Mike Ortegon - Yoummday - How Travel Is Taking Off
CX Files
Mike Ortegon is a customer solutions director at Yoummday. He is an American based in London and he has a focus on the global travel industry - with a long track record of leadership roles in travel companies. Mark Hillary called Mike to talk about travel. How has it recovered since the pandemic? What trends are travel companies seeing that are new for the 2020s? Are travel companies becoming more proactive in their approach to the customer experience? Why are some people around the world protesting that there is too much tourism now? Mike talked about all these issues and explored how the...
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Jon Florence - Xima Software - AI In The Contact Center
CX Files
Jon Florence is the SVP of Industry Solutions at Xima Software. He is based in South Jordan, Utah. Xima is a contact center software company that is focused on AI solutions. Peter Ryan called Jon to discuss AI in CX. Beyond the hype, how can companies managing their own CX and BPOs all benefit from the use of AI in the contact center? What are the genuine and practical use cases that move the dial and which claims are just hype? What can you really do with AI today? SUMMARY: Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan introduce Jon Florence, SVP of Industry Solutions at Xima Software. Jon explains his...
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Thomas Oronti - Advensus - From Beaches to BPO: How the Dominican Republic Became a CX Star
CX Files
Thomas Oronti is the CEO at Advensus. He is based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The CX Files has explored many different nearshore options in the Caribbean region, but has never explored the Dominican Republic before and yet this location has the advantage of being able to easily offer customer support in English, Spanish, and French - thanks to Haiti also sharing the island of Hispaniola. Peter Ryan talked to Thomas about the growing importance of the DR in the nearshore CX and BPO sector and how Advensus strongly focuses on the role of the agent in any CX strategy. SUMMARY:...
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PANEL: In Face of Stagnating Favorability Ratings, What’s Next for South African Offshore CX?
CX Files
PANEL: In Face of Stagnating Favorability Ratings, What’s Next for South African Offshore CX? When Ryan Strategic Advisory published the most favorable offshore location study last May, South Africa had dropped to third position, compared to more recently topping the poll. This survey features feedback from over 800 CX decision-makers and is potentially the largest survey that explores where CX leaders will consider operations. India and the Philippines are now the most popular destinations, but have these giant destinations just reasserted their postiion or is something going wrong in...
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Pete Jones - Grypp - Why Are We Still Asking Agents to Work with Their Eyes Shut?
CX Files
Pete Jones is the founder and CEO of Grypp. He is based in the UK between London and Birmingham. Grypp is a visual platform that aims to help contact centers and the agents working within them see what their customers can see. This can be a transformative technology for many support environments and it is low cost and proven - in contrast to many of the AI projects we have covered recently on the podcast. Mark Hillary called Pete to get an ouline of the various ways in which a visual approach to CX can transform how the support process works and how this also creates opportunities for managing...
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Mythbusting AI In CX - The Truths No One Tells You
CX Files
Nicola Collister and Jerry Briggs talk to Peter Ryan about AI in CX We have talked many times on this podcast about AI and the hype aound what it can do for CX designers and managers. But what can it really do? We are being flooded with AI-themed ideas on LinkedIn daily, but it is also clear that many AI projects are failing (Gartner says that 85% of AI projects are failing at present). In this episode Peter Ryan aims to do some myth-busting. Where is AI in CX today? What are the real use cases and where is the hype? Peter talked to two CX leaders - in the UK and US - to discuss their thoughts...
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Owen Campbell - Kura - How BPOs Can Work With Regulated Industries
CX Files
Owen Campbell is the operations director at Kura. He is based in Glasgow, Scotland. Kura is a BPO based in the UK, but also with operations in South Africa. They have a number of clients from various regulated industries and Owen talked to Mark Hillary about the differences between a client that has complete control over all their services and a client from a more regulated environment. What needs to be considered when working to design CX for a regulated industry? SUMMARY Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the complexities of customer experience (CX) in regulated industries with...
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David Neale - GBPO Solutions - Building Trust In BPO Sales Claims
CX Files
David Neale is the Founder and CEO of GBPO Solutions. He is based in the UK. David has experience as a buyer of BPO services and as a representative of BPOs. With this insight he decided that one of the missing ingredients in the BPO sales process is transparency - how does anyone know that what a BPO says about their services is really true? David founded GBPO Solutions to provide accreditation to BPOs, so if they do make claims about their capabilities then they can point to the accreditation to show that their claims can be verified. David talked to Mark Hillary about why he started GBPO...
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CXOutsourcers 2025 - Feedback From Munich Delegates
CX Files
The 2025 CXOutsourcers event took place earlier in May in Munich, Germany. Peter called on a few of the delegates to get their feedback and key takeaways from the event. --- Peter Ryan talked to: Carrie Ramskill - COO HGS (UK) Ahmed Refky - CEO Planovate (Orlando, FL, USA) Kevin Lightfoot - CMO Ascension International (Frisco, TX, USA)
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Mark Zucker - MCVO Talent - Four Weddings And A BPO
CX Files
Mark Zucker is the Co-Founder of MCVO Talent Outsourcing. He is based in Chicago, Illinois. Mark shares his journey from founding a wedding album manufacturing company (almost 30 years ago) to starting MCVO, which specializes in helping small businesses in North America. He highlights the benefits of the Philippines as a BPO destination, citing its respectful culture, strong English proficiency, and service-oriented mindset. Zucker emphasizes the importance of understanding client needs, maintaining client relationships, and providing simplified pricing models. He advises entrepreneurs to...
info_outlineBen Jones is the Group CCO at Sigma Connected Group. He is based in Birmingham in the UK. Ben attended the CX Outsourcers event in Las Vegas last week and in this interview he talks about some of the key takeaways from the conference with Peter Ryan.