisations is about building relevance and how that can lead to lasting impact.
- [The enduring and evolving ‘craft’ of customer support - Interview with Nick Francis](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/03/the-enduring-and-evolving-craft-of-customer-support-interview-with-nick-francis/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features Nick Francis, one of the co-founders of Help Scout, a leading customer support platform, who after operating as the CEO for the last 15 years stepped back from the position in late 2025 and has now moved into the Chairman role. I first talked to Nick on
- [Customer satisfaction is the ultimate moat](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/03/customer-satisfaction-is-the-ultimate-moat/) - Republishing here the latest edition of my monthly newsletter on LinkedIn (The Punk CX Dispatch – Insights from the frontlines for those ready to smash the status quo and create experiences people actually love.) You can subscribe here. Customer satisfaction is the ultimate moat Larry Dignan of Constellation Research, Inc., in a recent write-up on
- [How executives can turn fragmented CX efforts into enterprise-wide customer obsession - Interview with Ray Gerber](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/03/how-executives-can-turn-fragmented-cx-efforts-into-enterprise-wide-customer-obsession-interview-with-ray-gerber/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features Raymond Gerber, the Co-Founder of the Institute for Journey Management (I4JM), Founder of JourneyCentric-CX and author of three new books. He joins me today to talk about the third book (Journey to Customer Obsession- A Leadership Blueprint for CX Maturity and Enterprise Transformation: How executives can turn fragmented
- [How CX leaders can turn insights into measurable business outcomes](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/03/how-cx-leaders-can-turn-insights-into-measurable-business-outcomes/) - At Experience, Medallia’s annual customer event in Las Vegas recently, there was, as you might have expected, a flurry of announcements about new product developments. The main thrust of these solutions was to make it easier for users not only to capture experience signals and insights but also to quickly make decisions and take action
- [More Than A Motto - Interview with Justin Robbins of Metric Sherpa](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/03/more-than-a-motto-interview-with-justin-robbins-of-metric-sherpa/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features Justin Robbins, Founder & Principal Analyst at Metric Sherpa, Inc and a newly minted author. Justin joins me to talk about his new book called: More Than A Motto: Reignite Your Purpose, Rediscover Your Joy At Work. We discuss the highlights from the book, including the leadership
- [Loyalty is the core economic engine - Interview with Sara Richter and Fred Reichheld](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/02/loyalty-is-the-core-economic-engine-interview-with-sara-richter-and-fred-reichheld/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features Sara Richter, CMO at SAP Emarsys, and Fred Reichheld, Creator of the Net Promoter System®, Bain Fellow, and loyalty visionary. Sara and Fred join me on the podcast to talk about how the organisations that win treat NPS as a management system rather than a one-off score,
- [REDUX: Habituation and the risk to customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/03/redux-habituation-and-the-risk-to-customer-experience/) - I recently delivered a keynote at a leadership kick-off meeting in Birmingham about how to deliver Wow! service and a standout customer experience. One of the key things I shared with the audience was that to be successful, they needed to be more curious. This reminded me of something I wrote about some time ago
- [The split personality disorder plaguing many brands - Interview with Ping Wu of Cresta](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/02/the-split-personality-disorder-plaguing-many-brands-interview-with-ping-wu-of-cresta/) - Today’s episode features a chat I had recently with Ping Wu, CEO of Cresta. We chat about a range of issues, including how many brands seem to be suffering from a split personality disorder, why CRM technology is fundamentally not the right type of technology to develop the type of conversational intelligence that is needed
- [Why the Tortoise Wins the Enterprise AI Race](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/02/why-the-tortoise-wins-the-enterprise-ai-race/) - I was walking to the office the other day when I bumped into Tam, our local ‘lollipop’ man (aka a crossing guard for those readers based in N. America), and he reminded me of the classic Aesop’s fable about the race between the tortoise and the hare. Now, Tam has recently gone through some health
- [Transforming experience for business outcomes - Interview with Sid Banerjee, Mike Murchison and Paloma Paraja](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/02/transforming-experience-for-business-outcomes-interview-with-sid-banerjee-mike-murchison-and-paloma-paraja/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features three interviews I recorded whilst at Medallia’s Experience event in Las Vegas on the 10th, 11th and 12th February. The interviews are with Sid Banerjee, Chief Strategy Officer at Medallia, Mike Murchison, co-founder and CEO of Ada, and Paloma Paraja, Customer Experience Manager at Santalucia Seguros. We
- [Data readiness, AI, CX and revisiting the idea of Lean Data](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/02/data-readiness-ai-cx-and-revisiting-the-idea-of-lean-data/) - Republishing here the latest edition of my monthly newsletter on LinkedIn (The Punk CX Dispatch – Insights from the frontlines for those ready to smash the status quo and create experiences people actually love.) You can subscribe here. Data readiness, AI, CX and revisiting the idea of Lean Data A recent article on CIO.com highlighted
- [The dangers of a CCaaS monoculture - Interview with Paul Hughes of Mitel](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/02/the-dangers-of-a-ccaas-monoculture-interview-with-paul-hughes-of-mitel/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features Paul Hughes, who is Head of Direct Sales for the UKISA region at Mitel, where he helps organisations use technology to deliver human experiences built on trust, empathy, loyalty, and logic. Paul joins me today to talk about why hybrid is the new default and not a
- [REDUX Imagine if everybody in a business served customers or fielded customer enquiries](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/02/redux-imagine-if-everybody-in-a-business-served-customers-or-fielded-customer-enquiries/) - Imagine if everybody in a business served customers or fielded customer enquiries. Whilst episodic ‘front-line’ experiences are often hugely insightful and, in many ways, transformative, I do find myself wondering why senior leadership teams don’t do this type of thing on a regular basis in order to keep their insight and understanding of the employee and customer experience timely, real and front of mind.
- [The 1500-Watt reality of Generative AI](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/02/the-1500-watt-reality-of-generative-ai/) - I started a monthly newsletter on LinkedIn, called The Punk CX Dispatch - Insights from the frontlines for those ready to smash the status quo and create experiences people actually love. I'm republishing it here. Here's the inaugural edition from January 2026 and you can subscribe here: The 1500-Watt Reality of Generative AI Sitting down
- [Accessibility drives customer acquisition - Interview with Joel Kellhofer of SignWow](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/01/accessibility-drives-customer-acquisition-interview-with-joel-kellhofer-of-signwow/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Joel Kellhofer, CEO of SignWow, which offers business BSL solutions, including Video Relay Service & Video Remote Interpreting, to make services accessible to Deaf customers. We talk about Joel’s background and experiences as a Deaf founder, some of the everyday communication barriers Deaf people face in
- [REDUX How looking for ‘messy bathrooms’ can help deliver a great customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/01/redux-how-looking-for-messy-bathrooms-can-help-deliver-a-great-customer-experience/) - Over the last week, I’ve been working on a presentation that I will be delivering next week at a leadership kick-off conference. Part of the content focuses on how we don’t always pay as much attention as we should to ‘small’ and adjacent things, and the impact they can have on the experience that our
- [From product-led innovation to a service-led experience model - Interview with Deborah Honig of Samsung UK & Ireland](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/01/from-product-led-innovation-to-a-service-led-experience-model-interview-with-deborah-honig-of-samsung-uk-ireland/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Deborah Honig, Chief Customer Officer at Samsung UK & Ireland. Deborah joins me today to talk about shifting Samsung’s UK & Ireland business from innovation-led storytelling to service-led experiences, the servitization process, how they are building AI into their products, how they are building trust with
- [REDUX Could too much measurement be preventing the delivery of great customer service?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/01/redux-could-too-much-measurement-be-preventing-the-delivery-of-great-customer-service/) - Over the last few days, I've been working on a thought leadership piece for a client that touches on AI-powered analytics and all of the things that we can now measure and monitor. In doing so, it reminded me of a piece that I wrote almost ten years ago about the potential impact of measurement
- [Automate problems, not just symptoms - Interview with Nick Clark of BCG](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/01/automate-problems-not-just-symptoms-interview-with-nick-clark-of-bcg/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Nick Clark, a Partner & Director in the Service & Support Operations practice at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), as well as the author of the Service Matters! newsletter, which is a weekly newsletter about customer service, that he writes in a personal capacity. Nick joins me
- [Stop guessing: Use context to deliver personalization that converts](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/01/stop-guessing-use-context-to-deliver-personalization-that-converts/) - It’d be difficult to find a brand these days that says it doesn’t want to deliver a more personalized experience to its customers, given that it is a widely accepted and essential strategy for many to drive revenue, foster loyalty, and stay ahead of the competition. However, while many brands think they are doing a
- [Describing yourself as ‘AI-first’ is a mistake - Interview with Chris Morrissey of Zoom](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/01/describing-yourself-as-ai-first-is-a-mistake-interview-with-chris-morrissey-of-zoom/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Chris Morrissey, who is the General Manager and Global Head of CX Sales & Go-To-Market at Zoom, where he drives strategy and execution for the company's customer experience business. Chris joins me today to talk about why describing yourself as ‘AI-first’ these days is a mistake, why
- [Why leading brands are choosing a ‘Service Dividend’ over AI cost cuts](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2026/01/why-leading-brands-are-choosing-a-service-dividend-over-ai-cost-cuts/) - Many people familiar with business leadership, ownership, or investing will be familiar with the concept of a dividend, where, when companies make a profit from their activities, they pay a portion or all of that profit to their shareholders. However, many may not be familiar with the idea of a “service dividend.” This concept was
- [Brands should avoid making Gen AI or chatbots their sole frontline - Interview with Phil Regnault of PwC](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/12/brands-should-avoid-making-gen-ai-or-chatbots-their-sole-frontline-interview-with-phil-regnault-of-pwc/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Phil Regnault, Marketing Transformation Partner at PwC & PwC’s Adobe Alliance Leader. Phil and I talk about the recently published results of PwC’s 2025 US Customer Experience Survey, and a recently released fresh cut of their survey featuring exclusive insights from Adobe users. We also talk
- [18 Customer experience predictions for 2026](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/12/18-customer-experience-predictions-for-2026/) - This is the seventh year that I’ve compiled a set of customer experience-related predictions for the coming year. For each article, I gather a set of predictions sent to me in October and November. Last year, I received 396 different predictions from 208 different people. This year, the number of predictions submitted and the number
- [Douglas Adams’ Babelfish concept just got much closer - Interview with Sharath Keshava Narayana of Sanas](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/12/douglas-adams-babelfish-concept-just-got-much-closer-interview-with-sharath-keshava-narayana-of-sanas/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Sharath Keshava Narayana, CEO and Co-Founder of Sanas, which provides a real-time speech understanding platform with accent translation, noise cancellation and now real-time speech translation technology. Sharath and I talk about the challenges with current translation methods, what they are doing with regards to real-time speech
- [Twilio's secret sauce and CarFinance247's road to success - Interviews from Twilio SIGNAL London 2025](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/12/twilios-secret-sauce-and-carfinance247s-road-to-success-interviews-from-twilio-signal-london-2025/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is a two-parter that I recorded while attending the Twilio SIGNAL event in London on November 19th. My first guest is Peter Bell, VP of EMEA Marketing at Twilio. Peter and I talk about his highlights from the event, what he is seeing companies do well/right to help
- [REDUX: What's your approach to your queuing experience?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/12/redux-whats-your-approach-to-your-queuing-experience/) - Queues and their management are a perennial problem for businesses. They’re not much liked by customers either. However, lessons from new studies suggest that when designing a queuing experience make sure you don’t take just a purely rational and efficiency based approach as this ignores the emotional impact of any new queuing system.
- [REDUX Are your mental models getting in the way of improving your customer experience?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/12/redux-are-your-mental-models-getting-in-the-way-of-improving-your-customer-experience/) - When it comes to designing customer experiences we should be careful to distinguish between the mental models that exist in our own minds, and that of our organisations ,and those that exist in the minds of our customers.
- [Are machines making marketers more human? - Interview with Elizabeth Maxson of Contentful](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/11/are-machines-making-marketers-more-human-interview-with-elizabeth-maxson-of-contentful/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a discussion I recently had with Elizabeth Maxson, CMO at Contentful, a digital experience platform trusted by more than 4,200 companies around the world. Elizabeth joins me today to talk about a research report they recently published called When Machines Make Marketers More Human, whether marketers are
- [Why leadership must partner with AI to fix contact center attrition](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/11/why-leadership-must-partner-with-ai-to-fix-contact-center-attrition/) - To better understand how things are changing in the customer service and experience space, I spend quite a bit of time speaking with technology vendors. One of my most recent chats was with Olivier Jouve, Chief Product Officer at Genesys, where he briefed me on all of the new developments that they have been working
- [Why you need the I4JM in your life - Interview with Mark Smith and Ray Gerber](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/11/why-you-need-the-i4jm-in-your-life-interview-with-mark-smith-and-ray-gerber/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a discussion I recently had with Ray Gerber and Mark Smith, Co-Founders of the Institute for Journey Management (I4JM). We talk about customer journeys, where most people go wrong with them, some examples of customer journeys done right, where AI fits into all of this, the backstory
- [CX is reaching a tipping point - Interview with Jonathan Rosenberg of Five9](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/11/cx-is-reaching-a-tipping-point-interview-with-jonathan-rosenberg-or-five9/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a discussion I recently had with Jonathan Rosenberg, who is the Chief Technology Officer and head of AI at Five9. Jonathan and I talk about why he believes CX is reaching a tipping point and what’s driving that, how things are likely to change for customers, agents,
- [Zurich puts empathy firmly back on the customer experience agenda](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/11/zurich-puts-empathy-firmly-back-on-the-customer-experience-agenda/) - For the longest time, customers have bemoaned the fact that the experiences they have with brands lack empathy. Almost ten years ago, Accenture published a global study that examined customer perceptions of customer service and experience. The overriding finding from the study was that customers felt that companies had placed too much reliance on digital
- [Some of the most innovative brands in the world are using AI to create a service dividend - Interview with Tom Eggemeier of Zendesk](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/10/some-of-the-most-innovative-brands-in-the-world-are-using-ai-to-create-a-service-dividend-interview-with-tom-eggemeier-of-zendesk/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat that I had with Tom Eggemeier, the Chief Executive Officer of Zendesk, following the conclusion of Zendesk’s recent AI Summit. We talk about the highlights from the event, what’s different from what they announced at Relate back in March, how they now have 20,000 customers
- [On-premise contact centres don’t need to miss out on AI innovation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/11/on-premise-contact-centres-dont-need-to-miss-out-on-ai-innovation/) - Like many other vendor events in the customer service and experience space, there were numerous announcements at Cisco’s recent WebexOne event in San Diego. Here are the headlines that stood out for me: Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer at Cisco, highlighted in his opening keynote that Cisco provides the critical infrastructure for the
- [How Vodafone, Rabobank and others are driving meaningful results with AI - Interview with Matt Healy of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/11/how-vodafone-rabobank-and-others-are-driving-meaningful-results-with-ai-interview-of-matt-healy-of-pega/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat that I recently had with Matt Healy, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Pega, where we talk about legacy transformation, how big some of the legacy challenges facing firms are, how Pega is responding, why it’s important for organisations to have a real strategy with
- [New US legislation is likely to drive AI adoption rather than create jobs](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/11/new-us-legislation-is-likely-to-drive-ai-adoption-rather-than-create-jobs/) - On Aug. 12, a new piece of legislation, the Keep Call Centers in America Act of 2025, was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill aims to deter companies from relocating call centers overseas and to keep jobs within the United States. The main provisions of the proposed new act include: Requiring the U.S.
- [Equip people with AI to enable them to lead with emotional intelligence - Interview with Miranda Collard of TP](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/10/equip-people-with-ai-to-enable-them-to-lead-with-emotional-intelligence-interview-with-miranda-collard-of-tp/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat that I had with Miranda Collard, who is the CEO of the Americas at TP (formerly Teleperformance). Miranda and I talk about Miranda’s career journey from employee #27 to now being the CEO of the Americas, how she still takes customer calls, why the future
- [AI-powered conversations: Infobip's unified approach](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/10/ai-powered-conversations-infobips-unified-approach/) - At the beginning of September, Infobip, a leading Cloud Communications as a Service (CPaaS) platform, and the MoneyGram Haas Formula One (F1) team announced that they were going to launch a WhatsApp-based conversational assistant at the F1 race that took place at Monza, in Italy, on September 7th. The conversational assistant, available via a Click-To-WhatsApp ad integration from
- [Why your AI initiative could fail – and how to fix it](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/10/why-your-ai-initiative-could-fail-and-how-to-fix-it/) - The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is fundamentally altering the nature of enterprise software. And nowhere is this truer than in the customer service space. Traditionally, the responsibility for maintaining enterprise software systems rested largely with the vendor. However, with the rise of AI-powered software, this responsibility has shifted from being primarily on the vendor to being shared
- [The terms deflection and containment should be banned - Interviews from Cisco's WebexOne](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/10/the-terms-deflection-and-containment-should-be-banned-interviews-from-ciscos-webexone/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is a three-part episode featuring conversations I had with Vinod Muthukrishnan, the VP & COO for the Webex Customer Experience Business Unit at Cisco, Chang Chang, a Senior Director of Product for Cloud CX Solutions at Cisco and a Cisco Webex customer - Patrick Cornish, a Senior Network
- [How business owners can uncover the hidden benefits of customer intent](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/10/how-business-owners-can-uncover-the-hidden-benefits-of-customer-intent/) - This is a guest post from Tamiya Barnes, the owner of Business Begins. Understanding what your customers want before they tell you is no longer a luxury — it’s the new battleground for growth. While most businesses chase visibility or pour money into funnel tweaks, the ones that thrive are reading the subtext. Because customer
- [The State of Customer Engagement - Interview with Chris Koehler of Twilio](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/10/the-state-of-customer-engagement-interview-with-chris-koehler-of-twilio/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features Chris Koehler, the Chief Marketing Officer at Twilio. We discuss Twilio’s recently published State of Customer Engagement Report, how many brands are using AI to personalise experiences and the impact they are seeing as a result, customer concerns about the use of their data, the rise of
- [The leadership skills gap hindering customer experience efforts](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/10/the-leadership-skills-gap-hindering-customer-experience-efforts/) - According to IDC, 67% of CIOs report that the “accelerating arrival of new technologies” such as artificial intelligence (AI) is causing a serious skills shortage, which is hindering their customer experience transformation efforts. This is leading to a range of issues, including product development delays, product and service quality issues, customer satisfaction problems, difficulty reaching revenue
- [Closing the CX chasm - Interview with Jamie Anderson of UserTesting](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/10/closing-the-cx-chasm-interview-with-jamie-anderson-of-usertesting/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features Jamie Anderson, Chief Revenue Officer of UserTesting. Jamie joins me today to talk music, the mismatch between what companies believe they deliver and what customers actually experience, and how this can be fixed with human-first design. We also explore how AI risks disconnecting teams from real human
- [The Evolution Of Retail: A Quarter-Century Of Customer Experience Shifts](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/09/the-evolution-of-retail-a-quarter-century-of-customer-experience-shifts/) - We are a quarter of the way through the 21st century. I was reminded of that fact the other day, and it made me pause and reflect on what has happened over the last 25 years, particularly when it comes to the consumer retail experience. If we think about where we are today…. Many consumers
- [Creating a customer service system that scales without losing authenticity - Interview with Ty Givens of CX Collective](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/09/creating-a-customer-service-system-that-scales-without-losing-authenticity-interview-with-ty-givens-of-cx-collective/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Ty Givens, who is the Founder and CEO of CX Collective, where she partners with ambitious brands to build customer experience programs that don’t just keep up—they lead. Ty joins me today to talk about how emotional labour and systems thinking are missing from leadership, why
- [Platform Integrity: Why it’s essential for customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/09/platform-integrity-why-its-essential-for-customer-experience/) - This is a guest post by Rachel Guevara, Division Vice President of Trust & Safety (T&S) at TaskUs. When I’m online, a few things really matter to me. I want to feel safe, be able to trust what I’m seeing, and know that if I buy something I’ll get what I ordered. Not a
- [Think you know Gen Z? Think again - Interview with Matt Powell of Great State](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/09/think-you-know-gen-z-think-again-interview-with-matt-powell-of-great-state/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Matt Powell, Creative Director at Great State, a digital product and service design agency. Matt joins me today to talk about some research that they recently released called Shifting States, which examines Gen Z behaviours and digital expectations. We explore the implications of this research, what
- [REDUX How to implement an effective proactive customer service strategy](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/09/redux-how-to-implement-an-effective-proactive-customer-service-strategy/) - How to implement an effective proactive customer service strategy Or Transform Your Customer Experience By Making Your Customer Service Proactive – Part 3
- [REDUX Where to find proactive customer service opportunities](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/09/redux-where-to-find-proactive-customer-service-opportunities/) - Where to find proactive customer service opportunities Or Transform Your Customer Experience By Making Your Customer Service Proactive – Part 2
- [Why most brands build chatbots backwards - Interview with Sophie Cheng of Sinch](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/09/why-most-brands-build-chatbots-backwards-interview-with-sophie-cheng-of-sinch/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Sophie Cheng, the Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Sinch, the global CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) provider. Sophie joins me today to talk about why most brands build chatbots backwards, why success hinges on journey-led design, not tech-first thinking, how to design real
- [The value of hyperpersonalization and the state of CX - Interview with Greg Kihlström of The Agile Brand](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/08/the-value-of-hyperpersonalization-and-the-state-of-cx-interview-with-greg-kihlstrom-of-the-agile-brand/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Greg Kihlström from The Agile Brand. Greg is a best-selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur, and serves as an advisor and consultant to top companies on marketing technology, marketing operations, and digital transformation initiatives. A couple of months ago, Greg invited me to be a guest on
- [REDUX Why Relying Only On Reactive Customer Service Is No Longer Good Enough](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/08/redux-why-relying-only-on-reactive-customer-service-is-no-longer-good-enough/) - Over the last couple of months, I've been noticing more and more posts about proactive service. So much so that it seems like proactive service is now back in vogue. About ten years ago, I wrote a series of posts about proactive service, and after reviewing them, I realised that they still feel pretty relevant
- [Envisioning a personal AI agent for every customer - Interview with Malte Kosub of Parloa](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/08/envisioning-a-personal-ai-agent-for-every-customer-interview-with-malte-kosub-of-parloa/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Malte Kosub, the co-founder and CEO of Parloa, a provider of an enterprise-grade AI agent management platform for customer service. Malte joins me today to talk about standing out in an increasingly crowded field, his vision for how customer support will evolve over the coming five
- [REDUX Customer experience vs. the customer's experience: Is there a difference?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/08/redux-customer-experience-vs-the-customers-experience-is-there-a-difference/) - Are we losing sight of the customer in the midst of all of the hullabaloo around AI and the transformative impact it will have on customer experience (CX)?
- [Transforming CX with predictable AI and workflow automation - Interview with Rebecca Miller of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/08/transforming-cx-with-predictable-ai-and-workflow-automation-interview-with-rebecca-miller-of-pega/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Rebecca Miller, Senior Product Strategy Manager in the customer service and sales automation division at Pega. Rebecca joined me on the podcast recently to talk about the recently announced Pega Self-Service Agent, the problem with the current solutions in the market, why Pega is taking a
- [Lost in the cart: Simple fixes to reclaim abandoned sales](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/08/lost-in-the-cart-simple-fixes-to-reclaim-abandoned-sales/) - This is a guest post by Dave McEvoy, the Director and founder of DMAC Media. Since 2015, the percentage of retail sales being made online has more than doubled, from 12 percent to 26 percent. The trajectory is clear – sales are increasingly moving online. That said, the challenges facing online retailers are very different to
- [Overcome incrementality by reimagining customer and agent experience - Interview with NiCE's CEO and Staysure's COO](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/07/overcome-incrementality-by-reimagining-customer-and-agent-experience-interview-with-nices-ceo-and-staysures-coo/) - Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features two interviews. The first is with Scott Russell, CEO at NiCE, a provider of AI-driven customer service software that helps deliver automation & personalized experiences at scale. Scott and I talk about their recent Interactions events in Las Vegas and London, why many organisations are still uncertain
- [Future-proofing leaders & CX: Soft skills in an AI world](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/07/future-proofing-leaders-cx-soft-skills-in-an-ai-world/) - In a previous article, I cited a couple of studies from IBM and Accenture that reported that organizations’ efforts to scale and deliver a return from their AI investments were being held back by a lack of a deep understanding of generative AI. The studies went on to say that organisations need not only to develop this capability but also
- [Five blind spots that get in the way of customer understanding and growth - Interview with Toni Keskinen of 180ops](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/07/five-blind-spots-that-get-in-the-way-of-customer-understanding-and-growth-interview-with-toni-keskinen-of-180ops/) - Today’s interview is with Toni Keskinen, who is the Co-Founder, Chief Product Officer & Chairman at 180ops, a revenue intelligence platform built on account-based customer data that empowers B2B businesses to drive revenue growth, optimize operations, and enhance customer lifetime value. Toni joins me today to discuss five different blind spots that he believes many
- [Is the Law of the Instrument hindering enterprise AI investments?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/07/is-the-law-of-the-instrument-hindering-enterprise-ai-investments/) - Two recent studies found that many enterprises are currently experiencing mixed results with their AI initiatives and investments. For example, Accenture examined over 2,000 generative AI projects and consulted more than 3,000 C-level executives, finding that only 36% stated they have scaled their generative AI solutions, while only 13% of executives report having created ‘significant enterprise-level value.’
- [SRM and why it matters to growth and customer experience - Interview with Ryan Hamilton](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/07/srm-and-why-it-matters-to-growth-and-customer-experience-interview-with-ryan-hamilton/) - Today’s interview is with Ryan Hamilton, an Associate Professor of Marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, an author and the co-host of The Intuitive Customer Podcast with Colin Shaw. Ryan joins me today to talk about his new book (The Growth Dilemma: Managing Your Brand When Different Customers Want Different Things), why an obsession
- [Accelerating legacy transformation with Pega’s Blueprint solution](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/07/accelerating-legacy-transformation-with-pegas-blueprint-solution/) - Late last year, while attending an Applied Strategic Foresight course at the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies (CIFS), I learned about a model called the Futures Triangle. This model helps explore the dynamics of change, particularly when considering what could happen in the future. To do that, the model asks users to consider three different forces:
- [Employee understanding and cracking the code of a better employee experience - Interview with Annette Franz](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/07/employee-understanding-and-cracking-the-code-of-a-better-employee-experience-interview-with-annette-franz/) - Today’s interview is with Annette Franz, an author, speaker and founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc. She is also an old friend of the podcast and appeared back in 2019. She joins me today to talk about her new book: Employee Understanding: A Three-Pillar Framework for Designing a Great Experience and Driving Business Success,
- [From one-shot answers to continuous outcomes: Why CX leaders need Retrieval-Augmented Conversation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/07/from-one-shot-answers-to-continuous-outcomes-why-cx-leaders-need-retrieval-augmented-conversation/) - This is a guest post by Indresh Satyanarayana, VP Product & Technology Labs, Aquant The paradox of GenAI in service Generative AI has swept through customer operations. Gartner now predicts that more than 80 percent of enterprises will have a GenAI-enabled application in production by 2026. Yet many CX and service leaders in the
- [Without context, an insight is worth nothing - Interview with Jochem van der Veer of TheyDo](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/06/without-context-an-insight-is-worth-nothing-interview-with-jochem-van-der-veer-of-theydo/) - Today’s interview is with Jochem van der Veer, the Co-Founder and CEO of TheyDo, a leading platform for journey management that helps organisations build seamless customer experiences by aligning teams around the customer journey. We discuss customer journeys, journey mapping, and data, highlighting how businesses risk exacerbating data overwhelm if they don’t rethink their approach.
- [REDUX: What would happen if contact centre agents salaries were doubled?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/06/redux-what-would-happen-if-contact-centre-agents-salaries-were-doubled/) - What would happen if contact centre agents salaries were doubled?
- [Voice still reigns in customer service - Interview with Nikola Mrkšić of PolyAI](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/06/voice-still-reigns-in-customer-service-interview-with-nikola-mrksic-of-polyai/) - Today’s interview is with Nikola Mrkšić, Co-founder & CEO of PolyAI, a leading supplier of Conversational AI for automated customer service. We talk about some recent research of theirs that finds that the phone still reigns in customer service, making the contact center into a ‘command center,’ why voice channels aren’t relics of the past
- [How a healthcare insurer got automation right by putting its clients first](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/06/how-a-healthcare-insurer-got-automation-right-by-putting-its-clients-first/) - Recently, Adrian Murray and Brent Baiotto, Fisent’s Founder & CEO and COO, respectively, told me a story about a healthcare insurance company they are working with that is utilizing generative AI to automate its claims processing. Fisent’s Applied GenAI Process Automation solution, BizAI, has enabled the healthcare insurance company to massively speed up the processing
- [The future of CX and agentic CX - Interview with Sid Banerjee of Medallia](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/06/the-future-of-cx-and-agentic-cx-interview-with-sid-banerjee-of-medallia/) - Today’s interview is with Sid Banerjee, Chief Strategy Officer at Medallia, a leading provider of customer and employee experience management solutions. I first talked to Sid 11 years ago on this podcast when he was Founder & CEO at Clarabridge. This time around, we talk about what has happened in those intervening years, what brought
- [Low intent, high value: Why casual browsers matter more than you think](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/06/low-intent-high-value-why-casual-browsers-matter-more-than-you-think/) - This is a guest post by Dave McEvoy, the Director and founder of DMAC Media. When browsing online for a product or service, most of us instinctively know where we stand in the decision-making process. Sometimes we’re casually exploring, other times we’re almost ready to click “Buy Now,” and often, we’re somewhere in between. This
- [Customer-centric innovation and Amazon's PRFAQ - Interview with Marcelo Calbucci](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/05/customer-centric-innovation-and-amazons-prfaq-interview-with-marcelo-calbucci/) - Today’s interview is with Marcelo Calbucci, an entrepreneur, innovator, technologist, and author. Marcelo joins me today to talk about his new book: The PRFAQ Framework: Adapting Amazon’s Innovation Framework to Work for You, why Amazon uses it, the five principles of the PRFAQ, where and how it can be applied and what to expect when
- [Marketers underestimate how loyal customers are and don’t understand what drives their loyalty](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/05/marketers-underestimate-how-loyal-customers-are-and-dont-understand-what-drives-their-loyalty/) - In December of last year, as part of my annual predictions piece, I wrote that many consumers have faced a tough time economically over the last few years and that the situation in 2025 was set to persist. We are now just over a third of the way through 2025, and it’s fair to say that,
- [Lush’s Journey: Balancing Innovation, Empathy, and Customer Care - Interview with Naomi Rankin of Lush](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/05/lushs-journey-balancing-innovation-empathy-and-customer-care-interview-with-naomi-rankin-of-lush/) - Today’s interview is with Naomi Rankin, the Manager of Global Customer Care at Lush, the British cosmetics retailer. I spoke to Naomi when I attended Zendesk’s recent Relate event, which took place in Las Vegas on March 25th-27th. We talk about her highlights from the event, what customer care means to Lush, their approach to
- [Omnichannel was a myth - Interview with Gaurav Passi of Zingly](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/05/omnichannel-was-a-myth-interview-with-gaurav-passi-of-zingly/) - Today’s interview is with Gaurav Passi, Founder & CEO of Zingly. He joins me today to talk about some research that they have recently conducted about FORO (the Fear of Reaching Out), the Great CX Paradox, why Omnichannel was a myth and how ‘Rooms’ could be the answer. This interview follows on from my recent
- [Here comes the customer service resolution revolution](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/05/here-comes-the-customer-service-resolution-revolution/) - When Mikkel Svane and his co-founders, Morten Primdahl and Alexander Aghassipour, founded Zendesk in 2007, they aimed to revolutionize customer service by creating beautifully simple software that enabled businesses to easily interact with their customers and act on their feedback. Eighteen years later, one could argue that they have been successful. However, Tom Eggemeier, CEO of Zendesk, hopes they
- [Agentic AI and building connections with customers in the moments that matter](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/05/agentic-ai-and-building-connections-with-customers-in-the-moments-that-matter/) - We are social beings and, as such, our connections are important to us. Moreover, our connections to other people get stronger when they show up in the moments that matter to us. The same is true for brands. When they show up in the moments that matter to us, they can make us feel understood,
- [Why businesses need to invest in both brand and customer experience - Interview with Martin Gill of Forrester](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/05/why-businesses-need-to-invest-in-both-brand-and-customer-experience-interview-with-martin-gill-of-forrester/) - Today’s interview is with Martin Gill, VP, Research Director at Forrester. Martin joins me today to talk about their upcoming CX Summit EMEA that will be taking place in London (and digitally) from June 2–4, 2025. We explore the major themes of the event, including why businesses need to invest in both brand and customer
- [Key insights from Adobe Summit on agentic AI and B2B innovation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/04/key-insights-from-adobe-summit-on-agentic-ai-and-b2b-innovation/) - Just over three weeks ago, the curtain came down on Adobe Summit in Las Vegas, Adobe’s annual customer event. Last year‘s event was dominated by news of how Adobe was leveraging generative AI and infusing it across its platform and product set to help brands achieve personalization at scale. Of all the announcements made, what
- [Legacy transformation, agentic AI and how to get it right - Interview with Don Schuerman of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/04/legacy-transformation-agentic-ai-and-how-to-get-it-right-interview-with-don-schuerman-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Don Schuerman, the CTO at Pegasystems, an industry-leading low-code platform for AI-powered decisioning and workflow automation. Don joins me today to talk about the upcoming PegaWorld 2025 (PegaWorld is taking place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas from June 1st to the 3rd), Agentic AI (obvs.), how some organizations are
- [Unpacking the voice assumptions that are holding back many CX efforts](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/04/unpacking-the-voice-assumptions-that-are-holding-back-many-cx-efforts/) - Millennials and Generation-Z don’t want to talk on the phone is a claim that you will often hear repeated across the media landscape on a pretty regular basis. Now, while there may be research supporting that claim, it’s not always true, particularly when we consider how customers choose to engage with brands. Moreover, to apply
- [Starting a resolution revolution - Interview with Tom Eggemeier, Adrian McDermott and Matthias Göhler of Zendesk](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/04/starting-a-resolution-revolution-interview-with-tom-eggemeier-adrian-mcdermott-and-matthias-gohler-of-zendesk/) - Today’s podcast is a two-parter and features interviews with Tom Eggemeier, Adrian McDermott and Matthias Göhler, which took place at Zendesk’s recent Relate event, which took place in Las Vegas on March 25th-27th. Tom Eggemeier is the Chief Executive Officer of Zendesk, Adrian McDermott is the Chief Technology Officer at Zendesk, and Matthias Göhler is
- [Navigating the Paradox of Personalisation: Meeting Customer Expectations Amid Data Privacy and AI Concerns](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/04/navigating-the-paradox-of-personalisation-meeting-customer-expectations-amid-data-privacy-and-ai-concerns/) - For more than a decade now, customer experience has been central to many brands’ strategies as a strategic and competitive differentiator. As a result, you will often hear brands talk about being customer-centric, customer-focused, or even customer-obsessed. Brands often use one or more of these statements as a signal that delivering a great customer experience
- [AI-driven search volumes are exploding and what brands should be doing about it - Interview with Vivek Pandya of Adobe](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/04/ai-driven-search-volumes-are-exploding-and-what-brands-should-be-doing-about-it-interview-with-vivek-pandya-of-adobe/) - Today’s podcast is with Vivek Pandya, Director, Adobe Digital Insights at Adobe. I recently caught up with Vivek at Adobe Summit in Las Vegas to talk about some new research that Adobe just published called AI to Cart, which highlights the impact that Generative AI-powered chat interfaces are having on consumers, how that is changing
- [SundaySky removes the barriers to expanded use of video in CX](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/04/sundaysky-removes-the-barriers-to-expanded-use-of-video-in-cx/) - Eleven years ago, I spoke to the folks at SundaySky about the innovative ways they were using video to improve customer experience. Specifically, they were pioneering the development of SmartVideo technology, which allows brands to send their customers personalized videos that are compiled in real time using their own data. At the time, they were having particular success in
- [The art and the science of listening - Interview with Zig Serafin, Brad Anderson and Isabelle Zdatny of Qualtrics](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/03/the-art-and-the-science-of-listening-interview-with-zig-serafin-brad-anderson-and-isabelle-zdatny-of-qualtrics/) - Today’s podcast is a three-parter and features interviews with Zig Serafin, Brad Anderson and Isabelle Zdatny that I conducted at Qualtrics’ recent X4 2025: The Experience Management Summit, which took place in Salt Lake City on March 18th-20th. Zig Serafin is the Chief Executive Officer of Qualtrics, Brad Anderson is the President of Products, UX
- [From numbers to narratives: The power of customer engagement](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/03/from-numbers-to-narratives-the-power-of-customer-engagement/) - Traditionally, when a CFO gets promoted to the position of CEO, it’s not uncommon to expect the firm to take a more analytical approach and, perhaps, double down on cost efficiency and working the numbers. However, that’s not what happened when Khozema Shipchandler moved from CFO into the role of CEO at Twilio, after Jeff
- [Testing and experimentation is everyone's problem - Interview with Shafqat Islam of Optimizely](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/03/testing-and-experimentation-is-everyones-problem-interview-with-shafqat-islam-of-optimizely/) - Today’s podcast is with Shafqat Islam, President at Optimizely, who joins me to talk about a new research report they have just published called Tested to Perfection, experimentation, personalization, privacy and all things in between, including the key things that marketers should be doing more of to better engage their customers. This interview follows on
- [Addressing e-commerce’s 5 biggest CX challenges with AI and personalization](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/03/addressing-e-commerces-5-biggest-cx-challenges-with-ai-and-personalization/) - This is a guest post from Ken Tantsura, the Vice President of Innovations at Customertimes. Over the past eight years, customer acquisition costs have soared 222%. No wonder brands have to prioritize customer satisfaction and retention—especially since repeat customers spend 67% more than newcomers. How to get your customers to become your brand’s biggest fan?
- [There are five types of loyalty but only two are growing - Interview with Sara Richter of SAP Emarsys](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/03/there-are-five-types-of-loyalty-but-only-two-are-growing-interview-with-sara-richter-of-sap-emarsys/) - Today’s podcast is with Sara Richter, CMO at SAP Emarsys, a leading omnichannel customer engagement platform provider. Sara joins me today to talk about customer loyalty, the findings emerging from the 2024 edition of their Customer Loyalty Index (CLI) report, the five different types of loyalty that marketers and CX professionals should be thinking about,
- [Influencers and bridging the trust gap between brands and consumers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/03/influencers-and-bridging-the-trust-gap-between-brands-and-consumers/) - One of the biggest trends that emerged from my recent 2025 predictions piece was that a brand’s success in the coming year will be defined by how it builds and maintains trust with customers. Consumer distrust towards brands is driven by their concerns about data, privacy and security. While these concerns are not new, the
- [Harnessing the contact center's potential as a real-time data gold mine - Interview with Suvi Lindfors of Netigate](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/02/harnessing-the-contact-centers-potential-as-a-real-time-data-gold-mine-interview-with-suvi-lindfors-of-netigate/) - Today’s podcast is with Suvi Lindfors, Strategic Business Development, Netigate. Suvi joins me today to talk about why she thinks the contact center is becoming one of the most valuable sources of insight in any organisation, how many brands are actually leveraging these insights, what needs to happen to facilitate this journey in terms of
- [The AI revolution in customer service: What to expect in 2025](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/02/the-ai-revolution-in-customer-service-what-to-expect-in-2025/) - This is a guest post from Gans Subramanian, Managing Partner, B-TRNSFRMD Artificial intelligence (AI) has helped the omnichannel customer experience and service industry achieve a revolutionary milestone in 2025. AI is spearheading a global revolution in business that redefines what it means to prioritize the needs of the consumer. What, however, makes AI revolutionary for
- [Life Lessons I Learned From Being A Line Cook - Interview with Ari Weinzweig](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/02/life-lessons-i-learned-from-being-a-line-cook-interview-with-ari-weinzweig/) - Today’s podcast is with Ari Weinzweig, the CEO and co-founding partner of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, a much-admired gourmet food business group headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Ari is a friend, a veteran of the podcast and was also one of the contributors to Punk XL. Ari joins me today to talk about his
- [How AI translation is transforming customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/02/how-ai-translation-is-transforming-customer-experience/) - This is a guest post from Ofer Tirosh, Chief Executive Officer, Tomedes. Why Language is the Key to a Great Customer Experience In a world where businesses are more connected than ever, speaking your customer's language is no longer optional—it's essential. Customers expect a seamless, engaging experience regardless of the language they speak. However, language
- [The natural home of the contact center is under the CMO - Interview with Alex Levin of Regal.io](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/02/the-natural-home-of-the-contact-center-is-under-the-cmo-interview-with-alex-levin-of-regal-io/) - Today’s podcast is with Alex Levin, the Co-Founder and CEO of Regal.io, that provides high-touch contact center software (CCaaS) that enhances sales, support, and customer retention with the help of AI agents and automated personalization. Alex joins me today to talk about the rise of voice AI agents and how they are likely to transform
- [15 Customer Experience Predictions for 2025](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/01/15-customer-experience-predictions-for-2025/) - This is the sixth year that I’ve compiled a set of customer experience-related predictions for the coming year. For each article, I gather together a set of predictions that have been sent to me over the preceding month. Last year, I received 263 different predictions from 140 different people. This year, 208 different leaders in
- [The majority of agents don't find AI useful in their daily work - Interview with Martin Teasdale and Ed Creasey](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/01/the-majority-of-agents-dont-find-ai-useful-in-their-daily-work-interview-with-martin-teasdale-and-ed-creasey/) - Today’s podcast is with Martin Teasdale, host of Get out of Wrap, a contact centre focused podcast, and Ed Creasey, Global VP of Solutions Engineering at Calabrio, a workforce performance suite provider. Martin recently collaborated with Ed and the team at Calabrio on a new piece of research called Voice of the Agent. Martin and
- [How GenAI can transform call center IVR systems without losing the human touch](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/01/how-genai-can-transform-call-center-ivr-systems-without-losing-the-human-touch/) - This is a guest post by Satish Barot, Co-founder and CTO at Klearcom Let’s face it—calling customer service is often a frustrating experience. Long wait times, endless menus, and having to repeat yourself can leave anyone feeling exasperated. As someone who’s spent years working to improve these systems, I’ve seen firsthand how Generative AI (GenAI) is
- [We got everyone involved in support and made our customer support metrics public - Interview with Kenji Hayward of Front](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/01/we-got-everyone-involved-in-support-and-made-our-customer-support-metrics-public-interview-with-kenji-hayward-of-front/) - Today’s podcast is with Kenji Hayward, the Senior Director of Customer Support at Front, the all-in-one, AI-powered customer service platform built for collaboration. Kenji joins me today to talk about why email isn’t dead and why Front takes an email-first approach, getting everyone involved in the support queue, including the CEO, and why they made
- [Are humans the missing link in your AI strategy?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/01/are-humans-the-missing-link-in-your-ai-strategy/) - We’re seeing a surge of activity — experimentation, piloting and implementation — in the customer service space regarding new artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tools, particularly those aimed at helping customers more easily self-serve and improving agent efficiency for live interactions. And generative AI is powering many of these new initiatives, particularly those focused on agent enablement. However,
- [Data ontology and rethinking customer support metrics - Interview with Marcel Barrera of serviceMob Inc](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/01/data-ontology-and-rethinking-customer-support-metrics-interview-with-marcel-barrera-of-servicemob-inc/) - Today’s podcast is with Marcel Barrera, Chief Strategy Officer at serviceMob Inc, a customer service enterprise technology company specializing in data ontology driven analytics. Marcel joins me today to talk about why the dominant metrics that are currently being used in customer support are broken, “The ‘Hamster Wheel’ Dilemma,” why AI and human agents are
- [How one entrepreneur used customer service to disrupt a traditional industry](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2025/01/how-one-entrepreneur-used-customer-service-to-disrupt-a-traditional-industry/) - Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking to Voyo Popovic, the founder and CEO of Piece of Cake, a fast-expanding moving company headquartered out of New York. Before establishing Piece of Cake seven years ago, Popovic spent three years working for another moving firm in New York, first as a mover and then later in sales.
- [The impact of influencer marketing on customer experience - Interview with Daphne Robertson of #paid](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/12/the-impact-of-influencer-marketing-on-customer-experience-interview-with-daphne-robertson-of-paid/) - Today’s podcast is with Daphne Robertson, the VP of Customer Experience and Operations at #paid, a creator marketplace where brands and creators connect, collaborate and measure their creator marketing campaigns. Daphne joins me today to talk about influencer marketing, its growth and influence on customer experience and engagement, how to get it right and the
- [The two-sided customer experience problem and how VoC data is the answer](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/12/the-two-sided-customer-experience-problem-and-how-voc-data-is-the-answer/) - In this article, CX thought leader Adrian Swinscoe addresses the dual challenge facing customer experience (CX): firstly, the declining trend in customer satisfaction, and secondly, the difficulty brands encounter in demonstrating the ROI of CX initiatives. Studies indicate a downturn in CX quality, with only 46% of CX teams capable of showcasing ROI. Swinscoe encourages
- [An eight-step discovery process to help master the customer experience - Interview with Edwin Margulies of Nextiva](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/12/an-eight-step-discovery-process-to-help-master-the-customer-experience-interview-with-edwin-margulies-of-nextiva/) - Today’s podcast is with Edwin Margulies, Chief Evangelist at Nextiva, a provider of a unified customer experience management platform. Edwin joins me today to talk about his new book, Mastering the Customer Experience, why it was over twenty-five years in the making, the eight-step discovery model at its heart and how it can help companies
- [Closing the skills gap: How can businesses boost their digital skills training?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/12/closing-the-skills-gap-how-can-businesses-boost-their-digital-skills-training/) - This is a guest post by David Banaghan who is the Interim CEO at Occupop. According to the Quantifying Data Skills Gap report, almost half of all workers surveyed had not received data skills training despite showing an interest, highlighting a disconnect between business and education. The IT, software, and computer services sector is worth
- [Pandemic maths and measuring all of marketing - Interview with Gregory Kennedy of Alembic Technologies](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/12/pandemic-maths-and-measuring-all-of-marketing-interview-with-gregory-kennedy-of-alembic-technologies/) - Today’s podcast is with Gregory Kennedy, VP of Marketing at Alembic Technologies, which provides AI-powered marketing analytics for C-suite executives. We talk about how Alembic is applying mathematics and AI, developed for identifying causes, treatments, and mortality during the pandemic, to tracing the results of marketing initiatives across the board, what that means for marketers
- [Cutting through the noise to get to the reality of customer service AI](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/12/cutting-through-the-noise-to-get-to-the-reality-of-customer-service-ai/) - Every December for the last five years, I’ve compiled a set of predictions about what is likely to happen in the customer experience space in the coming year. Last year, one of the themes that emerged was that the contact center and customer service, in general, would lead the way in the application of generative
- [Broken funnels, flywheels and human messaging - Key insights from HubSpot executives at GROW Europe 2024](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/11/broken-funnels-flywheels-and-human-messaging-key-insights-from-hubspot-executives-at-grow-europe-2024/) - Today’s podcast features a series of interviews I conducted with HubSpot executives when I attended HubSpot’s recent GROW Europe 2024 event at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. First up is Daphne Costa Lopes, Global Director of Customer Success at HubSpot, who I talk to about why the marketing funnel is broken, why we should
- [Is channel snobbery holding back brands’ customer experience efforts?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/11/is-channel-snobbery-holding-back-brands-customer-experience-efforts/) - I had a fascinating discussion with Dan Bennett, Senior Partner, Head of Behavioural Science at Ogilvy Consulting, the other day, where he introduced me to the idea of “channel snobbery.” Bennett believes that “channel snobbery” can lead to a type of estrangement between marketing and sales departments and their colleagues in customer service and support.
- [It's not about the customer's journey with our platform, it's about the customer's journey - Interview with Nadine Macklin of Carto](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/11/its-not-about-the-customers-journey-with-our-platform-its-about-the-customers-journey-interview-with-nadine-macklin-of-carto/) - Today’s interview is with Nadine Macklin, who is the Vice President of Customer Success at CARTO, a leading Location Intelligence platform, that enables organizations to use spatial data and analysis for more efficient delivery routes, better behavioural marketing, strategic store placements, and much much more. Nadine joins me today to talk about taking a different
- [Unlocking Growth: Key Insights from HubSpot's GROW Europe 2024 Event](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/11/unlocking-growth-key-insights-from-hubspots-grow-europe-2024-event/) - I’ve followed HubSpot’s progress over the years from them pioneering the inbound marketing space over 15 years ago to where they are now a provider of a platform that covers inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. So, I was really excited when they got in touch recently and invited me to attend their GROW Europe
- [The big list of little things that destroy your customer experience (reprise)](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/10/the-big-list-of-little-things-that-destroy-your-customer-experience-reprise/) - I shared this quote on Instagram the other day..... View this post on Instagram A post shared by Adrian Swinscoe (@punk_cx) and it reminded me of this old post that I published just over ten years ago that I thought was worthy of a reprise: In February 2014, I published an article
- [The third wave of customer support - Interview with Natasha Ratanshi-Stein of Surfboard](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/11/the-third-wave-of-customer-support-interview-with-natasha-ratanshi-stein-of-surfboard/) - Today’s interview is with Natasha Ratanshi-Stein, CEO & Founder of Surfboard, an award-winning workforce management (WFM) software provider. Natasha joins me today to talk about the findings of their recently released 2024 customer service survey: The third wave of customer support, what might be stopping some customer service teams from not investing in AI tools
- [Basketball, false hustle and metrics that matter - Interview with Thomas Laird of Expivia/OttoQA](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/10/basketball-false-hustle-and-metrics-that-matter-interview-with-thomas-laird-of-expivia-ottoqa/) - Today’s interview is with Thomas Laird, founder and CEO of both the Expivia Interaction Marketing Group, a USA BPO omnichannel contact center, and OttoQA, a next-generation solution for automating contact center quality assurance scoring. Thomas is also an author and joins me today to talk about his new book: false hustle: Transforming Customer Experience from
- [Addressing the aging workforce crisis in field service management](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/10/addressing-the-aging-workforce-crisis-in-field-service-management/) - Recently, I spoke to Shahar Chen, co-founder and CEO of Aquant, a field service management software provider, about some new research they had just published. One of the things that really stood out for me within the research was their finding that, according to their internal research, “30% of service solutions are not found in
- [The five promises of personalization - Interview with Mark Abraham and David Edelman](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/10/the-five-promises-of-personalization-interview-with-mark-abraham-and-david-edelman/) - Today’s interview is with Boston Consulting Group Senior Partner Mark F. Abraham and Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer David C. Edelman. They join me today to talk about their new book: PERSONALIZED: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI, defining personalization, the equation P=n×v2, the five promises of personalization, the technology that brands need to
- [The ‘Always On’ culture: 5 ways businesses can mitigate the impact](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/10/the-always-on-culture-5-ways-businesses-can-mitigate-the-impact/) - This is a guest post by David Banaghan who is the Interim CEO at Occupop. The CIPD’s 23rd annual Health and Wellbeing at Work report will make stark reading for employers, with the average employee now taking 7.8 days of sick leave per year. This has climbed from 5.8 days a year since the data
- [There are major tectonic shifts taking place in the outsourcing space right now - Interview with Craig Crisler of SupportNinja](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/10/there-are-major-tectonic-shifts-taking-place-in-the-outsourcing-space-right-now-interview-with-craig-crisler-of-supportninja/) - Today’s interview is with Craig Crisler, CEO at SupportNinja, a modern provider of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services. Amidst lots of research reporting that despite all the investment in new tech, customer satisfaction is at an all-time low, I talk to Craig about where folks are going wrong with their investments, what’s going on in
- [NICE’s 1CX could be a game-changer for solving knotty customer problems](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/09/nices-1cx-could-be-a-game-changer-for-solving-knotty-customer-problems/) - Imagine that one of your customers is experiencing a problem with a product or service that they have purchased from your company. Wanting to find a fast and easy solution to their problem, they land on your website, but after searching your FAQs and interacting with your chatbot, they realise they won’t be able to
- [Within five years, contact center agents will become contact center specialists - Interview with Sam Wilson of 8x8](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/09/within-five-years-contact-center-agents-will-become-contact-center-specialists-interview-with-sam-wilson-of-8x8/) - Today’s interview is with Sam Wilson, the CEO of 8x8, a provider of a unified cloud platform for contact center, business phone, video, chat, and APIs that helps companies of any size deliver differentiated customer experiences. I’ve spoken to Sam a couple of times, and every time, we have great conversations where we rummage around
- [Four ways businesses can adopt AI to connect successfully with Gen Z](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/09/four-ways-businesses-can-adopt-ai-to-connect-successfully-with-gen-z/) - This is a guest post by Gary Clark a snowsports business expert and Academy Director at SIA Austria. Wielding an estimated $150 billion purchasing power globally, Gen Z consumers – spanning those born between 1997 and 2012 – are a marketplace force to be reckoned with. This tech-savvy generation therefore deserves attention from businesses with
- [Building customer loyalty and a human connection in an increasingly competitive landscape - Interview with Conny Kalcher of Zurich Insurance](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/09/building-customer-loyalty-and-a-human-connection-in-an-increasingly-competitive-landscape-interview-with-conny-kalcher-of-zurich-insurance/) - Today’s interview is with Conny Kalcher, Group Chief Customer Officer at Zurich Insurance. Conny joins me today to talk about her ambitions for Zurich to become the “Apple of Insurance”, her guiding philosophy around customer retention and revenue, how they are building customer loyalty and a human connection in an increasingly competitive landscape and some
- [5 organizations that are responding in inspiring and holistic ways to the coronavirus crisis](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/04/5-organizations-that-are-responding-in-inspiring-and-holistic-ways-to-the-coronavirus-crisis/) - The coronavirus pandemic is having far reaching effects on our economies and societies. What brands and organizations do in response will go a long way to determining how their customers feel about them in the future.
- [AI and employment law gaps: Three ways businesses can navigate current and future challenges](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/09/ai-and-employment-law-gaps-three-ways-businesses-can-navigate-current-and-future-challenges/) - This is a guest post by David Banaghan who is the Interim CEO at Occupop. According to Government research, one in six organisations now uses AI technology, transforming how businesses operate and make decisions. The IT and Telecommunications sector blazes a trail with an adoption rate of 29.5%, closely followed by the Legal sector (29.2%),
- [If it matters for your customer, it’s important - Interview with Tara DeZao, Simon Thorpe and James Dodkins of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/09/if-it-matters-for-your-customer-its-important-interview-with-tara-dezao-simon-thorpe-and-james-dodkins-of-pega/) - Today’s interview revisits and finalises the series of podcast conversations that I had with various folks whilst at Pegaworld earlier this. This episode is a combo affair and features a conversation with Tara DeZao, Director of Product Marketing, AdTech and MarTech, at Pega. It is then swiftly followed by a chat that I had with
- [Factors driving the gap between customer expectations and satisfaction](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/08/factors-driving-the-gap-between-customer-expectations-and-satisfaction/) - Customers are generally not happy with the experiences they are having with brands. Last month, Forrester published the US 2024 Customer Experience (CX) Index, which found that US customers’ perceptions of the quality of experiences that they are receiving from brands have declined for the third year in a row and have now hit levels
- [Print-era thinking is holding personalization efforts back - Interview with Vivek Sharma on Movable Ink](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/08/print-era-thinking-is-holding-personalization-efforts-back-interview-with-vivek-sharma-on-movable-ink/) - Today’s interview is with Vivek Sharma, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of Movable Ink, which empowers marketers with scalable, omnichannel personalization through data activation and AI decisioning. Vivek joins me today to talk about their recent 2024 Audience of One research report, content creation as a key bottleneck in personalisation efforts, how automation through the
- [Are assumptions hindering your delivery of great customer service?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/08/are-assumptions-hindering-your-delivery-of-great-customer-service/) - Recently, I was invited to participate in a discussion about how to improve customer service outcomes. At one point in the discussion, we were talking about how hard it can be to improve customer service outcomes given rising demand, high customer expectations, and the budgetary pressures that many customer service teams are under. Whilst I
- [Agents view agent-assist technology as more important than a competitive salary - Interview with Gopi Polavarapu at Kore.ai](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/08/agents-view-agent-assist-technology-as-more-important-than-a-competitive-salary-interview-with-gopi-polavarapu-at-kore-ai/) - Today’s interview is with Gopi Polavarapu, Chief Solutions Officer at Kore.ai, a market leader in Conversational AI platform space. Gopi joins me today to talk about two reports that they recently published ( the Agent Experience (AX) Benchmark Report 2024 and the Customer Experience (CX) Benchmark Report 2024), why a bot must emulate a company’s
- [Countdown to Inclusion: What to expect from the European Accessibility Act](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/08/countdown-to-inclusion-what-to-expect-from-the-european-accessibility-act/) - This is a guest post from Mike Adams OBE , founder of EnableAll. In just under a year, the European Accessibility Act will become law as of 28th June 2025. This is huge change in the regulatory landscape for businesses, as it will make digital inaccessibility unlawful.Various products and services will be affected, including e-commerce,
- [The Brand Connectome™ and why we are doing marketing all wrong - Interview with Leslie Zane](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/08/the-brand-connectome-and-why-we-are-doing-marketing-all-wrong-interview-with-leslie-zane/) - Today’s interview is with Leslie Zane, who is the Founder and CEO of Triggers, a brand consulting firm, and an authority on harnessing the instinctive mind to accelerate brand and business growth. Leslie joins me today to talk about her new book, THE POWER OF INSTINCT: The New Rules of Persuasion in Business and Life,
- [Make promises, keep them but you don’t have to beat them](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/07/make-promises-keep-them-but-you-dont-have-to-beat-them/) - I was thinking about expectations the other day and it reminded me of something that I wrote in How To Wow, so I thought I'd share that with you: There is a common theory when it comes to customer relations and service that brands should aim to exceed expectations. That’s fair enough, you might
- [The customer isn’t always right - Interview with Daphne Costa Lopes of Hubspot](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/07/the-customer-isnt-always-right-interview-with-daphne-costa-lopes-of-hubspot/) - Today’s interview is with Daphne Costa Lopes, Global Director of Customer Success at HubSpot. Daphne joins me today to talk about customer success, why the customer isn’t always right, how siloed systems inhibit the delivery of tailored experiences, and what brands should be doing more of to drive customer-led growth. This interview follows on from
- [PegaWorld themes speak to the top AI implementation challenges](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/07/pegaworld-themes-speak-to-the-top-ai-implementation-challenges/) - Given the rapid evolution of technology in the customer engagement space over the last year, and after attending a few other vendor customer events in recent months, I was keen to hear about Pega’s latest thinking and the advancements they had made to their platform at this year’s PegaWorld, given that they are leading player
- [There needs to be a really tight relationship between business strategy and target state architecture - Interview with Cale Urwin of Bupa](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/07/there-needs-to-be-a-really-tight-relationship-between-business-strategy-and-target-state-architecture-interview-with-cale-urwin-of-bupa/) - Today’s interview is with Cale Urwin, Director, Data, Digital & Marketing Health Services at Bupa. I caught up with Cale recently at PegaWorld in Las Vegas to talk about what stood for him at the event and how Bupa has evolved its customer engagement story and Customer Decision Hub capabilities in Australia from outbound to
- [We've only just scratched the surface of artificial intelligence - Interview with Peter van der Putten of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/07/weve-only-just-scratched-the-surface-of-artificial-intelligence-interview-with-peter-van-der-putten-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Dr Peter van der Putten, who is Director of the AI Lab at Pega and assistant professor of AI at Leiden University in The Netherlands. I caught up with Peter at the recent PegaWorld to talk about his highlights from the event, how to think about AI using a left/right brain
- [Employee activism on the rise: The most important issues to employees and how to respond with empathy](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/07/employee-activism-on-the-rise-the-most-important-issues-to-employees-and-how-to-respond-with-empathy/) - This is a guest post from Ben Mercer at Leisure Lakes Bikes. More and more businesses are finding that employees are driving activism around topics and issues in the workplace that are important to them. In fact, 59% of employers expect employee activism to increase even further. But what are some key topics that could
- [The ongoing decline of brand loyalty, what’s driving it and what should be done about it - Interview with Simon Morris of ServiceNow](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/07/the-ongoing-decline-of-brand-loyalty-whats-driving-it-and-what-should-be-done-about-it-interview-with-simon-morris-of-servicenow/) - Today’s interview is with Simon Morris, the Area Vice President of Solution Consulting at ServiceNow. Simon joins me today to talk about ServiceNow’s new Consumer Voice Report 2024, the ongoing decline of brand loyalty, what’s driving it, why “The future of customer experience is high-tech meets high-touch” and some of the biggest lessons coming out
- [Now there is no excuse for not closing the loop on customer feedback](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/07/now-there-is-no-excuse-for-not-closing-the-loop-on-customer-feedback/) - It’s pretty safe to say that most businesses ask their customers for feedback these days. Most would agree that is a good thing. But, there are two problems with that situation. The first problem is that research suggests that while the largest majority of companies ask their customers for feedback, only a small minority close
- [How artificial intelligence in task management can transform the customer and employee experiences](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/06/how-artificial-intelligence-in-task-management-can-transform-the-customer-and-employee-experiences/) - This is a guest post by Brianna Van Zanten, Customer Success Manager at InCheq In my experience, many business leaders are intimidated by the idea of incorporating AI-based systems, even though they shouldn’t be. AI can simplify a business’s operations, transforming both its employee and customer experiences for the better. Implementing next-generation task-management software is
- [Listening and taking action at scale - Interview with Ron Secrist of Citi and Christina Sansone of Dish](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/06/listening-and-taking-action-at-scale-interview-with-ron-secrist-of-citi-and-christina-sansone-of-dish/) - Today’s interview is a combo podcast in which I interview (separately) Ron Secrist, Managing Director, Head of Client Experience at Citi, and Christina Sansone, Vice President of CX Transformation at Dish. I met both of them when I attended Qualtrics’ X4 Summit in Salt Lake City last month and talked to them about their Qualtrics
- [Financial brands need to shore up trust…or we’re all going to sink](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/06/financial-brands-need-to-shore-up-trustor-were-all-going-to-sink/) - This is a guest post by Nadja Bellan-White, CEO of SS+K, an M&C Saatchi company. Financial institutions are swept up in a crisis of confidence in society’s biggest institutions – alongside government, education and healthcare – and their customers are navigating an adversarial economic climate, with the cost of credit and housing on a steep
- [How to get 2.7mln ‘Mom & Pop’ stores to adopt a new distributive trade platform - Interview with Prashaant Huria of Unilever](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/06/how-to-get-2-7mln-mom-pop-stores-to-adopt-a-new-distributive-trade-platform-interview-with-prashaant-huria-of-unilever/) - Today’s interview is with Prashaant Huria, who is the Chief Technology Officer for Unilever’s Digital Distributive Trade business. Prashaant and I connected after he spoke at Adobe’s Global Summit in Las Vegas back in late March. We talked about how they got 2.7mln ‘Mom & Pop’ stores to adopt a new distributive trade platform that
- [Overcoming cultural latency: How video technologies support today’s hybrid workplace](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/06/overcoming-cultural-latency-how-video-technologies-support-todays-hybrid-workplace/) - This is a guest post from Colin Farquhar, senior vice president of enterprise IP video, and Kerry Lindsay, vice president of human resources at IPTV specialist: VITEC. Video technologies are emerging as critical tools for overcoming cultural latency in the digital workplace in today’s fast-paced business landscape. The robustness and reliability of video technology, particularly
- [Lessons learnt from testing Copilot for service across tens of thousands of service engineers - Interview with Jeff Comstock of Microsoft](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/06/lessons-learnt-from-testing-copilot-for-service-across-tens-of-thousands-of-service-engineers-interview-with-jeff-comstock-of-microsoft/) - Today’s interview is with Jeff Comstock, CVP of Dynamics 365 Customer Service at Microsoft. Jeff joins me today to talk about Co-Pilot for Service, the impact it is having on the agent experience and also customer/business outcomes, their experience trialling it extensively with their own customer service engineers, how their early adopter clients are leveraging
- [How to exceed customer expectations using OKRs](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/05/how-to-exceed-customer-expectations-using-okrs/) - This is a guest post by Jeremy Yancey, the Head of Content at Tability. Meeting customer expectations alone is no longer enough for businesses to succeed. With ever-changing needs and demands, companies must go above and beyond to stand out and secure long-term growth. But how can this be achieved strategically and systematically? The answer
- [Personalisation and the pink elephant in the room - Interview with Emma Springham of TSB](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/05/personalisation-and-the-pink-elephant-in-the-room-interview-with-emma-springham-of-tsb/) - Today’s interview is with Emma Springham, Chief Marketing Officer at TSB, a British retail and commercial bank. I met Emma at Adobe’s Global Summit in Las Vegas after she spoke on the Main Stage. Emma and I talk about the importance of your personal brand in marketing and CX leadership, the pink elephant in the
- [The limiting factor to achieving personalized experiences at scale](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/05/the-limiting-factor-to-achieving-personalized-experiences-at-scale/) - Sitting and watching the keynotes from Day One of the recent Adobe Summit, there were times when I must admit I felt a little overwhelmed by the number of announcements and new innovations that were on display. That’s not to say that it wasn’t all very impressive. It’s obvious that Adobe has been busy leveraging Generative
- [Making in-store grocery shopping fun and going viral on TikTok - Interview with David McIntosh of Instacart](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/05/making-in-store-grocery-shopping-fun-and-going-viral-on-tiktok-interview-with-david-mcintosh-of-instacart/) - Today’s interview is with David McIntosh, who is VP and GM of Connected Stores at Instacart. David joins me today to talk about innovation in the retail space, why and how they are reaching into the physical retail domain, what they are up to, the benefits for both the customer and business and a look
- [Could introducing Mental Health Days help your business support employee wellbeing?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/05/could-introducing-mental-health-days-help-your-business-support-employee-wellbeing/) - This is a guest post by David Banaghan who is the Interim CEO at Occupop. When it comes to a productive business, happy and healthy employees are essential. Whether it is physical safety or mental wellbeing, maintaining a good working environment is the responsibility of any business. With Mental Health Awareness Week from 13th
- [If you aren't fixing the bigger picture, then you are just putting a band-aid on the problem - Interview with Zig Serafin of Qualtrics](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/05/if-you-arent-fixing-the-bigger-picture-then-you-are-just-putting-a-band-aid-on-the-problem-interview-with-zig-serafin-of-qualtrics/) - Today’s interview is with Zig Serafin, CEO at Qualtrics, the leading Experience Management software provider. I spoke to Zig at Qualtrics’ recent X4 event in Salt Lake City. We talked about Qualtrics’ vision, the highlights from the event, the XM Operating system, Qualtrics AI and the hundred different AI models that they have built, how
- [Employee expectations around rewards are changing - Businesses need to change with them ](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/05/employee-expectations-around-rewards-are-changing-businesses-need-to-change-with-them/) - This is a guest post by Cindy Mielke, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Tango. Prioritizing employee engagement and satisfaction is a critical goal for organizational prosperity. Recent insights shed light on two pivotal trends that emphasize the shifting dynamics of employee recognition: the allure of receiving rewards and the preference for digital gift cards among
- [The Generative AI landscape: The good, the bad and the boring - Interview with Don Schuerman of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/05/the-generative-ai-landscape-the-good-the-bad-and-the-boring-interview-with-don-schuerman-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Don Schuerman, the CTO and Vice President of Product Strategy and Marketing at Pegasystems. Don joins me today to talk about the upcoming PegaWorld iNspire 2024 (PegaWorld is taking place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas from June 9th to the 11th and there is a money back guarantee!), what
- [New Adobe research: Generative AI is changing what consumers expect from brands](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/04/new-adobe-research-generative-ai-is-changing-what-consumers-expect-from-brands/) - About a year ago, I spoke to Luc Dammann, President EMEA at Adobe, about some new research that Adobe had just published. The research found that consumers expect even better experiences from brands when economic conditions become more challenging. Now, if you think about it, that makes complete sense. When their budgets are under pressure,
- [Episode 500: Some reflections on the last 13 years](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/04/episode-500-some-reflections-on-the-last-13-years/) - In today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast, there is no interview. Why? Because today, I am celebrating the 500th edition of the podcast! Woop! Woop! Now, I thought long and hard about how to commemorate the occasion and how I might be able to use an interview format to do so. I did toy
- [Two thirds of UK customers may be vulnerable but not obviously so](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/04/two-thirds-of-uk-customers-may-be-vulnerable-but-not-obviously-so/) - Last year, I spoke to Darren Rushworth, President of NICE International, about the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) new Consumer Duty regulations and how they were designed to protect consumers, particularly vulnerable ones, and drive better outcomes across the financial services sector. That article also focused on how technology could play a significant role in
- [Leadership, storytelling and why it is an art and it needs to be taught - Interview with Gareth Higgins](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/04/leadership-storytelling-and-why-it-is-an-art-and-it-needs-to-be-taught-interview-with-gareth-higgins/) - Today’s interview is with Gareth Higgins, who writes and speaks about the power of storytelling to shape our lives and world, peace and justice, and how to take life seriously without believing your own propaganda. Gareth joins me today to talk about what makes a good story, whether good/effective storytelling be learnt, how people can
- [A comprehensive guide to Customer Data Platforms in 2024](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/04/a-comprehensive-guide-to-customer-data-platforms-in-2024/) - This is a guest post by Aparna M. A., a Content Writer for Kings Research. In the ever-evolving digital landscape, businesses of all sizes are grappling with a new challenge: how to effectively tap into the vast reservoirs of customer data at their disposal. The exponential growth of diverse channels, devices, and touchpoints has triggered
- [You don't get promoted for teaching people how to wash their hands - Interview with James Lawther](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/04/you-dont-get-promoted-for-teaching-people-how-to-wash-their-hands-interview-with-james-lawther/) - Today’s interview is with James Lawther, Director at Squawk Point Consulting and Author of ‘Managed by Morons: The Path to a Thriving Organisation’. James joins me today to talk about his new book, why so many organisations are mediocre, what we should be thinking about when it comes to measuring performance, a story about a
- [Customer Advocacy - An Untapped Asset](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/03/customer-advocacy-an-untapped-asset/) - This is a guest post by Rhys Williams, a freelance content marketing writer specialising in B2B SaaS, martech and personalisation. While there are plenty of positive economic signs, substantial headwinds remain. The sustained falls in customers’ buying power will take time to recover from, and businesses are cautious about spending. In short, the economy is
- [What happens when you give data back to people? - Interview with Jamie Smith of Customer Futures](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/03/what-happens-when-you-give-data-back-to-people-interview-with-jamie-smith-of-customer-futures/) - Today’s interview is with Jamie Smith, who is the Founder and CEO of Customer Futures Ltd, an advisory firm helping businesses seize the opportunity around disruptive and customer-empowering digital propositions, and author of the weekly Customer Futures Newsletter. Jamie joins me today to talk about CustomerTech tools, EmpowermentTech, the emerging Customer Stack, what this all
- [The worrying state of the European contact center space](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/03/the-worrying-state-of-the-european-contact-center-space/) - Every now and again, I come across a piece of research that makes me want to pull my hair out. One such piece of research was the recently released State of Contact Centres 2024: Part 1 – Trends report from Puzzel, a leading European CCaaS player, which surveyed 750 contact centre leaders from various organizations
- [A look inside a punk-inspired contact center - Interview with David Powers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/03/a-look-inside-a-punk-inspired-contact-center-interview-with-david-powers/) - Today’s interview is with David Powers, who is an author, podcast host, Chief Experience Officer at Rooter Hero Plumbing & Air and a true punk. David joins me today to talk about the need for taking a more punk approach to customer experience and the contact center, what that means in practical terms, some of
- [IWD 2024: How Can Businesses Help Women Feel More Supported and Engaged at Work?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/03/iwd-2024-how-can-businesses-help-women-feel-more-supported-and-engaged-at-work/) - This is a guest post by Caroline Gleeson, CEO at Occupop. During the Great Resignation, which saw employees voluntarily leaving their jobs en masse, recent statistics revealed that 29% of women thought about leaving their current jobs, reducing hours or dropping out of the workforce altogether. On the eve of International Women’s Day (Friday, March
- [The CX value model and linking experience to business outcomes - Interview with Michael Hinshaw of McorpCX](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/02/the-cx-value-model-and-linking-experience-to-business-outcomes-interview-with-michael-hinshaw-of-mcorpcx/) - Today’s interview is with Michael Hinshaw, the founder and president of customer experience consultancy McorpCX. Michael joins me today to talk about the CX value model and why we should be linking experience to business outcomes, some key indicators of a successful customer-centric transformation, why your company might need an experience operating system (the XOS),
- [The dark corners waiting to undermine your customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/02/the-dark-corners-waiting-to-undermine-your-customer-experience/) - In November of last year, I spoke at the CX NXT - Customer Experience Summit in Dubai on the topic of failure, fumbles and fiascos in customer experience. Now, we can all learn from failures, but rather than just doing a talk about service and experience mishaps and what we can learn from them specifically, I wanted
- [Leadership lessons from the winner of the 2023 CX Leader of the Year - Interview with Roxie Strohmenger of UKG](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/02/leadership-lessons-from-the-winner-of-the-2023-cx-leader-of-the-year-interview-with-roxie-strohmenger-of-ukg/) - Today’s interview is with the winner of the MyCustomer 2023 CX Leader of the Year competition: Roxie Strohmenger, GSO - VP, CX Strategy at UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group). This interview is slightly different this week as I conduct it with Clare Muscutt, Founder and CEO of Women in CX but follows the same format to
- [The imperative of customer trust in 2024](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/02/the-imperative-of-customer-trust-in-2024/) - How to gain and keep a customer's trust has become an ever-present challenge in recent years, with customers becoming increasingly concerned about data, privacy and security issues. This trust challenge has been exacerbated over the last year with the emergence of Generative AI. Recent research by Qualtrics XM Institute reveals how big this challenge has
- [The frontline is where you connect EX and CX together in a very natural way - Interview with Joe Tyrrell of Medallia](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/02/the-frontline-is-where-you-connect-ex-and-cx-together-in-a-very-natural-way-interview-with-joe-tyrell-of-medallia/) - Today’s interview is with Joe Tyrrell, CEO of Medallia. Joe joins me today to talk about why brands must consider EX in their journey to CX success, his view on the impact Generative AI is having on the world of experience and where he thinks it is heading, personalization and the big challenges that organizations
- [15 Customer experience predictions for 2024](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/02/15-customer-experience-predictions-for-2024/) - For the last five years, around this time, I’ve compiled a set of customer experience-related predictions for the coming year. For each article, I gather together a set of predictions that have been sent to me over the preceding month. I then select the ones that stand out and make the most sense in the
- [Forget the hype. Here's what enterprises are actually doing with generative AI - Interview with Stefano Puntoni and Jeremy Korst](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/02/forget-the-hype-heres-what-enterprises-are-actually-doing-with-generative-ai-interview-with-stefano-puntoni-and-jeremy-korst/) - Today’s interview is with Stefano Puntoni, Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School and Director of AI at Wharton, and Jeremy Korst, President at GBK Collective. Stefano and Jeremy join me today to talk about a new report called The Rise of Generative AI in the Enterprise that they collaborated on and recently released, some
- [Navigating cultural variances in global marketing: Insights from around the world](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/01/navigating-cultural-variances-in-global-marketing-insights-from-around-the-world/) - This is a guest post by David Beasley, director at Washington Direct Mail. According to a recent research by Equinix, 72% of global businesses are looking to expand globally despite economic concerns. Having learnt from the pandemic when businesses that ventured into new territories thrived, today’s companies are embracing the opportunities and challenges that international expansion
- [The raw and honest truth about what agents think about their jobs - Interview with Juanita Coley](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/01/the-raw-and-honest-truth-about-what-agents-think-about-their-jobs-interview-with-juanita-coley/) - Today’s interview is with Juanita Coley, who is best known as the “Contact Center Whisperer” and is also the CEO and Founder of Solid Rock Consulting, a workforce management consulting firm. Juanita joins me today to talk about the inside track on what customer service agents like or don’t like about their jobs, the implications
- [Technology choice, adoption and the paradox of choice](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/01/technology-choice-adoption-and-the-paradox-of-choice/) - Have you ever found yourself going to a Lego store intent on buying an assortment of Lego pieces as a gift for someone, but when faced with so much choice, you end up buying nothing? This type of scenario popped into my head following a conversation with someone at the Call Centre Expo in London
- [The challenge with conversational analysis in the Nordics - Interview with Tue Martin Berg of Capturi](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/01/the-challenge-with-conversational-analysis-in-the-nordics-interview-with-tue-martin-berg-of-capturi/) - Today’s interview is with Tue Martin Berg, the CEO and part of the founding team at Capturi, Scandinavia's leading software provider for conversation analysis. Tue joins me today to talk about what they are up to, why some Scandinavian organisations who after implementing call/interaction analytics solutions from one of the big US providers, then ripped
- [BrandGPT and the future of CX](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/01/brandgpt-and-the-future-of-cx/) - This is a guest post by Jay Wolcott, CEO and co-founder of Knowbl. Statistics show that 81 percent of US consumers shopped online in 2022, but as any business person can tell you, shopping and buying are very different. When it comes to buying, in-store shopping is still much more popular than the online alternative,
- [Are you doing change to people or with people? - Interview with Phil Lewis and Claire Croft of Corporate Punk](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2024/01/are-you-doing-change-to-people-or-with-people-interview-with-phil-lewis-and-claire-croft-of-corporate-punk/) - Today’s interview is with Phil Lewis and Claire Croft of Corporate Punk, an award-winning management consultancy that helps clients innovate and transform their business culture. Phil and Claire join me today to talk about how many change/transformation initiatives suffer because they try to do change to and not with their people, how doing change with
- [The AI agent revolution: Changing the dynamics of customer service](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/12/the-ai-agent-revolution-changing-the-dynamics-of-customer-service/) - This is a guest post by Jeanicka Rhey, a content writer. Quality customer service holds immense importance for businesses, impacting customer satisfaction and loyalty significantly. In recent times, a shift has occurred in the delivery of customer service, primarily due to the increased utilization of AI agents. These smart virtual assistants have revolutionized the way
- [Customers don't want minimally viable anything. They just want quality - Interview with Debbie Levitt](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/12/customers-dont-want-minimally-viable-anything-they-just-want-quality-interview-with-debbie-levitt/) - Today’s interview is with Debbie Levitt, who is the CXO of Delta CX and the author of Customers Know You Suck. Debbie joins me today to talk about how we are in danger of over-indexing on failure and celebrating failure rather than trying to emulate what makes successful companies successful, how that is manifesting itself,
- [Three trends reshaping the customer experience outsourcing market](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/12/three-trends-reshaping-the-customer-experience-outsourcing-market/) - The contact center space is under a lot of pressure right now. As things stand, the status quo doesn’t look sustainable. Business Process Outsourcers (BPOs) play a big role in the contact center space, with 58% of contact center leaders reporting that they outsource at least some of their service capacity to BPOs, according to
- [Personalization is pervasive but it's not personal - Interview with Shafqat Islam](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/12/personalization-is-pervasive-but-its-not-personal-interview-with-shafqat-islam/) - Today’s interview is with Shafqat Islam, Chief Marketing Officer at Optimizely, a digital experience platform software as a service provider. Shafqat joins me today to talk about their recently released Personalised to Personal report, why they think that personalization has officially reached its maximum maturity level, what’s standing in the way of marketers delivering a
- [Customer service: How to get the right balance between digitalisation and the human touch](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/12/customer-service-how-to-get-the-right-balance-between-digitalisation-and-the-human-touch/) - This is a guest post from Janine Hunt, Client Partnership Director at customer service outsourcer Kura. According to new data, half of adults who have used AI chatbots used it during customer service interactions. But are bots really the touchpoint we want our customers to have with our businesses? Janine Hunt, Client Partnership Director at
- [Paul Weller, the Scots word 'gallus' and their relation to delivering an award-winning customer experience - Interview with John Devlin of Ascensos](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/11/paul-weller-the-scots-word-gallus-and-their-relation-to-delivering-an-award-winning-customer-experience-interview-with-john-devlin-of-ascensos/) - Today’s interview is with John Devlin, CEO and co-founder of Ascensos, a leading customer management and contact centre solution provider that offers bespoke and innovative solutions for various industries, such as consumer retail, healthcare and insurance. John joins me today to talk about the evolution of the customer service outsourcing space over the last 25+
- [Embracing the future of CX: Unleashing the power of converged VOIP, contact centers, and video conferencing software](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/11/embracing-the-future-of-cx-unleashing-the-power-of-converged-voip-contact-centers-and-video-conferencing-software/) - This is a guest post by Jeni Rogers, Managing Editor, Wheelhouse.com. As CX continues to evolve into a modern business initiative and area of keen focus for virtually every type of organization, business software leaders are adapting their technology to provide businesses with an all-in-one approach to CX that merges three important software systems that
- [Your customer doesn't want to know about your technology - Interview with Micah Solomon](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/11/your-customer-doesnt-want-to-know-about-your-technology-interview-with-micah-solomon/) - Today’s interview is with Micah Solomon, a renowned expert on customer service, hospitality, and customer experience. Micah joins me today to talk about his new book: Can Your Customer Service Do This?: Create an Anticipatory Customer Experience that Builds Loyalty Forever, why he spends a lot of time wearing a disguise and using a fake
- [Consistency is often overlooked but is the secret ingredient to making customers happy](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/11/consistency-is-often-overlooked-but-is-the-secret-ingredient-to-making-customers-happy/) - I’d like to tell you a couple of stories about some things that happened to me while travelling to speak at an event in Munich recently and why I think they are important, particularly when it comes to customer service and experience. The first incident happened when it came time for me to check in
- [How to safely realise the enormous potential of Al - Interview with Juliette Powell and Art Kleiner](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/11/how-to-safely-realise-the-enormous-potential-of-al-interview-with-juliette-powell-and-art-kleiner/) - Today’s interview is with Juliette Powell and Art Kleiner. Juliette is an author, entrepreneur, technologist, and strategist, who works at the intersection of culture, data science, and ethics and Art is a writer, editor, consultant/facilitator and entrepreneur with a background in technology, business culture, scenario thinking and organizational learning. They are both faculty members at
- [How the world is reacting to AI use in customer service](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/11/how-the-world-is-reacting-to-ai-use-in-customer-service/) - This is a guest post from Janine Hunt, Client Partnership Director at customer service outsourcer Kura. Data shows that 35% of businesses have adopted using AI in some way for their day-to-day running. Whether it is to improve cyber security or give your customers a better experience, AI has been creeping its way into our
- [The science behind repairing trust - Interview with Professor Peter Kim](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/10/the-science-behind-repairing-trust-interview-with-professor-peter-kim/) - Today’s interview is with Dr. Peter Kim, Professor of Management and Organization at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and author of a newly published book called How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships Are Built, Broken, and Repaired. Peter joins me today on the podcast to talk about his new
- [How to bring employees together for the holidays – Even if they’re far apart](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/10/how-to-bring-employees-together-for-the-holidays-even-if-theyre-far-apart/) - This is a guest post by Cindy Mielke, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Tango. The holidays are a time for togetherness and wrapping up the year with joy, but doing so has gotten trickier in the business world. Employees working remote – often in other states, if not countries – has become significantly more common of late. With the holiday season quickly approaching, many organizations are scratching their heads in regard to how to best bring their teams together despite vast distances separating many of them.
- [The five barriers to digital transformation and a roadmap to overcome them - Interview with David Rogers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/10/the-five-barriers-to-digital-transformation-and-a-roadmap-to-overcome-them-interview-with-david-rogers/) - Today’s interview is with David Rogers, who is the world’s leading expert on digital transformation, a member of the faculty at Columbia Business School, and the author of five books. He joins me today to talk about his new book, "The Digital Transformation Roadmap”, the reasons behind why 70 percent or more of digital transformations
- [The stakes are set to get higher in onsite search experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/10/the-stakes-are-set-to-get-higher-in-onsite-search-experience/) - Whenever we are presented with a question that we don’t have the answer to or a situation that is unfamiliar to us, we seek help. Historically, we might have sought out a book or a manual in our search for answers, or we might have asked someone for help. But, in today’s digital world, when
- [Brands don't need more feedback or survey data to better understand their customers - Interview with Nate Sanders of Artifact](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/10/brands-dont-need-more-feedback-or-survey-data-to-better-understand-their-customers-interview-with-nate-sanders-of-artifact/) - Today’s interview is with Nate Sanders, the co-founder and CEO of Artifact, the customer experience forecasting company. Nate joins me today to talk about the recent guest post that he wrote for my site called “Obituary: The Survey (1920s – 2023)” [It caused a bit of stir on LinkedIn], where we are at re surveys,
- [5 Small businesses with killer customer service (and what you can learn from them)](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/08/5-small-businesses-with-killer-customer-service-and-what-you-can-learn-from-them/) - This is a guest post by Meredith Wood who is the Head of Content and Editor-in-Chief at Fundera. If you own a small business, your biggest priority may be sales. But the single hardest thing to get right is probably customer service. Fortunately, most U.S. customers are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt: 81% of consumers think that SMBs deliver better service than big businesses.
- [5 Ways your business diversity is improving the customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/10/5-ways-your-business-diversity-is-improving-the-customer-experience/) - This is a guest post by Grace Anderson, senior HR business partner at Kura. Data shows that 76% of customers would happily move to a different company if it meant they got better customer service. The customer experience can determine your customer loyalty, so ensuring your workforce reflects your customers could solve your customer retention
- [When we talk about attention, we're actually talking about engagement - Interview with Walter Flaat of dentsu Canada](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/10/when-we-talk-about-attention-were-actually-talking-about-engagement-interview-with-walter-flaat-of-dentsu-canada/) - Today’s interview is with Walter Flaat, dentsu Canada’s Chief Data Officer. We talk about a new whitepaper that they’ve just published on the Attention Economy, what drives attention (engagement), what brands should be doing in order to be able to deliver a more thoughtful, empathetic and inclusive experience and what are the implications for experience
- [What data skills can actually help CX Punk Rockers?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/09/what-data-skills-can-actually-help-cx-punk-rockers/) - This is a guest post by Akin Arikan, the author of Customer Experience Analytics and Multichannel Metrics. Adrian points out that “CX should not be reduced to a KPI”, as fans of Punk CX will know. “Data are only a ​​proxy or measure, of how we are doing helping our customers have a good experience.”
- [Why financial services firms must stand out through stellar customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/09/why-financial-services-firms-must-stand-out-through-stellar-customer-experience/) - This is a guest post by Jon Brooks, Head of Financial Services at Sabio Group. In the dynamic landscape of financial services, where numerous firms are vying for the same set of customers, differentiation is the name of the game. Gone are the days when just having a good product portfolio or offering competitive interest
- [The delusion amongst customer service and experience VPs - Interview with Micah Peterson of ProcedureFlow](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/09/interview-with-micah-peterson-of-procedureflow/) - Today’s interview is with Micah Peterson, a member of the founding team and the VP of Product Management at ProcedureFlow, the next-generation knowledge management software that is designed to help companies visualize and navigate processes. We talk about two delusions that exist in the service space, particularly at the VP level, why followed procedures reduce
- [Recent research suggests that something has to change in the contact center space](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/09/recent-research-suggests-that-something-has-to-change-in-the-contact-center-space/) - It’s not been a great couple of months for customer experience. In the middle of June, Forrester released its US 2023 Customer Experience Index, which showed that brands’ CX Quality had fallen for the second consecutive year. A week later, they released the Canadian version of their CX index, and it had fallen to its
- [The autonomous enterprise is like a North Star vision of where business is going - Interview with Kerim Akgonul and Peter van der Putten of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/08/the-autonomous-enterprise-is-like-a-north-star-vision-of-where-business-is-going-interview-with-kerim-akgonul-and-peter-van-der-putten-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is like an interview I released a couple of weeks ago and features two, separate interviews that I conducted on a recent trip to Pegaworld iNspire held in Las Vegas. The first interview is with Kerim Akgonul, the Chief Product Officer at Pega. This is swiftly followed by a chat with Dr Peter
- [The autonomous enterprise is like a North Star vision of where business is going - Interview with Kerim Akgonul and Peter van der Putten of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/08/the-autonomous-enterprise-is-like-a-north-star-vision-of-where-business-is-going-interview-with-kerim-akgonul-and-peter-van-der-putten-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is like an interview I released a couple of weeks ago and features two, separate interviews that I conducted on a recent trip to Pegaworld iNspire held in Las Vegas. The first interview is with Kerim Akgonul, the Chief Product Officer at Pega. This is swiftly followed by a chat with Dr Peter
- [From sole ambassadors, to the heart of business decisions: the UX evolution of the last decade](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/08/from-sole-ambassadors-to-the-heart-of-business-decisions-the-ux-evolution-of-the-last-decade/) - This is a guest post by Dana Bishop, VP of Experience Research Strategy at UserTesting. Over the last decade, the user experience (UX) industry has not only transformed but has seen a significant change in its perception in business. Once typically the domain of a sole passionate evangelist within the business, UX was relegated to
- [Revisiting the Big Ass Fans story and what happened next - Interview with Carey Smith of Unorthodox Ventures](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/08/revisiting-the-big-ass-fans-story-and-what-happened-next-interview-with-carey-smith-of-unorthodox-ventures/) - Today’s interview is with Carey Smith, who is Founding Contrarian at Unorthodox Ventures. Carey is a returning guest and was first on the podcast back in October 2014, where along with his colleague Dave Waltz, they shared with me the story of how their customer service strategy was central to growing the Big Ass Fans
- [When it comes to customer experience transformation, technology isn’t the problem](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/08/when-it-comes-to-customer-experience-transformation-technology-isnt-the-problem/) - I was in Las Vegas recently for Pegaworld iNspire 2023, Pega’s annual customer event. It’s the first time it’s been held in person for four years, and it was great to connect again with a lot of familiar faces, meet some new ones and catch up on all things Pega. I’ve always liked Pega as a
- [New shoes, a surprising but delightful musical collaboration, the autonomous enterprise, gen AI and getting personalisation right - Interview with James Dodkins and Tara DeZao of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/08/new-shoes-a-surprising-but-delightful-musical-collaboration-the-autonomous-enterprise-gen-ai-and-getting-personalisation-right-interview-with-james-dodkins-and-tara-dezao-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is a bit different as it features two, separate interviews in one episode. It's a two-fer! These interviews were conducted on a recent trip to Pegaworld iNspire held in Las Vegas. The first interview is with James Dodkins, who is the CX Evangelist at Pega. This is swiftly followed by a chat with
- [Don’t drop the omni-channel baton and win the CX relay race ](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/08/dont-drop-the-omni-channel-baton-and-win-the-cx-relay-race/) - Managing the hand-over from bot to agent is like taking part in a relay race. Jim Davies at Calabrio outlines 3 winning strategies for a seamless customer experience that are guaranteed to take you over the finish line in a record-setting way.
- [Taking an employee-centric approach has allowed us to achieve an attrition rate of 5% - Interview with Jose Herrera of Horatio CX](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/08/taking-an-employee-centric-approach-has-allowed-us-to-achieve-an-attrition-rate-of-5-interview-with-jose-herrera-of-horatio-cx/) - Today’s interview is with Jose Herrera, CEO and Co-Founder of Horatio CX, a next generation CX outsourcing firm and the trusted partner of some of the leading and fastest growing ecommerce companies. Jose joins me today to talk about maintaining a human connection when everyone else seems to be talking about how customer service needs
- [Creating memorable customer experiences: Inspiring loyalty](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/07/creating-memorable-customer-experiences-inspiring-loyalty/) - This is a guest post from Nevilson Christian, Founder of SeekThem. Imagine this: You visit an online retail website for the first time. The website automatically recognizes your geography and translates it into the local language. Source A chatbot pops up, offering to give you personalized recommendations. Source The navigation is simple. You can quickly
- [Our transformation journey and unleashing the power of AI and automation - Interview with Shelia Anderson of Aflac](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/07/our-transformation-journey-and-unleashing-the-power-of-ai-and-automation-interview-with-shelia-anderson-of-aflac/) - Today’s interview is with Shelia Anderson, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Aflac, a Fortune 500 company that provides insurance and financial protection to millions of policyholders and customers through its subsidiaries in the U.S. and Japan. I met Shelia as part of a recent trip to Pegaworld iNspire held in Las Vegas. Shelia delivered
- [Microexcellence: What can marginal gains and the Tour de France teach us?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/07/microexcellence-what-can-marginal-gains-and-the-tour-de-france-teach-us/) - This is a guest post from Ben Mercer at Leisure Lakes Bikes. The Tour De France, which sees its 110th outing this summer (July 1-23), has become one of the globe's most celebrated sporting spectacles. But in all that time, and until 2012, no British rider had been able to take the coveted crown and
- [The messy middle of customer service revisited - Interview with Michael Ramsey of ServiceNow](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/07/the-messy-middle-of-customer-service-revisited-interview-with-michael-ramsey-of-servicenow/) - Today’s interview is with Michael Ramsey, VP of Customer Workflow Products at ServiceNow, a cloud computing platform that helps companies manage digital workflows for enterprise operations. Michael joins me today to revisit the idea of the messy middle of customer experience, what's happened since we last spoke about this around 2 1/2 years ago, what
- [New Adobe research: Consumers expect even better experiences when economic conditions worsen](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/07/new-adobe-research-consumers-expect-even-better-experiences-when-economic-conditions-worsen/) - New research from Adobe finds that delivering a standout and personalised experience has never been more important, even as economic conditions remain tight.
- [The pragmatic approach to transforming customer service - Interview with Mike Upton of First Tech Credit Union](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/07/the-pragmatic-approach-to-transforming-customer-service-interview-with-mike-upton-of-first-tech-credit-union/) - Today’s interview is with Michael Upton, Chief Digital & Technology Officer at First Tech Credit Union (or First Tech), which is the US’s premier credit union serving the world’s leading technology-oriented companies and their employees. I met Mike as part of a recent trip to Pegaworld iNspire held in Las Vegas. Mike was talking at
- [Is adhering to the FCAs new consumer duty impossible without the help of technology?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/06/is-adhering-to-the-fcas-new-consumer-duty-impossible-without-the-help-of-technology/) - Many customers are suffering right now with high inflation and interest rates. Now, while that is easy to say and observe, it’s often hard to quantify what that means, in practice, and how many customers are being materially affected. However, over the last couple of years, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) here in the UK has
- [Power to the customer - Interview with Matt Gorniak of G2Crowd](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2014/03/power-to-the-customer-interview-with-matt-gorniak-of-g2crowd/) - Power to the customer! Taking the guesswork out of the business software buying process as well as a new voice of the customer programme for software vendors - Interview with Matt Gorniak of G2Crowd
- [Purposefully designed experiences don't happen by accident - Interview with Deborah Battaglia of Assurant](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/06/purposefully-designed-experiences-dont-happen-by-accident-interview-with-deborah-battaglia-of-assurant/) - Today’s interview is with Deborah (Deb) Battaglia, Senior Vice President, Customer Experience at Assurant, Inc, a global B2B2C Fortune 300 company that provides risk management and insurance products to leading automotive, housing, and mobile technology companies. Deb joins me today to talk about the ‘why’ & vision for their transformation, how long the programme has
- [Obituary: The Survey (1920s - 2023)](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/06/obituary-the-survey-1920s-2023/) - This obituary was written by Nate Sanders, the co-founder and CEO of Artifact, the customer experience forecasting company. The Survey, a long beloved method of gathering customer feedback, passed away peacefully earlier this year at the age of 100ish. Experts said The Survey had weakened in recent years, withering away due to irrelevance and a
- [Developing empathy within ourselves and the machines that we build - Interview with Minter Dial](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/06/developing-empathy-within-ourselves-and-the-machines-that-we-build-interview-with-minter-dial/) - Today’s interview is with Minter Dial, an international speaker and a multiple award-winning author, specialized in leadership, branding and transformation. Back in February 2019, Minter joined me on the podcast to talk about his book: Heartificial Empathy. Now, so much has happened since then that he felt compelled to update the book and is back
- [Why customers’ digital experience is key to your company’s survival and success](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/06/why-customers-digital-experience-is-key-to-your-companys-survival-and-success/) - This is a guest post by Alfonso de la Nuez, the author of The Digital Experience Company and Chief Visionary Officer at UserTesting. More and more businesses and industries are being run on software and delivered as online services. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of consumers interact with companies’ brands through digital channels and digital products, and
- [Why you should be adopting an Experience Mindset - Interview with Tiffani Bova of Salesforce](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/06/why-you-should-be-adopting-an-experience-mindset-interview-with-tiffani-bova-of-salesforce/) - Today’s interview is with Tiffani Bova, the global customer growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce, and the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Growth IQ. Tiffani joins me today to talk about her new book: The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth, what is an Experience Mindset, what’s the best way to
- [Data silos: The silent killer of great customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/06/data-silos-the-silent-killer-of-great-customer-experience/) - This is guest post from Joyce Kim, Chief Marketing Officer at Twilio. It was in 2006 that the British mathematician Clive Humby uttered the now legendary phrase, “Data is the new oil.” Nearly two decades later, companies are drilling for more data about their businesses than ever before. At a minimum, any modern business is
- [Customer experience (CX) leaders will become the engagement quarterbacks of the future - Interview with Mike Murchison of Ada](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/05/customer-experience-cx-leaders-will-become-the-engagement-quarterbacks-of-the-future-interview-with-mike-murchison-of-ada/) - Today’s interview is with Mike Murchison, co-founder and CEO of Ada, a leading customer service automation provider. Mike joins me today to talk about how the conventional customer experience playbook is outdated, why brands should be talking to their customers more as they grow (not less), a view on the future of customer experience, what
- [The state of customer engagement: Progress, work to be done and a delicate balance](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/05/the-state-of-customer-engagement-progress-work-to-be-done-and-a-delicate-balance/) - Any regular readers of my posts here on Forbes will probably have realised by now that I am partial to a bit of research and, in particular, research that is part of a time series. One such piece of research that recently caught my eye was Twilio’s fourth annual State of Customer Engagement Report, released
- [There’s no point having a fast bike, if you don’t know how to ride it - Interview with Jerry Haywood of Boost.ai](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/05/theres-no-point-having-a-fast-bike-if-you-dont-know-how-to-ride-it-interview-with-jerry-haywood-of-boost-ai/) - Today’s interview is with Jerry Haywood, who is the Chief Executive Officer at boost.ai, a leading provider of conversational AI for enterprises. Jerry joins me today to talk about if ChatGPT has become the fastest proprietary eponym or generic trademark in history, why chat-first customer service strategy is the future of the customer experience and
- [There’s no point having a fast bike, if you don’t know how to ride it - Interview with Jerry Haywood of Boost.ai](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/05/theres-no-point-having-a-fast-bike-if-you-dont-know-how-to-ride-it-interview-with-jerry-haywood-of-boost-ai/) - Today’s interview is with Jerry Haywood, who is the Chief Executive Officer at boost.ai, a leading provider of conversational AI for enterprises. Jerry joins me today to talk about if ChatGPT has become the fastest proprietary eponym or generic trademark in history, why chat-first customer service strategy is the future of the customer experience and
- [How to improve patient experience using gamification?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/05/how-to-improve-patient-experience-using-gamification/) - Learn how to enhance the patient experience through gamification in healthcare. Discover effective ways to motivate patients towards a healthier lifestyle while making their healthcare journey memorable.
- [PegaWorld iNspire: Towards the autonomous enterprise and celebrating 40 years of innovation - Interview with Don Schuerman of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/05/pegaworld-inspire-towards-the-autonomous-enterprise-and-celebrating-40-years-of-innovation-interview-with-don-schuerman-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Don Schuerman, the CTO and Vice President of Product Strategy and Marketing at Pegasystems. Don joins me today to talk about the upcoming PegaWorld iNspire, how excited Don feels about being back face-to-face again after four years, celebrating Pega's 40th anniversary and 40 years of innovation, the autonomous enterprise, what that
- [Instant, Urgent, and Immediate - The experience today’s consumers want](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/05/instant-urgent-and-immediate-the-experience-todays-consumers-want/) - This is a guest post by Sarah Robbins, Vice President, Customer – International at Khoros. Social media has been crucial for marketers amidst the cost of living crisis as a third of consumers have turned to platforms like Instagram and TikTok to seek out advice and tips from their peers. It’s evident conversations are happening
- [The promise of generative AI in customer care and the challenges ahead - Interview with Ryan McDonald, Chief Scientist at ASAPP](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/05/the-promise-of-generative-ai-in-customer-care-and-the-challenges-ahead-interview-with-ryan-mcdonald-chief-scientist-at-asapp/) - Today’s interview is with Ryan McDonald, Chief Scientist at ASAPP. Ryan joins me today to talk about his experience over the last 20 years in the language technology space (AI: NLP, ML, LLMs), recent developments in the generative AI space, the challenges that enterprises face in embracing and leveraging this technology and how ASAPP is
- [The promise of generative AI in customer care and the challenges ahead - Interview with Ryan McDonald, Chief Scientist at ASAPP](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/05/the-promise-of-generative-ai-in-customer-care-and-the-challenges-ahead-interview-with-ryan-mcdonald-chief-scientist-at-asapp/) - Today’s interview is with Ryan McDonald, Chief Scientist at ASAPP. Ryan joins me today to talk about his experience over the last 20 years in the language technology space (AI: NLP, ML, LLMs), recent developments in the generative AI space, the challenges that enterprises face in embracing and leveraging this technology and how ASAPP is
- [Why customer empathy is key to ensuring the older generation have a seamless digital banking experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/04/why-customer-empathy-is-key-to-ensuring-the-older-generation-have-a-seamless-digital-banking-experience/) - This is a guest post by Michelle Huff, Chief Marketing Officer at UserTesting. With many physical bank branches closing, customers are forced to migrate to digital banking. As a result, less tech-savvy users, often found within the older generation, will choose a bank based on how it accommodates them and great CX can be a
- [Well-being and the changing nature of management and leadership - Interview with Ray Biggs, Head of Customer Care at John Lewis & Waitrose](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/04/well-being-and-the-changing-nature-of-management-and-leadership-interview-with-ray-biggs-head-of-customer-care-at-john-lewis-waitrose/) - Today’s interview is with Ray Biggs, Head of Customer Care at John Lewis & Waitrose. Ray joins me today to talk about their customer care programme, their focus on agent/partner well-being, particularly in the face of turnover, attrition and burnout and changing working arrangements, the implementation of well-being time outs, the changing nature of management
- [Are invoices the key to improving the quality of your customer service experience?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/04/are-invoices-the-key-to-improving-the-quality-of-your-customer-service-experience/) - Your invoices are so much more than payment documents. Find out how they can enhance customer experiences and how you can maximize their potential.
- [Are invoices the key to improving the quality of your customer service experience?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/04/are-invoices-the-key-to-improving-the-quality-of-your-customer-service-experience/) - Your invoices are so much more than payment documents. Find out how they can enhance customer experiences and how you can maximize their potential.
- [The connection between flight simulators, agent attrition and better outcomes - Interview with Brian Tuite of Zenarate](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/04/the-connection-between-flight-simulators-agent-attrition-and-better-outcomes-interview-with-brian-tuite-of-zenarate/) - Today’s interview is with Brian Tuite, the cofounder & CEO of Zenarate, a leader in developing top-performing customer-facing teams through AI Conversation Simulation. Brian joins me today to talk about agent turnover and attrition and how much of that is driven by the level of training, preparation and support that agents receive and how they
- [The connection between flight simulators, agent attrition and better outcomes - Interview with Brian Tuite of Zenarate](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/04/the-connection-between-flight-simulators-agent-attrition-and-better-outcomes-interview-with-brian-tuite-of-zenarate/) - Today’s interview is with Brian Tuite, the cofounder & CEO of Zenarate, a leader in developing top-performing customer-facing teams through AI Conversation Simulation. Brian joins me today to talk about agent turnover and attrition and how much of that is driven by the level of training, preparation and support that agents receive and how they
- [Too much data, too few skills. To achieve personalization, there is another way](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/04/too-much-data-too-few-skills-to-achieve-personalization-there-is-another-way/) - Recent research from Braze highlights the two biggest issues facing marketers in their quest to deliver personalized customer experiences. To overcome these challenges a different approach is required.
- [Too much data, too few skills. To achieve personalization, there is another way](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/04/too-much-data-too-few-skills-to-achieve-personalization-there-is-another-way/) - Recent research from Braze highlights the two biggest issues facing marketers in their quest to deliver personalized customer experiences. To overcome these challenges a different approach is required.
- [Too much data, too few skills. To achieve personalization, there is another way](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/04/too-much-data-too-few-skills-to-achieve-personalization-there-is-another-way/) - Recent research from Braze highlights the two biggest issues facing marketers in their quest to deliver personalized customer experiences. To overcome these challenges a different approach is required.
- [The crucial role of constant storytelling and change management in our transformation - Interview with Nadia Ness of Ikea](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/04/the-crucial-role-of-constant-storytelling-and-change-management-in-our-transformation-interview-with-nadia-ness-of-ikea/) - Today’s interview is with Nadia Ness, who is Global Head of Transformation (Customer Support) at Ikea. Nadia joins me today to talk about transforming IKEA’s customer support, the rationale behind their three-year transformation programme, what they did, what they achieved and what they learned along the way. This interview follows on from my recent interview
- [Enjoy a slice of customer data analytics Pi(e)](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/03/enjoy-a-slice-of-customer-data-analytics-pie/) - This is a guest post from Jim Davies, Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Calabrio. There is an infinite amount of data in contact centres but what does it really tell us? Jim Davies of Calabrio believes that educated insights are better than wandering around in the unknown and that taking a lead from Pi is
- [Enjoy a slice of customer data analytics Pi(e)](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/03/enjoy-a-slice-of-customer-data-analytics-pie/) - This is a guest post from Jim Davies, Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Calabrio. There is an infinite amount of data in contact centres but what does it really tell us? Jim Davies of Calabrio believes that educated insights are better than wandering around in the unknown and that taking a lead from Pi is
- [As people, we don't need personalization, we need humanization - Interview with Paul Greenberg](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/03/as-people-we-dont-need-personalization-we-need-humanization-interview-with-paul-greenberg/) - Today’s interview is with Paul Greenberg, the founder & Managing Principal of The 56 Group, LLC, an advisory firm, focused on customer-facing strategic services, including CRM, customer experience and customer engagement strategies. He is also an author, considered a thought leader in CRM and often called “The Godfather of CRM” (that’s the industry's name for
- [Does customer service need a rebrand?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/03/does-customer-service-need-a-rebrand/) - Customer service is often overlooked and undervalued. So, does it need a rebrand? Or, does it need something else?
- [Does customer service need a rebrand?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/03/does-customer-service-need-a-rebrand/) - Customer service is often overlooked and undervalued. So, does it need a rebrand? Or, does it need something else?
- [We can't be digital-first, we have to be customer-first - Interview with Sue Duris of M4 Comms](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/03/we-cant-be-digital-first-we-have-to-be-customer-first-interview-with-sue-duris-of-m4-comms/) - Today’s interview is with Sue Duris, Principal Consultant of M4 Communications, a global CX consulting firm. Sue joins me today to talk about customer understanding, internal customers, being curious enough to care and why we can't be digital-first and that we have to be customer first. This interview follows on from my recent interview –
- [Five forward-looking skills for the future generation of leaders](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/03/five-forward-looking-skills-for-the-future-generation-of-leaders/) - This is a guest post by Dominic Fitch at Impact International. There is no denying that the world of business is evolving at an incredibly fast pace. With the constant launch of new tools and innovative tech, workers are required to embrace a wide range of modern equipment on a regular basis. As employees continue
- [Tool time, task time and how ChatGPT will change everything in customer support - Interview with Des Traynor of Intercom](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/03/tool-time-task-time-and-how-chatgpt-will-change-everything-in-customer-support-interview-with-des-traynor-of-intercom/) - Today’s interview is with Des Traynor, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder at Intercom. Des joins me today to talk about some research they recently conducted around customers' communication preferences and what that means. We then go on to talk about ChatGPT and how they believe it will change everything, particularly in the world of customer
- [Dialpad is betting that TrueCaaS is the future of customer service. They might be right.](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/03/dialpad-is-betting-that-truecaas-is-the-future-of-customer-service-they-might-be-right/) - As self service tools get better, agents are increasingly focusing on more complex issues. However, solving them often requires them to navigate the "messy middle of customer experience.” A TrueCaaS approach could help them overcome many of those issues.
- [Let your people be the humans they've spent all their life training to be - Interview with John Sills of The Foundation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/03/let-your-people-be-the-humans-theyve-spent-all-their-life-training-to-be-interview-with-john-sills-of-the-foundation/) - Today’s interview is with John Sills, Managing Partner at the customer-led growth company, The Foundation. John joins me today to talk about his new book (The Human Experience: How to make life better for your customers and create a more successful organization), three myths that get in the way of injecting more humanity into experience
- [Using systems thinking to improve customer satisfaction and employee engagement - Interview with Rob Brown of Aviva](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2012/11/using-systems-thinking-to-improve-customer-satisfaction-and-employee-engagement-interview-with-rob-brown-of-aviva/) - Using systems thinking to improve customer satisfaction and employee engagement - Interview with Rob Brown of Aviva
- [What elephants and customer experiences have in common](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/02/what-elephants-and-customer-experiences-have-in-common/) - Customers are like elephants; they have amazing memories. This means they will never forget a truly wonderful or absolutely horrible service experience. So, in these tough economic times, what are the best customer service strategies to provide elephant-astic experiences? Jim Davies explores 5 brand- and money-saving customer experience (CX) options.
- [We need to move leadership from the job of one to the job of the many - Interview with Julia Fabris McBride of the Kansas Leadership Center](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/02/we-need-to-move-leadership-from-the-job-of-one-to-the-job-of-the-many-interview-with-julia-fabris-mcbride-of-the-kansas-leadership-center/) - Today’s interview is with Julia Fabris McBride, Chief Leadership Development Officer at the Kansas Leadership Center and co-author of a new book called When Everyone Leads: How The Toughest Challenges Get Seen And Solved. Julia joins me today to talk about the new book, why we need to change the way we look at leadership,
- [A story about inclusive customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/02/a-story-about-inclusive-customer-experience/) - A story that illustrates that many of our services and experiences are still not inclusively designed, operated or managed, why that's a problem and what we should do about it.
- [What the heck is Relative Attractiveness and why it matters? - Interview with Richard Hammond of Uncrowd](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/01/what-the-heck-is-relative-attractiveness-and-why-it-matters-interview-with-richard-hammond-of-uncrowd/) - Today’s interview is with Richard Hammond, co-founder and CEO of Uncrowd, the innovative enterprise SaaS experience analytics platform that helps organisations grow market share by revealing their Relative Attractiveness versus competitors. Richard joins me today to talk about Friction/Reward, the last three years, how their thinking has evolved, Relative Attractiveness and how RA can help
- [Building your house to be able to deliver a truly personalised customer experience - Interview with Greg Kihlström of The Agile Brand](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/02/building-your-house-to-be-able-to-deliver-a-truly-personalised-customer-experience-interview-with-greg-kihlstrom-of-the-agile-brand/) - Today’s interview is with Greg Kihlström, author and Principal at GK5A, who advise organisations on customer experience, marketing technology, and digital transformation initiatives. He is also the host of The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast. Greg joins me today to talk about his new book: House of the Customer - A blueprint for one-to-one,
- [Building your house to be able to deliver a truly personalised customer experience - Interview with Greg Kihlström of The Agile Brand](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/02/building-your-house-to-be-able-to-deliver-a-truly-personalised-customer-experience-interview-with-greg-kihlstrom-of-the-agile-brand/) - Today’s interview is with Greg Kihlström, author and Principal at GK5A, who advise organisations on customer experience, marketing technology, and digital transformation initiatives. He is also the host of The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast. Greg joins me today to talk about his new book: House of the Customer - A blueprint for one-to-one,
- [Service for Generation Z – How to assist this tech-savvy generation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/02/service-for-generation-z-how-to-assist-this-tech-savvy-generation/) - This is a guest post by Amanda Winstead, a freelance writer from the Portland area. Providing exceptional customer service has always rested at the heart of every successful business. In today’s increasingly crowded and competitive global marketplace, though, ensuring that your company provides a customer experience that is truly second-to-none isn’t easy. One of the
- [Imagine having to type a ticket using a gaming console - Interview with Tony Adams of Supercell](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/02/imagine-having-to-type-a-ticket-using-a-gaming-console-interview-with-tony-adams-of-supercell/) - Today’s interview is with Tony Adams, Product Manager at Supercell, the global gaming company based in Helsinki, Finland. Tony joins me today to talk about Player Experience (PX), the specific challenges that entails, the GiG metric, the horrific thought of having to type a ticket using a gaming console, the commoditisation/dehumanisation of the agent and
- [Turning the unamazing into the amazing](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/01/turning-the-unamazing-into-the-amazing/) - How businesses can meet the demands of digital-savvy customers and push the boundaries of CX This is a guest post by Laura Bassett, Vice President, Product Marketing at NICE CXone. The sharp rise in digital in recent years has correlated with a rise in customer expectations. With everything instantly at our fingertips, anytime we have
- [7 Customer experience related predictions for 2023](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/01/7-customer-experience-related-predictions-for-2023/) - For the last four years, around this time, I compile a set of customer experience-related predictions for the coming year. This is the latest edition.
- [7 Customer experience related predictions for 2023](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/01/7-customer-experience-related-predictions-for-2023/) - For the last four years, around this time, I compile a set of customer experience-related predictions for the coming year. This is the latest edition.
- [Customer journey orchestration made easy - Interview with Mark Smith of CSG](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/01/customer-journey-orchestration-made-easy-interview-with-mark-smith-of-csg/) - Today’s interview is with Mark Smith, who is Senior Vice President of Digital Experience at CSG and is a business leader with 25 years of global experience in Customer Experience Management, Real-Time Interaction Management, and Analytical CRM. Mark is a friend of the podcast and has appeared here twice before. Once in 2017 and again
- [Happy employees = happy customers. Achieve both with Punk CX.](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/01/happy-employees-happy-customers-achieve-both-with-punk-cx/) - I recently attended Verint’s Engage EMEA event, where I enjoyed sharing a few ideas and talking with a bunch of CX leaders, professionals and experts about how a “Punk” attitude can win with agents and customers alike. Seeing Verint’s customers on stage and hearing how they have created their own stand-out experiences, I knew I
- [The customer experience breaking point](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/the-customer-experience-breaking-point/) - This is a guest post from Kris McKenzie, Senior Vice President and General Manager for EMEA at Calabrio, which explores whether we have reached a customer experience breaking point, what has been overlooked in our journey to this point and what needs to change.
- [Leadership lessons from the winner of the 2022 CX Leader of the Year - Interview with Maneesha Bhusal of JD .ID](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2023/01/leadership-lessons-from-the-winner-of-the-2022-cx-leader-of-the-year-interview-with-maneesha-bhusal-of-jd-id/) - Today’s interview is with the winner of the MyCustomer 2022 CX Leader of the Year competition: Maneesha Bhusal, Director Customer Experience & Marketplace Operations at Jingdong Indonesia ( JD.ID), which is a subsidy of Jingdong (JD.com), one of the largest retailers in China. This interview is slightly different this week as I conduct it with
- [Audio is an overlooked dimension of the customer experience - Interview with Jeff Yasuda of Feed.fm](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/09/audio-is-an-overlooked-dimension-of-the-customer-experience-interview-with-jeff-yasuda-of-feed-fm/) - Audio is an overlooked dimension of the customer experience - Interview with Jeff Yasuda, the CEO and co-founder of Feed.fm (Music as a Service), which helps game developers, content publishers, and e-commerce retailers increase customer engagement, retention, and conversions by incorporating popular music into their environments-- at the lowest possible cost. Jeff joins me today stop talk about Feed.fm, the impact of music on customer experience and what others can learn from their experience.
- [Audio is an overlooked dimension of the customer experience - Interview with Jeff Yasuda of Feed.fm](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/09/audio-is-an-overlooked-dimension-of-the-customer-experience-interview-with-jeff-yasuda-of-feed-fm/) - Audio is an overlooked dimension of the customer experience - Interview with Jeff Yasuda, the CEO and co-founder of Feed.fm (Music as a Service), which helps game developers, content publishers, and e-commerce retailers increase customer engagement, retention, and conversions by incorporating popular music into their environments-- at the lowest possible cost. Jeff joins me today stop talk about Feed.fm, the impact of music on customer experience and what others can learn from their experience.
- [Is it time to talk about a more sustainable approach to serving our customers?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/12/is-it-time-to-talk-about-a-more-sustainable-approach-to-serving-our-customers/) - Research from Microsoft shows the impact on our brains and emotional state when we have back-to-back meetings. This has implications for how we run our contact centers.
- [Customer success and the role of community - Interview with Elaine Richards of 37signals](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/12/customer-success-and-the-role-of-community-interview-with-elaine-richards-of-37signals/) - Today’s interview is with Elaine Richards, who is the COO of 37signals, the makers of Basecamp and HEY. She joined 37signals in 2021 and joins me today to talk about customer service and customer experience in small to mid-market companies, customer success and the role of community, leadership and remote work and their EoS (everyone on support) initiative
- [9 ways to help get your budget approved](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/12/9-ways-to-help-get-your-budget-approved/) - This is a guest post by Tom Gibby, the Co-Founder and CMO of The Bot Platform. The first step in asking is always the hardest. You are about to start your new project and you have to make your case. You’re nervous that your budget baby may never see the light of day. You know
- [Even CX champions are struggling to keep up with rising customer expectations - Interview with Adrian McDermott of Zendesk](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/12/even-cx-champions-are-struggling-to-keep-up-with-rising-customer-expectations-interview-with-adrian-mcdermott-of-zendesk/) - Today’s interview is with Adrian McDermott, Chief Technology Officer at Zendesk. Adrian joins me today to talk about the new Zendesk CX Accelerator report, the main trends and headlines coming out of the report, what we can learn from them and what sort of things CX leaders need to be thinking about doing in order
- [Why you should prioritize accessibility in your customer service experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/12/why-you-should-prioritize-accessibility-in-your-customer-service-experience/) - This is a guest post by Amanda Winstead, a freelance writer from the Portland area. Customer service should be one of the top priorities for every business, no matter your industry. If you have unhappy customers, they probably aren’t going to keep doing business with you. Even worse, they’re likely to tell their friends, family,
- [Time, customer experience and driving retention and growth - Interview with Katie Christian of Calendly](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/11/time-customer-experience-and-driving-retention-and-growth-interview-with-katie-christian-of-calendly/) - Today’s interview is with Katie Christian who is the Head of Customer Success at Calendly one of the fastest-growing product-led growth companies. Katie joins me today to talk about time, scheduling, how much time is wasted setting up meetings, why scheduling is an essential part of customer experience, how it can help create competitive advantage
- [Time, customer experience and driving retention and growth - Interview with Katie Christian of Calendly](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/11/time-customer-experience-and-driving-retention-and-growth-interview-with-katie-christian-of-calendly/) - Today’s interview is with Katie Christian who is the Head of Customer Success at Calendly one of the fastest-growing product-led growth companies. Katie joins me today to talk about time, scheduling, how much time is wasted setting up meetings, why scheduling is an essential part of customer experience, how it can help create competitive advantage
- [If more is not done to protect agents, customer service standards will fall](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/11/if-more-is-not-done-to-protect-agents-customer-service-standards-will-fall/) - Abuse of customer service agents is on the rise. Companies and leaders need to step up to tackle the problem.
- [If more is not done to protect agents, customer service standards will fall](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/11/if-more-is-not-done-to-protect-agents-customer-service-standards-will-fall/) - Abuse of customer service agents is on the rise. Companies and leaders need to step up to tackle the problem.
- [Five years on and real time guidance is now becoming a must have for a modern CX organization - Interview with Josh Feast of Cogito](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/11/five-years-on-and-real-time-guidance-is-now-becoming-a-must-have-for-a-modern-cx-organization-interview-with-josh-feast-of-cogito/) - Today’s interview is with Josh Feast, the CEO and Co-Founder of Cogito, who provide real-time AI coaching & guidance for contact centers. Josh joins me five years on from our initial conversation back in 2017, talks me through their journey since then, the emergence of the real-time guidance space and what service and experience leaders
- [The Problem Pause](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/11/the-problem-pause/) - Whenever we face a problem, why is it that we invariably jump into fix or solution mode? Why don’t we spend more time understanding the problem? Is it that we have a pathological fear of problems? Or, is it that we equate fixing something with being productive? Is it that it shows our peers that
- [The Problem Pause](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/11/the-problem-pause/) - Whenever we face a problem, why is it that we invariably jump into fix or solution mode? Why don’t we spend more time understanding the problem? Is it that we have a pathological fear of problems? Or, is it that we equate fixing something with being productive? Is it that it shows our peers that
- [The Problem Pause](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/11/the-problem-pause/) - Whenever we face a problem, why is it that we invariably jump into fix or solution mode? Why don’t we spend more time understanding the problem? Is it that we have a pathological fear of problems? Or, is it that we equate fixing something with being productive? Is it that it shows our peers that
- [CX professionals should be taking their favourite finance person out to lunch - Interview with Jim Tincher](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/11/cx-professionals-should-be-taking-their-favourite-finance-person-out-to-lunch-interview-with-jim-tincher/) - Today’s interview is with Jim Tincher, Founder and Mapper in Chief of journey mapping and customer experience consulting firm, Heart of the Customer (HoC) as well as an author. Jim joins me today to talk about his new book, Do B2B Better: Drive Growth Through Game-Changing Customer Experience, what gets in the way of organisations
- [Is the contact centre going to be the next big tech frontier?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/11/is-the-contact-centre-going-to-be-the-next-big-tech-frontier/) - Investors, CFOs and VCs are increasingly prioritizing investments in contact center technologies and ventures that either enhance current revenue streams or help reduce costs. That is leading some to think that the the contact center is going to be the next big tech frontier. Will it be?
- [Treat your customers well and your employees better - Interview with Liza Smyth of Formstack](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/11/treat-your-customers-well-and-your-employees-better-interview-with-liza-smyth-of-formstack/) - Today’s interview is with Liza Smyth, who is the SVP of Customer Experience at Formstack. Liza joins me today to talk about how EX and CX efforts in organizations are often handled separately, why you need to prioritize and foster a positive employee experience, the important role that Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging plays in
- [UK consumers say it’s good to talk but are contact centres really listening?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/10/uk-consumers-say-its-good-to-talk-but-are-contact-centres-really-listening/) - This is a guest post by a Graeme Meikle, a Senior WFM Consultant and Project Manager for Calabrio. Despite a rise in digital interactions, the phone call still holds a special place in consumer hearts. Graeme Meikle at Calabrio highlights 3 areas to make sure agents are speaking your customers’ language. Recently, Calabrio surveyed 250
- [The killer combination: Customer success, happiness and the right technology - Interview with Prashanth Krishnaswami of Zoho](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/10/the-killer-combination-customer-success-happiness-and-the-right-technology-interview-with-prashanth-krishnaswami-of-zoho/) - Today’s interview is with Prashanth “PVK” Krishnaswami is the head of market strategy and thought leadership for the CX product group at Zoho. Prashanth joins me today to talk about Zoho’s vision for CX, transnational localism, the link between customer success, employee happiness and business results, a new whitepaper and what service and experience leaders
- [Why skills training your customer service team doesn't work](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/10/why-skills-training-your-customer-service-team-doesnt-work/) - This is a guest post by Lara Khouri, founder of there is no spoon, a boutique people experience and change leadership consultancy. It is the first in a series of guest posts and podcasts featuring the contributors to Punk XL. In my new life as a customer experience consultant and trainer I’m asked to do
- [Product Led Growth (PLG) is missing a pillar - Interview with Joe Andrews and Martin Schneider of SupportLogic](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/10/product-led-growth-plg-is-missing-a-pillar-interview-with-joe-andrews-and-martin-schneider-of-supportlogic/) - Today’s interview is with Joe Andrews and Martin Schneider. Joe is the Chief Marketing Officer and Martin is the Chief Evangelist and Head of Solutions Marketing at SupportLogic, whose technology helps unlock insight from unstructured data in every customer interaction and shares actionable real-time recommendations to help improve the customer's experience. Joe and Martin join
- [Contact centres: How to look after your employee’s mental health](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/10/contact-centres-how-to-look-after-your-employees-mental-health/) - This is a guest post from Julie Mcintosh, Chief Culture Officer at Kura, the largest independent outsourcer in the UK. The mental well-being of your employees should be a top priority as companies are expected to maintain higher standards of social responsibility. This is particularly so in contact centres, where dealing with customer complaints and
- [The problem of customer indecision and how to get over it - Interview with Matt Dixon](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/10/the-problem-of-customer-indecision-and-how-to-get-over-it-interview-with-matt-dixon/) - Today’s interview is with Matt Dixon, the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of three of the most important business books of the past decade: The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience and The Challenger Customer. Matt joins me today to talk about his new book (The Jolt Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision - co-authored
- [In times like these, customer service leaders can learn a lot from gardeners](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/10/in-times-like-these-customer-service-leaders-can-learn-a-lot-from-gardeners/) - As we approach the end of the Summer and head into Autumn, here in the Northern hemisphere, many gardeners will be starting to think about getting their gardens ready for the winter and the new growing year. Part of that will involve them thinking about pruning their plants, shrubs, bushes and trees. Key questions they
- [Customer experience isn't about experience at all. It is about relationships - Interview with James Dodkins of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/09/customer-experience-isnt-about-experience-at-all-it-is-about-relationships-interview-with-james-dodkins-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with James Dodkins, CX Evangelist at Pegasystems. James joins me today to talk about some new research that Pega has just conducted, some of the results, the big trends and shifts that are driving the future of customer service and a webinar (registration link) that they are holding next week (Oct 4th)
- [Diminishing unconscious bias in customer service](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/09/diminishing-unconscious-bias-in-customer-service/) - This is a guest post by Amanda Winstead, a freelance writer from the Portland area. One of the most dangerous things in the workforce, particularly in customer service-based roles, is unconscious bias. Unconscious bias refers to the prejudices, stereotypes, or unsupported judgments for or against certain groups individuals carry that they aren’t consciously aware of.
- [CX professionals extol the importance of empathy towards external customers but often overlook its importance with internal ones - Interview with Jack Springman](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/09/cx-professionals-extol-the-importance-of-empathy-towards-external-customers-but-often-overlook-its-importance-with-internal-ones-interview-with-jack-springman/) - Today’s interview is with Jack Springman, a former Associate Director of Optima Partners, customer experience provocateur and new author. After a year-long battle with cancer, Jack Springman passed away on Sept 8th 2022. This podcast was recorded in the early part of August 2022 and in it Jack and I talk about his new book:
- [CX professionals extol the importance of empathy towards external customers but often overlook its importance with internal ones - Interview with Jack Springman](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/09/cx-professionals-extol-the-importance-of-empathy-towards-external-customers-but-often-overlook-its-importance-with-internal-ones-interview-with-jack-springman/) - Today’s interview is with Jack Springman, a former Associate Director of Optima Partners, customer experience provocateur and new author. After a year-long battle with cancer, Jack Springman passed away on Sept 8th 2022. This podcast was recorded in the early part of August 2022 and in it Jack and I talk about his new book:
- [Understanding how all businesses can benefit from voice analytics](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/09/understanding-how-all-businesses-can-benefit-from-voice-analytics/) - This is a guest post by James Lockhart, Head of Product Marketing at TelcoSwitch. Voice and speech analytics refers to the process of analysing recorded conversations such as phone calls to gain insights into customer behaviour and call quality, often utilising AI by employing a Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine that uses context and emotional
- [Becoming a trusted company is an absolute requirement of a winning strategy](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/01/becoming-a-trusted-company-is-an-absolute-requirement-of-a-winning-strategy/) - Many firms struggle with the idea of building trust and how to do it. Particularly, when the financial payoff is unclear. New research establishes the financial imperative behind being a trusted company and shows that customers are increasingly seeking out trusted brands over newer competitors.
- [Customer success professionals should focus on net revenue retention (NRR) to prove ROI - Interview with You Mon Tsang of ChurnZero](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/09/customer-success-professionals-should-focus-on-net-revenue-retention-nrr-to-prove-roi-interview-with-you-mon-tsang-of-churnzero/) - Today’s interview is with You Mon Tsang, the founder and CEO of ChurnZero, which helps subscription businesses fight churn with a real-time customer success platform. You Mon joins me today to talk about customer success, why it’s more important now than ever, what firms should be doing to successfully navigate a downturn and why a
- [Customer success professionals should focus on net revenue retention (NRR) to prove ROI - Interview with You Mon Tsang of ChurnZero](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/09/customer-success-professionals-should-focus-on-net-revenue-retention-nrr-to-prove-roi-interview-with-you-mon-tsang-of-churnzero/) - Today’s interview is with You Mon Tsang, the founder and CEO of ChurnZero, which helps subscription businesses fight churn with a real-time customer success platform. You Mon joins me today to talk about customer success, why it’s more important now than ever, what firms should be doing to successfully navigate a downturn and why a
- [How to protect your business from loyalty fraud](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/09/how-to-protect-your-business-from-loyalty-fraud/) - This is a guest post from Ed Whitehead, the Managing Director EMEA for Signifyd. Today, businesses are realising that a top-notch customer experience is the key to staying one step ahead in a highly competitive market. Enterprises are investing in loyalty schemes to elevate the online shopping experience for their most valued customers. Unfortunately,
- [Not enough companies realize that customer support is your primary gateway to understanding your entire business - Interview with Nooshin Alibhai and Eric Klimuk of Supportbench](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/09/not-enough-companies-realize-that-customer-support-is-your-primary-gateway-to-understanding-your-entire-business-interview-with-nooshin-alibhai-and-eric-klimuk-of-supportbench/) - Today’s interview is with Nooshin Alibhai and Eric Klimuk, co-founders and CEO and COO respectively at Supportbench, a full-stack customer support software provider that is made specifically to serve the B2B space. Nooshin and Eric join me today to talk about the 4 types of customer support solutions that are out there and what’s missing,
- [Nearly half of CMOs are not ready for a cookieless future](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/08/nearly-half-of-cmos-are-not-ready-for-a-cookieless-future/) - A new survey conducted by Iterable finds that nearly half of the CMOs they surveyed are not well prepared for the end of third-party cookies.
- [Delivering personalised search experiences in an ethical way - Interview with Angel Maldonado of Empathy.co](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/08/delivering-personalised-search-experiences-in-an-ethical-way-interview-with-angel-maldonado-of-empathy-co/) - Today’s interview is with Angel Maldonado, CEO & Founder of Empathy, who create human-centred, commerce search & discovery platforms that combine innovative technology, behaviour-based algorithms and data intelligence with understanding and empathy to enrich customer interactions. Angel joins me today to talk about ethical commerce, the Ethical Commerce Alliance, the changing data and privacy landscape
- [The digitization of the supply chain and its impact on customer experience and sustainability - Interview with Sanjay Brahmawar of Software AG](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/08/the-digitization-of-the-supply-chain-and-its-impact-on-customer-experience-and-sustainability-interview-with-sanjay-brahmawar-of-software-ag/) - Today’s interview is with Sanjay Brahmawar, the CEO of Software AG, a software pioneer that is helping over 10,000 organisations worldwide connect people, departments, systems and devices through integration & APIs, IoT & analytics as well as business & IT transformation. Sanjay joins me today to talk about the supply chain problems that have been
- [Customer neglect is real and needs to be managed, as do customer expectations](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/08/customer-neglect-is-real-and-needs-to-be-managed-as-do-customer-expectations/) - Eng Tan and Daniel Rodriguez, the CEO and CMO of Simplr, respectively, have a theory about customer neglect and how to tackle it.
- [Lack of a clear vision leads to higgledy-piggledy services and experiences - Interview with Ari Weinzweig of Zingermans](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/08/lack-of-a-clear-vision-leads-to-higgledy-piggledy-services-and-experiences-interview-with-ari-weinzweig-of-zingermans/) - Today’s interview is with Ari Weinzweig, the CEO and co-founding partner of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, a gourmet food business group headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Ari was previously on the podcast back in 2020 and is also one of the contributors to Punk XL. Ari joins me today to talk about business visions,
- [An end to customer support frustrations? Meet NextivaONE](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/08/an-end-to-customer-support-frustrations-meet-nextivaone/) - Research shows that the top challenges and frustrations facing customers and customer service departments are very similar and they get in the way of delivering great service. Nextiva is launching a new product that aims to remove the frustration and inefficiencies that plague customer support.
- [How insights transform operational decisions ensuring the success of the four-day week](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/08/how-insights-transform-operational-decisions-ensuring-the-success-of-the-four-day-week/) - This is a guest post from Michael Cupps, Senior Vice President Marketing at ActiveOps. June 2022 saw the launch of the four-day working week pilot in the UK, in which 3,000 workers from 70 different companies have committed to the same productivity of a five-day working week, with no salary cut. The pilot is running for six
- [Creating a metaverse experience that helps veterans suffering from PTSD - Interview with Robert Bell of 2B3D](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/07/creating-a-metaverse-experience-that-helps-veterans-suffering-from-ptsd-interview-with-robert-bell-of-2b3d/) - Today’s interview is with Robert Bell, Founder and CEO of 2B3D, who with their partners are developing a first-of-its-kind metaverse/NFT/gaming platform where military veterans can access live PTSD therapy. Now, I’ve been reading quite a bit about the metaverse lately and how it’s going to be the next big thing. But, on the back of
- [Three Things That Would Have Improved Our House Moving Experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/07/three-things-that-would-have-improved-our-house-moving-experience/) - A few personal reflections on what was a successful but painful house moving experience and how it could have been better.
- [42% of workers feel that digital transformation efforts have made their job more complex - Interview with Don Schuerman of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/07/42-of-workers-feel-that-digital-transformation-efforts-have-made-their-job-more-complex-interview-with-don-schuerman-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Don Schuerman, the CTO and Vice President of Product Marketing at Pega. Don joins me today to talk about a new report they have just released called Workforce Trends Report 2022, the headline findings, complexity in the enterprise, how it affects us, the impact and what we should be doing about
- [42% of workers feel that digital transformation efforts have made their job more complex - Interview with Don Schuerman of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/07/42-of-workers-feel-that-digital-transformation-efforts-have-made-their-job-more-complex-interview-with-don-schuerman-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Don Schuerman, the CTO and Vice President of Product Marketing at Pega. Don joins me today to talk about a new report they have just released called Workforce Trends Report 2022, the headline findings, complexity in the enterprise, how it affects us, the impact and what we should be doing about
- [How to avoid burnout at the workplace](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/07/how-to-avoid-burnout-at-the-workplace/) - This is a guest post by Eleonora Hristova, a copywriter that writes on behalf of Dune London. Burnout because of stress in the workplace is now a diagnosable syndrome, as classed by the World Health Organisation in 2019. Research shows that nearly a quarter of the workforce suffer from burnout on a regular basis. Symptoms
- [The role of voice in the future of customer experience - Interview with Gregg Johnson](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/the-role-of-voice-in-the-future-of-customer-experience-interview-with-gregg-johnson/) - The role of voice in the future of customer experience - Interview with Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca, a provider of call intelligence software that allows marketers to drive, track and automate inbound calls for better leads, greater marketing insight, and more customers. Gregg joins me today to talk about a recent report they have released, the impact of voice assistants on customer experience and the role of both intelligent voice assistants and the contact centre in the future of customer experience.
- [Unlocking the hidden value of language to drive personalisation - Interview with Assaf Baciu of Persado](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/07/unlocking-the-hidden-value-of-language-to-drive-personalisation-interview-with-assaf-baciu-of-persado/) - Today’s interview is with Assaf Baciu, the Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of Persado. Assaf joins me today to talk about Motivation AI, language, personalisation and unlocking the hidden value of language in our interactions with customers. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Design is not design without research – Interview with
- [Unlocking the hidden value of language to drive personalisation - Interview with Assaf Baciu of Persado](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/07/unlocking-the-hidden-value-of-language-to-drive-personalisation-interview-with-assaf-baciu-of-persado/) - Today’s interview is with Assaf Baciu, the Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of Persado. Assaf joins me today to talk about Motivation AI, language, personalisation and unlocking the hidden value of language in our interactions with customers. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Design is not design without research – Interview with
- [Customer outcomes - A business model transformed](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/07/customer-outcomes-a-business-model-transformed/) - Organizations are increasingly offering ongoing services to their customers, rather than one-off product sales. While this has unlocked some value, it only goes so far. Moving to guaranteeing outcomes promises to transform customer value and increase revenues. Our article explains these outcome based business models and how they can be achieved.
- [Design is not design without research - Interview with Alfonso de la Nuez of UserZoom](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/06/design-is-not-design-without-research-interview-with-alfonso-de-la-nuez-of-userzoom/) - Today’s interview is with Alfonso de la Nuez, the Co-CEO and Co-Founder of UserZoom, the pioneering UX Insights System. Alfonso joins me today to talk about UserZoom’s recently published research called The State of UX 2022, what they found out, the difference between CX and UX, the value of research and design and lots of
- [Design is not design without research - Interview with Alfonso de la Nuez of UserZoom](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/06/design-is-not-design-without-research-interview-with-alfonso-de-la-nuez-of-userzoom/) - Today’s interview is with Alfonso de la Nuez, the Co-CEO and Co-Founder of UserZoom, the pioneering UX Insights System. Alfonso joins me today to talk about UserZoom’s recently published research called The State of UX 2022, what they found out, the difference between CX and UX, the value of research and design and lots of
- [Building a robust digital customer experience strategy in 3 steps](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/06/building-a-robust-digital-customer-experience-strategy-in-3-steps/) - As we emerge from the pandemic into a geopolitical crisis that is fueling inflation and shortages worldwide, the economic and competitive environment will become increasingly challenging in the coming months and years. Therefore, having a robust digital customer experience strategy that delivers both improved customer outcomes and business results will become an imperative. GetFeedback recently
- [The idea that scripts ruin customer experience is a dangerous one - Interview with Jimmy Hosang of TMAC](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/06/the-idea-that-scripts-ruin-customer-experience-is-a-dangerous-one-interview-with-jimmy-hosang-of-tmac/) - Today’s interview is with Jimmy Hosang, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at The Modular Analytics Company (TMAC), a rapidly expanding artificial intelligence and machine learning provider that helps people make better decisions faster. Jimmy joins me today to talk about how technology has made things worse, why vanity metrics like NPS don’t make sense, how
- [Workforce wellbeing - what does it really mean and why does it matter more than ever?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/06/workforce-wellbeing-what-does-it-really-mean-and-why-does-it-matter-more-than-ever/) - This is a guest post from Ross Daniels, Chief Marketing Officer at Calabrio. The impact of the past few years has been wide-reaching and traumatic. Flexible working practices, growing customer demands and a fast-changing competitive landscape are all taking their toll. And these stressors are affecting everyone in the contact centre and beyond. Let’s start
- [Leveraging branded virtual assistants to drive personalisation and innovation - Interview with Eric Turkington of RAIN](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/06/leveraging-branded-virtual-assistants-to-drive-personalisation-and-innovation-interview-with-eric-turkington-of-rain/) - Today’s interview is with Eric Turkington, Vice President of Growth at RAIN, a pioneer in voice & conversational AI, that is helping people, brands and businesses do amazing things with voice technology. Eric joins me today to talk about intelligent voice assistants, the state of demand, how both B2C and B2B brands are leveraging Branded
- [New research finds that customer service agents are abusing customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/06/new-research-finds-that-customer-service-agents-are-abusing-customers/) - It's widely know that customer service agents have recently been experiencing higher levels of abuse. But, new research from Netomi shows that that many agents are also abusing their customers.
- [Little personal touches can make all the difference - Interview with Jawad Malik of Idrese](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/05/little-personal-touches-can-make-all-the-difference-interview-with-jawad-malik-of-idrese/) - Today’s interview is with Jawad Malik, the founder of Chicago-based Idrese, a direct to consumer (D2C) brand that provides affordable and luxury custom-made shoes made in Spain to customers worldwide. Jawad joins me today to talk about how the brand came about, the future of customer experience, the inspiration behind the brand name and what
- [Discovering customer experience in the banking industry](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/05/discovering-customer-experience-in-the-banking-industry/) - This is a guest post from Satish Krishnamurthy, Global Practice Head – BFSI at Tech Mahindra. Imagine the seamlessness of ordering on Amazon or hailing a cab on Uber or completing a loan application ‘on the go’ on any of the new gen FinTech. The exposure to such intuitive, humanized & personalized experiences day-in, day-out
- [Why you shouldn’t always build for the 'happy path' - Interview with Sam Richardson of Twilio](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/05/why-you-shouldnt-always-build-for-the-happy-path-interview-with-sam-richardson-of-twilio/) - Today’s interview is with Samantha (Sam) Richardson, a principal visioneering consultant for Twilio Foundry. Sam joins me today to talk about why many people don’t think very much about customer engagement, how many brands don’t take an inclusive approach to customer engagement, why you shouldn’t always build for the the ‘happy path’, what we can
- [Proactive customer service will also make your employees happier](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2014/09/proactive-customer-service-will-also-make-your-employees-happier/) - Proactive customer service will also make your employees happier
- [The biggest digital transformation trends in 2022 and beyond](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/05/the-biggest-digital-transformation-trends-in-2022-and-beyond/) - This is a guest post by Natasha Bougourd, a Senior Copywriter at Mediaworks. In the early months of the pandemic, businesses accelerated their adoption of digital technologies by three to four years as they had to adapt to changing working practices. This trend is set to continue into 2022 as over two-thirds of businesses plan
- [To be good at customer experience has to begin with an experiential triage - Interview with Nick Webb](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/05/to-be-good-at-customer-experience-has-to-begin-with-an-experiential-triage-interview-with-nick-webb/) - Today’s interview is with Nick Webb, a world-renowned Strategist, Bestselling Author, and Futurist. Nick joins me today to talk about his new book, What Customers Hate, why he chose to focus on hate and not love, the TV show Undercover Boss, outdated customer experience best practice, the SOS Approach and why customer surveys may be
- [Self-Scheduling: The answer to agent stress in modern, omnichannel contact centres](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/05/self-scheduling-the-answer-to-agent-stress-in-modern-omnichannel-contact-centres/) - This is a guest post from Magnus Geverts is VP, Product Marketing at Calabrio. I have been in the Workforce Management (WFM) business for over 20 years and during this time, contact centre leaders have again and again told me that one of their biggest challenges is balancing the needs of employees with great customer
- [Self-Scheduling: The answer to agent stress in modern, omnichannel contact centres](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/05/self-scheduling-the-answer-to-agent-stress-in-modern-omnichannel-contact-centres/) - This is a guest post from Magnus Geverts is VP, Product Marketing at Calabrio. I have been in the Workforce Management (WFM) business for over 20 years and during this time, contact centre leaders have again and again told me that one of their biggest challenges is balancing the needs of employees with great customer
- [Having gone through 10 years of transformation in the past two years, how do we maintain momentum - Interview with Don Schuerman of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/05/having-gone-through-10-years-of-transformation-in-the-past-two-years-how-do-we-maintain-momentum-interview-with-don-schuerman-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Don Schuerman, the CTO and Vice President of Product Marketing at Pega. Don joins me today to talk about resiliency, focus, reducing complexity, how tech can help, what lessons he has learned from the pandemic, the upcoming Pegaworld (www.pegaworld.com) and who he is most looking forward to hearing speak. This interview
- [Unlocking a consistent path to purchase in the wake of SCA](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/04/unlocking-a-consistent-path-to-purchase-in-the-wake-of-sca/) - This is a guest post from Ed Whitehead, the Managing Director EMEA for Signifyd. A path to purchase is the journey that a customer will make across a variety of touchpoints before making a purchase. These touchpoints include logging in to an account, browsing an online shop, and hitting that all-important ‘Buy Now’ button. Consistency
- [Eliminate blindspots and build engagement by getting to know your company better - Interview with Claire Lew](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/eliminate-blindspots-and-build-engagement-by-getting-to-know-your-company-better-interview-with-claire-lew/) - Eliminate blindspots and build engagement by getting to know your company better - Interview with Claire Lew, CEO of Know Your Company, a software tool that helps business owners get to know their employees better and overcome company growing pains.
- [Eliminate blindspots and build engagement by getting to know your company better - Interview with Claire Lew](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/eliminate-blindspots-and-build-engagement-by-getting-to-know-your-company-better-interview-with-claire-lew/) - Eliminate blindspots and build engagement by getting to know your company better - Interview with Claire Lew, CEO of Know Your Company, a software tool that helps business owners get to know their employees better and overcome company growing pains.
- [Busting some CCaaS and CX technology myths - Interview with Vasili Triant of UJET](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/04/busting-some-ccaas-and-cx-technology-myths-interview-with-vasili-triant-of-ujet/) - Today’s interview is with Vasili Triant, Chief Operating Officer of UJET, the world's first and only cloud contact center platform for the smartphone era. Vasili joins me today to share his CCaaS Industry Hit List, what we should be thinking about when it comes to CX technology and what questions we should be asking. This
- [Why CMOs should invest in their customer service teams](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/04/why-cmos-should-invest-in-their-customer-service-teams/) - New research shows that viewing customer service as a value center and investing in it has a positive impact on revenue growth.
- [Using customer experience as a tool to drive economic development - Interview with Mandisa Makubalo](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/04/using-customer-experience-as-a-tool-to-drive-economic-development-interview-with-mandisa-makubalo/) - Today’s interview is with Mandisa Makubalo, the CEO of Unlimited Experiences SA, the 1st 100% black women owned CX Management Consultancy in South Africa, a global thought leader and book author. Mandisa joins me today to talk her journey and using CX as an economic development tool.” This interview follows on from my recent interview
- [Writing well: the new old-fashioned way to make an impact](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/04/writing-well-the-new-old-fashioned-way-to-make-an-impact/) - This is a guest post by Robert Kelsey, bestselling author of Writing Well for Work and Pleasure. He offers hope for those fearing the new “thought leadership” trend in marketing. Note from Adrian: Not the usual sort of guest post but writing and communication is an essential part of service and experience so I thought...why not!
- [The impact hateful and toxic social media content has on your customers and people and what to do about it - Interview with Joel Bailey of Arwen](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/04/the-impact-hateful-and-toxic-social-media-content-has-on-your-customers-and-people-and-what-to-do-about-it-interview-with-joel-bailey-of-arwen/) - Today’s interview is with Joel Bailey, the Product & Service Director at Arwen, a technology platform that uses AI to remove unwanted content from social media in less than a second. Joel joins me today to talk about hate and toxicity in social media, the scale and cost of the problem and the impact it
- [The impact hateful and toxic social media content has on your customers and people and what to do about it - Interview with Joel Bailey of Arwen](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/04/the-impact-hateful-and-toxic-social-media-content-has-on-your-customers-and-people-and-what-to-do-about-it-interview-with-joel-bailey-of-arwen/) - Today’s interview is with Joel Bailey, the Product & Service Director at Arwen, a technology platform that uses AI to remove unwanted content from social media in less than a second. Joel joins me today to talk about hate and toxicity in social media, the scale and cost of the problem and the impact it
- [The impact hateful and toxic social media content has on your customers and people and what to do about it - Interview with Joel Bailey of Arwen](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/04/the-impact-hateful-and-toxic-social-media-content-has-on-your-customers-and-people-and-what-to-do-about-it-interview-with-joel-bailey-of-arwen/) - Today’s interview is with Joel Bailey, the Product & Service Director at Arwen, a technology platform that uses AI to remove unwanted content from social media in less than a second. Joel joins me today to talk about hate and toxicity in social media, the scale and cost of the problem and the impact it
- [The impact hateful and toxic social media content has on your customers and people and what to do about it - Interview with Joel Bailey of Arwen](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/04/the-impact-hateful-and-toxic-social-media-content-has-on-your-customers-and-people-and-what-to-do-about-it-interview-with-joel-bailey-of-arwen/) - Today’s interview is with Joel Bailey, the Product & Service Director at Arwen, a technology platform that uses AI to remove unwanted content from social media in less than a second. Joel joins me today to talk about hate and toxicity in social media, the scale and cost of the problem and the impact it
- [Three areas where some contact centres may be overlooking their GDPR obligations](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/08/three-areas-where-some-contact-centres-may-be-overlooking-their-gdpr-obligations/) - Rob Walker, Vice President of Decision Management and Analytics at Pegasystems, believes that many people in Europe are being naive about what GDPR actually entails. Here's three different areas that may be being overlooked by many contact centers.
- [Expert tips on looking after the mental health of your contact centre employees](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/04/expert-tips-on-looking-after-the-mental-health-of-your-contact-centre-employees/) - This is a guest post from Julie Mcintosh, Chief Culture Officer at Kura, the largest independent outsourcer in the UK. Employee mental health is in the spotlight following two years of COVID-19 disruptions. Research has shown that 44% of work-related ill health is the result of stress, depression, and anxiety caused by work. Contact centres
- [The 3 pillars of agent happiness - Interview with Tue Søttrup of Dixa](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/03/the-3-pillars-of-agent-happiness-interview-with-tue-sottrup-of-dixa/) - Today’s interview is with Tue Søttrup, Chief CX Evangelist & VP CX Excellence at Dixa, a customer service platform that generates value for brands and customers through better conversations. Tue joins me today to talk about some recent research that Dixa recently released, what we can learn from it, knowledge centred service and agent happiness.
- [Predicting the future of customer experience (CX)](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/03/predicting-the-future-of-customer-experience-cx/) - This is a guest post from Nikhil Pereira, Customer Experience (CX) Practice Leader at Tech Mahindra. What is customer experience and why is it important? Customer Experience (CX) is an end-to-end journey that a customer experiences with a product or service throughout its lifecycle - pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase. These experiences are divided in to
- [In three years gig experts will be able to do everything agents can do in the contact centre - Interview with Roger Beadle of Limitless](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/03/in-three-years-gig-experts-will-be-able-to-do-everything-agents-can-do-in-the-contact-centre-interview-with-roger-beadle-of-limitless/) - Today’s interview is with Roger Beadle, the co-founder of Limitless, a gig-economy platform that addresses some of the biggest challenges faced by the contact centre industry: low pay, high attrition and access to new talent. Roger joins me today to talk about gig-based customer service, the gig economy, the GoodGig® Charter, Limitless and how brands
- [Brand trust emerges as the single biggest contributor to customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/03/brand-trust-emerges-as-the-single-biggest-contributor-to-customer-experience/) - Newly released global research from Havas CX finds that brand trust is a significant contributor to customer experience and provides insights as to what that means for brands.
- [Brand trust emerges as the single biggest contributor to customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/03/brand-trust-emerges-as-the-single-biggest-contributor-to-customer-experience/) - Newly released global research from Havas CX finds that brand trust is a significant contributor to customer experience and provides insights as to what that means for brands.
- [We should talk about moments that shatter rather than the moments that matter - Interview with Michael G. Bartlett](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/03/we-should-talk-about-moments-that-shatter-rather-than-the-moments-that-matter-interview-with-michael-g-bartlett/) - Today’s interview is with Michael G. Bartlett who is the Director of Experience Innovation at JMARK, an I.T. support and I.T. services company, Founder of the CCXP Exam Simulator and the author of a new book called: The Dark Side of CX: The costly patterns that turn loyal customers into brand haters. Michael joins me
- [Customers know how to solve data, privacy and AI trust issues. Brands should listen to them](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/02/customers-know-how-to-solve-data-privacy-and-ai-trust-issues-brands-should-listen-to-them/) - New research provides clues as to how brands should respond to customers feelings about data, privacy and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
- [The future of personalization and loyalty is dynamic - Interview with Christian Selchau-Hansen of Formation.ai](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/02/the-future-of-personalization-and-loyalty-is-dynamic-interview-with-christian-selchau-hansen-of-formation-ai/) - Today's interview is with Christian Selchau-Hansen, the CEO and co-founder of Formation.ai, a machine learning-powered offer optimization pioneer. Christian joins me to talk about loyalty, personalization, dynamic offer optimization and what eXperience Leaders should be doing to build better relationships with their customers and drive better business outcomes. This interview follows on from my recent
- [Banishing complexity - 5 ways to turn theory into practice](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/02/banishing-complexity-5-ways-to-turn-theory-into-practice/) - This is a guest post from Ross Daniels, Chief Marketing Officer at Calabrio. In my last article I discussed how to keep things simple in contact centre operations and introduced the importance of incorporating a human-centred approach to operational thinking, processes and technology. Now it’s time to take a look at how to translate theory
- [Leadership and life lessons from the winner of the 2021 CX Leader of the Year - Interview with Sri Safitri of Telkom Indonesia.](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/02/leadership-and-life-lessons-from-the-winner-of-the-2021-cx-leader-of-the-year-interview-with-sri-safitri-of-telkom-indonesia/) - Today’s interview is with the winner of the MyCustomer 2021 CX Leader of the Year competition: Sri Safitri, Deputy Executive VP of Customer Experience and Digitisation at Telkom Indonesia. This interview is slightly different this week as I am conducting it with Clare Muscutt, Founder and CEO of Women in CX. The original interview can
- [Contact centre operations: Keep it simple – keep it human](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/02/contact-centre-operations-keep-it-simple-keep-it-human/) - This is a guest post from Ross Daniels, Chief Marketing Officer at Calabrio. Running a contact centre today is a tricky business but it doesn’t have to be - with the right mindset and a human approach it pays to keep it simple. This article outlines the most common pitfalls and how to navigate a
- [Leadership, employee experience and the Zoom ceiling  - Interview with Dr Elora Voyles of TINYpulse](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/01/leadership-employee-experience-and-the-zoom-ceiling-interview-with-dr-elora-voyles-of-tinypulse/) - Today’s interview is with Dr. Elora Voyles, an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist and People Scientist with TINYpulse, a provider of employee engagement and feedback software. Dr Elora joins me to talk about how the Zoom ceiling is the new glass ceiling, challenges with the move to a more hybrid way of working, the impact on the employee
- [How to put empathy into action in your customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/01/how-to-put-empathy-into-action-in-your-customer-experience/) - Customers want to engage with brands that can deliver more empathetic experiences. That's easy to say and much harder to deliver. A new book, Empathy in Action, shows how with the right culture, leadership, technology and structure we can achieve that.
- [How to put empathy into action in your customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/01/how-to-put-empathy-into-action-in-your-customer-experience/) - Customers want to engage with brands that can deliver more empathetic experiences. That's easy to say and much harder to deliver. A new book, Empathy in Action, shows how with the right culture, leadership, technology and structure we can achieve that.
- [An #IA40 recognized app that is focusing on making agents experts on day one - Interview with Brittany Bell of Cresta](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/01/an-ia40-recognized-app-that-is-focusing-on-making-agents-experts-on-day-one-interview-with-brittany-bell-of-cresta/) - Today’s interview is with Brittany Bell, a Customer Success Manager at Cresta AI, which provides contact center agents real-time suggestions and coaching, whether in an individual call or chat session, to help them deliver the best outcomes. Brittany joined me to talk about why she made the switch from BPO to vendor side, the emerging landscape
- [8 customer-experience-related predictions for 2022](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/01/8-customer-experience-related-predictions-for-2022/) - Eight customer experience (CX) trend predictions for 2022 plus some commentary.
- [CX, loyalty and retention - Lessons from diverse industries - Interview with Andrea Prazakova of Mastercard and David Boucher of Aster DM Healthcare](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/01/cx-loyalty-and-retention-lessons-from-diverse-industries-interview-with-andrea-prazakova-of-mastercard-and-david-boucher-of-aster-dm-healthcare/) - Today’s interview is with Andrea Prazakova, who is Senior Vice President Customer Experience at Mastercard in the UAE and David Boucher, the Chief of Service Excellence at Aster DM Healthcare in Dubai, UAE. Andrea and David join me today as we revisit a panel discussion that we had at the CX NXT Martechvibe event in
- [A glimpse into 2022: How can contact centres plan ahead?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2022/01/a-glimpse-into-2022-how-can-contact-centres-plan-ahead/) - This guest post by Dave Hoekstra, a Product Evangelist at Calabrio, reflects on lessons learned by contact centres in 2021 and offers a glimpse into 2022, helping contact centres to plan ahead. Hybrid working, The Great Resignation and Digital transformation are buzz terms that swarmed the contact centre industry in 2021. Yet, perhaps the word
- [Genesys is aiming to transform not only customer experience but employee experience too ](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/12/genesys-is-aiming-to-transform-not-only-customer-experience-but-employee-experience-too/) - I recently attended Genesys’ Analyst & Influencer Summit, an event that connected me with leaders at Genesys, and their partners and customers. I don’t attend that many of these events; given my positioning I don’t easily sit within the analyst and influencer buckets - but it was interesting to attend and observe the topics that
- [CRM systems are not designed with users, and particularly sales users, in mind - Interview with Justin Vaillancourt of Dooly](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/12/crm-systems-are-not-designed-with-users-and-particularly-sales-users-in-mind-interview-with-justin-vaillancourt-of-dooly/) - Today’s interview is with Justin Vaillancourt is the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Dooly, a CRM automation software provider that is making the use of Salesforce fast and painless. Justin joins me today to talk about the findings from their recent research (Dooly Sales Happiness Index - Key Findings November 2021), what they mean,
- [Getting personalisation right will require marketers to do different things](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/12/getting-personalisation-right-will-require-marketers-to-do-different-things/) - The lovely folk at Braze, a comprehensive customer engagement platform that powers relevant and memorable experiences between consumers and the brands they love., invited me along to talk about personalisation and how to get it right at their Forge City x City London 2021 event in October. Now, I've only done a few face-to-face events
- [Introducing Punk XL Part Two - Interview with Karen, Sandra De Z, Richard, Sandra T and Ari](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/12/introducing-punk-xl-part-two-interview-with-karen-sandra-de-z-richard-sandra-t-and-ari/) - Today’s podcast interview, like last week's, is different. Last week I shared the first part of a two-part conversation about a new book project: Punk XL, that has just been released. Again, it is available as both a podcast and a video [see below or follow this link]. A lot has happened since Punk CX
- [The problem at the heart of personalization](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/12/the-problem-at-the-heart-of-personalization/) - Personalization in customer experience is regarded as important by both brands and customers but many are not getting it right. Why is that?
- [Introducing Punk XL - Interview with Serena, Lara, Amy, Joyce, Oisin and Tom](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/12/introducing-punk-xl-interview-with-serena-lara-amy-joyce-oisin-and-tom/) - Today’s podcast interview is different. Here's how it is different: It’s Part 1 of a two-part conversation about a new project. Part 2 will be released next week. It's available as a podcast and also as a video [see below or follow this link]. But, most excitingly, it's about Punk XL, a follow up book
- [The great resignation and integrating wellness at work](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/12/the-great-resignation-and-integrating-wellness-at-work/) - This is a guest post by Asha Tarry, a business consultant, psychotherapist, and life coach, who discusses the "Great Resignation" of 2021, especially among Black and Latinx employees. She dives into how making wellness in the workplace a priority may slow the migration away from the office. There is no doubt in anyone's mind
- [How can managers support and progress their hybrid workforces?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/11/how-can-managers-support-and-progress-their-hybrid-workforces/) - This is a guest post from Natasha Bougourd, a copywriter for Impact International. COVID has revolutionised the way we work, and many businesses are now living in a world of hybrid working. We know that flexible working is good for staff morale, retention, and satisfaction. But could it be having a secret adverse effect on
- [Only 2% of marketers say they experience perfect alignment with sales - Interview with Scott Addington of SugarCRM](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/11/only-2-of-marketers-say-they-experience-perfect-alignment-with-sales-interview-with-scott-addington-of-sugarcrm-2/) - Today’s interview is with Scott Addington, VP of EMEA Marketing for SugarCRM. Scott joins me today to talk about letting the platform do the work, the continued misalignment of sales and marketing teams, what it is costing them, what they should do about it and how technology can help. This interview follows on from my
- [Acquisition vs. retention marketing: why ecommerce outfits should pivot their strategy](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/11/acquisition-vs-retention-marketing-why-ecommerce-outfits-should-pivot-their-strategy/) - This is a guest post by Monica Eaton-Cardone, the co-founder and COO of Chargebacks911. We’re gradually working our way to a post-Covid sense of normalcy. However, it’s important to acknowledge that some trends we’ve observed over the last two years may represent broader, permanent changes in the marketplace. There’s been a seismic shift toward eCommerce
- [The end of the customer experience is so important but is often looked - Interview with Joe Macleod #Endineering](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/11/the-end-of-the-customer-experience-is-so-important-but-is-often-looked-interview-with-joe-macleod-endineering/) - Today’s interview is with Joe Macleod, the Founder & Head of Endineering at AndEnd and a two-time author. Joe joins me today to talk his new book: Endineering: Designing consumption lifecycles that end as well as they begin, why the end of the customer experience is so important, often looked, what that is costing us
- [Customer service teams: the time for more service advocacy is now](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/11/customer-service-teams-the-time-for-more-service-advocacy-is-now/) - Customer service teams are often taken for granted. Some of you may think that that is a strong statement. But, if you look up the expression “to be taken for granted”, an idiom within the English language, you will find that it means: To underestimate or undervalue someone or something; to not properly recognise or
- [CRM is not just about technology; it's actually about relationships - Interview with Victoria Wejchert of Kinship](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/11/crm-is-not-just-about-technology-its-actually-about-relationships-interview-with-victoria-wejchert-of-kinship/) - Today’s interview is with Victoria Wejchert, who is the founder and CEO of Kinship, a contact management app that makes it easy to store and act on contact information to build stronger professional and personal connections. Victoria joins me today to talk about Kinship, the CRM space, building a phone-based CRM application in what is already a crowded market and how with all of the tech that we are surrounded by right now we are not really focusing on building real, lasting and meaningful relationships.
- [A quick intro to people analytics and how it improves employee experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/a-quick-intro-to-people-analytics-and-how-it-improves-employee-experience/) - This is a guest post from Tim Ferguson, a writer and editor of Marketing Digest. Just as digital marketers use analytics to understand their customers better, the management also seeks to understand their employee needs better through people analytics. Particularly now that everyone is working from home, having systematic methods in place to understand the
- [12 principles for turning customers and employees into lifelong fans - Interview with Jon Picoult of Watermark Consulting](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/12-principles-for-turning-customers-and-employees-into-lifelong-fans-interview-with-jon-picault-of-watermark-consulting/) - Today’s interview is with Jon Picoult is founder of Watermark Consulting, a leading customer experience advisory firm, and author of a new book: FROM IMPRESSED TO OBSESSED: 12 Principles for Turning Customers and Employees into Lifelong Fans. Jon joins me today to talk about the book, the most universal problem in customer experience today, why
- [12 principles for turning customers and employees into lifelong fans - Interview with Jon Picoult of Watermark Consulting](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/12-principles-for-turning-customers-and-employees-into-lifelong-fans-interview-with-jon-picault-of-watermark-consulting/) - Today’s interview is with Jon Picoult is founder of Watermark Consulting, a leading customer experience advisory firm, and author of a new book: FROM IMPRESSED TO OBSESSED: 12 Principles for Turning Customers and Employees into Lifelong Fans. Jon joins me today to talk about the book, the most universal problem in customer experience today, why
- [12 principles for turning customers and employees into lifelong fans - Interview with Jon Picoult of Watermark Consulting](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/12-principles-for-turning-customers-and-employees-into-lifelong-fans-interview-with-jon-picault-of-watermark-consulting/) - Today’s interview is with Jon Picoult is founder of Watermark Consulting, a leading customer experience advisory firm, and author of a new book: FROM IMPRESSED TO OBSESSED: 12 Principles for Turning Customers and Employees into Lifelong Fans. Jon joins me today to talk about the book, the most universal problem in customer experience today, why
- [On-site search, customer experience and inexplicable inaction](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/on-site-search-customer-experience-and-inexplicable-inaction/) - Yext sponsored research exploring the role and impact of on-site search on a customer's experience produced both interesting and confounding results.
- [Combating language discrimination in customer service](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/combating-language-discrimination-in-customer-service/) - Language can often be a limiting factor in the quality of the service that customers receive. Unbabel's artificial intelligence (AI) powered human translation platform aims to address those inequities.
- [Customer purchasing decisions are increasingly being driven by their values - Interview with Alan Williams #WorldValuesDay](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/customer-purchasing-decisions-are-increasingly-being-driven-by-their-values-interview-with-alan-williams-worldvaluesday/) - Today’s interview is with Alan Williams, who is the Founder & MD, SERVICEBRAND GLOBAL, and helps service sector organisations to deliver significantly better business performance and a service excellence culture through values-driven organisational alignment. He joins me today to talk about his new book: “The Values Economy, How to Deliver Values Driven Service for Sustained Performance”, what we can learn from it, how values can impact better service and experience and World Values Day.
- [Q&A with Miva on the challenges ahead for retailers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/qa-with-miva-on-the-challenges-ahead-for-retailers/) - Megan Stillerman, Senior VP of Customer Experience at Miva, discusses the challenges ahead for retailers as the effects of the pandemic recede and more and more workers head back into the office.
- [Q&A with Miva on the challenges ahead for retailers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/qa-with-miva-on-the-challenges-ahead-for-retailers/) - Megan Stillerman, Senior VP of Customer Experience at Miva, discusses the challenges ahead for retailers as the effects of the pandemic recede and more and more workers head back into the office.
- [Customer service: The most important job in the company - Interview with Fortuné Alexander of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/customer-service-the-most-important-job-in-the-company-interview-with-fortune-alexander-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Fortuné Alexander who is the senior director of product marketing for customer service and sales automation solutions at Pega. Fortuné joins me today to talk about National Customer Service Week, recognising and celebrating excellent customer service, the changing world of work, service with respect, simplifying service, applying technology, where to start,
- [Why digital bank statements must change with consumers habits](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/why-digital-bank-statements-must-change-with-consumers-habits/) - This is a guest post from Jason Howard, Executive Vice President at Ethoca. Online shopping has changed dramatically in the last 12-18 months, with online spending increasing by $900 billion globally in 2020 alone. This trend was largely fuelled by the pandemic and we expect a lot of these new digital habits to become permanent.
- [The only thing that limits you on a no code platform is your imagination - Interview with Pierce Buckley of babelforce](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/the-only-thing-that-limits-you-on-a-no-code-platform-is-your-imagination-interview-with-pierce-buckley-of-babelforce/) - Today’s interview is with Pierce Buckley who is an automation and CX expert and CEO and Co-founder of babelforce. Pierce joins me today to talk contact centres, customer service, customer experience, AI, the schmai-i bit, busting a few myths around the whole tech and service space, no-code platforms, what that really means, what’s the difference between RPA and no-code and how organisations should be approaching and leveraging AI and no-code in their business, particularly when it comes to improving customer service/experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The metric that is more important than NPS and CSAT – Interview with Shep Hyken — and is number 404 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [The only thing that limits you on a no code platform is your imagination - Interview with Pierce Buckley of babelforce](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/10/the-only-thing-that-limits-you-on-a-no-code-platform-is-your-imagination-interview-with-pierce-buckley-of-babelforce/) - Today’s interview is with Pierce Buckley who is an automation and CX expert and CEO and Co-founder of babelforce. Pierce joins me today to talk contact centres, customer service, customer experience, AI, the schmai-i bit, busting a few myths around the whole tech and service space, no-code platforms, what that really means, what’s the difference between RPA and no-code and how organisations should be approaching and leveraging AI and no-code in their business, particularly when it comes to improving customer service/experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The metric that is more important than NPS and CSAT – Interview with Shep Hyken — and is number 404 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Contact centres simplified: 3 ways to turn theory into practice](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/09/contact-centres-simplified-3-ways-to-turn-theory-into-practice/) - This is a guest post from Ross Daniels, Chief Marketing Officer at Calabrio. In our last two blogs, we introduced the concept of adding simplicity to the contact centre and outlined the major barriers to success. Along the way, we shared several simplification strategies including how to step-up staff engagement programmes and refresh leadership skills.
- [The metric that is more important than NPS and CSAT - Interview with Shep Hyken](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/09/the-metric-that-is-more-important-than-nps-and-csat-interview-with-shep-hyken/) - Today’s interview is with Shep Hyken, who is the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations and a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Shep joins me today today to talk about his latest book: I’ll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again and Again, what an Arnie is, the
- [Marginal cost but high perceived value](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/09/marginal-cost-but-high-perceived-value/) - When brainstorming ideas and strategies to boost the length and value of their customer relationships, many firms come up with lots of fancy and expensive ideas of trying to boost their customer retention and loyalty. However, most of the time when they do that all they end up doing is giving their clients expensive gifts,
- [We need to start talking about experience leadership - Interview with Peter Cross](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/09/we-need-to-start-talking-about-experience-leadership-interview-with-peter-cross/) - Today’s interview is with retail expert Peter Cross who until recently was the Customer Experience Director at John Lewis and Waitrose and prior to that spent ten years as Mary Portas’ business partner. Peter joins me today to talk about retail customer experience, some of the lessons he has learned over the course of the last few years, experience leadership and what he sees as some of the challenges ahead for experience leaders. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The top frustrations of customers and agents are the same – Interview with Jeff Nicholson of Pega — and is number 402 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at babelforce for sponsoring my podcast this month.
- [Digital teams suffer from a perception gap that hinders customer experience improvement efforts](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/09/digital-teams-suffer-from-a-perception-gap-that-hinders-customer-experience-improvement-efforts/) - Organizations often suffer from gaps in perception, and many of these impact their ability to improve both the customer and employee experience. New research has uncovered a new one that afflicts product and web teams.
- [Digital teams suffer from a perception gap that hinders customer experience improvement efforts](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/09/digital-teams-suffer-from-a-perception-gap-that-hinders-customer-experience-improvement-efforts/) - Organizations often suffer from gaps in perception, and many of these impact their ability to improve both the customer and employee experience. New research has uncovered a new one that afflicts product and web teams.
- [The top frustrations of customers and agents are the same - Interview with Jeff Nicholson of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/09/the-top-frustrations-of-customers-and-agents-are-the-same-interview-with-jeff-nicholson-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Jeff Nicholson, Global Leader, CRM Strategy for Pega, where he heads up the company’s CRM market strategy and vision worldwide. Jeff joins me today to talk about their recently released new piece of research: Resolution revolution: Customer service insights report, what we can learn from it, what we should be focusing on, agent experience, the emerging landscape of customer service and sine waves!
- [What’s stopping you from achieving simplicity in your contact centre?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/08/whats-stopping-you-from-achieving-simplicity-in-your-contact-centre/) - The major barriers to simplification are closer to home than you may think. An effective strategy starts at the top. In this guest post, Ross Daniels, Chief Marketing Officer at Calabrio, reveals the best practices that successful leaders share and how resource planners can lead the way.
- [What do immersive VR, empathetic interactions and stand out customer service have in common? - Interview with Monika Jo of Mursion](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/08/what-do-immersive-vr-empathetic-interactions-and-stand-out-customer-service-have-in-common-interview-with-monika-jo-of-mursion/) - Today’s interview is with Monika Jo, Director Of Communications at Mursion, a virtual reality platform for professionals to practice and master the complex interpersonal skills necessary to be effective in their roles. This blend of technology and human performance creates a highly realistic training environment that mimics the real-world challenges employees face every day. Monika joins me today to talk about the report that they recently published (The Human Edge in an AI World), what we can learn from it, the importance of EQ, building an empathetic musculature and what Mursion do to try help organisations and individuals get better at being more empathetic in their interactions with customers. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Pink Goldfish, standing out, portmanteaus and wabi-sabi – Interview with Stan Phelps and Dave Rendall — and is number 400 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Over 100 million reasons why conversational customer service is the way forward](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/08/over-100-million-reasons-why-conversational-customer-service-is-the-way-forward/) - Dixa announces the largest Series C funding round for a Danish SaaS tech company in 2021. It is a massive endorsement that a conversational and multi-experience approach to customer service is the way forward.
- [Pink Goldfish, standing out, portmanteaus and wabi-sabi - Interview with Stan Phelps and Dave Rendall](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/08/pink-goldfish-standing-out-portmanteaus-and-wabi-sabi-interview-with-stan-phelps-and-dave-rendall/) - Today’s interview is with Stan Phelps and Dave Rendall, co-authors of Pink Goldfish 2.0: Defy Normal and Exploit Imperfection. They join me today to talk about flaws, imperfections, portmanteaus and how we make our imperfections work for us and help us stand out. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Playing your way to a stand out customer experience – Interview with Sirte Pihlaja — and is number 399 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [5 Tips to efficient customer service workflow management](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/08/5-tips-to-efficient-customer-service-workflow-management/) - This is a guest post from Ashwini Dave who is working with Acquire as a digital marketing expert.
- [Playing your way to a stand out customer experience - Interview with Sirte Pihlaja](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/08/playing-your-way-to-a-stand-out-customer-experience-interview-with-sirte-pihlaja/) - Today’s interview is with Sirte Pihlaja, who is the CEO (Customer Experience Optimiser) of Shirute, the first customer experience agency in Finland as well as a Lego Serious Play® Facilitator amongst many other things. Sirte joins me today to talk about happiness, creativity, why we need more fun in our business and CX lives, Lego and some serious playing. This interview follows on from my recent interview – We are all only one moment away from creating a hyper fan – Interview with James Dodkins of Pega — and is number 398 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [How many more customers need to cry?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/08/how-many-more-customers-need-to-cry/) - New research from Pega shows that poor customer service is having a real and emotional impact on many customers. But, customers are not waiting around. What needs to happen for brands to get their act together?
- [How many more customers need to cry?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/08/how-many-more-customers-need-to-cry/) - New research from Pega shows that poor customer service is having a real and emotional impact on many customers. But, customers are not waiting around. What needs to happen for brands to get their act together?
- [We are all only one moment away from creating a hyper fan - Interview with James Dodkins of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/07/we-are-all-only-one-moment-away-from-creating-a-hyper-fan-interview-with-james-dodkins-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with James Dodkins, who is commonly know as the CX Rockstar, is a former rockstar but is now the CX Evangelist at Pegasystems. James joins me today to talk about his journey, why he’s joined Pega, what he’s going to be getting up to, extreme fandoms, hyper-fans and what’s stood out for him regarding customer experience over the last 15 months.
- [We are all only one moment away from creating a hyper fan - Interview with James Dodkins of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/07/we-are-all-only-one-moment-away-from-creating-a-hyper-fan-interview-with-james-dodkins-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with James Dodkins, who is commonly know as the CX Rockstar, is a former rockstar but is now the CX Evangelist at Pegasystems. James joins me today to talk about his journey, why he’s joined Pega, what he’s going to be getting up to, extreme fandoms, hyper-fans and what’s stood out for him regarding customer experience over the last 15 months.
- [We are all only one moment away from creating a hyper fan - Interview with James Dodkins of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/07/we-are-all-only-one-moment-away-from-creating-a-hyper-fan-interview-with-james-dodkins-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with James Dodkins, who is commonly know as the CX Rockstar, is a former rockstar but is now the CX Evangelist at Pegasystems. James joins me today to talk about his journey, why he’s joined Pega, what he’s going to be getting up to, extreme fandoms, hyper-fans and what’s stood out for him regarding customer experience over the last 15 months.
- [4 Quick and effective ways to improve your customers ecommerce experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/07/4-quick-and-effective-ways-to-improve-your-customers-ecommerce-experience/) - This is a guest post by Lucy Manole, a creative content writer and strategist at Marketing Digest, that explores some effective ways to improve your customers ecommerce experience.
- [A good customer experience starts with having the right tools - Interview with Liat Bycel of Airtable](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/07/a-good-customer-experience-starts-with-having-the-right-tools-interview-with-liat-bycel-of-airtable/) - Today’s interview is with Liat Bycel, the VP of Sales at Airtable, the no code collaboration platform, and the person responsible for building the customer engagement organization which comprises team members from sales, customers success, support, support ops, sales ops and strategy. Liat joins me to today to talk about the ‘messy middle’ syndrome, being well-prepared when the pandemic hit, how she built their customer engagement organization, adopting a new hybrid work pattern and why we need to consider onboarding for everyone again.
- [Hyper-Personalisation in Financial Services: What is it and how to achieve it.](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/07/hyper-personalisation-in-financial-services-what-is-it-and-how-to-achieve-it/) - In the second half of May, I hosted a webinar discussion on Hyper-Personalisation in Financial Services. I was joined by Ian Ashby, Principal Strategist for Customer Service at ServiceNow, Dave Wallace, Founder of NMD+, and Jonathan Allan, CMO at Puzzel. This is a write-up of our discussion.
- [Ineffective communication is a silent killer of customer service performance - Interview with Dorian Stone of Grammarly Business](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/07/ineffective-communication-is-a-silent-killer-of-customer-service-performance-interview-with-dorian-stone-of-grammarly-business/) - Today’s interview is with Dorian Stone, General Manager of Grammarly Business, who oversees all operations for Grammarly’s integrated business solution. Grammarly is a cross-platform, cloud-based, AI-enabled, writing assistant that reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement and delivery mistakes in real-time. Dorian joins me today to talk about customer service and experience, writing and the impact of ineffective communication on productivity and service as well as other areas of business. This interview follows on from my recent interview – We’re going 100mph. But, we have no rules of the road and we need them – Interview with Ben Pring of Cognizant — and is number 395 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [We're going 100mph. But, we have no rules of the road and we need them - Interview with Ben Pring of Cognizant](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/were-going-100mph-but-we-have-no-rules-of-the-road-and-we-need-them-interview-with-ben-pring-of-cognizant/) - Today’s interview is with Ben Pring, who is the head of thought leadership at Cognizant, co-founded and leads Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work, and is a member of Cognizant’s Executive Leadership Team. Ben joins me today to talk abut his new book, that he co-authored with his colleague Paul Roehrig, called: Monster: A Tough Love Letter On Taming the Machines that Rule our Jobs, Lives, and Future, why we can’t cede control of technology to technologists, can we afford to wait for governments to fix tech’s problems, the declarations that the book makes as part of its manifesto, which ones apply to customer and employee experience professionals, what happens if we don’t take action, what’s our window of opportunity and what we should be doing and thinking about right now. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Diversity, combating bias in AI and why everything is an input – Interview with Deon Nicholas of Forethought — and is number 394 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Three apps that are making customer experience more inclusive](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/07/three-apps-that-are-making-customer-experience-more-inclusive/) - Is customer experience inclusive? Does it take into account the needs of disabled people, which make up 20% of the world's population. Not often. Three tech companies are trying to make a difference.
- [Is your employee engagement strategy right for 2021?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/is-your-employee-engagement-strategy-right-for-2021/) - This is a guest post from Shandel McAuliffe, Head of Content at Cezanne HR. A lot of businesses probably haven’t had much time to review their employee engagement strategy since the start of the pandemic. Between keeping employees and customers safe and informed, and trying to maintain at least a minimum level of productivity, engagement
- [Is your employee engagement strategy right for 2021?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/is-your-employee-engagement-strategy-right-for-2021/) - This is a guest post from Shandel McAuliffe, Head of Content at Cezanne HR. A lot of businesses probably haven’t had much time to review their employee engagement strategy since the start of the pandemic. Between keeping employees and customers safe and informed, and trying to maintain at least a minimum level of productivity, engagement
- [Diversity, combating bias in AI and why everything is an input - Interview with Deon Nicholas of Forethought](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/diversity-combating-bias-in-ai-and-why-everything-is-an-input-interview-with-deon-nicholas-of-forethought/) - Today’s interview is with Deon Nicholas, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Forethought, an AI company that creates order, removes redundant work, and provides efficiency for businesses everywhere. They are set on changing the way enterprises access, share, and leverage their knowledge. Moreover, not only is Forethought committed to diversity, it's part of their strategy. Deon joins me today to talk about Unbiased AI, how bias gets into AI, overfitting, how we can rid AI of unconscious biases, what customer service and experience teams should be looking out for and doing more of or doing better, what is Forethought doing differently to tackle these issues and how diversity is a central part of their strategy. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Who are the people that feel the least welcome when they engage with a business? – Interview with Gavin Neate of WelcoMe — and is number 393 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Diversity, combating bias in AI and why everything is an input - Interview with Deon Nicholas of Forethought](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/diversity-combating-bias-in-ai-and-why-everything-is-an-input-interview-with-deon-nicholas-of-forethought/) - Today’s interview is with Deon Nicholas, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Forethought, an AI company that creates order, removes redundant work, and provides efficiency for businesses everywhere. They are set on changing the way enterprises access, share, and leverage their knowledge. Moreover, not only is Forethought committed to diversity, it's part of their strategy. Deon joins me today to talk about Unbiased AI, how bias gets into AI, overfitting, how we can rid AI of unconscious biases, what customer service and experience teams should be looking out for and doing more of or doing better, what is Forethought doing differently to tackle these issues and how diversity is a central part of their strategy. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Who are the people that feel the least welcome when they engage with a business? – Interview with Gavin Neate of WelcoMe — and is number 393 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [The emerging landscape of service](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/the-emerging-landscape-of-service/) - Customer service has changed dramatically over the last ten years. It's set to change further as leading brands take an increasingly connected and holistic view of the whole service experience.
- [Who are the people that feel the least welcome when they engage with a business? - Interview with Gavin Neate of WelcoMe](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/who-are-the-people-that-feel-the-least-welcome-when-they-engage-with-a-business-interview-with-gavin-neate-of-welcome/) - Today’s interview is with Gavin Neate, CEO and Founder of Neatebox, the umbrella company for WelcoMe and Button. WelcoMe lets service teams know when a disabled person is about to arrive and provides them with the very best general and personal information as to how to interact. Gavin joins me today talk about disability, disability and customer service/experience, inclusive CX, how WelcoMe is helping and what customer service and experience leaders should be thinking about. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The lost child of customer experience (CX) is taking action – Interview with Jason Grier of Reputation — and is number 392 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Who are the people that feel the least welcome when they engage with a business? - Interview with Gavin Neate of WelcoMe](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/who-are-the-people-that-feel-the-least-welcome-when-they-engage-with-a-business-interview-with-gavin-neate-of-welcome/) - Today’s interview is with Gavin Neate, CEO and Founder of Neatebox, the umbrella company for WelcoMe and Button. WelcoMe lets service teams know when a disabled person is about to arrive and provides them with the very best general and personal information as to how to interact. Gavin joins me today talk about disability, disability and customer service/experience, inclusive CX, how WelcoMe is helping and what customer service and experience leaders should be thinking about. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The lost child of customer experience (CX) is taking action – Interview with Jason Grier of Reputation — and is number 392 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Elton John was wrong, sorry isn’t the hardest word](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/elton-john-was-wrong-sorry-isnt-the-hardest-word/) - In customer interactions, do we use the word sorry too much? CallMiner's data provides some clues.
- [The lost child of customer experience (CX) is taking action - Interview with Jason Grier of Reputation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/the-lost-child-of-customer-experience-cx-is-taking-action-interview-with-jason-grier-of-reputation/) - Today’s interview is with Jason Grier, Chief Customer Officer of Reputation, a leading business-to-business online reputation management and customer experience management company. Jason joins me today to talk about cars, speedometers, experiencing your own experience, the (over)focus on metrics, the power of unstructured feedback and the report that Forrester that produced for them and some great advice for CX practitioners about what they should be prioritizing when it comes to improving the experience they deliver. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Employee experience, the war for talent and what to avoid in a back to the office strategy – Interview with Steve Lucas of iCIMS — and is number 391 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [The lost child of customer experience (CX) is taking action - Interview with Jason Grier of Reputation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/the-lost-child-of-customer-experience-cx-is-taking-action-interview-with-jason-grier-of-reputation/) - Today’s interview is with Jason Grier, Chief Customer Officer of Reputation, a leading business-to-business online reputation management and customer experience management company. Jason joins me today to talk about cars, speedometers, experiencing your own experience, the (over)focus on metrics, the power of unstructured feedback and the report that Forrester that produced for them and some great advice for CX practitioners about what they should be prioritizing when it comes to improving the experience they deliver. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Employee experience, the war for talent and what to avoid in a back to the office strategy – Interview with Steve Lucas of iCIMS — and is number 391 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Three ways that organizations are under utilizing AI in their customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/three-ways-that-organizations-are-under-utilizing-ai-in-their-customer-experience/) - Over the last 12 months, there has been a surge in investment in AI enabled customer self-service technology and tools. However, there is a danger that organizations are overlooking other areas for investment that could have arguably just as much impact.
- [Three ways that organizations are under utilizing AI in their customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/three-ways-that-organizations-are-under-utilizing-ai-in-their-customer-experience/) - Over the last 12 months, there has been a surge in investment in AI enabled customer self-service technology and tools. However, there is a danger that organizations are overlooking other areas for investment that could have arguably just as much impact.
- [Three ways that organizations are under utilizing AI in their customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/06/three-ways-that-organizations-are-under-utilizing-ai-in-their-customer-experience/) - Over the last 12 months, there has been a surge in investment in AI enabled customer self-service technology and tools. However, there is a danger that organizations are overlooking other areas for investment that could have arguably just as much impact.
- [Employee experience, the war for talent and what to avoid in a back to the office strategy - Interview with Steve Lucas of iCIMS](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/05/employee-experience-the-war-for-talent-and-what-to-avoid-in-a-back-to-the-office-strategy-interview-with-steve-lucas-of-icims/) - Today’s interview is with Steve Lucas, CEO of iCIMS, a talent cloud company. Steve joins me today to talk about changes in working patterns over the last 12 months, the findings from their new research report: 2021 Workforce Report: Respond, Recover, Readapt, employee experience and the competition for talent. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Your values are designed to attract, but also to repel – Interview with Borzou Azabdaftari of The Falcon Lab — and is number 390 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. ADDITIONAL NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at SugarCRM for sponsoring my podcast this month. SugarCRM, the provider of the #1 rated Customer Experience platform, is trusted by thousands of companies in over 120 countries to help them achieve high-definition CX. Recently they released their new CRM and Sales Impact Report which surveyed 1,000 sales professionals from around the globe on what’s driving (or stalling) revenue and customer engagement. The report also asks a provocative question: Are companies on the cusp of a customer relationship crisis. To find out the answer check out and download the report here.
- [Employee experience, the war for talent and what to avoid in a back to the office strategy - Interview with Steve Lucas of iCIMS](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/05/employee-experience-the-war-for-talent-and-what-to-avoid-in-a-back-to-the-office-strategy-interview-with-steve-lucas-of-icims/) - Today’s interview is with Steve Lucas, CEO of iCIMS, a talent cloud company. Steve joins me today to talk about changes in working patterns over the last 12 months, the findings from their new research report: 2021 Workforce Report: Respond, Recover, Readapt, employee experience and the competition for talent. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Your values are designed to attract, but also to repel – Interview with Borzou Azabdaftari of The Falcon Lab — and is number 390 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. ADDITIONAL NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at SugarCRM for sponsoring my podcast this month. SugarCRM, the provider of the #1 rated Customer Experience platform, is trusted by thousands of companies in over 120 countries to help them achieve high-definition CX. Recently they released their new CRM and Sales Impact Report which surveyed 1,000 sales professionals from around the globe on what’s driving (or stalling) revenue and customer engagement. The report also asks a provocative question: Are companies on the cusp of a customer relationship crisis. To find out the answer check out and download the report here.
- [Transforming agent attrition in the contact centre through social physics - Interview with Ron Davis of Tenacity](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/02/transforming-agent-attrition-in-the-contact-centre-through-social-physics-interview-with-ron-davis-of-tenacity/) - Transforming agent attrition in the contact centre through social physics - Interview with Ron Davis of Tenacity
- [Transforming agent attrition in the contact centre through social physics - Interview with Ron Davis of Tenacity](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/02/transforming-agent-attrition-in-the-contact-centre-through-social-physics-interview-with-ron-davis-of-tenacity/) - Transforming agent attrition in the contact centre through social physics - Interview with Ron Davis of Tenacity
- [Why the future of customer experience lies in the present](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/05/why-the-future-of-customer-experience-lies-in-the-present/) - Disruption this, disruption that. This article explores the future of customer experience and what matters. It was originally published as part of Business Reporter's The Future of Customer Experience - April 2021.
- [Your values are designed to attract, but also to repel - Interview with Borzou Azabdaftari of The Falcon Lab](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/05/your-values-are-designed-to-attract-but-also-to-repel-interview-with-borzou-azabdaftari-of-the-falcon-lab/) - NOTE: This episode contains some profanity. Not too much but definitely some. You are warned! Today’s interview is with Borzou Azabdaftari, Boss at The Falcon Lab, a full service marketing agency. Borzou joins me today to talk values, profanity, having profane values, it’s impact on clients and the changing nature of customer experience and what increasingly matters. Big shout out to Stan Phelps and David Rendall for introducing me to Borzou. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Are companies on the cusp of a customer relationship crisis? – Interview with David Campbell of SugarCRM — and is number 389 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. ADDITIONAL NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at SugarCRM for sponsoring my podcast this month. SugarCRM, the provider of the #1 rated Customer Experience platform, is trusted by thousands of companies in over 120 countries to help them achieve high-definition CX. Recently they released their new CRM and Sales Impact Report which surveyed 1,000 sales professionals from around the globe on what’s driving (or stalling) revenue and customer engagement. The report also asks a provocative question: Are companies on the cusp of a customer relationship crisis. To find out the answer check out and download the report here.
- [We need to talk about the messy middle of customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/05/we-need-to-talk-about-the-messy-middle-of-customer-experience/) - A recent news story illustrates what can happen when a customer has a question or a problem that can’t be answered by a knowledge base article, solved through the use of self-service tools or via an interaction with a customer service agent.
- [Are companies on the cusp of a customer relationship crisis? - Interview with David Campbell of SugarCRM](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/05/are-companies-on-the-cusp-of-a-customer-relationship-crisis-interview-with-david-campbell-of-sugarcrm/) - Today’s interview is with David Campbell, the vice president of product marketing at SugarCRM, the #1 rated Customer Experience platform. David joins me today to talk about CRM, what grade he would give CRM after being around for 25 years, SugarCRM’s recent CRM and Sales Impact Report, what the findings mean, what we need to do differently and whether or not we are on the cusp of a customer relationship crisis. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Improving the customer experience of a FMCG category through a pandemic – Interview with Jan Kodadek — and is number 388 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at SugarCRM for sponsoring my podcast this month. SugarCRM, the provider of the #1 rated Customer Experience platform, is trusted by thousands of companies in over 120 countries to help them achieve high-definition CX. Recently they released their new CRM and Sales Impact Report which surveyed 1,000 sales professionals from around the globe on what’s driving (or stalling) revenue and customer engagement. The report also asks a provocative question: Are companies on the cusp of a customer relationship crisis. To find out the answer check out and download the report here.
- [Why should you personalize everything for your customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/05/why-should-you-personalize-everything-for-your-customers/) - Personalization is the key to engaging your customers and increasing your conversion rates. Here’s why you should personalize your approach.
- [Improving the customer experience of a FMCG category through a pandemic - Interview with Jan Kodadek](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/05/improving-the-customer-experience-of-a-fmcg-category-through-a-pandemic-interview-with-jan-kodadek/) - #post_contentToday’s interview is with Jan Kodadek is the Digital Lead for the Sexual Wellbeing category at Reckitt. Jan joins me today to talk about the massive shift to digital that has taken place over the last year, the leadership lessons that have emerged for her, what this has meant for a FMCG company and how we can build our understanding of customers and build better relationships with them, particularly when dealing with a potentially sensitive area. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Crushing complexity and keeping customer outcomes front and centre – Interview with Don Schuerman of Pega — and is number 387 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at SugarCRM for sponsoring my podcast this month. SugarCRM, the provider of the #1 rated Customer Experience platform, is trusted by thousands of companies in over 120 countries to help them achieve high-definition CX. Recently they released their new CRM and Sales Impact Report which surveyed 1,000 sales professionals from around the globe on what’s driving (or stalling) revenue and customer engagement. The report also asks a provocative question: Are companies on the cusp of a customer relationship crisis. To find out the answer check out and download the report here.
- [Two radical ideas for experience leaders](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/05/two-radical-ideas-for-experience-leaders/) - Prior to the pandemic, I often heard tales of people talking about how their busy days were full of back to back meetings. On hearing these stories, I often wondered how they ever got any ‘work’ done. Over the last 12 months, with many people working remotely, this situation seems to have become exacerbated. I
- [Crushing complexity and keeping customer outcomes front and centre - Interview with Don Schuerman of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/04/crushing-complexity-and-keeping-customer-outcomes-front-and-centre-interview-with-don-schuerman-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Don Schuerman, the CTO and Vice President of Product Marketing at Pegasystems. Don joins me today to talk about customer experience and digital transformation, what sort of grade he would give us for our performance through the pandemic, the need for more fluidity, the response to the need for greater empathy Today’s interview is with Don Schuerman, the CTO and Vice President of Product Marketing at Pegasystems. Don joins me today to talk about customer experience and digital transformation, what sort of grade he would give us for our performance through the pandemic, the need for more fluidity, the response to the need for greater empathy in customer and employee interactions, the collapse of the gap between rhetoric and activity, not losing the lessons of 2020, crushing complexity, what we have leaned about leadership and technology that we can carry forward and lastly the upcoming Pegaworld (www.pegaworld.com). This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customers are like chameleons – Interview with Professor Michael R. Solomon — and is number 386 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pega for sponsoring my podcast this month. It’s almost time for PegaWorld iNspire, the annual conference from Pegasystems. Join them online for free on May 4 from 9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time (that’s 2 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. UK time) to learn how the world’s most impactful companies are driving digital transformation. They’ll have compelling keynotes, demos, and case studies in a highly interactive virtual format and a few surprises as well. Go to www.pegaworld.com to register for free and check out the full agenda. I’ve attended the last several PegaWorlds in person, and virtually, and I can’t recommend it highly enough, so go register today! That’s www.pegaworld.com
- [Creating outstanding CX from the top-down and bottom-up](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/04/creating-outstanding-cx-from-the-top-down-and-bottom-up/) - This is a guest post from Matt Roberts, co-founder of Zokri, that discusses how Objectives and Key Results or OKRs can be used to help organisations exceptional customer experiences at every interaction.
- [Customers are like chameleons - Interview with Professor Michael R. Solomon](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/04/customers-are-like-chameleons-interview-with-professor-michael-r-solomon/) - Today’s interview is with Michael Solomon, PhD who is Professor of Marketing in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and the author of one of THE books, if not THE original book, on consumer behaviour. He joins us today not to talk about that book but a new one that he has just published called The New Chameleons: How to Connect with Consumers Who Defy Categorization, the difference between horizontal and vertical thinking, whether marketers really know their customers, whether there is a myth around the idea that customers want choice and other ideas that will help you build a better understanding of your customers. This interview follows on from my recent interview – What the democratisation of artificial intelligence (AI) means for customer experience – Interview with Matthew Nolan of Pega — and is number 385 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pega for sponsoring my podcast this month. It’s almost time for PegaWorld iNspire, the annual conference from Pegasystems. Join them online for free on May 4 from 9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time (that’s 2 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. UK time) to learn how the world’s most impactful companies are driving digital transformation. They’ll have compelling keynotes, demos, and case studies in a highly interactive virtual format and a few surprises as well. Go to www.pegaworld.com to register for free and check out the full agenda. I’ve attended the last several PegaWorlds in person, and virtually, and I can’t recommend it highly enough, so go register today! That’s www.pegaworld.com
- [How four brands are leveraging technology to help them build better relationships with their customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/04/how-four-brands-are-leveraging-technology-to-help-them-build-better-relationships-with-their-customers/) - Spending time with customers to better understand them over the last 12 months has proven challenging for many brands. Here's how 4 leading brands have responded.
- [What the democratisation of artificial intelligence (AI) means for customer experience - Interview with Matthew Nolan of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/04/what-the-democratisation-of-artificial-intelligence-ai-means-for-customer-experience-interview-with-matthew-nolan-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Matthew Nolan, the head of Product Marketing for the Decision Sciences division at Pegasystems, driving Pega's portfolio of marketing technology, decision management, and customer engagement solutions. Matthew joins me today to talk about the democratisation of artificial intelligence (AI), what that means, the benefits and risks associated with that and some practical advice for leaders and practitioners looking to improve the experience that they deliver to their customers. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Enabling everyone to have the ability to understand the hidden stories in their data – Interview with Dr Derek Wang of Stratifyd — and is number 384 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pega for sponsoring my podcast this month. It’s almost time for PegaWorld iNspire, the annual conference from Pegasystems. Join them online for free on May 4 from 9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time (that’s 2 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. UK time) to learn how the world’s most impactful companies are driving digital transformation. They’ll have compelling keynotes, demos, and case studies in a highly interactive virtual format and a few surprises as well. Go to www.pegaworld.com to register for free and check out the full agenda. I’ve attended the last several PegaWorlds in person, and virtually, and I can’t recommend it highly enough, so go register today! That’s www.pegaworld.com
- [How to engage potential customers with your brand](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/how-to-engage-potential-customers-with-your-brand/) - How to engage potential customers with your brand - This is a guest post from Jason Grills is a technical writer associated with ProProfs Chat.
- [How to engage potential customers with your brand](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/how-to-engage-potential-customers-with-your-brand/) - How to engage potential customers with your brand - This is a guest post from Jason Grills is a technical writer associated with ProProfs Chat.
- [Havas CX’s X Index offers a new and holistic view of a brand’s customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/04/havas-cxs-x-index-offers-a-new-and-holistic-view-of-a-brands-customer-experience/) - According to Stephanie Nerlich, CEO, Havas Creative North America, the world needs another measurement tool and, in particular, and one that will allow brands to both measure and deliver better customer experiences across the whole customer journey.
- [Enabling everyone to have the ability to understand the hidden stories in their data - Interview with Dr Derek Wang of Stratifyd](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/04/enabling-everyone-to-have-the-ability-to-understand-the-hidden-stories-in-their-data-interview-with-dr-derek-wang-of-stratifyd/) - Today’s interview is with Dr. Derek Wang, the founder and CEO of the AI-driven experience analytics platform Stratifyd. Derek joins me today to talk about empowering everyone to understand the hidden stories in their data, a vision of the future that features humans and AI working together to build better experience programs, proving or delivering a ROI for CX initiatives and some practical advice for leaders and practitioners in this space. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Getting closer to customers means connecting with them irrespective of the logistics – Interview with Bansi Mehta of Koru UX Design — and is number 383 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pega for sponsoring my podcast this month. It’s almost time for PegaWorld iNspire, the annual conference from Pegasystems. Join them online for free on May 4 from 9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time (that’s 2 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. UK time) to learn how the world’s most impactful companies are driving digital transformation. They’ll have compelling keynotes, demos, and case studies in a highly interactive virtual format and a few surprises as well. Go to www.pegaworld.com to register for free and check out the full agenda. I’ve attended the last several PegaWorlds in person, and virtually, and I can’t recommend it highly enough, so go register today! That’s www.pegaworld.com
- [Will Wix Answers become a player in the crowded customer service platform market?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/04/will-wix-answers-become-a-player-in-the-crowded-customer-service-platform-market/) - The customer service and support platform space is already crowded. Could a conversational full stack platform that was built out of necessity give WixAnswers an edge?
- [Getting closer to customers means connecting with them irrespective of the logistics - Interview with Bansi Mehta of Koru UX Design](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/04/getting-closer-to-customers-means-connecting-with-them-irrespective-of-the-logistics-interview-with-bansi-mehta-of-koru-ux-design/) - Today’s interview is with Bansi Mehta is the CEO and Founder of Koru UX Design, a global leader in strategic enterprise UX for the healthcare, telecom and finance industries. Bansi joins me to today to talk about how UX is changing and what should brands and organizations be paying attention to, what the future of UI/UX/CX look like, how she was able to scale her business to become one of the leaders in the UX space for B2B businesses and the trials and tribulations of being a minority, female leader in this space. This interview follows on from my recent interview – What you are doing right now will be the hallmark of your entire career – Interview with Tom Peters — and is number 382 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [4 Ways to transform customer experience to fuel CLV](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/04/4-ways-to-transform-customer-experience-to-fuel-clv/) - In this guest post, Dhruv Mehta, a Digital Marketing Professional who works at Acquire.io, describes four ways that companies can transform their customer experience and fuel their customer lifetime value (CLV).
- [What you are doing right now will be the hallmark of your entire career - Interview with Tom Peters](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/03/what-you-are-doing-right-now-will-be-the-hallmark-of-your-entire-career-interview-with-tom-peters/) - Today’s interview is with Tom Peters, best-selling author of numerous business books (19 in total) and speaker. He is, perhaps, best known for his 1982 seminal book: In Search of Excellence (co-authored with Robert H. Waterman Jr). He is a personal hero of mine and an inspiration and I am honoured to say that this is the third time (the first and the second) that he has been on the podcast. Tom joins me to today to talk about his new (and possibly) final book: Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism and the new set of courses he has developed: Excellence: Now More Than Ever. We talk about excellence, leadership, kindness, extreme humanization and why it is needed now more than ever. As ever Tom was brilliant, insightful, funny and dancing to the same beat that he has been for last 43 years. It was a huge amount of fun so do check it out. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Delivering empathetic customer experiences will require us to move from fuzzy into action – Interview with Joyce Kim, Chief Marketing Officer at Genesys — and is number 381 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Are your irrational fears holding back your customer and employee experience efforts?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/03/are-your-irrational-fears-holding-back-your-customer-and-employee-experience-efforts/) - Our irrational fears influence our decision making and have impeded our ability to improve the customer and employee experience for decades. We should work to become more aware of them and then root them out else they will hold us back.
- [Delivering empathetic customer experiences will require us to move from fuzzy into action - Interview with Joyce Kim, Chief Marketing Officer at Genesys](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/03/delivering-empathetic-customer-experiences-will-require-us-to-move-from-fuzzy-into-action-interview-with-joyce-kim-chief-marketing-officer-at-genesys/) - Today’s interview is with Joyce Kim, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for Genesys, a global leader in cloud -based customer experience and contact centre solutions that serves over 11,000 mid-sized and large businesses around the world. Joyce joins me today to talk about what it’s going to take for organizations to deliver a more empathetic experience to their customers, how empathy will move from fuzzy to actionable, how CMOs can take responsibility addressing customer experience woes as well as what lessons service and experience leaders need to be learning. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Journey analytics and orchestration is helping brands stop doing stupid stuff – Interview with Mark Smith of Kitewheel — and is number 380 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [4 Best practices for leaders to add to their customer experience (CX) strategy in 2021](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/03/4-best-practices-for-leaders-to-add-to-their-customer-experience-cx-strategy-in-2021/) - A post that was originally published on Freshworks' site that describes 4 essential tips to define a customer experience (CX) strategy.
- [Journey analytics and orchestration is helping brands stop doing stupid stuff - Interview with Mark Smith of Kitewheel](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/03/journey-analytics-and-orchestration-is-helping-brands-stop-doing-stupid-stuff-interview-with-mark-smith-of-kitewheel/) - Today’s interview is with Mark Smith, President of Kitewheel, whose platform is powering real-time customer journeys for the world's most customer-centric brands. Mark joins me today to talk about leading edge customer experience, Voice of the Customer (VoC) and Voice of the Process (VoP) data, why VoC data is often partial and potentially misleading, journey analytics and customer journey orchestration as well as what lessons service and experience leaders need to be learning. This interview follows on from my recent interview – It’s the deviants that make the difference – Interview with Gary David and Adam Gamwell — and is number 379 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Why intelligent automation is an absolute must](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/03/why-intelligent-automation-is-an-absolute-must/) - This is a guest post by Simon Thorpe, Director of Pegasystems EMEA Ambassador team talking about customer service and why intelligent automation is an absolute must.
- [It’s the deviants that make the difference - Interview with Gary David and Adam Gamwell](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/03/its-the-deviants-that-make-the-difference-interview-with-gary-david-and-adam-gamwell/) - WARNING! Today’s interview is not like the regular interviews you would normally find here. This episode of the Punk CX podcast is a bit of an experiment and features Gary David, an ethnographer and a professor of Sociology at Bentley University, and Adam Gamwell, a Design Anthropologist, or as he likes to describe himself a Design-Centered Human, and myself having a bit of a rummage around some of the ideas in my Punk CX book as well as a number of other issues related to service and experience including sociology, design, anthropology, systems thinking, organisational dynamics and psychology. We had fun. It was a conversational rummage. I learned a lot. Hope you enjoy the experiment. This interview follows on from my recent interview – We need to talk about customer service’s “messy middle” – Interview with Michael Ramsey of ServiceNow – and is number 378 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. It was quite some conversation so I haven’t produced highlights this time around. I’ll leave it up to you to jump in and find your own highlights. Normal service should resume next time 😉
- [It’s the deviants that make the difference - Interview with Gary David and Adam Gamwell](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/03/its-the-deviants-that-make-the-difference-interview-with-gary-david-and-adam-gamwell/) - WARNING! Today’s interview is not like the regular interviews you would normally find here. This episode of the Punk CX podcast is a bit of an experiment and features Gary David, an ethnographer and a professor of Sociology at Bentley University, and Adam Gamwell, a Design Anthropologist, or as he likes to describe himself a Design-Centered Human, and myself having a bit of a rummage around some of the ideas in my Punk CX book as well as a number of other issues related to service and experience including sociology, design, anthropology, systems thinking, organisational dynamics and psychology. We had fun. It was a conversational rummage. I learned a lot. Hope you enjoy the experiment. This interview follows on from my recent interview – We need to talk about customer service’s “messy middle” – Interview with Michael Ramsey of ServiceNow – and is number 378 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. It was quite some conversation so I haven’t produced highlights this time around. I’ll leave it up to you to jump in and find your own highlights. Normal service should resume next time 😉
- [We need to talk about customer service's “messy middle” - Interview with Michael Ramsey of ServiceNow](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/02/we-need-to-talk-about-customer-services-messy-middle-interview-with-michael-ramsey-of-servicenow/) - Today’s interview is with Michael Ramsey, VP, Product Management, Customer Workflow Products at ServiceNow, a cloud computing platform provider that helps enterprises manage digital workflows and operations more effectively. Michael joins me today to talk about the “messy middle” in customer service, what it is, what problems it creates, how companies are addressing it and whether it should be there in the first place as well as a bunch of other insights for customer service and experience leaders. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Solving language based customer service inequalities – Interview with Vasco Pedro of Unbabel – and is number 377 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Panning for gold: What lies ahead for brand experiences](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/02/panning-for-gold-what-lies-ahead-for-brand-experiences/) - Many of the experience-related prediction and trends articles published and circulated around this time of year contain insightful nuggets. Here's three that could help you differentiate the experience of your brand this year.
- [Solving language based customer service inequalities - Interview with Vasco Pedro of Unbabel](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/02/solving-language-based-customer-service-inequalities-interview-with-vasco-pedro-of-unbabel/) - Today’s interview is with Vasco Pedro, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Unbabel, a company that removes language barriers by blending artificial intelligence with real time, human translations. Vasco joins me today to talk about their AI-powered, human-refined “Translation as a Service” business, the concept of language operations, William Gibson’s Neuromancer, how their technology works and the sort of results it produces as well as sharing a few ideas about the future of service, experience and technology. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The power of personalised videos to drive engagement at all stages of the customer journey – Interview with Matt Barnett of Bonjoro – and is number 376 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [How contact centers win with interaction analytics](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/02/how-contact-centers-win-with-interaction-analytics/) - This is a guest post by Fabrice Martin, CPO, Clarabridge that discusses interaction analytics and the customer experience with a particular focus on contact centres.
- [How contact centers win with interaction analytics](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/02/how-contact-centers-win-with-interaction-analytics/) - This is a guest post by Fabrice Martin, CPO, Clarabridge that discusses interaction analytics and the customer experience with a particular focus on contact centres.
- [The power of personalised videos to drive engagement at all stages of the customer journey - Interview with Matt Barnett of Bonjoro](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/02/the-power-of-personalised-videos-to-drive-engagement-at-all-stages-of-the-customer-journey-interview-with-matt-barnett-of-bonjoro/) - Today’s interview is with Matt Barnett, Papa Bear at Bonjoro, a mobile and web based application that lets you send personalised videos at every stage of the customer journey, to help convert, activate and support your customers. Matt joins me today to talk about video, how things have changed as a result of the pandemic, the impact of video compared to email and where best to apply video in the customer journey. This interview follows on from my recent interview – From an award winning chef to CX Leader of the Year 2020 – Interview with James Scutt of the Post Office – and is number 375 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Why creating empathy in your customer service is so hard](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/02/why-creating-empathy-in-your-customer-service-is-so-hard/) - Organisations understand the value of empathy to strengthening the customer relationship, boosting satisfaction, and increasing loyalty. But many still struggle to build empathy into their customer service interactions – why is this? While empathy is seen as a ‘soft’ skill, becoming more empathetic is actually extremely hard work. Based on a chapter from Punk CX, this article outlines how organisations need to think holistically about empathy if they are to thrive in the future.
- [Emerging leadership lessons from the pandemic and what we need from leaders now - Interview with Rachel Neaman](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/08/emerging-leadership-lessons-from-the-pandemic-and-what-we-need-from-leaders-now-interview-with-rachel-neaman/) - Today’s interview is with Rachel Neaman, a technology leader, Non-Executive Director, leadership mentor and coach with extensive experience in the technology, health, governmental, digital and not for profit fields. Rachel joins me today to talk about some of the organisational changes taking place that she has noticed over the last few months, some of the challenges facing us, how leadership has changed and why many female political leaders, in particular, have been so successful during this period. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Difficult conversations and building more inclusive and diverse organizations – Interview with Jenn Graham of Civic Dinners – and is number 355 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Amplexor for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month. Amplexor is preparing to launch a really exciting virtual series called: Ignite Revenue Through Content which will feature leading speakers and thinkers in short, punchy and thought-provoking bi-monthly episodes exploring and highlighting insights and best practices of how to leverage Content as a strategic differentiator. It’ll run from August through mid-December and kicking it off on August 20th will be yours truly talking about “Unleash(ing) your Inner Punk: a Rebellious Take on Customer Engagement”. I think the session that we have organised will be awesome, it’s a real honour and I’m really looking forward to it. So, go to Amplexor.com to find out more and register.
- [Emerging leadership lessons from the pandemic and what we need from leaders now - Interview with Rachel Neaman](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/08/emerging-leadership-lessons-from-the-pandemic-and-what-we-need-from-leaders-now-interview-with-rachel-neaman/) - Today’s interview is with Rachel Neaman, a technology leader, Non-Executive Director, leadership mentor and coach with extensive experience in the technology, health, governmental, digital and not for profit fields. Rachel joins me today to talk about some of the organisational changes taking place that she has noticed over the last few months, some of the challenges facing us, how leadership has changed and why many female political leaders, in particular, have been so successful during this period. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Difficult conversations and building more inclusive and diverse organizations – Interview with Jenn Graham of Civic Dinners – and is number 355 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Amplexor for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month. Amplexor is preparing to launch a really exciting virtual series called: Ignite Revenue Through Content which will feature leading speakers and thinkers in short, punchy and thought-provoking bi-monthly episodes exploring and highlighting insights and best practices of how to leverage Content as a strategic differentiator. It’ll run from August through mid-December and kicking it off on August 20th will be yours truly talking about “Unleash(ing) your Inner Punk: a Rebellious Take on Customer Engagement”. I think the session that we have organised will be awesome, it’s a real honour and I’m really looking forward to it. So, go to Amplexor.com to find out more and register.
- [From an award winning chef to CX Leader of the Year 2020 - Interview with James Scutt of the Post Office](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/01/from-an-award-winning-chef-to-cx-leader-of-the-year-2020-interview-with-james-scutt-of-the-post-office/) - Today’s interview is with the winner of the MyCustomer 2020 CX Leader of the Year competition: James Scutt, Head of Customer Experience Strategy and Deployment, Post Office. This interview is slightly different this week as I am conducting it with Chris Ward, Editor of MyCustomer. The original interview can be found here but I thought it would be worth re-publishing here too. In the interview we discuss James’ journey to where he is now, why he applied for the competition, how he felt when he won, the biggest lessons that he has learned along the way and how the pandemic has impacted the business among other things. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Where the magic happens when it comes to improving customer outcomes – Interview with Stacy Sherman – and is number 374 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [CX and Compliance – striking the perfect balance with IVR and Agent Assisted Payments](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/01/cx-and-compliance-striking-the-perfect-balance-with-ivr-and-agent-assisted-payments/) - This is a guest post by Rob Crutchington, a Director of Encoded. Security has never been more important for customers when paying online or via a contact centre. Choosing the right technology to provide secure payment and a positive customer experience (CX) can be costly and challenging for organisations. In today’s new normal with more people shopping from home, it is important to provide the right balance between service and compliance to protect contact centres and customers.
- [Customer behaviour is changing: Check your assumptions](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2014/12/customer-behaviour-is-changing-check-your-assumptions/) - Customer behaviour is changing: Check your assumptions
- [Where the magic happens when it comes to improving customer outcomes - Interview with Stacy Sherman](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/01/where-the-magic-happens-when-it-comes-to-improving-customer-outcomes-interview-with-stacy-sherman/) - Today’s interview is with Stacy Sherman, Director of Customer Experience (CX) & Employee Engagement at Schindler Elevator Corporation and Founder of DoingCXRight. Stacy joins me today to talk about what customer experience means at Schindler, what knowledge and skills she was able to bring to that job from her time at Verizon, what humanizing business & leading with a heart means and what sort of things leaders should be doing to improve their customers experience right now. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Mindset, method, motivation and harmonisation are at the centre of customer centric-thinking and leadership – Interview with Andy Murray – and is number 373 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Don’t make customer service agents wait for self service tools](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/01/dont-make-customer-service-agents-wait-for-self-service-tools/) - The ability and option to self serve is an important of any great experience. Too many customers have waited too long for these type of tools as company rhetoric has not matched activity. Self service tools are emerging for employees. Let's not make them wait.
- [Mindset, method, motivation and harmonisation are at the centre of customer centric-thinking and leadership - Interview with Andy Murray](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/01/mindset-method-motivation-and-harmonisation-are-at-the-centre-of-customer-centric-thinking-and-leadership-interview-with-andy-murray/) - Today’s interview is with Andy Murray, Founder and Executive Chair, Customer Centric Leadership Initiative at The Sam M. Walton College of Business at The University of Arkansas. Andy joins me today to talk about the aforementioned Customer Centric Leadership Initiative, what customer centricity means, how leadership has been impacted over the last few months, the leader’s experience and what we should be doing to make sure that we deliver a great customer experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Leadership and how to achieve customer centricity – Interview with Minter Dial – and is number 372 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [11 Customer experience related predictions for 2021](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/01/11-customer-experience-related-predictions-for-2021/) - Eleven customer experience (CX) trend predictions for 2021 plus some commentary.
- [Leadership and how to achieve customer centricity - Interview with Minter Dial](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2021/01/leadership-and-how-to-achieve-customer-centricity-interview-with-minter-dial/) - Today’s interview is with Minter Dial, an international speaker and a multiple award-winning author, specialized in leadership, branding and transformation. Minter joins me today to talk about his new book: You Lead: How Being Yourself Makes You a Better Leader, what he has learned about leadership over the course of his career, what comes first…employee or customer experience and what the biggest asset in leadership is. This interview follows on from my recent interview – When it comes to CX is your company a starter, riser or champion? – Interview with Adrian McDermott of Zendesk – and is number 371 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [How will you be using video in your customer experience mix in 2021?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/12/how-will-you-be-using-video-in-your-customer-experience-mix-in-2021/) - We’ve seen a massive rise in the use of video over the course of the pandemic. Is this rise going to be a fad or is it here to stay? And, what is the opportunity that video presents for brands when it comes to customer service and experience?
- [When it comes to CX is your company a starter, riser or champion? - Interview with Adrian McDermott of Zendesk](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/12/when-it-comes-to-cx-is-your-company-a-starter-riser-or-champion-interview-with-adrian-mcdermott-of-zendesk/) - Today’s interview is with Adrian McDermott, President of Products, Zendesk, a provider of customer service software. Adrian joins me today to talk about a new piece of research that Zendesk has recently conducted in partnership with ESG Research. This has allowed them to build a framework around CX maturity and CX success. The findings are summarized in a report: CX Champions: How CX Leaders Who Raise Their Game Are Driving Business Success. This interview follows on from my recent interview – On a scale from 1-10, how racist is your AI? – Interview with Jeff Gallino and Conrad Liburd of CallMiner – and is number 370 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [7 ways 2020 changed leadership forever](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/12/7-ways-2020-changed-leadership-forever/) - This is a guest post from Delilah Kealy-Roberts, a copywriter for Impact International, and explores 7 ways that 2020 changed leadership forever and what we can learn from these changes.
- [On a scale from 1-10, how racist is your AI? - Interview with Jeff Gallino and Conrad Liburd of CallMiner](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/12/on-a-scale-from-1-10-how-racist-is-your-ai-interview-with-jeff-gallino-and-conrad-liburd-of-callminer/) - Today’s interview is with Jeff Gallino, CTO & Founder, and Conrad Liburd, AI feature engineer, at CallMiner, a provider of speech analytics solutions for improving agent performance and customer intelligence. Jeff and Conrad join me today to talk about bias in data and algorithms, discriminatory and racist calls in contact centres, what most companies do about them, what they should be doing abut them and what we should be doing to improve both customer and employee experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The secrets behind tapping into your customer’s imagination – Interview with Chip Bell – and is number 369 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [How a smart IVR can improve agent efficiency](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/09/how-a-smart-ivr-can-improve-agent-efficiency/) - This is a guest post from Nogol Tardugno, Director of Customer Success at Plum Voice about how a smart IVR can improve agent efficiency, customer service and the overall customer experience.
- [Have you got what it takes to be a phoenix in the new, never normal?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/12/have-you-got-what-it-takes-to-be-a-phoenix-in-the-new-never-normal/) - While the effects and the threat of the pandemic may recede in time, the economic, industrial and technology disruption that we have experienced is not going away any time soon. Are you and your firm equipped to deal with the changes that are upon us?
- [Have you got what it takes to be a phoenix in the new, never normal?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/12/have-you-got-what-it-takes-to-be-a-phoenix-in-the-new-never-normal/) - While the effects and the threat of the pandemic may recede in time, the economic, industrial and technology disruption that we have experienced is not going away any time soon. Are you and your firm equipped to deal with the changes that are upon us?
- [The secrets behind tapping into your customer's imagination - Interview with Chip Bell](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/12/the-secrets-behind-tapping-into-your-customers-imagination-interview-with-chip-bell/) - Today’s interview is with Chip R. Bell, a keynote speaker and consultant in customer loyalty and service innovation as well as a 24 time author of books, many of which are focused on how we can improve customer service and experience. He joins us today to talk about his new book: Inside Your Customer's Imagination: 5 Secrets for Creating Breakthrough Products, Services, and Solutions, what it’s about, what we can learn from it and what we should be doing to improve both customer and employee experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The relationship between trust, honesty and simplicity when it comes to customer and employee experience – Interview with Brian Rafferty of Siegel+Gale – and is number 368 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [The secrets behind tapping into your customer's imagination - Interview with Chip Bell](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/12/the-secrets-behind-tapping-into-your-customers-imagination-interview-with-chip-bell/) - Today’s interview is with Chip R. Bell, a keynote speaker and consultant in customer loyalty and service innovation as well as a 24 time author of books, many of which are focused on how we can improve customer service and experience. He joins us today to talk about his new book: Inside Your Customer's Imagination: 5 Secrets for Creating Breakthrough Products, Services, and Solutions, what it’s about, what we can learn from it and what we should be doing to improve both customer and employee experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The relationship between trust, honesty and simplicity when it comes to customer and employee experience – Interview with Brian Rafferty of Siegel+Gale – and is number 368 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [5 Ways to redefine your CX strategy for the next normal](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/11/5-ways-to-redefine-your-cx-strategy-for-the-next-normal/) - This is a guest post from Divya Bhat, Marketing Generalist & Content Strategist at Apty, that puts forward and explores 5 different ways to redefine your CX strategy for the next normal.
- [The relationship between trust, honesty and simplicity when it comes to customer and employee experience - Interview with Brian Rafferty of Siegel+Gale](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/11/the-relationship-between-trust-honesty-and-simplicity-when-it-comes-to-customer-and-employee-experience-interview-with-brian-rafferty-of-siegelgale/) - Today’s interview is with Brian Rafferty is the Global Director of Business Analytics and Insights at Siegel+Gale, a brand strategy, design and experience firm. They also define themselves as a simplicity company and help brands deliver simpler experiences to their customers. Brian joins me today to talk about simplicity and the performance of brands that have simplicity at their heart, how that relates to both customer and employee experience and what they are learning from their research about what we should be doing to improve both customer and employee experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – 140 leaders share the lessons they learned during the pandemic – Interview with Joseph Michelli – and is number 367 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [How COVID-19 has impacted the progression of contact centres](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/11/how-covid-19-has-impacted-the-progression-of-contact-centres/) - This is a guest post by Gary Williams, Director of Sales and Consultancy at Spitch. In it, Gary explores the impact of COVID-19 on contact centres and the consumer response during the pandemic
- [How COVID-19 has impacted the progression of contact centres](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/11/how-covid-19-has-impacted-the-progression-of-contact-centres/) - This is a guest post by Gary Williams, Director of Sales and Consultancy at Spitch. In it, Gary explores the impact of COVID-19 on contact centres and the consumer response during the pandemic
- [Making the right call: Contact centres in the new normal](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/08/making-the-right-call-contact-centres-in-the-new-normal/) - This is a guest post from Gary Williams, Director of Sales and Consultancy at Spitch, where he discusses some of the voice solutions that can help organisations with contact centres adapt to working in the ‘new normal’.
- [140 leaders share the lessons they learned during the pandemic - Interview with Joseph Michelli](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/11/140-leaders-share-the-lessons-they-learned-during-the-pandemic-interview-with-joseph-michelli/) - Today’s interview is with Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D., C.S.P., is an internationally sought-after speaker, author, and organizational consultant. Joseph joins me today to talk about his new book: Stronger Through Adversity: World-Class Leaders Share Pandemic-Tested Lessons on Thriving During the Toughest Challenges, why he wrote the book, what can we learn from all of the leaders he talked to and what leaders should be doing going forward, particularly when it comes to improving the customer, employee and leader experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – How can you relate to B2B customers when they more ‘hidden’ from you than before? – Interview with Jeroen Corthout of Salesflare – and is number 366 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Changes to customer behaviour that brands need to pay attention to as we approach the holiday season](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/11/changes-to-customer-behaviour-that-brands-need-to-pay-attention-to-as-we-approach-the-holiday-season/) - The coronavirus pandemic has caused some major shifts in customer behavior. New research shows how much of it is sticking and what other changes have emerged as we approach the holiday season.
- [How can you relate to B2B customers when they more ‘hidden’ from you than before? - Interview with Jeroen Corthout of Salesflare](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/11/how-can-you-relate-to-b2b-customers-when-they-more-hidden-from-you-than-before-interview-with-jeroen-corthout-of-salesflare/) - Today’s interview is with Jeroen Corthout who is the co-founder and CEO of Salesflare, an intelligent CRM that has been built specifically for smaller businesses selling B2B. It is most popular with agencies and fast growing startup companies. Jeroen joins me today to talk about the problems that sales people have with CRM systems and what he is seeing in the service and experience market and what sales people should be doing to develop better relationships with their customers. This interview follows on from my recent interview – What if customers want more than excellent service? – Interview with Steven Van Belleghem – and is number 365 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [How can you relate to B2B customers when they more ‘hidden’ from you than before? - Interview with Jeroen Corthout of Salesflare](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/11/how-can-you-relate-to-b2b-customers-when-they-more-hidden-from-you-than-before-interview-with-jeroen-corthout-of-salesflare/) - Today’s interview is with Jeroen Corthout who is the co-founder and CEO of Salesflare, an intelligent CRM that has been built specifically for smaller businesses selling B2B. It is most popular with agencies and fast growing startup companies. Jeroen joins me today to talk about the problems that sales people have with CRM systems and what he is seeing in the service and experience market and what sales people should be doing to develop better relationships with their customers. This interview follows on from my recent interview – What if customers want more than excellent service? – Interview with Steven Van Belleghem – and is number 365 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [To deliver better customer experience brands need to develop an empathetic musculature](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/11/to-deliver-better-customer-experience-brands-need-to-develop-an-empathetic-musculature/) - Customers want organizations to be more empathetic when dealing with them. To respond, organizations need to think holistically.
- [To deliver better customer experience brands need to develop an empathetic musculature](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/11/to-deliver-better-customer-experience-brands-need-to-develop-an-empathetic-musculature/) - Customers want organizations to be more empathetic when dealing with them. To respond, organizations need to think holistically.
- [A short cautionary tale about the misuse of customer data](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2014/02/a-short-cautionary-tale-about-the-misuse-of-customer-data/) - A short cautionary tale about the misuse of customer data and how extrapolating too far from a limited data set can damage your relationship with customers.
- [What if customers want more than excellent service? - Interview with Steven Van Belleghem](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/10/what-if-customers-want-more-than-excellent-service-interview-with-steven-van-belleghem/) - Today’s interview is with Steven Van Belleghem who is an international keynote speaker, entrepreneur and best-selling author. Steven joins me today to talk about his new book: The Offer You Can't Refuse: What If Customers Want More Than Excellent Service? , the core premise, what the future looks like, what we can learn from it and how it can help us deliver better service and experience outcomes. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customer experience doesn’t stop – Interview with Richie Manu – and is number 364 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Financial imperative: the 4 CX trends banks must follow in 2020 and beyond](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/10/financial-imperative-the-4-cx-trends-banks-must-follow-in-2020-and-beyond/) - This is a guest post by Janelle Estes, Chief Insights Officer at UserTesting, which outlines the top four CX banking trends in 2020.
- [Customer experience doesn’t stop - Interview with Richie Manu](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/10/customer-experience-doesnt-stop-interview-with-richie-manu/) - Today’s interview is with Richie Manu, who is Programme Director (Culture & Enterprise) at University of the Arts London, a multi-award-winning lecturer, a designer, creative consultant and author. Richie joins me today to talk about how the student and educator experience has changed over the last few months, what customer experience means to him and design-led, creative businesses and art entrepreneurs and what the future of experience looks like from his perspective. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Proactive support is the holy grail of customer support – Interview with Paul Adams of Intercom – and is number 363 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [A list of thanks and celebrations](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/10/a-list-of-thanks-and-celebrations/) - This year has been different, and I’d like to take a moment to celebrate and thank all of those that have served their customers, patients, citizens, students and communities in exceptional ways during these extraordinary times.
- [Proactive support is the holy grail of customer support - Interview with Paul Adams of Intercom](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/10/proactive-support-is-the-holy-grail-of-customer-support-interview-with-paul-adams-of-intercom/) - Today’s interview is with Paul Adams who is the SVP of Product at Intercom, which helps brands build their customer relationships through conversational, messenger-based experiences across the customer journey. Paul joins me today to talk about putting proactive support back on the agenda, what proactive support means for support teams, what’s stopping support teams getting started and the future of service and experience amongst a few other things. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The difference and relationship between emotion, empathy and emotional intelligence in customer experience – Interview with Sandra Thompson – and is number 362 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [E-commerce is here to stay, as long as retailers connect with consumers at the right time](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/10/e-commerce-is-here-to-stay-as-long-as-retailers-connect-with-consumers-at-the-right-time/) - This is a guest post by Tasha Reasor, VP of Demand Generation & Customer Marketing at Iterable, that discusses one of the most turbulent years in recent history, lessons that can be learned and what consumers are looking for as we look to the upcoming holiday season.
- [The difference and relationship between emotion, empathy and emotional intelligence in customer experience - Interview with Sandra Thompson](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/10/the-difference-and-relationship-between-emotion-empathy-and-emotional-intelligence-in-customer-experience-interview-with-sandra-thompson/) - Today’s interview is with Sandra Thompson, a published consultant, lecturer, course leader and trainer in the field of customer experience, emotional intelligence and, more recently, remote work. Sandra joins me today to discuss emotion, empathy and emotional intelligence in customer experience, the need for and value of empathy, the difference and relationship between emotion, empathy and emotional intelligence, why empathy and emotional intelligence is needed now more than ever, the role of technology and culture in all of that and if there is any downsides to all of this. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Language is the most basic form of personalisation and it plays a huge role in a customer’s experience – Interview with Allison McDougall of Amplexor – and is number 361 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pegasystems for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month. Join Pega for a series of free online events focused on shaping the future of business and designing today’s tech to solve for tomorrow’s challenges. Whether your focus is one-to-one customer engagement, customer service, or intelligent automation, there’s a virtual event tailored just for you. You’ll watch live demos and hear inspiring stories from world-leading organizations in a time-zone that suits you. Register for a free Pega Discover event today.
- [The Wendy’s effect: Why 50% of customers buy from brands with strong personalities](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/10/the-wendys-effect-why-50-of-customers-buy-from-brands-with-strong-personalities/) - This is a guest post by Danielle Strouther , Marketing Product Expert at Adzooma, that discusses how a brand's personality can drive both growth and engagement but can pose some risks too.
- [Do you have any ‘vacuums’ in your customer journey?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2013/07/do-you-have-any-vacuums-in-your-customer-journey/) - Do you have any ‘vacuums’ in your customer journey? Here's some ideas to help you find out and get started on fixing them.
- [Language is the most basic form of personalisation and it plays a huge role in a customer’s experience - Interview with Allison McDougall of Amplexor](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/09/language-is-the-most-basic-form-of-personalisation-and-it-plays-a-huge-role-in-a-customers-experience-interview-with-allison-mcdougall-of-amplexor/) - This interview follows on from my recent interview – Our leadership impact is really about how we show up and who we are – Interview with Anese Cavanaugh – and is number 360 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pegasystems for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month. Join Pega for a series of free online events focused on shaping the future of business and designing today’s tech to solve for tomorrow’s challenges. Whether your focus is one-to-one customer engagement, customer service, or intelligent automation, there’s a virtual event tailored just for you. You’ll watch live demos and hear inspiring stories from world-leading organizations in a time-zone that suits you. Register for a free Pega Discover event today.
- [Up your user-generated content game to increase customer engagement](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/09/up-your-user-generated-content-game-to-increase-customer-engagement/) - This is a guest post by Gary Peeling, CEO at Where The Trade Buys, and in it he explores how user generated content can help brands achieve a higher level of customer engagement.
- [Our leadership impact is really about how we show up and who we are - Interview with Anese Cavanaugh](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/09/our-leadership-impact-is-really-about-how-we-show-up-and-who-we-are-interview-with-anese-cavanaugh/) - Today’s interview is with Anese Cavanaugh, creator of the IEP Method® (Intentional Energetic Presence®), an advisor and thinking partner to leaders and organizations around the world, a keynote speaker, and author of the books Contagious Culture and Contagious You. She joins me today to talk about showing up, leadership, the IEP Method, what we can learn from it and how it can help us deliver better service and experience outcomes. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Why we are building the Women In CX community – Interview with Clare Muscutt – and is number 359 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pegasystems for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month. Join Pega for a series of free online events focused on shaping the future of business and designing today’s tech to solve for tomorrow’s challenges. Whether your focus is one-to-one customer engagement, customer service, or intelligent automation, there’s a virtual event tailored just for you. You’ll watch live demos and hear inspiring stories from world-leading organizations in a time-zone that suits you. Register for a free Pega Discover event today.
- [How anarchy and Emma Goldman inspires one of the coolest companies in America - Interview with Ari Weinzweig of Zingermans](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/03/how-anarchy-and-emma-goldman-inspires-one-of-the-coolest-companies-in-america-interview-with-ari-weinzweig-of-zingermans/) - Today’s interview is with Ari Weinzweig is CEO and co-founding partner of Zingerman's Community of Businesses, a gourmet food business group headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Inc. Magazine described Zingerman's as the "Coolest Small Company in America”. Meanwhile, they have been featured in the Harvard Business Review and on MSNBC for their business practices and Bo Burlingham in his book, Small Giants, cited Zingerman's as a model for organizations that define success more creatively than just "getting as big as we can as fast as we can”. Ari joins me today to talk about what anarchy can teach us about leadership, culture and customer service, Emma Goldman, building a progressive business and what we should be thinking about when it comes to improving customer experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – We are moving from a ticketing age to a conversational age – Interview with Mads Fosselius of Dixa – and is number 336 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [How to help remote employees prevent burnout](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/09/how-to-help-remote-employees-prevent-burnout/) - This is a guest post by Sharon Koifman, CEO of DistantJob which explores tactics that companies can employ to help prevent burnout in employees that are working remotely.
- [Why we are building the Women In CX community - Interview with Clare Muscutt](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/09/why-we-are-building-the-women-in-cx-community-interview-with-clare-muscutt/) - Today’s interview is with Clare Muscutt who is recognised as one of the most prominent and valued millennial voices in CX, an international consultant, keynote speaker and soon to be the author of the book ‘How to be Awesome at CX’’. She is also the leader of the Women in the CX community and host of the podcast ‘Inspiring Women in CX.’ She joins me today to talk about her Women in CX community, how it came about, why it is need and how to get involved. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customer success (CS) = Customer experience (CX) + Customer outcomes (CO) – Interview with Nick Mehta of Gainsight – and is number 358 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pegasystems for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month. Join Pega for a series of free online events focused on shaping the future of business and designing today's tech to solve for tomorrow's challenges. Whether your focus is one-to-one customer engagement, customer service, or intelligent automation, there’s a virtual event tailored just for you. You'll watch live demos and hear inspiring stories from world-leading organizations in a time-zone that suits you. Register for a free Pega Discover event today.
- [Why we are building the Women In CX community - Interview with Clare Muscutt](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/09/why-we-are-building-the-women-in-cx-community-interview-with-clare-muscutt/) - Today’s interview is with Clare Muscutt who is recognised as one of the most prominent and valued millennial voices in CX, an international consultant, keynote speaker and soon to be the author of the book ‘How to be Awesome at CX’’. She is also the leader of the Women in the CX community and host of the podcast ‘Inspiring Women in CX.’ She joins me today to talk about her Women in CX community, how it came about, why it is need and how to get involved. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customer success (CS) = Customer experience (CX) + Customer outcomes (CO) – Interview with Nick Mehta of Gainsight – and is number 358 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pegasystems for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month. Join Pega for a series of free online events focused on shaping the future of business and designing today's tech to solve for tomorrow's challenges. Whether your focus is one-to-one customer engagement, customer service, or intelligent automation, there’s a virtual event tailored just for you. You'll watch live demos and hear inspiring stories from world-leading organizations in a time-zone that suits you. Register for a free Pega Discover event today.
- [About time - Intercom puts proactive customer service back on the agenda](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/09/about-time-intercom-puts-proactive-customer-service-back-on-the-agenda/) - Proactive customer service is often seen as the Holy Grail of customer service and experience. However, the Intercom has put it back on the agenda. This article explores why.
- [Customer success (CS) = Customer experience (CX) + Customer outcomes (CO) - Interview with Nick Mehta of Gainsight](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/09/customer-success-cs-customer-experience-cx-customer-outcomes-co-interview-with-nick-mehta-of-gainsight/) - Today’s interview is with Nick Mehta CEO of Gainsight, a customer success technology provider that helps businesses retain customers and drive company growth. Nick joins me today to talk about his new book, The Customer Success Economy: Why Every Aspect of Your Business Model Needs A Paradigm Shift, what customer success is, why it is going to become increasingly important to organizations given the current climate and pressures that many firms are going to start to face, what are the benefits and what customer experience and success leaders need to be doing to survive and thrive. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Experimentation is what makes Microsoft, Google, Netflix and Booking.com so successful – Interview with Harvard Business School Professor Stefan Thomke – and is number 357 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Customer success (CS) = Customer experience (CX) + Customer outcomes (CO) - Interview with Nick Mehta of Gainsight](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/09/customer-success-cs-customer-experience-cx-customer-outcomes-co-interview-with-nick-mehta-of-gainsight/) - Today’s interview is with Nick Mehta CEO of Gainsight, a customer success technology provider that helps businesses retain customers and drive company growth. Nick joins me today to talk about his new book, The Customer Success Economy: Why Every Aspect of Your Business Model Needs A Paradigm Shift, what customer success is, why it is going to become increasingly important to organizations given the current climate and pressures that many firms are going to start to face, what are the benefits and what customer experience and success leaders need to be doing to survive and thrive. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Experimentation is what makes Microsoft, Google, Netflix and Booking.com so successful – Interview with Harvard Business School Professor Stefan Thomke – and is number 357 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Customer Experience And Politics: Do They Mix?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/09/customer-experience-and-politics-do-they-mix/) - Environmental and societal concerns are playing an increasingly important part in both customer and employee experience. Now, however, customers are demanding that societal concerns also include political issues. But, how and should brands become more political?
- [Experimentation is what makes Microsoft, Google, Netflix and Booking.com so successful - Interview with Harvard Business School Professor Stefan Thomke](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/08/experimentation-is-what-makes-microsoft-google-netflix-and-booking-com-so-successful-interview-with-harvard-business-school-professor-stefan-thomke/) - Today’s interview is with Stefan Thomke, who is the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Stefan joins me today to talk about his new book, Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments, what does experimentation mean, what does it look like, what are the benefits, why does it matter for customer service and experience leaders and practitioners. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Emerging leadership lessons from the pandemic and what we need from leaders now – Interview with Rachel Neaman – and is number 356 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [The value of putting heart into your customer and employee listening](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/08/the-value-of-putting-heart-into-your-customer-and-employee-listening/) - Many organizations listen to their customers and their employees. But, they only do it with their brains. To truly listen you must also listen with your heart. These times demand it.
- [The value of putting heart into your customer and employee listening](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/08/the-value-of-putting-heart-into-your-customer-and-employee-listening/) - Many organizations listen to their customers and their employees. But, they only do it with their brains. To truly listen you must also listen with your heart. These times demand it.
- [The four imperatives emerging from the pandemic and what to do about them](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/08/the-four-imperatives-emerging-from-the-pandemic-and-what-to-do-about-them/) - There are four imperatives emerging from this pandemic that organizations need to pay attention to and embrace if they are to survive this pandemic, navigate their way through it, maintain competitiveness and customer service and experience standards and start to plan for what lies beyond.
- [Difficult conversations and building more inclusive and diverse organizations - Interview with Jenn Graham of Civic Dinners](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/08/difficult-conversations-and-building-more-inclusive-and-diverse-organizations-interview-with-jenn-graham-of-civic-dinners/) - Today’s interview is with Jenn Graham, Founder and CEO of Civic Dinners, who design and facilitate conversations on key topics that can help organizations build a more inclusive culture with employees, stakeholders, customers and the greater community. Jenn joins me today to talk about Civic Dinners, difficult conversations, what stops organizations having them, what are the benefits when they do tackle difficult subjects like discrimination and inequality, what they are doing to help and what we can learn from them. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Lessons learned from the move to remote working – Interview with Dean Robison of ServiceNow – and is number 354 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Amplexor for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month. Amplexor is preparing to launch a really exciting virtual series called: Ignite Revenue Through Content which will feature leading speakers and thinkers in short, punchy and thought-provoking bi-monthly episodes exploring and highlighting insights and best practices of how to leverage Content as a strategic differentiator. It’ll run from August through mid-December and kicking it off on August 20th will be yours truly talking about “Unleash(ing) your Inner Punk: a Rebellious Take on Customer Engagement”. I think the session that we have organised will be awesome, it’s a real honour and I’m really looking forward to it. So, go to Amplexor.com to find out more and register.
- [Lessons learned from the move to remote working - Interview with Dean Robison of ServiceNow](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/08/lessons-learned-from-the-move-to-remote-working-interview-with-dean-robison-of-servicenow/) - Today’s interview is with Dean Robison who is the SVP of Global Technical Support at ServiceNow. Dean joins me today to talk about his experience of moving 1,500 employees spread out over 9 locations to remote working, his experience through the pandemic so far, what’s gone well, what’s not gone so well, what they have learned and what they are focusing on going forward. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Four key factors that are framing the challenges for organisations going forward – Interview with Jo Causon of The Institute of Customer Service – and is number 353 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Amplexor for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month. Amplexor is preparing to launch a really exciting virtual series called: Ignite Revenue Through Content which will feature leading speakers and thinkers in short, punchy and thought-provoking bi-monthly episodes exploring and highlighting insights and best practices of how to leverage Content as a strategic differentiator. It’ll run from August through mid-December and kicking it off on August 20th will be yours truly talking about “Unleash(ing) your Inner Punk: a Rebellious Take on Customer Engagement”. I think the session that we have organised will be awesome, it’s a real honour and I’m really looking forward to it. So, go to Amplexor.com to find out more and register.
- [Three tips to boost customer engagement with examples](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/08/three-tips-to-boost-customer-engagement-with-examples/) - This is a guest post by Jay Purohit, a Digital Marketing Professional at Acquire, about the importance and value of engaging your customers and what you can do to improve your own customer engagement.
- [Four key factors that are framing the challenges for organisations going forward - Interview with Jo Causon of The Institute of Customer Service](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/07/four-key-factors-that-are-framing-the-challenges-for-organisations-going-forward-interview-with-jo-causon-of-the-institute-of-customer-service/) - Today’s interview is with Jo Causon, Chief Executive of The Institute of Customer Service. Jo joins me today to talk about the July 2020 update of the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (The state of customer satisfaction in the UK), what we can learn from it and what companies should be focusing on. This interview follows on from my recent interview – A quest to make technology emotionally intelligent – Interview with Rana el Kaliouby of Affectiva – and is number 352 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Amplexor for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month. Amplexor is preparing to launch a really exciting virtual series called: Ignite Revenue Through Content which will feature leading speakers and thinkers in short, punchy and thought-provoking bi-monthly episodes exploring and highlighting insights and best practices of how to leverage Content as a strategic differentiator. It’ll run from August through mid-December and kicking it off on August 20th will be yours truly talking about “Unleash(ing) your Inner Punk: a Rebellious Take on Customer Engagement”. I think the session that we have organised will be awesome, it’s a real honour and I’m really looking forward to it. So, go to Amplexor.com to find out more and register.
- [COVID-19 and changes in behavior: why you must relearn your customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/07/covid-19-and-changes-in-behavior-why-you-must-relearn-your-customers/) - The pandemic has changed consumer behaviour and we musty relearn what we know about our customers if we are to engage and connect with them - This is a guest post by Janelle Estes is Chief Insights Officer at UserTesting.
- [A quest to make technology emotionally intelligent - Interview with Rana el Kaliouby of Affectiva](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/07/a-quest-to-make-technology-emotionally-intelligent-interview-with-rana-el-kaliouby-of-affectiva/) - Today’s interview is with Rana el Kaliouby, CEO of Affectiva, an emotion measurement technology company that grew out of MIT's Media Lab. Affectiva has developed software to recognize human emotions based on facial cues or physiological responses. She is also author of a new book: Girl Decoded: My Quest to Make Technology Emotionally Intelligent – and Change the Way We Interact Forever. Rana joins me today to talk about the book, her career and research into putting empathy into AI, Emotive AI and her work at Affectiva. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Purpose is not a luxury and matters more than ever in a crisis – Interview with Professor Alex Edmans of London Business School – and is number 351 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Karma and how to be a better leader and build a more customer centric businesses](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2013/03/karma-and-how-to-be-a-better-leader-and-build-a-more-customer-centric-businesses/) - Karma and how to be a better leader and build a more customer centric businesses
- [Do you know the way to customer centricity? Pega believes it does](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/07/do-you-know-the-way-to-customer-centricity-pega-believes-it-does/) - Many, if not most, organizations still struggle to get customer centricity right. Pegasystems recent announcements provide some clues as to the way forward.
- [Do you know the way to customer centricity? Pega believes it does](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/07/do-you-know-the-way-to-customer-centricity-pega-believes-it-does/) - Many, if not most, organizations still struggle to get customer centricity right. Pegasystems recent announcements provide some clues as to the way forward.
- [Purpose is not a luxury and matters more than ever in a crisis - Interview with Professor Alex Edmans of London Business School](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/07/purpose-is-not-a-luxury-and-matters-more-than-ever-in-a-crisis-interview-with-professor-alex-edmans-of-london-business-school/) - Today’s interview is with Alex Edmans, a Professor of Finance at London Business School who focuses on responsible business. He has just published a new book called: Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit and joins me today to talk about the book, how it came about, what we can learn from it and why it matters. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Innovative brands are using direct mail to improve customer engagement – Interview with Dan Frohnen of Sendoso – and is number 350 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Now is the time for a conversational approach to customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/07/now-is-the-time-for-a-conversational-approach-to-customer-experience/) - Too many brands still have not connected all of their channels. This is leading to lots of customer frustration. Could a conversational approach to service be the answer?
- [How to get started mining contact center interactions](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/07/how-to-get-started-mining-contact-center-interactions/) - Effectively mining contact center interactions can help organizations achieve a better degree of customer centricity and customer experience optimization.This is a guest post from Julie Miller, vice president of product management for Clarabridge.
- [Excellence and extreme humanization are needed more than ever - Interview with Tom Peters](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/07/excellence-and-extreme-humanization-are-needed-more-than-ever-interview-with-tom-peters/) - Today’s interview is with Tom Peters, author of numerous business books (18 in total) and speaker. He is, perhaps, best known for his 1982 seminal book: In Search of Excellence (co-authored with Robert H. Waterman Jr). This is the second time that Tom has been on the podcast. The first time was in 2018 (Striving for excellence has never been more important) where we talked about his latest book: The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last. Today he joins me to talk about the need for Extreme Humanization given the situation we currently find ourselves in and a couple of pieces that he has recently penned: Excellence Manifesto 2020: The Twenty-Nine “Number Ones” and Excellence 2020 Observations Leading With Compassion And Care In Troubled Times. This interview follows on from my recent interview – A lot of enterprise software is still eye-wateringly terrible and it’s acting like a handbrake on experience improvement efforts – Interview with Leon Gauhman of Elsewhen – and is number 348 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Maintaining a consistent customer experience in a transition to a new normal](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/06/maintaining-a-consistent-customer-experience-in-a-transition-to-a-new-normal/) - A transition to a new normal and maintaining a consistent customer experience will not be as straight forward as it sounds.
- [A lot of enterprise software is still eye-wateringly terrible and it's acting like a handbrake on experience improvement efforts - Interview with Leon Gauhman of Elsewhen](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/06/a-lot-of-enterprise-software-is-still-eye-wateringly-terrible-and-its-acting-like-a-handbrake-on-experience-improvement-efforts-interview-with-leon-gauhman-of-elsewhen/) - Today’s interview is with Leon Gauhman, Elsewhen’s Director of Product and Strategy. Leon joins me today to talk about why enterprise software and particularly enterprise CX software is still so terrible, the power of the umbrella in the age of Unix philosophy, why we should all be focusing on delighting our customers, why beautiful and functional is the highest degree of problem solving and also what we can learn from Mr Potato-head! This interview follows on from my recent interview – A Center-Out business architecture enables better and more empathetic customer experiences – Interview with Don Schuerman of Pega – and is number 347 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [How to make sure that employee analytics and monitoring doesn’t destroy your employee and customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/06/how-to-make-sure-that-employee-analytics-and-monitoring-doesnt-destroy-your-employee-and-customer-experience/) - The use of employee performance monitoring and analytics software has surged in the last few weeks particularly as companies adjust to remote working practices. Many are getting their implementations wrong and it's having a negative effect on both the employee and customer experience.
- [A Center-Out business architecture enables better and more empathetic customer experiences - Interview with Don Schuerman of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/06/a-center-out-business-architecture-enables-better-and-more-empathetic-customer-experiences-interview-with-don-schuerman-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Don Schuerman who is the CTO & Vice President of Product Strategy and Marketing at Pegasystems. Don joins me today to talk about Pegaworld iNspire, Center-Out™, Process Fabric™, Ethical Bias Testing and what it is going to take to succeed and thrive, particularly when it comes to delivering an outstanding customer experience, in this changing world we live in. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Up to 90% of digital data is not used. What sort of society accepts 90% waste? – Interview with Gerry McGovern – and is number 346 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pega for sponsoring my podcast this month. While PegaWorld iNspire, the annual conference from Pegasystems took place earlier this month (June 2nd) you can still view the sessions on-demand so do head over to www.pegaworld.com to check them out.
- [Up to 90% of digital data is not used. What sort of society accepts 90% waste?  - Interview with Gerry McGovern](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/06/up-to-90-of-digital-data-is-not-used-what-sort-of-society-accepts-90-waste-interview-with-gerry-mcgovern/) - Today’s interview is with Gerry McGovern who is the founder and CEO of Customer Carewords and the author of six books on all things digital, content, transformation and online customer experience. He has just published a new book called: World Wide Waste and joins me today to talk about the book, how it came about, what we can learn from it and why it matters. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Scaling customer support and maintaining employee and customer satisfaction even through a pandemic – Interview with Nick Misewicz of Pura Vida Bracelets – and is number 345 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pega for sponsoring my podcast this month.
- [You don't retain your customers by ignoring them](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2012/05/customer-retention-you-dont-retain-your-customers-by-ignoring-them/) - Customer Retention: You don't retain your customers by ignoring them
- [Attention Marketers And Customer Experience Leaders: Here is how the coronavirus pandemic is changing customer behaviour](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/06/attention-marketers-and-customer-experience-leaders-here-is-how-the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-changing-customer-behaviour/) - New research is emerging about how customer behavior is changing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. A lot of it will stick.
- [Which business models will thrive in a post-COVID world](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/06/which-business-models-will-thrive-in-a-post-covid-world/) - This is a guest post by Kayleigh Alexandra, a writer for Micro Startups, exploring which business models thrived through the the pandemic and which models are likely to thrive in a post COVID-19 world.
- [Scaling customer support and maintaining employee and customer satisfaction even through a pandemic - Interview with Nick Misewicz of Pura Vida Bracelets](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/06/scaling-customer-support-and-maintaining-employee-and-customer-satisfaction-even-through-a-pandemic-interview-with-nick-misewicz-of-pura-vida-bracelets/) - Today’s interview is with Nick Misewicz, Customer Success Manager at Pura Vida Bracelets. The company was founded in Costa Rica in 2010 and is headquartered in La Jolla in California. They sell hand-crafted bracelets and jewelry online and through boutique stores. Their bracelets and jewellery are made by 800+ artisans worldwide with the proceeds going back to the artisans. Nick joins me today to talk about how they scaled their customer support and increased agent productivity without compromising on employee or customer satisfaction. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The current crisis has put a very pragmatic lens onto digital transformation – Interview with Tom Libretto of Pega – and is number 344 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Looking for some customer experience inspiration? Check out iNspire](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/05/looking-for-some-customer-experience-inspiration-check-out-inspire/) - Pegaworld, Pega's annual customer event is taking place on Tuesday, June 2nd from 9:00 – 11:30 a.m EDT. Register for free to learn from leading brands like Google, Aflac, and Vodafone who will be sharing stories of how their rapid digital transformations have allowed them to respond to urgent challenges and opportunities, today and tomorrow
- [The current crisis has put a very pragmatic lens onto digital transformation - Interview with Tom Libretto of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/05/the-current-crisis-has-put-a-very-pragmatic-lens-onto-digital-transformation-interview-with-tom-libretto-of-pega/) - Today’s interview is with Tom Libretto, the CMO of Pega, an enterprise software vendor that focuses on customer engagement, intelligent automation and customer service solutions for the world's largest brands. Tom joins today to talk about the upcoming PegaWorld iNspire, the annual conference from Pegasystems, what we are likely to see and learn, some of the big challenges that enterprises are currently facing, particularly in response to the coronavirus outbreak, and how they have been responding. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Why we need to democratise leadership development and how the coronavirus pandemic is highlighting the strength and power of a more feminine way of leading – Interview with Lauren Currie of Stride – and is number 343 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pega for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month.
- [You can call Zappos to ask for help on anything—one doctor did and was able to help 300 COVID-19 patients](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/05/you-can-call-zappos-to-ask-for-help-on-anything-one-doctor-did-and-was-able-to-help-300-covid-19-patients/) - Zappos are re-defining what it means to be helpful during this time of crisis by setting up a Customer Service for Anything hotline.
- [Why we need to democratise leadership development and how the coronavirus pandemic is highlighting the strength and power of a more feminine way of leading - Interview with Lauren Currie of Stride](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/05/why-we-need-to-democratise-leadership-development-and-how-the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-highlighting-the-strength-and-power-of-a-more-feminine-way-of-leading-interview-with-lauren-currie-of-stride/) - Today’s interview is with Lauren Currie OBE, the CEO of Stride. They are on a mission to democratise leadership development. Lauren joins me today to talk about leadership, Stride, the problem with leadership development, what they are trying to do to solve this problem and what we should all be doing to develop their our own leadership skills and experience capabilities. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Leading a digital transformation that will never end – Interview with Duncan Macdonald of UPC Switzerland – and is number 342 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at Pega for sponsoring my podcast for the coming month. Registration for PegaWorld iNspire, the annual conference from Pegasystems, is free. Find out out more and register at www.pegaworld.com
- [Your Team is Your Biggest Online Influencer](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/05/your-team-is-your-biggest-online-influencer/) - This is a guest post by Lydia Yang, a digital marketing consultant/ trainer from Singapore, and the founder of LydiaScapes, an adventure travel and climbing site, about how your team is your biggest online influencer.
- [Leading a digital transformation that will never end - Interview with Duncan Macdonald of UPC Switzerland](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/05/leading-a-digital-transformation-that-will-never-end-interview-with-duncan-macdonald-of-upc-switzerland/) - Today’s interview is with Duncan Macdonald, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at UPC Switzerland, which is part of the Liberty Global group. Duncan joins me today to talk about leadership, what it takes to really empower people, his journey to where he is now and how he had to unlearn a lot of things in order to lead the way that he now does. Thanks go to the folks at Pega who help set this interview up after I saw a video of Duncan talking about his work and leadership style that was featured as part of Pega’s Customer Engagement Summit (CES) online event on April 1st. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customer experience, innovation, artificial intelligence, culture….a look inside Amazon – Interview with Claire Whitaker – and is number 341 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Leading a digital transformation that will never end - Interview with Duncan Macdonald of UPC Switzerland](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/05/leading-a-digital-transformation-that-will-never-end-interview-with-duncan-macdonald-of-upc-switzerland/) - Today’s interview is with Duncan Macdonald, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at UPC Switzerland, which is part of the Liberty Global group. Duncan joins me today to talk about leadership, what it takes to really empower people, his journey to where he is now and how he had to unlearn a lot of things in order to lead the way that he now does. Thanks go to the folks at Pega who help set this interview up after I saw a video of Duncan talking about his work and leadership style that was featured as part of Pega’s Customer Engagement Summit (CES) online event on April 1st. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customer experience, innovation, artificial intelligence, culture….a look inside Amazon – Interview with Claire Whitaker – and is number 341 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [CallMiner uses speech analytics to identify and crowd source answers to surprising customer queries](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/05/callminer-uses-speech-analytics-to-identify-and-crowd-source-answers-to-surprising-customer-queries/) - In this time of crisis, many customers are asking brands some of the weirdest questions. Clever use of technology and a big community effort is helping brands manage the extra load.
- [Customer experience, innovation, artificial intelligence, culture....a look inside Amazon - Interview with Claire Whitaker](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/05/customer-experience-innovation-artificial-intelligence-culture-a-look-inside-amazon-interview-with-claire-whitaker/) - Today’s interview is with Claire Whitaker, a product and artificial intelligence (AI) consultant, who over the last nine years has worked in lean innovation, customer experience (CX), product management and technology including AI teams at top companies across industries, including Amazon. Claire joins me today to share some insights from her experience and, particularly, from her time at Amazon. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The nature of service and how we’ve grown up with a service economy which is now finding it very hard to actually serve customers – Interview with Joel Bailey of EY Seren – and is number 340 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [The nature of service and how we've grown up with a service economy which is now finding it very hard to actually serve customers - Interview with Joel Bailey of EY Seren](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/04/the-nature-of-service-and-how-weve-grown-up-with-a-service-economy-which-is-now-finding-it-very-hard-to-actually-serve-customers-interview-with-joel-bailey-of-ey-seren/) - Today’s interview is with Joel Bailey, who is a Director at EY Seren, the global design consultancy within EY. Joel is a friend of mine, someone I have worked with and a really interesting thinker when it comes to service. Our conversation was precipitated by the publication of an article he wrote (2020: A new decade of service) earlier this year. So, we set up a time to chat to talk about why we should leave the experience economy behind, that service is the element that connects customer experience and employee experience and the idea that we need to define service anew. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Authentic leadership is just the rebranding of transformational leadership with some of the caffeine taken out – Interview with Professor Dennis Tourish - and is number 339 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Brands and customers need to step up and work together in this time of crisis](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/04/brands-and-customers-need-to-step-up-and-work-together-in-this-time-of-crisis/) - In this time of crisis, a better version of service as usual is just not going to cut it. If we are going to get through this, then we need to start thinking about service as unusual. That means that brands and their customers have to work together.
- [Authentic leadership is just the rebranding of transformational leadership with some of the caffeine taken out - Interview with Professor Dennis Tourish](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/04/authentic-leadership-is-just-the-rebranding-of-transformational-leadership-with-some-of-the-caffeine-taken-out-interview-with-professor-dennis-tourish/) - Today’s interview is with Dennis Tourish who is Professor of Leadership and Organisation Studies at University of Sussex Business School. Dennis joins me today to talk about the problems plaguing modern academic management and leadership research, challenges facing the modern organisation and leaders, progressive business and the problems with current leadership thinking. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customer experience is more than f***ing metrics – Interview with Sydney Brouwer – and is number 338 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [The changing buying behaviours of UK consumers and their response to crisis communications](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/04/the-changing-buying-behaviours-of-uk-consumers-and-their-response-to-crisis-communications/) - Amy Kelly, Director of EMEA Marketing at UserTesting, explores in this guest post how UK consumers are adapting to COVID-19 and what they think of companies’ marketing comms to date...
- [Customer experience is more than f***ing metrics - Interview with Sydney Brouwer](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/04/customer-experience-is-more-than-fing-metrics-interview-with-sydney-brouwer/) - Today’s interview is with Sydney Brouwer, a customer experience speaker, author and masterclass leader. However, this one is a little different as this time Sydney turns the tables and interviews me for his podcast. We had a great conversation so I thought I would share it with you nice folks over here :) Sydney and I talk about the state of customer experience, Punk CX, what it means to be a punk and what we should be thinking about when it comes to improving customer experience. You can find the original discussion and Sydney’s podcast here. This interview follows on from my recent interview – How anarchy and Emma Goldman inspires one of the coolest companies in America – Interview with Ari Weinzweig of Zingermans – and is number 337 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Customer service, support and experience in the time of coronavirus](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/04/customer-service-support-and-experience-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/) - A couple of videos exploring some of the issues that customer service and support teams will be facing during the coronavirus outbreak and what service and experience leaders should be doing about them.
- [Customers Want Companies To Be Proactive When It Comes To Customer Service](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2013/09/customers-want-companies-to-be-proactive-when-it-comes-to-customer-service/) - Customers Want Companies To Be Proactive When It Comes To Customer Service
- [Building a stronger organisational and business culture starts with No](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2011/11/building-a-stronger-organisational-and-business-culture-starts-with-no/) - There can be a marked difference between what people say their culture is and what it actually is. Build a stronger culture by starting with what your are not first. Make your business culture stronger by starting with No
- [The link between customer experience and employee engagement: More art than science](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2012/01/the-link-between-customer-experience-and-employee-engagement-more-art-than-science/) - The link between customer experience and employee engagement: More art than science
- [Great customer service and experience is a lot about listening and then doing the things that you are not asked to do.](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2012/02/great-customer-service-and-experience-is-a-lot-about-listening-and-then-doing-the-things-that-you-are-not-asked-to-do/) - Great customer service and experience is a lot about listening and then doing the things that you are not asked to do.
- [What else can you do with customer testimonials?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2011/07/what-else-can-you-do-with-customer-testimonials/) - What else can you do with customer testimonials?
- [Public Enemy and getting practical with AI in the contact centre - Interview with Mikhail Naumov](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/12/public-enemy-and-getting-practical-with-ai-in-the-contact-centre-interview-with-mikhail-naumov/) - Public Enemy and getting practical with AI in the contact centre - Interview with Mikhail Naumov, Co-Founder & President of DigitalGenius, a venture backed artificial intelligence (AI) company based in San Francisco & London. Digital Genius is focused on eliminating the mindless work customer service teams often have to deal with on a day to day basis so that they can focus on complex issues that technology, like a bot can't handle. Mikhail has also just published a book: AI Is My Friend: A Practical Guide for Contact Centers. As result, Mikhail joins me today to talk AI, contact centres, hype, reality and the new book.
- [Public Enemy and getting practical with AI in the contact centre - Interview with Mikhail Naumov](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/12/public-enemy-and-getting-practical-with-ai-in-the-contact-centre-interview-with-mikhail-naumov/) - Public Enemy and getting practical with AI in the contact centre - Interview with Mikhail Naumov, Co-Founder & President of DigitalGenius, a venture backed artificial intelligence (AI) company based in San Francisco & London. Digital Genius is focused on eliminating the mindless work customer service teams often have to deal with on a day to day basis so that they can focus on complex issues that technology, like a bot can't handle. Mikhail has also just published a book: AI Is My Friend: A Practical Guide for Contact Centers. As result, Mikhail joins me today to talk AI, contact centres, hype, reality and the new book.
- [We need to start thinking more holistically about customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/03/we-need-to-start-thinking-more-holistically-about-customer-experience/) - Talk about customer experience is often dominated by talk of touch-points and journeys and channels. But, for a growing number of organizations, it's about much, much more. And, it needs to be. Here's a few brands that are showing the way.
- [We are moving from a ticketing age to a conversational age - Interview with Mads Fosselius of Dixa](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/03/we-are-moving-from-a-ticketing-age-to-a-conversational-age-interview-with-mads-fosselius-of-dixa/) - Today’s interview is with Mads Fosselius, CEO of Dixa, a global customer service tech company that is on a mission to help brands build friendships with their customers, break down technology silos and eliminate bad customer service. Mads joins me today to talk about ticketing, why we are moving into a conversational age, what’s wrong with many ticketing systems and what we should be thinking about when it comes to improving customer experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Corporate transformation will soon switch from digital to purpose – Interview with Mark Curtis of Fjord – and is number 335 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Stay focused on what your customers really need. Not what you think they need](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/03/stay-focused-on-what-your-customers-really-need-not-what-you-think-they-need/) - Republication of an interview that I did with the folks at the folks at PARTTEAM & OEMKIOSKS, a Portuguese technology company who manufacture multimedia kiosks, self-service equipment, digital billboards, interactive tables and other digital solutions for all types of sectors and industries, as part of their Connecting Stories interview initiative.
- [Corporate transformation will soon switch from digital to purpose - Interview with Mark Curtis of Fjord](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/03/corporate-transformation-will-soon-switch-from-digital-to-purpose-interview-with-mark-curtis-of-fjord/) - Today’s interview is with Mark Curtis, Chief Client Officer at Fjord (part of Accenture Interactive). Mark joins me today to talk about Fjord’s new Trends 2020 report, some of the trends, what they mean and what we should be thinking about when it comes to improving customer experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Rethinking the experience of life insurance – Interview with Adam Weinberg of Haven Life – and is number 334 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Do better work, your customers are waiting](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/03/do-better-work-your-customers-are-waiting/) - Republication of an interview that I did with the lovely folks at Adoreboard late last year for their HX (Human Experience) Academy, an educational hub created to bring together customer experience leaders and enthusiasts. Adoreboard was created by data scientists at Queen’s University, Belfast and describe themselves as using "emotion AI to unify human experiences for better business outcomes. Make better decisions by revealing the ‘Unknown Unknowns’ of Customer and Employee Emotions."
- [Rethinking the experience of life insurance - Interview with Adam Weinberg of Haven Life](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/02/rethinking-the-experience-of-life-insurance-interview-with-adam-weinberg-of-haven-life/) - Today’s interview is with Adam Weinberg, the brand director at Haven Life, a digital life insurance agency that’s backed and wholly owned by MassMutual. Adam joins me today to talk about innovating in a very traditional industry, magic tricks, what we can learn from Haven Life’s experience and what are the main things that we should be doing to improve the customer’s experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – If you don’t ignore your customers and create a service culture then you won’t have to worry about the competition – Interview with Micah Solomon – and is number 333 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Forrester says that 25% of customer experience professionals will lose their jobs in 2020. Here’s how to keep yours.](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/02/forrester-says-that-25-of-customer-experience-professionals-will-lose-their-jobs-in-2020-heres-how-to-keep-yours/) - Customer experience initiatives need to start delivering value. If they don't then some customer experience professionals could lose their jobs. Here's what those professionals need to do to make sure they keep their jobs and deliver value to the business.
- [If you don't ignore your customers and create a service culture then you won't have to worry about the competition - Interview with Micah Solomon](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2020/02/if-you-dont-ignore-your-customers-and-create-a-service-culture-then-you-wont-have-to-worry-about-the-competition-interview-with-micah-solomon/) - Today’s interview is with Micah Solomon, a best-selling author, hands-on customer service consultant, keynote speaker, trainer, and one of the world's leading experts on customer service, company culture, and the customer experience. He is also considered to be “the customer service turnaround expert”. Micah joins me today to talk about his new book: Ignore Your Customers (and They'll Go Away), what it’s all about, what we can learn from it and what are the main things that we should be doing to improve the customer's experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Insights from 100 of the world’s most progressive organisations on how to make work more fun – Interview with Pim de Morree of Corporate Rebels – and is number 332 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Over 50% of a customer’s experience is driven by how they feel - Interview with Colin Shaw](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/10/over-50-of-a-customers-experience-is-driven-by-how-they-feel-interview-with-colin-shaw/) - Over 50% of a customer’s experience is driven by how they feel - Interview with Colin Shaw on his new book: The Intuitive Customer: 7 Imperatives For Moving Your Customer Experience to the Next Level.
- [Habituation and the risk to customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/10/habituation-and-the-risk-to-customer-experience/) - In a TED talk by Tony Fadell, originator of the iPod, talked about a process called habituation and how it helps us learn. This is really helpful but there are downsides to it too, particularly when it comes to improving customer service and customer experience and how customers perceptions, behaviours and preferences change over time.
- [Habituation and the risk to customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/10/habituation-and-the-risk-to-customer-experience/) - In a TED talk by Tony Fadell, originator of the iPod, talked about a process called habituation and how it helps us learn. This is really helpful but there are downsides to it too, particularly when it comes to improving customer service and customer experience and how customers perceptions, behaviours and preferences change over time.
- [How Tower grew by over 40% by introducing a five hour work day - Interview with Stephan Aarstol](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/10/how-tower-grew-by-over-40-by-introducing-a-five-hour-work-day-interview-with-stephan-aarstol/) - How Tower grew by over 40% by introducing a five hour work day - Interview with Stephan Aarstol
- [How Tower grew by over 40% by introducing a five hour work day - Interview with Stephan Aarstol](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/10/how-tower-grew-by-over-40-by-introducing-a-five-hour-work-day-interview-with-stephan-aarstol/) - How Tower grew by over 40% by introducing a five hour work day - Interview with Stephan Aarstol
- [The need to (re)consider the technology and human balance in customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/11/the-need-to-reconsider-the-technology-and-human-balance-in-customer-experience/) - When it comes to customer experience, many of the new things and initiatives that are being discussed are very interesting and exciting. But, I’ve been struck but how little is being said about the human role and how it fits into this fast evolving world of high-tech customer experience.
- [Technology has made people very productive but it has undermined their creativity - Interview with Chris Lewis](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/11/technology-has-made-people-very-productive-but-it-has-undermined-their-creativity-interview-with-chris-lewis/) - Technology has made people very productive but it has undermined their creativity - Interview with Chris Lewis
- [What does customer engagement really mean?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/11/what-does-customer-engagement-really-mean/) - When it comes to customer engagement, it’s no longer good enough to just think about the monetary value of the relationships that we have with customers and how we can increase spend and frequency of spend. To stand out, firm’s need to go deeper, be braver and think differently if they are to develop the sort of relationships with their customers that they want.
- [What does customer engagement really mean?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/11/what-does-customer-engagement-really-mean/) - When it comes to customer engagement, it’s no longer good enough to just think about the monetary value of the relationships that we have with customers and how we can increase spend and frequency of spend. To stand out, firm’s need to go deeper, be braver and think differently if they are to develop the sort of relationships with their customers that they want.
- [Is it time to stop talking about employee engagement?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/11/is-it-time-to-stop-talking-about-employee-engagement/) - Today’s podcast interview is a little different as it is an interview that I did earlier this year with the folks over at Engage For Success. My interviewer is Jo Moffat and over the course of our discussion we attempt to tackle the question: Is it time to stop talking about employee engagement?
- [How doing less is delivering more for this business, it's employees and it's customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/11/how-doing-less-is-delivering-more-for-this-business-its-employees-and-its-customers/) - Can you imagine operating your business for just five hours per day and still being able to deliver the level of service that your customers desire? This business did and grew by over 40% by introducing a five hour work day.
- [How doing less is delivering more for this business, it's employees and it's customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/11/how-doing-less-is-delivering-more-for-this-business-its-employees-and-its-customers/) - Can you imagine operating your business for just five hours per day and still being able to deliver the level of service that your customers desire? This business did and grew by over 40% by introducing a five hour work day.
- [The rationale behind choosing a high-touch and high-cost route to serve our customers - Interview with Matthias Murin](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/11/the-rationale-behind-choosing-a-high-touch-and-high-cost-route-to-serve-our-customers-interview-with-matthias-murin/) - The rationale behind choosing a high-touch and high-cost route to serve our customers - Interview with Matthias Murin of DocMorris
- [The rationale behind choosing a high-touch and high-cost route to serve our customers - Interview with Matthias Murin](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/11/the-rationale-behind-choosing-a-high-touch-and-high-cost-route-to-serve-our-customers-interview-with-matthias-murin/) - The rationale behind choosing a high-touch and high-cost route to serve our customers - Interview with Matthias Murin of DocMorris
- [Improving the customer journey: The importance of customer service KPIs and metrics](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/11/improving-the-customer-journey-the-importance-of-customer-service-kpis-and-metrics/) - Improving the customer journey: The importance of customer service KPIs and metrics - This is a guest post that has been written by Debbie Fletcher on behalf of Nanorep.
- [Improving the customer journey: The importance of customer service KPIs and metrics](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/11/improving-the-customer-journey-the-importance-of-customer-service-kpis-and-metrics/) - Improving the customer journey: The importance of customer service KPIs and metrics - This is a guest post that has been written by Debbie Fletcher on behalf of Nanorep.
- [How to do extraordinary things for your customers and your people - Interview with Bill Taylor](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/12/how-to-do-extraordinary-things-for-your-customers-and-your-people-interview-with-bill-taylor/) - How to do extraordinary things for your customers and your people - Interview with Bill Taylor about his new book: Simply Brilliant: How Great Organizations Do Ordinary Things In Extraordinary Ways.
- [The three best gifts that you could give your customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/12/the-three-best-gifts-that-you-could-give-your-customers/) - I've been starting to wonder about gifts in the last few days. I also started to wonder more broadly about what constitutes a ‘good gift’. Here's some ideas as to what would be the best sort of gift that a company could give to it's customers.
- [Most organisations are ignoring the behavioural element of customer experience - Interview with Morris Pentel](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/12/most-organisations-are-ignoring-the-behavioural-element-of-customer-experience-interview-with-morris-pentel/) - Most organisations are ignoring the behavioural element of customer experience - Interview with Morris Pentel
- [Most organisations are ignoring the behavioural element of customer experience - Interview with Morris Pentel](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2016/12/most-organisations-are-ignoring-the-behavioural-element-of-customer-experience-interview-with-morris-pentel/) - Most organisations are ignoring the behavioural element of customer experience - Interview with Morris Pentel
- [Many brands are losing touch with crucial ‘moments of truth’ - Interview with PV Kannan of [24]7](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/01/many-brands-are-losing-touch-with-crucial-moments-of-truth-interview-with-pv-kannan-of-247/) - Many brands are losing touch with crucial ‘moments of truth’ - Interview with PV Kannan of [24]7, a customer engagement platform which assists several hundred million visitors across all channels, and engages in 1.5 billion conversations annually, most of which are automated.
- [Many brands are losing touch with crucial ‘moments of truth’ - Interview with PV Kannan of [24]7](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/01/many-brands-are-losing-touch-with-crucial-moments-of-truth-interview-with-pv-kannan-of-247/) - Many brands are losing touch with crucial ‘moments of truth’ - Interview with PV Kannan of [24]7, a customer engagement platform which assists several hundred million visitors across all channels, and engages in 1.5 billion conversations annually, most of which are automated.
- [Recapturing personalized customer interaction in the age of ecommerce](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/01/recapturing-personalized-customer-interaction-in-the-age-of-ecommerce/) - Recapturing personalized customer interaction in the age of ecommerce - This is a guest post from David Stephenson, Chief Data Officer at DSI Analytics.
- [Recapturing personalized customer interaction in the age of ecommerce](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/01/recapturing-personalized-customer-interaction-in-the-age-of-ecommerce/) - Recapturing personalized customer interaction in the age of ecommerce - This is a guest post from David Stephenson, Chief Data Officer at DSI Analytics.
- [Fostering a listening culture is the best way to deliver better customer and employee outcomes - Interview with Rob Pace of HundredX](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/01/fostering-a-listening-culture-is-the-best-way-to-deliver-better-customer-and-employee-outcomes-interview-with-rob-pace-of-hundredx/) - Fostering a listening culture is the best way to deliver better customer and employee outcomes - Interview with Rob Pace of HundredX, a technology platform/app that works with major brands such as the NBA, NFL, Robert Half International and U.S. city authorities, to provide listening solutions and collect real-time feedback from customers and employees.
- [3 customer groups that are being overlooked in the customer experience whirlwind](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/01/3-customer-groups-that-are-being-overlooked-in-the-customer-experience-whirlwind/) - Over the last year, I’ve noticed a number of different groups of customers that don’t seem to be getting a lot of attention. Here are three groups that all present sizeable opportunities for the brands that are willing to pay attention to them.
- [The connection between Comic-Con, Escape The Room and world-class customer service - Interview with Liz Graham of Wayfair](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/01/the-connection-between-comic-con-escape-the-room-and-world-class-customer-service-interview-with-liz-graham-of-wayfair/) - The connection between Comic-Con, Escape The Room and world-class customer service - Interview with Liz Graham of Wayfair
- [How the customer experience vision gap is holding many organisations back](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/01/how-the-customer-experience-vision-gap-is-holding-many-organisations-back/) - In a world that is moving faster and faster and where it seems like we have less and less time to think, there is better way to approach problems, particularly when it comes to those associated with improving and developing the customer's experience. Doing so will allow organisations to develop an increased ability to deliver better and more sustainable growth, higher RoI and better outcomes for them and their customers.
- [Behavioural insights and what is really going on in the minds of your customers - Interview with Dr. Simon Moore of Innovationbubble](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/02/behavioural-insights-and-what-is-really-going-on-in-the-minds-of-your-customers-interview-with-dr-simon-moore-of-innovationbubble/) - Behavioural insights and what is really going on in the minds of your customers - Interview with Dr. Simon Moore of Innovationbubble
- [Behavioural insights and what is really going on in the minds of your customers - Interview with Dr. Simon Moore of Innovationbubble](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/02/behavioural-insights-and-what-is-really-going-on-in-the-minds-of-your-customers-interview-with-dr-simon-moore-of-innovationbubble/) - Behavioural insights and what is really going on in the minds of your customers - Interview with Dr. Simon Moore of Innovationbubble
- [How middle managers can boost employee engagement and customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/02/how-middle-managers-can-boost-employee-engagement-and-customer-experience/) - Lower level and middle mangers are key to employee engagement and customer experience. Here's a simple and cost-effective way that they, their teams and their organsiations can help them learn, improve and develop and how it will drive real employee, customer and business results.
- [Co-creation, innovation and when you should get your customers involved - Interview with Prof. Jan van den Ende](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/02/co-creation-innovation-and-when-you-should-get-your-customers-involved-interview-with-prof-jan-van-den-ende/) - Co-creation, innovation and when you should get your customers involved - Interview with Prof. Jan van den Ende - professor of management of technology and innovation at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM).
- [Co-creation, innovation and when you should get your customers involved - Interview with Prof. Jan van den Ende](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/02/co-creation-innovation-and-when-you-should-get-your-customers-involved-interview-with-prof-jan-van-den-ende/) - Co-creation, innovation and when you should get your customers involved - Interview with Prof. Jan van den Ende - professor of management of technology and innovation at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM).
- [The implosion of trust and what to do about it](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/02/the-implosion-of-trust-and-what-to-do-about-it/) - The world is changing and Edelman’s Trust Barometer 2017 survey findings suggest there has been an implosion of trust and that those companies that build the most trust with their customers will be the ones that are most likely to win. Here's what to do about it.
- [Using AI and EQ to build emotional connections with customers at scale - Interview with Joshua Feast of Cogito](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/02/using-ai-and-eq-to-build-emotional-connections-with-customers-at-scale-interview-with-joshua-feast-of-cogito/) - Using AI and EQ to build emotional connections with customers at scale - Interview with Joshua Feast of Cogito
- [Beware cultural differences when aiming to deliver a great cross-border customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/02/beware-cultural-differences-when-aiming-to-deliver-a-great-cross-border-customer-experience/) - It’s often the smallest of things that make the difference between whether a business is a success or failure. And, nowhere is this more true than when a business enters a new and overseas market. Here's some examples and some advice.
- [Non-obvious trends and what they mean for customer experience - Interview with Rohit Bhargava](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/02/non-obvious-trends-and-what-they-mean-for-customer-experience-interview-with-rohit-bhargava/) - Non-obvious trends and what they mean for customer experience - Interview with Rohit Bhargava, who is a trend curator, author of five best selling books (including the Wall Street Journal bestseller "Non-Obvious") and founder of the Influential Marketing Group (IMG).
- [Non-obvious trends and what they mean for customer experience - Interview with Rohit Bhargava](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/02/non-obvious-trends-and-what-they-mean-for-customer-experience-interview-with-rohit-bhargava/) - Non-obvious trends and what they mean for customer experience - Interview with Rohit Bhargava, who is a trend curator, author of five best selling books (including the Wall Street Journal bestseller "Non-Obvious") and founder of the Influential Marketing Group (IMG).
- [Do you really want to create a frictionless customer experience?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/03/do-you-really-want-to-create-a-frictionless-customer-experience/) - One of the hot items customer experience at the moment is the objective of creating a frictionless experience. But, if we eliminate all of the ‘friction’ do we not eliminate the opportunity to create a meaningful and lasting experience?
- [Creating a customer obsessed culture and going from NPS -4 to +80 - Interview with Amy Downs of Lifesize](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/03/creating-a-customer-obsessed-culture-and-going-from-nps-4-to-80-interview-with-amy-downs-of-lifesize/) - Today’s interview is with Amy Downs, the Chief Happiness and Customer Success Officer of Lifesize, a provider of enterprise & business-class video, audio, & web conferencing solutions, software, equipment & support. Amy joins me today to talk about customer obsession, Lifesize's transformation and what it takes to turn an Net Promoter score (NPS) of - 4 into a score of +80 in roughly 730 days.
- [How to make phone conversations with customers better](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/03/how-to-make-phone-conversations-with-customers-better/) - Despite the introduction of all sorts of new technology, a myriad of new channels and a host of self-service options, when things go wrong, get complicated or become difficult for customers most of them will want to pick up the phone and talk to another human being.
- [Building a culture of good engages customers, employees and drives business results - Interview with Ryan McCarty and Scott Moorehead](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/03/building-a-culture-of-good-engages-customers-employees-and-drives-business-results-interview-with-ryan-mccarty-and-scott-moorehead/) - Building a culture of good engages customers, employees and drives business results - Interview with Ryan McCarty and Scott Moorehead, founders of Culture of Good and the authors of a new book: Build a Culture of Good.
- [Customer experience investments, ROI and business results](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/03/customer-experience-investments-roi-and-business-results/) - A whitepaper I recently wrote for Clarabridge on Customer Experience Investments, ROI, and Business Results. It aims to help customer experience leaders and professionals: Estimate the potential benefits of CX activities; Tie CX investments to increased sales, decreased churn, or lowered costs; and Start gathering data to create a CX ROI Model
- [The future is arriving now. Are you ready? - Interview with Anthony Abbatiello of Deloitte](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/03/the-future-is-arriving-now-are-you-ready-interview-with-anthony-abbatiello-of-deloitte/) - The future is arriving now. Are you ready? - Interview with Anthony Abbatiello discussing Deloitte’s newly released annual 2017 Global Human Capital Trends Report, some of the trends that emerged from the report and what they mean for leaders and entrepreneurs looking to build a business intent on delivering a great customer and employee experience.
- [The future is arriving now. Are you ready? - Interview with Anthony Abbatiello of Deloitte](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/03/the-future-is-arriving-now-are-you-ready-interview-with-anthony-abbatiello-of-deloitte/) - The future is arriving now. Are you ready? - Interview with Anthony Abbatiello discussing Deloitte’s newly released annual 2017 Global Human Capital Trends Report, some of the trends that emerged from the report and what they mean for leaders and entrepreneurs looking to build a business intent on delivering a great customer and employee experience.
- [The keys to customer success](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/03/the-keys-to-customer-success/) - Using a process similar to the Delphi-method, myself and 14 other participants identified the top 8 practices that would lead to a better understanding and engagement of customers.
- [Insights from inside some of the world's highest performing organisations - Interview with Brian MacNeice](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/03/insights-from-inside-some-of-the-worlds-highest-performing-organisations-interview-with-brian-macneice/) - Insights from inside some of the world's highest performing organisations - Interview with Brian MacNeice, co-author of Powerhouse: Insider accounts into the world’s top high-performance organizations.
- [The transformational impact of technology on knowledge management and customer service](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/03/the-transformational-impact-of-technology-on-knowledge-management-and-customer-service/) - This is a guest post from Robin Singh, a resident knowledge management expert at ProProfs, discussing how the latest software solutions can affect knowledge management and customer service.
- [The power of social recognition in employee engagement - Interview with Ketti Salemme of TINYpulse](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/04/the-power-of-social-recognition-in-employee-engagement-interview-with-ketti-salemme-of-tinypulse/) - The power of social recognition in employee engagement - Interview with Ketti Salemme of TINYpulse, an employee engagement platform that combines pulse surveys, peer recognition, and performance reviews.
- [4 Quotes to inspire consistency in customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/04/4-quotes-to-inspire-consistency-in-customer-experience/) - 4 Quotes to inspire consistency in customer experience - This is a guest post from Divya Bhat, content strategist at CloudCherry.
- [Bringing together disparate data sources is key to creating stand out customer experiences - Interview with Dave O'Flanagan of Boxever](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/04/bringing-together-disparate-data-sources-is-key-to-creating-stand-out-customer-experiences-interview-with-dave-oflanagan-of-boxever/) - Bringing together disparate data sources is key to creating stand out customer experiences - Interview with Dave O'Flanagan of Boxever
- [Your frontline employees hold the keys to improving your customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/04/your-frontline-employees-hold-the-keys-to-improving-your-customer-experience/) - The business world is abuzz with talk of artificial intelligence, it’s applications and the use of tools like artificial neural networks. But, what about real (or biological) neural networks and the potential that they could offer? Here's some examples of what you could be missing out on.
- [An agile manifesto for customer success - Interview with Todd Eby of Success Hacker](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/04/an-agile-manifesto-for-customer-success-interview-with-todd-eby-of-success-hacker/) - An agile manifesto for customer success - Interview with Todd Eby of Success Hacker
- [Wayfair's innovative recruitment methods help drive their award winning customer service](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/04/wayfairs-innovative-recruitment-methods-help-drive-their-award-winning-customer-service/) - Firms like Wayfair realise that traditional recruitment methods are not set up to deliver the future customer service talent they need. Therefore, they have started to develop innovative recruitment methods to help them recruit the skills and talent that they need to fuel their future growth.
- [Understanding consumer behaviour by going to the gemba - Interview with Michael Solomon](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/04/understanding-consumer-behaviour-by-going-to-the-gemba-interview-with-michael-solomon/) - Understanding consumer behaviour by going to the gemba - Interview with Michael Solomon, PhD who is Professor of Marketing in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and the author of one of THE books, if not THE original book, on consumer behaviour.
- [Can you handle Dimension Data's uncomfortable truth about customer experience?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/05/can-you-handle-dimension-datas-uncomfortable-truth-about-customer-experience/) - Dimension Data's 2017 Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report will make uncomfortable reading for many leaders and customer experience executives. Can you handle the truth?
- [How D.O.M.O.R.E. will help you deliver an outstanding customer experience - Interview with Blake Morgan](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/05/how-d-o-m-o-r-e-will-help-you-deliver-an-outstanding-customer-experience-interview-with-blake-morgan/) - How D.O.M.O.R.E. will help you deliver an outstanding customer experience - Interview with Blake Morgan about her new book: More Is More: How the Best Companies Go Farther and Work Harder to Create Knock-Your-Socks-Off Customer Experiences.
- [Some customer experience lessons from United's and my own experience of denied boarding](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/05/some-customer-experience-lessons-from-uniteds-and-my-own-experience-of-denied-boarding/) - Some reflections on Dr Dao’s over-booking experience, which resulted in him being dragged off a United Airlines plane in Chicago on April 9th losing two teeth and suffering a broken nose in the process, and my own recent experience with British Airways, which thankfully didn't end so badly.
- [Focus on the right things to drive your own customer experience revolution - Interview with Susan Ganeshan](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/05/focus-on-the-right-things-to-drive-your-own-customer-experience-revolution-interview-with-susan-ganeshan/) - Focus on the right things to drive your own customer experience revolution - Interview with Susan Ganeshan of Clarabridge
- [How To Wow - A new customer experience video course on Skillshare](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/05/how-to-wow-a-new-customer-experience-video-course-on-skillshare/) - How To Wow - Key Insights to Help You Deliver A Market Beating Customer Experience is the name of my new customer experience video course on Skillshare.
- [The ROI of investing in employee experience - Interview with Jacob Morgan](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/05/the-roi-of-investing-in-employee-experience-interview-with-jacob-morgan/) - The ROI of investing in employee experience - Interview with Jacob Morgan about his new book: The Employee Experience Advantage: How to Win the War for Talent by Giving Employees the Workspaces They Want, the Tools They Need, and a Culture They Can Celebrate
- [Five customer experience insights from T-Mobile, Patagonia, Mozilla, WeTransfer and Work & Co](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/05/five-customer-experience-insights-from-t-mobile-patagonia-mozilla-wetransfer-and-work-co/) - Five customer experience highlights from some leading organizations (T-Mobile, Patagonia, Mozilla, WeTransfer And Work & Co) that were speaking at Collision, a tech and start up conference in New Orleans just over a week ago.
- [Trust, lean data and the rising importance of purpose as a customer preference - Interview with Jascha Kaykas-Wolff](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/05/trust-lean-data-and-the-rising-importance-of-purpose-as-a-customer-preference-interview-with-jascha-kaykas-wolff/) - Trust, lean data and the rising importance of purpose as a customer preference - Interview with Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, Chief Marketing Officer at Mozilla.
- [Harnessing Your Data to Improve Customer Experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/06/harnessing-your-data-to-improve-customer-experience/) - Here's a recent talk that I recently gave at Whitehall Media's Big Data Analytics conference in Amsterdam called 'Harnessing Your Data to Improve Customer Experience'.
- [Purpose and why it is important to employees and customers - Interview with Stan Phelps](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/06/purpose-and-why-it-is-important-to-employees-and-customers-interview-with-stan-phelps/) - Purpose and why it is important to employees and customers - Interview with Stan Phelps about his new book: Red Goldfish: Motivating Sales and Loyalty Through Shared Passion and Purpose.
- [Purpose and why it is important to employees and customers - Interview with Stan Phelps](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/06/purpose-and-why-it-is-important-to-employees-and-customers-interview-with-stan-phelps/) - Purpose and why it is important to employees and customers - Interview with Stan Phelps about his new book: Red Goldfish: Motivating Sales and Loyalty Through Shared Passion and Purpose.
- [Learn from brands using behavioral science when designing your B2B UX](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/06/learn-from-brands-using-behavioral-science-when-designing-your-b2b-ux/) - Learn from brands using behavioral science when designing your B2B UX - This is a guest post from Matt Brown, senior director of digital marketing at Walker Sands Digital, a digital marketing services agency that is part of the award-winning B2B tech PR agency, Walker Sands Communications.
- [The most successful companies start by improving one customer journey at a time - Interview with Don Schuerman](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/06/the-most-successful-companies-start-by-improving-one-customer-journey-at-a-time-interview-with-don-schuerman/) - The most successful companies start by improving one customer journey at a time - Interview with Don Schuerman, CTO and Vice President of Product Marketing at Pegasystems.
- [Great service and why Basecamp only focuses on a couple of channels - Interview with Chase Clemons](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/06/great-service-and-why-basecamp-only-focuses-on-a-couple-of-channels-interview-with-chase-clemons/) - Great service and why Basecamp only focuses on a couple of channels - Interview with Chase Clemons, a customer support team lead at Basecamp, a provider of project management and team communication software. We talk about Basecamp’s CEO Jason Fried assuming personal responsibility for all customer refunds, what that means in practice, what it’s like to work at Basecamp, what customer service means for them, particularly when they have approx 50 people in 30 different cities around the world and how they deliver great service to their clients.
- [Five ways to creatively enhance the customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/06/five-ways-to-creatively-enhance-the-customer-experience/) - Five ways to creatively enhance the customer experience - This is a guest post from Jonathan Furman, the founder of Furman Transformation, a management consulting firm.
- [Aligning the organisation around three key journeys and why passenger experience equals employee experience - Interview with Mattijs ten Brink of Transavia](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/06/aligning-the-organisation-around-three-key-journeys-and-why-passenger-experience-equals-employee-experience-interview-with-mattijs-ten-brink-of-transavia/) - Aligning the organisation around three key journeys and why passenger experience equals employee experience - Interview with Mattijs ten Brink of Transavia
- [Are behavioral science, customer centricity and customer experience compatible?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/07/are-behavioral-science-customer-centricity-and-customer-experience-compatible/) - Are some of the modern tools and methods compatible with the idea of being customer centric? Do they deliver customer experience strategies and tactics that are in the best interests of customers? Let's explore.
- [Towards zero percent agent turnover in the contact centre - Interview with Tom Goodmanson](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/07/towards-zero-percent-agent-turnover-in-the-contact-centre-interview-with-tom-goodmanson/) - Towards zero percent agent turnover in the contact centre - Interview with Tom Goodmanson of Calabrio, a call centre software provider. We talk about contact centres, their importance, the lack of attention that they sometimes receive and some of the perennial problems that they struggle with including agent turnover.
- [Quality time: why a next-gen quality management system should be your next big step](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/07/quality-time-why-a-next-gen-quality-management-system-should-be-your-next-big-step/) - Quality time: why a next-gen quality management system should be your next big step - This is a guest post from Benjamin Stone writer and technology enthusiast. (I suspect though it has been written on behalf of NICE ;) )
- [Opaque and transparent AI and the ethical implications for customer experience - Interview with Rob Walker](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/07/opaque-and-transparent-ai-and-the-ethical-implications-for-customer-experience-interview-with-rob-walker/) - Opaque and transparent AI and the ethical implications for customer experience - Interview with Rob Walker, Vice President, Decision Management and Analytics at Pegasystems.
- [Opaque and transparent AI and the ethical implications for customer experience - Interview with Rob Walker](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/07/opaque-and-transparent-ai-and-the-ethical-implications-for-customer-experience-interview-with-rob-walker/) - Opaque and transparent AI and the ethical implications for customer experience - Interview with Rob Walker, Vice President, Decision Management and Analytics at Pegasystems.
- [Customer engagement transformation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/07/customer-engagement-transformation/) - On Thursday 6th July I had the pleasure of chairing proceedings in Hall 2 of the Customer Engagement Transformation Conference that took place at the Victoria Park Plaza hotel in London. These are my notes from the day.
- [Customer experience, personalisation and how not to be creepy - Interview with Tara Kelly](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/07/customer-experience-personalisation-and-how-not-to-be-creepy-interview-with-tara-kelly/) - Customer experience, personalisation and how not to be creepy - Interview with Tara Kelly, President & CEO of SPLICE Software, who are helping retailers, insurance companies, and banks optimize customer communications through the marriage of patent-pending human voice software, and personalized automated messaging systems.
- [Using agile approaches for breakthrough product innovation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/07/using-agile-approaches-for-breakthrough-product-innovation/) - This is a guest post from a team at Arthur D. Little which looks at how non-software product-based companies can successfully embrace agile, as well as non-agile, methods in a complementary way to achieve breakthrough innovation.
- [How to rapidly scale and still maintain the highest customer service standards - Interview with Ed Ariel](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/07/how-to-rapidly-scale-and-still-maintain-the-highest-customer-service-standards-interview-with-ed-ariel/) - How to rapidly scale and still maintain the highest customer service standards - Interview with Ed Ariel, VP of Customer Service at ezCater, the only US-wide marketplace for corporate catering.
- [TK Maxx celebrates the friction in its customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/08/tk-maxx-celebrates-the-friction-in-its-customer-experience/) - Many people are talking about creating frictionless customer experiences. In a recent, article I questioned that as a 'blanket' approach. Here's an example of how TK Maxx is using friction to its advantage.
- [Big data and technology is undermining our ability to develop our own hunches - Interview with Bernadette Jiwa](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/08/big-data-and-technology-is-undermining-our-ability-to-develop-our-own-hunches-interview-with-bernadette-jiwa/) - Big data and technology is undermining our ability to develop our own hunches - Interview with Bernadette Jiwa, author of a new book: Hunch: Turn Your Everyday Insights into the Next Big Thing.
- [Is 2% OK with you? Five ways to dramatically improve your customer feedback survey response rates](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/08/is-2-ok-with-you-five-ways-to-dramatically-improve-your-customer-feedback-survey-response-rates/) - Many companies ask customers for feedback but just as many undo a lot of their great work through the way that they go about their surveys and feedback process. Here’s five things that can help firms achieve much higher response rates.
- [Understanding a customers context is the key to self-service success - Interview with Bill Colleran](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/08/understanding-a-customers-context-is-the-key-to-self-service-success-interview-with-bill-colleran/) - Understanding a customers context is the key to self-service success - Interview with Bill Colleran, President and Chief Executive Officer of AnswerDash, a predictive and artificial intelligence (AI) powered Q&A Saas platform that facilitates customer service for e-commerce businesses thereby reducing support costs and revealing customer needs.
- [Bridging the employee engagement gap through effective communications](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/08/bridging-the-employee-engagement-gap-through-effective-communications/) - This is a guest post from Maurice De Castro, the Founder of Mindful Presenter, who looks at the impact that communication has on the employee experience and employee engagement.
- [Customer service and moving from the enterprise to the flexiprise - Interview with Keith Leimbach](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/08/customer-service-and-moving-from-the-enterprise-to-the-flexiprise-interview-with-keith-leimbach/) - Customer service and moving from the enterprise to the flexiprise - Interview with Keith Leimbach, CEO of LiveOps, a leading virtual contact center solutions company for the financial, health care, insurance and retail industries. Keith joins me today to talk about the human and tech balance in customer experience, striking the right balance and maintaining quality standards when you are managing a network of 20,000 virtual agents.
- [Customer experience, opaque AI and the risk of unintended consequences](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/customer-experience-opaque-ai-and-the-risk-of-unintended-consequences/) - The prospects and nature of AI, particularly within the domain of customer experience, will pose some risks, governance and quality issues for firms if not properly managed.
- [Marrying self organising teams and customer obsession - Interview with Andrew Lawson](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/marrying-self-organising-teams-and-customer-obsession-interview-with-andrew-lawson/) - Marrying self organising teams and customer obsession - Interview with Andrew Lawson, Chief Product Officer of Zopa.com, a UK online personal finance peer-to-peer lending company founded in 2005. Andrew joins me today to talk about customer service, customer obsession, what it means to them and the shift to self-organising teams that they have recently undertaken.
- [Customer experience is all about empathy, here’s how to harness it](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/customer-experience-is-all-about-empathy-heres-how-to-harness-it/) - This is a guest post from Oisin Lunny, Chief Evangelist at OpenMarket, who looks at customer experience, empathy and how text’s evolution to RCS has created a powerful means for connecting with customers and creating genuine and very personal empathetic interactions.
- [Heroes and the craft of customer support - Interview with Nick Francis](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/heroes-and-the-craft-of-customer-support-interview-with-nick-francis/) - Heroes and the craft of customer support - Interview with Nick Francis, CEO and co-founder of HelpScout, a Saas software company that provides an email-based customer support platform, knowledge base tool, and an embeddable search/contact widget for customer service professionals. Nick joins me today to talk about the ‘craft’ of customer support, making support and contact centre agents heroes and their latest Customer Support Survey.
- [What do the Bee Gees, words, a train company and customer experience have in common?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/what-do-the-bee-gees-words-a-train-company-and-customer-experience-have-in-common/) - The Bee Gees once sang "It's only words, and words are all I have to take your heart away". Here's how one train company took their words to heart and transformed their customer experience.
- [What do the Bee Gees, words, a train company and customer experience have in common?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/what-do-the-bee-gees-words-a-train-company-and-customer-experience-have-in-common/) - The Bee Gees once sang "It's only words, and words are all I have to take your heart away". Here's how one train company took their words to heart and transformed their customer experience.
- [Overcoming the barriers to delivering an excellent citizen experience - Interview with Ryan Hollenbeck and David Moody](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/overcoming-the-barriers-to-delivering-an-excellent-citizen-experience-interview-with-ryan-hollenbeck-and-david-moody/) - Overcoming the barriers to delivering an excellent citizen experience - Interview with Ryan Hollenbeck and David Moody from Verint Systems, a global technology firm that provides Actionable Intelligence® solutions, to both public and private sector organisations, with a focus on customer engagement optimization, security intelligence, and fraud, risk and compliance. David and Ryan join me today to talk about citizen experience, overcoming barriers to implementing successful digital strategies, particularly in the government and public sector arena and what government and public sector organisations could be doing better.
- [Overcoming the barriers to delivering an excellent citizen experience - Interview with Ryan Hollenbeck and David Moody](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/overcoming-the-barriers-to-delivering-an-excellent-citizen-experience-interview-with-ryan-hollenbeck-and-david-moody/) - Overcoming the barriers to delivering an excellent citizen experience - Interview with Ryan Hollenbeck and David Moody from Verint Systems, a global technology firm that provides Actionable Intelligence® solutions, to both public and private sector organisations, with a focus on customer engagement optimization, security intelligence, and fraud, risk and compliance. David and Ryan join me today to talk about citizen experience, overcoming barriers to implementing successful digital strategies, particularly in the government and public sector arena and what government and public sector organisations could be doing better.
- [Customer experience leaders: When was the last time you went to the gemba?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/customer-experience-leaders-when-was-the-last-time-you-went-to-the-gemba/) - Have you ever heard of the expression: ‘Going to the gemba’ ? As a customer experience leader, when was the last time that you went there? If it's been a while then perhaps you should consider working this into your routine more regularly. If you don't you could be missing out. This post was originally published on Forbes.com.
- [Cut half of your meetings to engage more with customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/cut-half-of-your-meetings-to-engage-more-with-customers/) - This is a guest post from Kevan and Alan Hall, authors of a new book: Kill Bad Meetings.
- [How to improve customer experience using employee feedback](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/how-to-improve-customer-experience-using-employee-feedback/) - How to improve customer experience using employee feedback - This is a guest post from Sreeram Sreenivasan, Founder & CEO of Ubiq BI, a cloud-based BI Platform for SMBs & Enterprises.
- [How to improve customer experience using employee feedback](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/09/how-to-improve-customer-experience-using-employee-feedback/) - How to improve customer experience using employee feedback - This is a guest post from Sreeram Sreenivasan, Founder & CEO of Ubiq BI, a cloud-based BI Platform for SMBs & Enterprises.
- [The meaning of personalised customer experience - Interview with Jamf, Paycor and Qumulo](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/the-meaning-of-personalised-customer-experience-interview-with-jamf-paycor-and-qumolo/) - The meaning of personalised customer experience - Interview with Jamf, Paycor and Qumulo. Today’s interview is a little different and is the first time that we have tried to conduct a roundtable style interview on the podcast. My guests today are: Sam Johnson, VP of customer service at Jamf, a provider of software for enterprises and smaller businesses that helps them manage their Apple devices, Mark Wilson, Senior director of customer transformation at Paycor, a provider of recruiting, human resources, and payroll solutions through an integrated, cloud-based platform, and Chris Lisica, Director of customer success at Qumulo, a provider of simple, scalable, and efficient enterprise data storage systems.
- [The meaning of personalised customer experience - Interview with Jamf, Paycor and Qumulo](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/the-meaning-of-personalised-customer-experience-interview-with-jamf-paycor-and-qumolo/) - The meaning of personalised customer experience - Interview with Jamf, Paycor and Qumulo. Today’s interview is a little different and is the first time that we have tried to conduct a roundtable style interview on the podcast. My guests today are: Sam Johnson, VP of customer service at Jamf, a provider of software for enterprises and smaller businesses that helps them manage their Apple devices, Mark Wilson, Senior director of customer transformation at Paycor, a provider of recruiting, human resources, and payroll solutions through an integrated, cloud-based platform, and Chris Lisica, Director of customer success at Qumulo, a provider of simple, scalable, and efficient enterprise data storage systems.
- [Communities will become a core engine of commerce, innovation, experience, loyalty and service - Interview with Rob Tarkoff](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/11/communities-will-become-a-core-engine-of-commerce-innovation-experience-loyalty-and-service-interview-with-rob-tarkoff/) - Communities will become a core engine of commerce, innovation, experience, loyalty and service - Interview with Rob Tarkoff, President and CEO of Lithium Technologies, a digital customer experience platform company. Their technology both powers some of the world’s largest online communities and helps some of the worlds largest brands with social customer care and publishing. Rob joins me today to talk about some recently published research, engagement, what it is, what it isn’t, what brands should be doing more and less of to help them engage more with their customers and the role of communities in all of that.
- [You don’t want to design a customer experience that is akin to getting in the cockpit of an F16 - Interview with Eric Hansen](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/you-dont-want-to-design-a-customer-experience-that-is-akin-to-getting-in-the-cockpit-of-an-f16-interview-with-eric-hansen/) - You don’t want to design a customer experience that is akin to getting in the cockpit of an F16 - Interview with Eric Hansen, founder and Chief Technology Officer of SiteSpect, a leading software platform that offers optimization, testing, targeting, and personalization solutions that allows businesses to create superior customer experiences.
- [You don’t want to design a customer experience that is akin to getting in the cockpit of an F16 - Interview with Eric Hansen](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/you-dont-want-to-design-a-customer-experience-that-is-akin-to-getting-in-the-cockpit-of-an-f16-interview-with-eric-hansen/) - You don’t want to design a customer experience that is akin to getting in the cockpit of an F16 - Interview with Eric Hansen, founder and Chief Technology Officer of SiteSpect, a leading software platform that offers optimization, testing, targeting, and personalization solutions that allows businesses to create superior customer experiences.
- [8 Tips for developing a brand identity that inspires customer loyalty](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/8-tips-for-developing-a-brand-identity-that-inspires-customer-loyalty/) - This is a guest post from Erika Brookes, CMO at Springbot.Loyal customers are far more profitable than your average customer and can become powerful champions for your brand. However, to gain a legion of loyal followers, you first need to establish a brand identity that they can get behind. Here are eight tips to get you headed in the right direction.
- [Delivering a great customer experience is not really a technology challenge any more - Interview with Mark Smith](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/delivering-a-great-customer-experience-is-not-really-a-technology-challenge-any-more-interview-with-mark-smith/) - Delivering a great customer experience is not really a technology challenge any more - Interview with Mark Smith, President of Kitewheel, which is the world’s only cloud-based Customer Journey Hub designed for innovative agencies and brands looking to move in step with the modern digital consumer.
- [What a BBC Radio sports programme taught me about customer surveys](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/what-a-bbc-radio-sports-programme-taught-me-about-customer-surveys/) - Recently I wrote about five ways to dramatically improve your customer feedback survey response rates. Listening to a radio show recently made me add a sixth.
- [The best marketing doesn't feel like marketing - Interview with Tom Fishburne](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/the-best-marketing-doesnt-feel-like-marketing-interview-with-tom-fishburne/) - The best marketing doesn't feel like marketing - Interview with Tom Fishburne, the Founder & CEO of Marketoonist, a cartoon studio focused on content marketing. He’s also a very popular cartoon blogger and has just published a new book called: Your Ad Ignored Here: Cartoons from 15 Years of Marketing, Business, and Doodling in Meetings.
- [Online reviews have significant ROI with customers and prospects](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/online-reviews-have-significant-roi-with-customers-and-prospects/) - This is a guest post from Adam Beeson, director of communications, G2 Crowd. Online reviews matter, a lot. A 2016 Local Consumer Review Survey from SEO and citation building service BrightLocal found that 84 percent of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. In one year, that number jumped up by four points.
- [Creating a culture that stands for something and stands out - Interview with Tim Deeson](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/creating-a-culture-that-stands-for-something-and-stands-out-interview-with-tim-deeson/) - Creating a culture that stands for something and stands out - Interview with Tim Deeson, the founder of the digital agency Deeson, a leading European multidisciplinary digital transformation agency. Tim joins me today to talk about self-organising teams, what they’ve done, what they learnt along the way, what impact it has had on them and their clients and what advice he would give to other leaders thinking about their organisational structure and how it needs to change to bring out the best in their people and deliver better outcomes for customers.
- [Creating a culture that stands for something and stands out - Interview with Tim Deeson](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/10/creating-a-culture-that-stands-for-something-and-stands-out-interview-with-tim-deeson/) - Creating a culture that stands for something and stands out - Interview with Tim Deeson, the founder of the digital agency Deeson, a leading European multidisciplinary digital transformation agency. Tim joins me today to talk about self-organising teams, what they’ve done, what they learnt along the way, what impact it has had on them and their clients and what advice he would give to other leaders thinking about their organisational structure and how it needs to change to bring out the best in their people and deliver better outcomes for customers.
- [3 Leading B2B Companies Share Their Secrets On How To Create A Personalized Customer Experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/11/3-leading-b2b-companies-share-their-secrets-on-how-to-create-a-personalized-customer-experience/) - Creating a personalized customer experience is a goal for many, if not all, firms as they strive to compete for, retain and deliver the best customer experience to their customers. Three leading, and very different, B2B companies shared how they deliver a market leading personalized customer experience for their customers.
- [The uniqueness in everyone is the largest asset you have in customer experience - Interview with Sam Johnson of Jamf](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/11/the-uniqueness-in-everyone-is-the-largest-asset-you-have-in-customer-experience-interview-with-sam-johnson-of-jamf/) - The uniqueness in everyone is the largest asset you have in customer experience - Interview with Sam Johnson, VP of customer experience at Jamf, a provider of software for enterprises and smaller businesses that helps them manage their Apple devices. Sam joins me today to talk about the idea that despite the fact that Jamf is a ‘tech’ focused company, most of the people that they hire don’t have tech backgrounds, why they taken that approach, how it came about, what the benefits have been and what others can learn from it.
- [What 2017 Taught Us About the Live Chat Customer Experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/11/what-2017-taught-us-about-the-live-chat-customer-experience/) - What 2017 Taught Us About the Live Chat Customer Experience. This is a guest post from Jamie Edwards, the co-founder and COO of Kayako.
- [Beyond digital and what many CMOs should be considering putting into their 2018 strategic plan](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/11/beyond-digital-and-what-many-cmos-should-be-considering-putting-into-their-2018-strategic-plan/) - Last year I wrote a piece called 3 Customer Groups That Are Being Overlooked In The Customer Experience Whirlwind. In it I ventured that there were a number of different groups of customers (The Rich Elders, The Private and The Quick) that weren’t getting a lot of attention. One of those groups, The Rich Elders, came into focus again for me recently in a conversation with Bruce Fielding, founder of Sterling.Agency, an agency that focuses on helping brands engage with over 50’s.
- [The Future Of Work, Workforce Experience and Being Digital - Interview with Erica Volini](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/11/the-future-of-work-workforce-experience-and-being-digital-interview-with-erica-volini/) - The Future Of Work, Workforce Experience and Being Digital - Interview with Erica Volini, who is the US Human Capital leader for Deloitte Consulting. Erica joins me today to talk about the Future Of Work, the implications for organisations, organisational transformation, Digital DNA and how the employee experience fits into all of this.
- [The Future Of Work, Workforce Experience and Being Digital - Interview with Erica Volini](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/11/the-future-of-work-workforce-experience-and-being-digital-interview-with-erica-volini/) - The Future Of Work, Workforce Experience and Being Digital - Interview with Erica Volini, who is the US Human Capital leader for Deloitte Consulting. Erica joins me today to talk about the Future Of Work, the implications for organisations, organisational transformation, Digital DNA and how the employee experience fits into all of this.
- [Thrive through busy times by studying your support history](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/11/thrive-through-busy-times-by-studying-your-support-history/) - Are you a fan of history? If you work in customer service or support, then I believe you should be and, specifically, your team’s customer service or support history.
- [The more you invest in technology the more you have to invest in human beings - Interview with Arnaud de Lacoste](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/11/the-more-you-invest-in-technology-the-more-you-have-to-invest-in-human-beings-interview-with-arnaud-de-lacoste/) - The more you invest in technology the more you have to invest in human beings - Interview with Arnaud de Lacoste Chief Marketing Officer of Sitel and Founding Partner of Group Acticall, a world leading provider of customer experience management & business process outsourcing solutions. Arnaud joins me today to talk about data, big and small, causation and correlation, the use of AI, the impact on insight and what brands should be doing to better connect with their customers.
- [The more you invest in technology the more you have to invest in human beings - Interview with Arnaud de Lacoste](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/11/the-more-you-invest-in-technology-the-more-you-have-to-invest-in-human-beings-interview-with-arnaud-de-lacoste/) - The more you invest in technology the more you have to invest in human beings - Interview with Arnaud de Lacoste Chief Marketing Officer of Sitel and Founding Partner of Group Acticall, a world leading provider of customer experience management & business process outsourcing solutions. Arnaud joins me today to talk about data, big and small, causation and correlation, the use of AI, the impact on insight and what brands should be doing to better connect with their customers.
- [In customer experience, boring is the new cool](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/12/in-customer-experience-boring-is-the-new-cool/) - In customer experience, boring is the new cool - This is a guest post from Oisin Lunny, Chief Evangelist, OpenMarket, and follows on from a discussion that Oisin and I had about the annual tech prediction cycle. This is #BoringIsCool article No. 2.
- [Corporate Rebels and their bucket list show how to create inspiring workplaces - Interview with Pim de Morree](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/12/corporate-rebels-and-their-bucket-list-show-how-to-create-inspiring-workplaces-interview-with-pim-de-morree/) - Corporate Rebels and their bucket list show how to create inspiring workplaces - Interview with Pim de MorreeCo-founder at Corporate Rebels, who are on a mission to make work more fun. Pim joins me today to talk about Corporate Rebels, their quest to make work more fun, their Bucket List and what they have learned so far. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The more you invest in technology the more you have to invest in human beings – Interview with Arnaud de Lacoste – and is number 243 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Four insights from leading thinkers that will transform your employee engagement and performance](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/12/four-insights-from-leading-thinkers-that-will-transform-your-employee-engagement-and-performance/) - Imagine the sort of day that you would have if you combined these four insights, introduced them into your leadership style and the impact that it would have on your culture, performance and levels of employee engagement.
- [When it comes to customer experience in 2018, can we make boring the new cool?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/12/when-it-comes-to-customer-experience-in-2018-can-we-make-boring-the-new-cool/) - Around this time of year it is common to see a rise in the number of predictions about what will be cool or hot next year when it comes to customer experience. What would happen if flipped things around?
- [Brands can create a better customer experience by being purpose driven - Interview with Alicia Tillman, CMO of SAP](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/12/brands-can-create-a-better-customer-experience-by-being-purpose-driven-interview-with-alicia-tillman-cmo-of-sap/) - Brands can create a better customer experience by being purpose driven - Interview with Alicia Tillman, the new global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of SAP, the world’s largest provider of enterprise application software. Alicia joins me today to talk purpose and how brands can create a better customer experience by being a purpose driven brand.
- [57 Insights from leading brands and experts on what it takes to deliver a Wow customer experience: Part 1](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/12/57-insights-from-leading-brands-and-experts-on-what-it-takes-to-deliver-a-wow-customer-experience-part-1/) - A compilation of nearly 60 insights and recommendations from a a range of leading execs, entrepreneurs, brands, authors, thinkers and academics on how to create and deliver a wow customer experience.
- [57 Insights from leading brands and experts on what it takes to deliver a Wow customer experience: Part 2](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2017/12/57-insights-from-leading-brands-and-experts-on-what-it-takes-to-deliver-a-wow-customer-experience-part-2/) - A compilation of nearly 60 insights and recommendations from a a range of leading execs, entrepreneurs, brands, authors, thinkers and academics on how to create and deliver a wow customer experience. This is Part 2.
- [CMOs, collaboration, customer experience and the real-time data imperative - Interview with Thom Gruhler](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/01/cmos-collaboration-customer-experience-and-the-real-time-data-imperative-interview-with-thom-gruhler/) - CMOs, collaboration, customer experience and the real-time data imperative - Interview with Thom Gruhler, CEO & Founder of Fjuri Group, a marketing consultancy that is combining his CMO experience from Microsoft with world-class technology, data science, and the right analytics to help brands optimize their marketing performance and deliver more significant and consistent value from their marketing investments. Thom joins me today to talk about how advertising is no longer effective, how marketers should be using data and analytics to build better relationships with their customers, the impact of GDPR and what is required to succeed as a CMO and CCO these days.
- [Start building a better culture by doing this one thing consistently this year](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/01/start-building-a-better-culture-by-doing-this-one-thing-consistently-this-year/) - Just imagine the impact you would have had on your employees, customers, partners and suppliers if, by this time next year, you had only even partly emulated this daily habit of Sheldon Yellen, the CEO of BELFOR Holdings, Inc, a global disaster relief and property restoration company.
- [The future of customer experience and how digital transformation is as much a human problem as it is a technology problem - Interview with Brian Solis](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/01/the-future-of-customer-experience-and-how-digital-transformation-is-as-much-a-human-problem-as-it-is-a-technology-problem-interview-with-brian-solis/) - The future of customer experience and how digital transformation is as much a human problem as it is a technology problem - Interview with Brian Solis, Principal Analyst and Futurist at Altimeter, a Prophet Company. Prophet is a consultancy that helps clients find better ways to grow by creating relevant brands and customer experiences, driving accelerated growth strategies and leveraging digital as a transformative force. Brian joins me today to talk about the state of customer experience, digital maturity, digital transformation, digital Darwinism and the future of customer experience.
- [How established providers can master omnichannel](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/01/how-established-providers-can-master-omnichannel/) - The following article/interview was published on Dimension Data's blog in December 2107. Our 2017 Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report highlighted that many established businesses are struggling to adapt to the omnichannel expectations of their customers. Fewer than 10% say they have an optimised customer experience (CX) strategy in place. And, well over half have no plan at all – or are only beginning to develop one.
- [Getting live chat right is much more than a software sale - Interview with Jamie Edwards of Kayako](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/01/getting-live-chat-right-is-much-more-than-a-software-sale-interview-with-jamie-edwards-of-kayako/) - Getting live chat right is much more than a software sale - Interview with Jamie Edwards of Kayako, co-founder and COO of Kayako, an omni-channel customer service platform that their customers use to talk to and support their customers. Jamie joins me today to talk about some recent research that they have conducted on the uses and successes of live chat software, what are companies getting right and what are they getting wrong and what customer service leaders should be fixing or doing differently when it comes to live chat.
- [The threat of PSD2 and how getting the basics right will help incumbent financial service providers prosper](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/01/the-threat-of-psd2-and-how-getting-the-basics-right-will-help-incumbent-financial-service-providers-prosper/) - This post was originally published on Euroforum's site publishing their Customer Experience & Data Driven Innovation event that is taking place in Utrecht, Holland on 27th March. I'll be speaking there.
- [Fairness For All, workplace happiness and an inside look at the John Lewis Partnership - Interview with Lord Mark Price](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/01/fairness-for-all-workplace-happiness-and-an-inside-look-at-the-john-lewis-partnership-interview-with-lord-mark-price/) - Fairness For All, workplace happiness and an inside look at the John Lewis Partnership - Interview with Lord Mark Price, former Managing Director of Waitrose and Deputy Chairman of The John Lewis Partnership and author of Fairness For All (the first book to explore the unique and much admired model of the John Lewis Partnership).
- [A greater purpose will give your customer and employee experience an extra edge](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/a-greater-purpose-will-give-your-customer-and-employee-experience-an-extra-edge/) - Purpose is emerging as a big differentiating factor in customer and employee choices. SAP and TCC Verizon share their experiences and offer advice on how you can put purpose at the heart of your business that will give your customer and employee experience an extra edge.
- [A greater purpose will give your customer and employee experience an extra edge](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/a-greater-purpose-will-give-your-customer-and-employee-experience-an-extra-edge/) - Purpose is emerging as a big differentiating factor in customer and employee choices. SAP and TCC Verizon share their experiences and offer advice on how you can put purpose at the heart of your business that will give your customer and employee experience an extra edge.
- [When it comes to customer experience, will you be in Forrester's 30% ?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/when-it-comes-to-customer-experience-will-you-be-in-forresters-30/) - Recent research suggests that when it comes to customer experience a group of around 30% of organizations will emerge over the course of this year. Will your organization be part of that group?
- [When it comes to customer experience, will you be in Forrester's 30% ?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/when-it-comes-to-customer-experience-will-you-be-in-forresters-30/) - Recent research suggests that when it comes to customer experience a group of around 30% of organizations will emerge over the course of this year. Will your organization be part of that group?
- [Ethics, technology and the impact of our decisions on customers and employees - Interview with Cennydd Bowles](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/ethics-technology-and-the-impact-of-our-decisions-on-customers-and-employees-interview-with-cennydd-bowles/) - Ethics, technology and the impact of our decisions on customers and employees - Interview with Cennydd Bowles, a designer and writer focusing on the ethics of emerging technologies. Cennydd joins me today to talk about ethics, technology, emerging technology, design and the impact of the decisions we make on customers and employees. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The Age Of Agile and why agile is more than a tool or method – Interview with Steve Denning – and is number 251 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Customer success needs to be the responsibility of the entire organisation - Interview with Fred Shilmover](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/customer-success-needs-to-be-the-responsibility-of-the-entire-organisation-interview-with-fred-shilmover/) - Customer success needs to be the responsibility of the entire organisation - Interview with Fred Shilmover, the CEO and co-founder of InsightSquared, a provider of sales intelligence solutions for high-growth technology companies. Fred joins me today to talk about InsightSquared and their journey with implementing a customer success programme and how and why they changed it.
- [Customer success needs to be the responsibility of the entire organisation - Interview with Fred Shilmover](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/customer-success-needs-to-be-the-responsibility-of-the-entire-organisation-interview-with-fred-shilmover/) - Customer success needs to be the responsibility of the entire organisation - Interview with Fred Shilmover, the CEO and co-founder of InsightSquared, a provider of sales intelligence solutions for high-growth technology companies. Fred joins me today to talk about InsightSquared and their journey with implementing a customer success programme and how and why they changed it.
- [Integrating lean principles into digital transformation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/integrating-lean-principles-into-digital-transformation/) - [This is a guest post from Arthur D. Little] With the advent of digital, many organizations are looking to move away from lean management, in search of more radical performance gains. This article explains why lean principles are still vital, and how integrating them into digital transformation can be a highly effective way of simplifying the process. This allows companies to identify and apply the most effective levers for the digital journey.
- [Integrating lean principles into digital transformation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/integrating-lean-principles-into-digital-transformation/) - [This is a guest post from Arthur D. Little] With the advent of digital, many organizations are looking to move away from lean management, in search of more radical performance gains. This article explains why lean principles are still vital, and how integrating them into digital transformation can be a highly effective way of simplifying the process. This allows companies to identify and apply the most effective levers for the digital journey.
- [Integrating lean principles into digital transformation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/integrating-lean-principles-into-digital-transformation/) - [This is a guest post from Arthur D. Little] With the advent of digital, many organizations are looking to move away from lean management, in search of more radical performance gains. This article explains why lean principles are still vital, and how integrating them into digital transformation can be a highly effective way of simplifying the process. This allows companies to identify and apply the most effective levers for the digital journey.
- [Integrating lean principles into digital transformation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/integrating-lean-principles-into-digital-transformation/) - [This is a guest post from Arthur D. Little] With the advent of digital, many organizations are looking to move away from lean management, in search of more radical performance gains. This article explains why lean principles are still vital, and how integrating them into digital transformation can be a highly effective way of simplifying the process. This allows companies to identify and apply the most effective levers for the digital journey.
- [Integrating lean principles into digital transformation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/integrating-lean-principles-into-digital-transformation/) - [This is a guest post from Arthur D. Little] With the advent of digital, many organizations are looking to move away from lean management, in search of more radical performance gains. This article explains why lean principles are still vital, and how integrating them into digital transformation can be a highly effective way of simplifying the process. This allows companies to identify and apply the most effective levers for the digital journey.
- [Putting Dan Pink's Mastery, Autonomy & Purpose into practice - Interview with Jeremiah Smith](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/02/putting-dan-pinks-mastery-autonomy-purpose-into-practice-interview-with-jeremiah-smith/) - A story of putting Dan Pink's Mastery, Autonomy & Purpose into practice - Interview with Jeremiah Smith, President and CEO of SimpleTiger, a boutique digital marketing agency that specializes in SEO for entrepreneurs and software as a service firms. Jeremiah joins me today to talk about management styles and SimpleTiger’s discovery of Dan Pink’s three elements of motivation (autonomy, mastery, and purpose) and how they have developed a management system/approach that puts these three into practice.
- [Doing good and the Brand Citizenship continuum - Interview with Anne Bahr Thompson](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/doing-good-and-the-brand-citizenship-continuum-interview-with-anne-bahr-thompson/) - Today’s interview is with Anne Bahr Thompson, pioneer of the Brand Citizenship movement, founder of OneSixtyFourth and author of a new book: DO GOOD: Embracing Brand Citizenship to Fuel Both Purpose and Profit. Anne joins me today to talk about brand citizenship, her research, her new book and the power of aligning purpose, profit and doing good in business.
- [Doing good and the Brand Citizenship continuum - Interview with Anne Bahr Thompson](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/doing-good-and-the-brand-citizenship-continuum-interview-with-anne-bahr-thompson/) - Today’s interview is with Anne Bahr Thompson, pioneer of the Brand Citizenship movement, founder of OneSixtyFourth and author of a new book: DO GOOD: Embracing Brand Citizenship to Fuel Both Purpose and Profit. Anne joins me today to talk about brand citizenship, her research, her new book and the power of aligning purpose, profit and doing good in business.
- [A story about leadership, recognition and what goes around comes around](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/a-story-about-leadership-recognition-and-what-goes-around-comes-around/) - The story of this CEO shows that what goes around truly does come around. It also acts as a challenge to 99% of all leaders, managers and entrepreneurs.
- [A story about leadership, recognition and what goes around comes around](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/a-story-about-leadership-recognition-and-what-goes-around-comes-around/) - The story of this CEO shows that what goes around truly does come around. It also acts as a challenge to 99% of all leaders, managers and entrepreneurs.
- [Three experts explain how brands can stop being creepy in the eyes of their customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/three-experts-explain-how-brands-can-stop-being-creepy-in-the-eyes-of-their-customers/) - Almost every brand I talk to these days is doing their utmost to deliver a more personalised customer experience to their customers. But, research shows that many are getting it wrong. Three experts explain how brands can stop being creepy in the eyes of their customers.
- [Three experts explain how brands can stop being creepy in the eyes of their customers](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/three-experts-explain-how-brands-can-stop-being-creepy-in-the-eyes-of-their-customers/) - Almost every brand I talk to these days is doing their utmost to deliver a more personalised customer experience to their customers. But, research shows that many are getting it wrong. Three experts explain how brands can stop being creepy in the eyes of their customers.
- [A tool to help us make better decisions and improve business, customer and employee outcomes - Interview with Matt Watkinson](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/a-tool-to-help-us-make-better-decisions-and-improve-business-customer-and-employee-outcomes-interview-with-matt-watkinson/) - A tool to help us make better decisions and improve business, customer and employee outcomes - Interview with Matt Watkinson, consultant and award winning author of The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences. Matt joins me today to talk about his new book: The Grid: The Decision-making Tool for Every Business (Including Yours), why he wrote it, what problem it solves and what we can learn from it.
- [Simpler service or experience pays](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/simpler-service-or-experience-pays/) - Is choice a good thing for our customers, our customer service, customer experience or our businesses as a whole? Can we have too much choice and what is the ROI on reducing choice and striving for simplicity.
- [An honest and open discussion about how and why we evolved our approach to customer success - Interview with Eva Klein of Hubspot](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/an-honest-and-open-discussion-about-how-and-why-we-evolved-our-approach-to-customer-success-interview-with-eva-klein-of-hubspot/) - An honest and open discussion about how and why we evolved our approach to customer success - Interview with Eva Klein, VP of Customer Success at HubSpot, a technology company that builds sales and marketing software. Eva joins me today for a very open and honest conversation about HubSpot and customer success, their journey, how their approach to customer success has changed, what they have learned along the way and what we can learn from it.
- [An honest and open discussion about how and why we evolved our approach to customer success - Interview with Eva Klein of Hubspot](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/an-honest-and-open-discussion-about-how-and-why-we-evolved-our-approach-to-customer-success-interview-with-eva-klein-of-hubspot/) - An honest and open discussion about how and why we evolved our approach to customer success - Interview with Eva Klein, VP of Customer Success at HubSpot, a technology company that builds sales and marketing software. Eva joins me today for a very open and honest conversation about HubSpot and customer success, their journey, how their approach to customer success has changed, what they have learned along the way and what we can learn from it.
- [An honest and open discussion about how and why we evolved our approach to customer success - Interview with Eva Klein of Hubspot](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/an-honest-and-open-discussion-about-how-and-why-we-evolved-our-approach-to-customer-success-interview-with-eva-klein-of-hubspot/) - An honest and open discussion about how and why we evolved our approach to customer success - Interview with Eva Klein, VP of Customer Success at HubSpot, a technology company that builds sales and marketing software. Eva joins me today for a very open and honest conversation about HubSpot and customer success, their journey, how their approach to customer success has changed, what they have learned along the way and what we can learn from it.
- [The two surprising impacts that intelligent voice assistants are having on customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/the-two-surprising-impacts-that-intelligent-voice-assistants-are-having-on-customer-experience/) - The popularity of intelligent voice assistants like Alexa, Siri and Echo are rising fast and are having some interesting impacts on both customer behaviour and how companies are able to deliver a great customer experience.
- [The two surprising impacts that intelligent voice assistants are having on customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/03/the-two-surprising-impacts-that-intelligent-voice-assistants-are-having-on-customer-experience/) - The popularity of intelligent voice assistants like Alexa, Siri and Echo are rising fast and are having some interesting impacts on both customer behaviour and how companies are able to deliver a great customer experience.
- [Engagement, why do we do what we do and why does it matter to our customers - Interview with Scott Gould](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/04/engagement-why-do-we-do-what-we-do-and-why-does-it-matter-to-our-customers-interview-with-scott-gould/) - Engagement, why do we do what we do and why does it matter to our customers - Interview with Scott Gould, an engagement advisor, speaker and author of the recent book: The Shape of Engagement: The Art of Building Enduring Connections with Your Customers, Employees and Communities. Scott joins me to talk about his new book, what engagement is and what it isn’t, what most organisations get wrong when it comes to engagment, what we can learn from his book and how we can put it into practice so we can generate more of it with both our customers and our people.
- [Rid your company of the annual review to boost productivity](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/04/rid-your-company-of-the-annual-review-to-boost-productivity/) - Do you still conduct annual performance reviews with all of your employees? Many companies are dumping them and going a different way. Here's a few reasons why you should consider dumping your annual performance review process. While there are still many holdouts that balk at the notion of abandoning the annual performance review, there are a ton of reasons why it can hurt productivity more than help.
- [Rid your company of the annual review to boost productivity](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/04/rid-your-company-of-the-annual-review-to-boost-productivity/) - Do you still conduct annual performance reviews with all of your employees? Many companies are dumping them and going a different way. Here's a few reasons why you should consider dumping your annual performance review process. While there are still many holdouts that balk at the notion of abandoning the annual performance review, there are a ton of reasons why it can hurt productivity more than help.
- [Striving for excellence has never been more important - Interview with Tom Peters](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/04/striving-for-excellence-has-never-been-more-important-interview-with-tom-peters/) - Striving for excellence has never been more important - Interview with Tom Peters, author of numerous business books (18 in total) and speaker. He joins me to talk about his latest book: The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last, what companies should be focusing on in the face of rapidly evolving technology, why striving for excellence is more important than ever, what that means and how we can put excellence at the heart of everything we do.
- [HubSpot learned that when it comes to customer success, everything counts in large amounts](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/04/hubspot-learned-that-when-it-comes-to-customer-success-everything-counts-in-large-amounts/) - The customer experience delivery gap is driven primarily by the predominant focus on new growth efforts over existing customers and their current experience. HubSpot learned this the hard way when they reviewed their approach to customer success.
- [You don’t need more than 3 or 4 quality data points to deliver a personalised customer experience - Interview with Jebbit](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/04/you-dont-need-more-than-3-or-4-quality-data-points-to-deliver-a-personalised-customer-experience-interview-with-jebbit/) - You don’t need more than 3 or 4 quality data points to deliver a personalised customer experience - Interview with Jonathan Lacoste and Ben Cockerell of Jebbit, the creator of the world’s first declared data platform. Jebbit are focused on doing two things: One, giving customers back control of the data that they share around their motivations, interests and buying intentions and, two, helping brands connect with these customers through the creation of visually appealing, mobile content experiences.
- [New research: Senior in-fighting undermines engagement and it's the CEO's fault](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/04/new-research-senior-in-fighting-undermines-engagement-and-its-the-ceos-fault/) - Recent research from London Business School identifies the five biggest challenges facing leaders and their organizations today. However, it also finds that senior in-fighting is undermining engagement, collaboration, execution and change efforts. The responsibility lies at the CEOs door. Right?
- [Global human capital trends and the rise of the social enterprise - Interview with Anthony Abbatiello of Deloitte](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/04/global-human-capital-trends-and-the-rise-of-the-social-enterprise-interview-with-anthony-abbatiello-of-deloitte/) - Today’s interview is with Anthony Abbatiello, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and the Human Capital practice’s Digital leader. He joins me today to talk about Deloitte’s newly released annual Global Human Capital Trends Report (2018), some of the trends that emerged from the report and what they mean for leaders and entrepreneurs looking to build a business intent on delivering a great customer and employee experience.
- [Zendesk's new AI-powered knowledge management product looks set to power their next stage of growth](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/04/zendesks-new-ai-powered-knowledge-management-product-looks-set-to-power-their-next-stage-of-growth/) - Zendesk has gone from $100 to $500 million in annualised sales in the last four years. This makes them one of the fastest growing customer experience platforms on the market. They are betting that knowledge management and their new AI-powered tool will be key to their their next stage of growth.
- [Blitzscaling and delivering customer support for Airbnb, Nest, Google & SuperCell - Interview with Brian Hannon of Voxpro](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/05/blitzscaling-and-delivering-customer-support-for-airbnb-nest-google-supercell-interview-with-brian-hannon-of-voxpro/) - Today’s interview is with Brian Hannon, the chief commercial officer at Voxpro - powered by TELUS International, a global and award winning customer experience outsourcer. Brian joins me today to talk about their approach, their clients partners (ahem!) and what they have learned from each other as they have grown together.
- [We all want to be ‘world-class’ but what does that mean and what role does speed and efficiency play?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/05/we-all-want-to-be-world-class-but-what-does-that-mean-and-what-role-does-speed-and-efficiency-play/) - Many people talk about ‘world class service’ but have you ever really stopped to think about what that really means and how to get there. Here’s an article that explores what might be involved for many organisations and where they can go for more clues to deliver ‘world class service’.
- [Lidl, disrupting the UK market and striving for simplicity - Interview with Ronny Gottschlich](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/05/lidl-disrupting-the-uk-market-and-striving-for-simplicity-interview-with-ronny-gottschlich/) - Lidl, disrupting the UK market and striving for simplicity - Interview with Ronny Gottschlich, the CEO and Founder of Heunadel Retail Advisory and former Managing Director of Lidl UK. Ronny joins me today to talk about disrupting the UK supermarket sector, Lidl’s approach to being able to achieve that and the role and value of simplicity in everything they do.
- [Why mobile support is important for B2B companies](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/05/why-mobile-support-is-important-for-b2b-companies/) - This is a guest post by Robert C. Johnson, CEO of TeamSupport, discussing why B2B companies should be investing in delivering mobile support to their customers.
- [Why mobile support is important for B2B companies](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/05/why-mobile-support-is-important-for-b2b-companies/) - This is a guest post by Robert C. Johnson, CEO of TeamSupport, discussing why B2B companies should be investing in delivering mobile support to their customers.
- [The potholes of scaling customer support and service - Interview with Michael Redbord of HubSpot](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/05/the-potholes-of-scaling-customer-support-and-service-interview-with-michael-redbord-of-hubspot/) - The potholes of scaling customer support and service - Interview with Michael Redbord, General Manager of the Service Hub at HubSpot, a technology company that builds sales and marketing software. Michael joins me today to talk about scaling a customer support/service team, the different stages that leaders need to be aware of, what to focus on at each stage and what to avoid.
- [What post channel customer experience means for your contact center?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/05/what-post-channel-customer-experience-means-for-your-contact-center/) - This is a guest post by Katie Sekelsky, graphic designer at VHT and discusses a revolutionary shift that is taking place regarding customer expectations and it’s called the post channel customer experience. Although you may not be familiar with this term, understanding the transformation and how it’s unfolding will allow you to capitalize on this unique moment.
- [When it comes to B2B customer experience most firms still have a lot of work to do - Interview with Nick Hague of B2B International](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/05/when-it-comes-to-b2b-customer-experience-most-firms-still-have-a-lot-of-work-to-do-interview-with-nick-hague-of-b2b-international/) - When it comes to B2B customer experience most firms still have a lot of work to do - Interview with Nick Hague, Director and Chairman of B2B International, a leading global B2B market research and consulting specialist, and author of a couple of books. Nick joins me today to talk about his new book that he has co-authored with Paul Hague, his father: B2B Customer Experience: A Practical Guide to Delivering Exceptional CX, how it came about and what we can learn from it.
- [Tom Peters' incredibly practical and ingenious tip for improving cross functional working](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/06/tom-peters-incredibly-practical-and-ingenious-tip-for-improving-cross-functional-working/) - Tom Peters' new book: The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last, is packed with 50 years worth of accumulated wisdom. Deep within it is a simple, cheap, practical and ingenious idea about how organizations can break down silo-ed behavior.
- [Every great business has a backstory that drives and compels the work they do - Interview with Bernadette Jiwa](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/06/every-great-business-has-a-backstory-that-drives-and-compels-the-work-they-do-interview-with-bernadette-jiwa/) - Every great business has a backstory that drives and compels the work they do - Interview with Bernadette Jiwa, Founder of The Story of Telling and a recognised global authority on the role of story in business, innovation and marketing and the author of a number of best-selling books on marketing and brand storytelling. Bernadette joins me today to talk about her new book: Story Driven: You don't need to compete when you know who you are, why stories and why now, a flavour of some of the stories in the book, why stories are so important and how to find your own story.
- [Four key questions to consider for successful digital transformation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/06/four-key-questions-to-consider-for-successful-digital-transformation/) - Arthur D. Little pose four key questions that need to be addressed if organisations are to give themselves the best chance of success in their digital transformation efforts.
- [Four key questions to consider for successful digital transformation](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/06/four-key-questions-to-consider-for-successful-digital-transformation/) - Arthur D. Little pose four key questions that need to be addressed if organisations are to give themselves the best chance of success in their digital transformation efforts.
- [Should you be considering using blockchain for your customer loyalty program? - Interview with Jessica Groopman and Jeremiah Owyang](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/06/should-you-be-considering-using-blockchain-for-your-customer-loyalty-program-interview-with-jessica-groopman-and-jeremiah-owyang/) - Should you be considering using blockchain for your customer loyalty program? - Interview with Jessica Groopman and Jeremiah Owyang, industry analysts and founding partners at Kaleido Insights. They join me today to talk about blockchain, customer loyalty programmes and why and when you should consider learning more.
- [A story about how doing less and adding a bit of theatre created a memorable customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/06/a-story-about-how-doing-less-and-adding-a-bit-of-theatre-created-a-memorable-customer-experience/) - A story from a recent trip driving toured the North Coast 500, a recently established driving route covering some of the most northerly parts of Scotland, that provides a useful lesson for those looking to create a memorable customer experience.
- [Digital transformation and the pursuit of customer centricity: Lessons from the frontline - Interview with Martijn Gribnau of Genworth Financial](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/06/digital-transformation-and-the-pursuit-of-customer-centricity-lessons-from-the-frontline-interview-with-martijn-gribnau-of-genworth-financial/) - Digital transformation and the pursuit of customer centricity: Lessons from the frontline - Interview with Martijn Gribnau, Chief Transformation Officer, at Genworth Financial, an S&P 400 insurance company that is focused on providing long term care insurance, life insurance, annuity retirement solutions and more. I spoke to Martijn at Pegaworld, Pegasystems’ customer event in Las Vegas in early June, where we talked about digital transformation, the pursuit of simplicity, customer centricity and leadership behaviour.
- [Greatness lies in the edges of customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/06/greatness-lies-in-the-edges-of-customer-experience/) - A recent trip to the optician taught me how failing to look closely at how head office policies, processes and equipment levels affect the experience of all of their customers is both a mistake and a missed opportunity.
- [Getting help is often fraught with friction. It shouldn’t be - Interview with Tom Martin of Glance Networks](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/06/getting-help-is-often-fraught-with-friction-it-shouldnt-be-interview-with-tom-martin-of-glance-networks/) - Getting help is often fraught with friction. It shouldn’t be - Interview with Tom Martin of Glance Networks, an enterprise software company that provides a "visual engagement platform" for their clients that combines cobrowse, agent video, and screen share into a tool for contact centre and customer support agents to help them interact with customers. Tom joins me today to talk about the challenge of providing tech support to your parents over the phone, how their technology works, the use case and why they chose to ask Forrester to evaluate the impact of the application of their technology.
- [How the emerging workforce ecosystem will impact customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/06/how-the-emerging-workforce-ecosystem-will-impact-customer-experience/) - More and more organizations are using freelancers and other service providers to be able to deliver on their growth and customer objectives. I asked Deloitte and SAP Fieldglass for their views on how this will impact an organization's ability to deliver a great customer experience.
- [Relevance, personalization and what many firms are missing when it comes to GDPR - Interview with Rob Walker of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/07/relevance-personalization-and-what-many-firms-are-missing-when-it-comes-to-gdpr-interview-with-rob-walker-of-pega/) - Relevance, personalization and what many firms are missing when it comes to GDPR - Interview with Dr. Rob Walker, Vice President, Decision Management and Analytics at Pegasystems, a leading provider of software for customer engagement and operational excellence. I spoke to Rob at Pegaworld, Pegasystems’ customer event in Las Vegas in early June, where we talked about customer relevance, personalisation, artificial intelligence, GDPR and what firms should be focusing on in this era of constant change. This is the second of three interviews that I conducted at Pegaworld (like last year) so look out for the final one coming out in the next couple of weeks.
- [Tips on using your customer's voice to create content that converts](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/07/tips-on-using-your-customers-voice-to-create-content-that-converts/) - This post presents three tips for getting started with optimizing and aligning your content strategy with your customers voice. It is a guest post by Brooklin Nash who writes about the latest tools and small business trends for TrustRadius.
- [The finish is just as important as the start of any experience - Interview with Pauline Wilson of Virgin Holidays](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/07/the-finish-is-just-as-important-as-the-start-of-any-experience-interview-with-pauline-wilson-of-virgin-holidays/) - The finish is just as important as the start of any experience - Interview with Pauline Wilson, who is VP of Operations at Virgin Holidays. Pauline joins me today to talk about going undercover, better understanding their customers, their customer journey mapping initiative and the improvements that have sprung from that.
- [Moyez's chair and what we can learn from his story about improving client and patient experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/07/moyezs-chair-and-what-we-can-learn-from-his-story-about-improving-client-and-patient-experience/) - Bernadette Jiwa's new book is packed full of stories. One story, that of Moyez's chair, is particularly relevant when it comes to improving client, customer and patient experience.
- [Customer engagement, AI and GDPR Article 22 - Interview with Jeff Nicholson of Pega](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/07/customer-engagement-ai-and-gdpr-article-22-interview-with-jeff-nicholson-of-pega/) - Customer engagement, AI and GDPR Article 22 - Interview with Jeff Nicholson of Pega, Vice President, CRM Product Marketing at Pegasystems, a leading provider of software for customer engagement and operational excellence. I spoke to Jeff at Pegaworld, Pegasystems’ customer event in Las Vegas in early June, where we talked about GDPR, what it means, its impact and reach and what firms should be doing and keeping in mind in this new GDPR era. This is the third of three interviews that I conducted at Pegaworld.
- [Top challenges of working in a contact centre](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/07/top-challenges-of-working-in-a-contact-centre/) - This is a guest post by Swati Kungwani, the business analyst and content manager for iTouchVision, and discusses how supporting contact centre staff will help them deliver better customer experiences, increase customer satisfaction and reduce employee attrition.
- [Delivering a personalized customer experience the Zappos Way - Interview with Alex Genov of Zappos](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/07/delivering-a-personalized-customer-experience-the-zappos-way-interview-with-alex-genov-of-zappos/) - Delivering a personalized customer experience the Zappos Way - An interview with Alex Genov, Head of Customer Research for Zappos.com. I spoke to Alex when I was in Las Vegas in June and talked to him about Zappos, personalization, what many folks are getting wrong, what Zappos has learnt with their personalization efforts and where they are headed.
- [How to go from 800 to 5000 employees in 3 years and still deliver beautiful customer experiences](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/07/how-to-go-from-800-to-5000-employees-in-3-years-and-still-deliver-beautiful-customer-experiences/) - Companies like Wayfair, Lyft and Citizen M employ innovative techniques to help them recruit the right sort of customer service talent. However, Voxpro, who provide outsourced support for brands like Airbnb and Google, have had to do something different in the face of huge scaling challenges.
- [Applying design thinking to culture change and employee experience - Interview with Karen Jaw-Madson](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/07/applying-design-thinking-to-culture-change-and-employee-experience-interview-with-karen-jaw-madson/) - Applying design thinking to culture change and employee experience - Interview with Karen Jaw-Madson, Principal of Co.-Design of Work Experience and author of a new book: Culture Your Culture: Innovating Experiences @Work. Karen joins me today to talk about the book, applying design thinking to the culture change process, the DOWE framework and what leaders and organisations should be doing to create a more innovative culture at work.
- [Customer service has an ROI too – but it’s not always easy to deliver](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/08/customer-service-has-an-roi-too-but-its-not-always-easy-to-deliver/) - Customer service has an ROI too – but it’s not always easy to deliver - This is a guest post by Matt Phillips, VP, Sales & Systems, Diebold Nixdorf UK/I.
- [Creating a learning environment that drives better sales and customer success outcomes - Interview with Pat Lynch of MindTickle](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/08/creating-a-learning-environment-that-drives-better-sales-and-customer-success-outcomes-interview-with-pat-lynch-of-mindtickle/) - Creating a learning environment that drives better sales and customer success outcomes - Interview with Pat Lynch, VP of Enablement Excellence and Innovation at MindTickle, one of the industry's most comprehensive readiness and learning solutions for closing the knowledge and skill gaps found in customer-facing teams. Pat joins me today to talk about learning versus training, the frustrations of Chief Learning Officers, what’s missing from the modern corporate learning environment, what is needed to get the most out of the Millennial and Gen-Z workforce and what MindTickle are doing about it.
- [25 behavioural biases and how they influence the choices our customers make - Interview with Richard Shotton](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/08/25-behavioural-biases-and-how-they-influence-the-choices-our-customers-make-interview-with-richard-shotton/) - 25 behavioural biases and how they influence the choices our customers make - Interview with Richard Shotton, the Head of Behavioural Science at Manning Gottlieb OMD and the author of the book: The Choice Factory: 25 behavioural biases that influence what we buy. Richard joins me today to talk about his book, a few of the behavioural biases in the book, why we should pay attention to them and how we can utilise them in our businesses.
- [Are you doing personalization wrong?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/08/are-you-doing-personalization-wrong/) - Personalization is becoming an increasingly important element in the pursuit of a differentiated customer experience. However, is more data the answer? Jebbit and Zappos offer insights into an alternative approach that is driving better understanding of customers and, ultimately, better results.
- [Most of customer experience is cleaning and sweeping - Interview with Gerry McGovern](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/09/most-of-customer-experience-is-cleaning-and-sweeping-interview-with-gerry-mcgovern/) - Most of customer experience is cleaning and sweeping - Interview with Gerry McGovern who is the founder and CEO of Customer Carewords and the author of six books on all things digital, content, transformation and online customer experience. He is about to publish a new book at the end of this month: Top Tasks – A How to Guide, which provides an A to Z look at the Top Tasks methodology that Gerry has developed and has used in around 4-500 organisations around the world over the last 20 years. Gerry joins me today to talk about the book, why being great is hard work and to take a closer look at the Top Tasks methodology.
- [Customer loyalty requires more than technology — It needs the human touch](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/09/customer-loyalty-requires-more-than-technology-it-needs-the-human-touch/) - Customer loyalty requires more than technology — It needs the human touch: A guest post from Kris McKenzie, Senior Vice President and General Manager for EMEA at Calabrio
- [A new model of business and leadership is needed: Lessons from one of the UK’s best companies to work for - Interview with Jason Stockwood](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/09/a-new-model-of-business-and-leadership-is-needed-lessons-from-one-of-the-uks-best-companies-to-work-for-interview-with-jason-stockwood/) - A new model of business and leadership is needed: Lessons from one of the UK’s best companies to work for - Interview with Jason Stockwood, Group CEO of Simply Business, the UK’s leading B2B insurance broker and among the Tech Track 100 of the nation’s fastest-growing tech companies. He has also just published a new book: Reboot: A Blueprint for Happy, Human Business in the Digital Age, which aims to counter much of the news that predicts the massively negative effect that Artificial Intelligence and automation will have on jobs and shows how any organisation can think freshly and benefit from technology by putting its people first.
- [How to achieve the holy grail: True integration of customer service](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/09/how-to-achieve-the-holy-grail-true-integration-of-customer-service/) - This is a guest post from Monika Götzmann, the EMEA Marketing Director of Miller Heiman Group that discusses how the very best customer experiences are delivered by organisations that have successfully integrated customer service into the very core of their corporate culture.
- [Why B2B sales people need to be concerned about customer experience - Interview with Will Barron](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/09/why-b2b-sales-people-need-to-be-concerned-about-customer-experience-interview-with-will-barron/) - Why B2B sales people need to be concerned about customer experience - Interview with Will Barron, host of the very popular Salesman Podcast at Salesman.org. But, for a change, this is Will interviewing me for his podcast. I thought we spoke about a lot of good stuff, it was fun and Will is great interviewer. So, as a result, I thought it was worth republishing the interview here as part of my own interview series. Do check it out as Will and I talk about customer service and customer experience, how it applies particularly to B2B sales people, what sales people should be doing to develop their relationships with their customers (actual and potential) and how that will help them win more business.
- [Should you be considering the use of blockchain to power your customer loyalty program?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/10/should-you-be-considering-the-use-of-blockchain-to-power-your-customer-loyalty-program/) - Many customer loyalty programs suffer from a range of issues including complexity, integration of a network of suppliers and partners, the calculation of balance sheet liabilities as well as data protection and security issues. Could blockchain technology help address these issues?
- [Convenience helps you stand out and creates fierce loyalty - Interview with Shep Hyken](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/10/convenience-helps-you-stand-out-and-creates-fierce-loyalty-interview-with-shep-hyken/) - Convenience helps you stand out and creates fierce loyalty - Interview with Shep Hyken, who is the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations and a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Shep joins me today today to talk about his latest book: The Convenience Revolution: How to Deliver a Customer Service Experience That Disrupts the Competition and Creates Fierce Loyalty, why convenience, the dimensions of convenience and how to use it to make a difference to your business’ service and experience.
- [Is 'Powered By Humans' becoming a thing?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/10/is-powered-by-humans-becoming-a-thing/) - Many customers as a result, of the advancement of digitization and automation are now starting to demand services, advice and experiences that are delivered by human beings instead of by machines or software. Is it set to become a thing? T-Mobile believes it is.
- [Design is how we treat each other - Interview with Rie Nørregaard](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/10/design-is-how-we-treat-each-other-interview-with-rie-norregaard/) - Design is how we treat each other - Interview with Rie Nørregaard, a Managing Creative Director of SYPartners, a consultancy based in New York and San Francisco. For 20 years, they’ve helped business leaders, teams, and individuals pursue growth and greatness. Rie has recently started a podcast: Designing for Humanity, which aims to explore designing a future that’s made for all of us—and the best in us. They also say that design, at its heart, is an act of service and is the work of solving problems for the benefit of others. That description alone got me interested and so I invited Rie onto the podcast so you can learn more about her podcast and we can learn more about she is discovering around what it means to design for humanity and how that impacts service, experience and engagement.
- [One customer's experience suggests that Infiniti is not yet brilliant at the basics](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/10/one-customers-experience-suggests-that-infiniti-is-not-yet-brilliant-at-the-basics/) - A story of how one brand would benefit from a greater focus on what their basics are and how they can be brilliant at them.
- [How to make your people SUPERENGAGED - Interview with Nikki Gatenby](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/10/how-to-make-your-people-superengaged-interview-with-nikki-gatenby/) - How to make your people SUPERENGAGED - Interview with Nikki Gatenby, MD of Propellernet, a multi-award winning Brighton-based digital marketing agency that operates globally and the author a new book: Superengaged: How to transform business performance by putting people and purpose first. She joins us today to talk about the new book and what they have done at Propellernet to produce some astounding commercial and engagement numbers.
- [Loyalty is dead, long live loyalty!](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/11/loyalty-is-dead-long-live-loyalty/) - In a November 2017 interview with Mad Money’s Jim Cramer, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff declared that “Loyalty is dead.” What did he mean and was he right?
- [Are you willing to delight the specific? - Interview with Seth Godin about his new book: This Is Marketing](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/11/are-you-willing-to-delight-the-specific-interview-with-seth-godin-about-his-new-book-this-is-marketing/) - Today’s interview is with Seth Godin, best selling author, teacher and sometime entrepreneur. Seth joins us today to talk about his new book: This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See and we discuss the book's main thesis, the challenge for marketers, what we need to learn, why it might be hard, why it matters and how we start to apply all of this in our businesses and our work.
- [Not dealing with failure demand is hurting your customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/11/not-dealing-with-failure-demand-is-hurting-your-customer-experience/) - Customers want to self-serve. However, recent research suggests that brands in the UK are not being successful in their self-service initiatives and still have a massive failure demand problem. That is having an impact on both their customers experience and their own performance.
- [Getting the human and tech balance right in customer experience - Interview with Julia Ahlfeldt](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/11/getting-the-human-and-tech-balance-right-in-customer-experience-interview-with-julia-ahlfeldt/) - Today’s interview is something different. Last week I was in Pretoria, South Africa, where I was speaking at the Customer Experience Innovation and Tech Fest conference. On the back on my keynote, Julia Ahlfeldt, one of my fellow speakers, asked if she could interview me for her podcast, Decoding the Customer, which explores business trends and innovation in the field of customer-centricity. I said that I’d be delighted to have a chat and thought I’d record it too and release it as part of my own interview series. In the interview Julia and I talk abut how firms need to tackle the human and tech balance challenge that exists currently customer experience today, how they can go about doing that, what the future holds and what that means for leadership in firms that aspire to be customer experience leaders.
- [The 73 year old lady and an unexpected customer service lesson](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/11/the-73-year-old-lady-and-an-unexpected-customer-service-lesson/) - Recently I had the pleasure of speaking to James Dodkins on his Rockstar CX podcast. As a precursor to the show, James asked me to collect 3 different articles in the week approaching the interview that I had noticed and that had interested me. So, in the run up to our chat, I did just that and after a bit of a net trawl I uncovered three pieces. One of the articles I found was entitled Customer service specialist calls 73-year-old woman and gets more than he bargains for in the best possible way.
- [Is your culture hurricane fit? - Interview with Jonathan Rowe of nCino](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/11/is-your-culture-hurricane-fit-interview-with-jonathan-rowe-of-ncino/) - Today’s interview is with Jonathan Rowe, Chief Marketing Officer at nCino, a cloud based bank operating system. Jonathan joins me today to talk to me about nCino, the experience of going through the recent Hurricane Florence, what happened, how their customers reacted and why he is so proud of their employees. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Getting the human and tech balance right in customer experience – Interview with Julia Ahlfeldt – and is number 285 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Where to start when thinking about being brilliant at the basics](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/12/where-to-start-when-thinking-about-being-brilliant-at-the-basics/) - Many companies agree with the sentiment around being brilliant at the basics but struggle to know where to start. Here's my two-penneth around 6 principles and standards that, I hope, act as a decent starting point.
- [Leaders should experience what it is like to be one of their own customers more often - Interview with Shaun Belding](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/12/leaders-should-experience-what-it-is-like-to-be-one-of-their-own-customers-more-often-interview-with-shaun-belding/) - Leaders should experience what it is like to be one of their own customers more often - Interview with Shaun Belding who is the CEO of The Belding Group of Companies and the author of 6 books including a new book: The Journey to WOW: The Path to Outstanding Customer Experience and Loyalty. Shaun joins me today to talk about The Journey To Wow, why he wrote it as a story, what we can learn from the trials and tribulations the characters go through and how we can apply that to our businesses. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Is your culture hurricane fit? – Interview with Jonathan Rowe of nCino – and is number 286 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Not dealing with failure demand is hurting your customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/12/not-dealing-with-failure-demand-is-hurting-your-customer-experience-2/) - Customers want to self-serve. However, recent research suggests that brands in the UK are not being successful in their self-service initiatives and still have a massive failure demand problem. That is having an impact on both their customers experience and their own performance.
- [Becoming a trusted company is an absolute requirement of a winning strategy - Interview with Christopher Roark of Accenture](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/12/becoming-a-trusted-company-is-an-absolute-requirement-of-a-winning-strategy-interview-with-christopher-roark-of-accenture/) - Becoming a trusted company is an absolute requirement of a winning strategy - Interview with Christopher Roark, Managing Director at Accenture Strategy. Christopher joins me today to talk about Accenture’s Competitive Agility Index, how a decline in stakeholder trust impacts a company’s financial performance and competitiveness and what companies should do about it.
- [Becoming a trusted company is an absolute requirement of a winning strategy - Interview with Christopher Roark of Accenture](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/12/becoming-a-trusted-company-is-an-absolute-requirement-of-a-winning-strategy-interview-with-christopher-roark-of-accenture/) - Becoming a trusted company is an absolute requirement of a winning strategy - Interview with Christopher Roark, Managing Director at Accenture Strategy. Christopher joins me today to talk about Accenture’s Competitive Agility Index, how a decline in stakeholder trust impacts a company’s financial performance and competitiveness and what companies should do about it.
- [How to get the human touch and technology balance right in customer experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/12/how-to-get-the-human-touch-and-technology-balance-right-in-customer-experience/) - Customers still complain about the lack of the human touch in customer experience. To get the human touch and tech balance right brands have to answer a series of questions the answers to which will inform their journey mapping, channel development and technology buying decisions.
- [What The Great Escape can teach us about Future Fit leadership - Interview with Mike Perk](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/12/what-the-great-escape-can-teach-us-about-future-fit-leadership-interview-with-mike-perk/) - What The Great Escape can teach us about Future Fit leadership - Interview with Mike Perk, Managing Director of WWC, a South African digital transformation advisory firm, that I met at a recent conference in Pretoria. At the conference, Mike described a concept called Future Fit Leadership but he did so in a really engaging way combining World War 2 history and a famous film about the period. As a result, I asked Mike to be a guest on the podcast so he could share this story with you.
- [The challenge at the heart of marketing: An interview with Seth Godin](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2018/12/the-challenge-at-the-heart-of-marketing-an-interview-with-seth-godin/) - A conversation with best-selling author Seth Godin about his new book: This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See, the challenge that sits at the heart of marketing and what it means for customer experience.
- [9 Trends shaping the future of marketing and CX in 2019 - Interview with Jeremy Korst](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/01/9-trends-shaping-the-future-of-marketing-and-cx-in-2019-interview-with-jeremy-korst/) - 9 Trends shaping the future of marketing and CX in 2019 - Interview with Jeremy Korst, President of GBH Insights, a leading marketing strategy, consumer behavior and analytics consultancy. Jeremy joins me today to talk about 9 trends shaping the future of marketing and CX in 2019 and what we should be doing about them or thinking about in relation to them. This interview follows on from my recent interview – What The Great Escape can teach us about Future Fit leadership – Interview with Mike Perk – and is number 289 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [Going from good to great in customer experience - Interview with Rachel Haworth of Coventry Building Society](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/01/going-from-good-to-great-in-customer-experience-interview-with-rachel-haworth-of-coventry-building-society/) - Going from good to great in customer experience - Interview with Rachel Haworth, Customer Experience Director, at Coventry Building Society. Particularly for non-UK readers, a building society is a financial institution that is owned by its members as a mutual organisation. Coventry Building Society is the second largest organisation of its kind in the UK with over 1.8 million members that save or have a mortgage with them. Rachel joins me today to talk about customer experience, the approach they have taken, the successes they have had, what it takes to have the highest customer satisfaction of any major bank or building society in the UK and what life is like with no targets.
- [Are you prepared to be this brave for your customers?](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/01/are-you-prepared-to-be-this-brave-for-your-customers/) - Bodyform's #bloodnormal campaign showed what can be achieved when brands take a stand on social or political issues. But, to achieve this level of success requires a level of bravery that many will be uncomfortable with. Are you brave enough?
- [Playing the customer experience game to win - Interview with Nienke Bloem](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/01/playing-the-customer-experience-game-to-win-interview-with-nienke-bloem/) - Today’s interview is with Nienke Bloom, customer experience speaker, advisor and co-founder of The Customer Experience Game. Nienke joins me today to talk customer experience, the game, why play is so important in business and how and why we should put more play and fun into everything we do. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Going from good to great in customer experience – Interview with Rachel Haworth of Coventry Building Society – and is number 291 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
- [How to effectively deal with unhappy clients](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/01/how-to-effectively-deal-with-unhappy-clients/) - This is a guest post from Jamie Costello, an aspiring business/legal writer, about how the different strategies and activities that you can use to help you more effectively deal with unhappy clients.
- [Building your positivity muscle and the impact it can have on customer experience - Interview with Matt Prowse of IAG](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/01/building-your-positivity-muscle-and-the-impact-it-can-have-on-customer-experience-interview-with-matt-prowse-of-iag/) - Building your positivity muscle and the impact it can have on customer experience - Interview with Matt Prowse, Customer Enablement Director at Insurance Australia Group (IAG). Matt joins me today to talk positivity, why we should add a little more of it into our own organisations, what they have done to with their ‘With Thanks’ programme amongst other initiatives, how they got senior executives talking to customers and the impact all of this has had on IAG.
- [Improving the customer experience takes more than technology](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/02/improving-the-customer-experience-takes-more-than-technology/) - Improving the customer experience takes more than technology - This is a guest post from Kris McKenzie, Senior Vice President and General Manager for EMEA at Calabrio.
- [What more empathy in business and artificial intelligence (AI) will look like - Interview with Minter Dial](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/02/what-more-empathy-in-business-and-artificial-intelligence-ai-will-look-like-interview-with-minter-dial/) - What more empathy in business and artificial intelligence (AI) will look like - Interview with Minter Dial, keynote speaker and consultant on branding, new tech and digital transformation for blue chip companies, conferences and events around the world. Minter joins me today to talk about his new book: Heartificial Empathy, Putting Heart into Business and Artificial Intelligence, why the development of empathy is becoming so important, how we can develop it not only within ourselves but also the machines that we develop and what to watch out for when we do so.
- [A story about how a successful outcome doesn't guarantee a positive patient experience](https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/2019/02/a-story-about-how-a-successful-outcome-doesnt-guarantee-a-positive-patient-experience/) - The following is a story of a friend and a recent visit to a local hospital. Her story shows us that we remember whole experiences not just outcomes and that when we are in a vulnerable state we pay much more attention to how we are treated than anything