Jonas Berggren - Transcom - What Makes Customers Love A Brand?
CX Files
What makes a customer love a brand? It is a simple question, but it quickly becomes complicated. People often reach for the obvious examples. Apple customers lining up overnight for the latest iPhone. Harry Potter fans queuing in costume outside bookshops. Lego fans who pass their love of the brand from one generation to the next. Jonas Berggren, Chief Client Officer EMEA at Transcom, explores this question. What connects the best brands with customers and building a relationship that can last for many years?
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Stephanie Reeves Millner - Designing CX For Sales and Revenue
CX Files
Stephanie Reeves Millner is a Global EVP at TP. She is based in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. It is worth noting from the start of this podcast episode that Stephanie is talking in a personal capacity in this interview. CX and BPO processes are usually seen as a cost to most businesses. Stephanie argues that there are a number of strategies that can be used to drive up revenue, protect existing revenue, and increase customer loyalty. Applying all these strategies together can turn a CX cost center into a revenue generation center - moving from planning service to sales. In this conversation with Mark...
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Andrew Hall - Ethenta - Enterprise Agentic AI Transformation
CX Files
Andrew Hall is the founder and CEO of Ethenta. He is based in Portugal. The "DREAM" service from Ethenta is a strategic framework designed to help organizations transition from traditional hierarchies to intelligent, agentic networks. It is aimed at enabling "+65% Productivity" through "Enterprise Agentic AI Transformation" Mark Hillary called Andrew to ask about Agentic AI and how a focus on AI across the organisation may have a profound impact on CX. Summary: Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the challenges in the CX industry, including increased airfare costs and the...
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Nathan Muniz - 247Secretary.com - Raw, unpolished BPO content outperforms glossy marketing
CX Files
Nathan Muniz is the founder and owner of 247Secretary.com. The business is based in Florida, USA, but has contact center operations in the Philippines. Nathan talked to Mark Hillary from the floor of his contact center on his approach to telling the world about his business. He walks the floor and talks to real people doing their job. No studio. No scripts. No “AI transformation” buzzwords. Just real agents, real calls, and real insight. And here’s the uncomfortable truth: That raw, unfiltered content is doing more for his pipeline than most enterprise marketing teams with...
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Gary Slade - TP - Why Stability Is the New Battleground in BPO
CX Files
Gary Slade is the Chief Commerical Officer at TP EMEA. He has many years of BPO and CX experience and he previously led the UK/Ireland operation at TP as CEO. In this conversation with Mark Hillary, Gary is talking about BPO stability and how this is becoming an important new measurement that companies need to focus on. If you are looking for a BPO partner then how do you know if they will still be around in 5 years? There is so much M&A activity, Private Equity takeovers, and BPOs that rely on a single client or geography... how can you be sure that you are choosing a reliable partner who...
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Sarah Leff - Interact CC - Why the Eastern Cape Could Be South Africa’s Next CX Powerhouse
CX Files
In this episode of CX Files, Peter Ryan speaks with Sarah Leff about Interact CC’s expansion into South Africa’s Eastern Cape, exploring why the region is emerging as a compelling alternative to traditional CX hubs like Cape Town and Johannesburg. Leff explains that while South Africa has long been a natural partner for UK-based customer experience delivery - thanks to cultural alignment, language, and time zone compatibility - the Eastern Cape offers a distinct advantage: significantly lower attrition, abundant untapped graduate talent, and greater cost stability. The conversation...
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Chris Chance - CCI Global - Africa Rising For CX
CX Files
Chris Chance is the Senior Vice President for East Africa at CCI Global. He is based between Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. CCI Global is headquartered in the UAR, but has extensive operations across Africa - they aim to be the largest and most respected BPO in Africa through a combination of offering innovative services with a focus on impact sourcing and community uplift. In this conversation with Mark Hillary from his base in Ethiopia, Chris talks about the creation of the Outsourcing Alliance of Kenya (OAK) - what does it mean for the region that we are seeing stronger organization around...
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Steve Sullivan - Channel Doctors - How Do We Manage Customer Rage?
CX Files
Steve Sullivan is the founder of Channel Doctors. He is based in Bournemouth in the UK. Channel Doctors is a specialist advisory company focused on CX, contact centers, and especially issues such as data protection and GDPR. Peter Ryan called Steve after seeing a LinkedIn post on managing customer rage. Are customers more angry today and how are companies dealing with it? How can it be managed in the contact center and how is it managed for customer service advisers who need to interact directly with customers - for example in retail? Is the increased rage linked to social media and what can...
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Melanie Disse - Melanie Disse Consulting - Acting on Customer Feedback
CX Files
Melanie Disse is the Principal Consultant and Tech Adviser to Melanie Disse Consulting. Melanie Disse Consulting is a CX & VoC consulting firm helping businesses leverage CX as a key competitive differentiator to drive business performance through understanding customer experiences. Melanie is based in Auckland, New Zealand. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Melanie outlines how companies can more effectively obtain feedback from customers and how to make use of this feedback. Most companies struggle to turn customer feedback into action and many are still relying on the...
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Gareth Bray - Premier CX - Why Customers Prefer WhatsApp
CX Files
Gareth Bray is Business Development Director and WhatsApp Guru at Premier CX. He is based in Odiham, Hampshire, UK. Over 100 billion WhatsApp messages are sent daily by users - that's more than a million messages on the platform every second. Between 1 to 3 billion of these daily messages is a customer talking to a business. Gareth was on the Meta team when they launched WhatsApp in Europe so he has a long background using this asynchronous messaging tool. In many global markets WhatsApp has entirely redefined customer service. In Brazil and India it can be used to locate local businesses and...
info_outlineHappy New Year for 2026 from Peter and Mark at the CX Files podcast. We asked our listeners to send some thoughts about 2025 and the year ahead...
If you listen to this episode you will hear messages from the Netherlands, Philippines, UK, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and Brazil... that's North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia all covered!
Contributors listed in the order they feature on the podcast:
Leo Ooms
https://www.linkedin.com/in/leoooms/
Nathan Muniz
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bdcoutsourcing/
Lian Rowlands
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lian-rowlands-a26119/
Rod Jones
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodjonessouthafrica/
Paul O'Hara
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauloharateleperformance/
Michael Gray
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgray7/
Anna Bessarabova
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-bessarabova/
Michael Clark
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelclarkcx/
Mike Ortegon
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeortegon/
Stephen Loynd
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenloynd/
David Neale
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-neale-08b80011b/
Peter Ryan
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-ryan-montreal/
Mark Hillary
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markhillary/
----
“All I Want for CX-mas (Is the Future)”
Composed by Mark Hillary with Suno
Verse 1
Snow’s falling on the dashboards,
Year-end reports are due,
Another season of predictions,
But nobody knows what’s true.
From São Paulo to Montreal,
Different skies, same screen,
Two voices cut through the noise,
Talking ’bout what CX means.
Pre-Chorus
The year’s been long, the change came fast,
AI hype, then lessons learned,
But now we’re looking forward,
To the value still to be earned.
Chorus
All I want for CX-mas is the future,
Not the buzzwords, not the fear,
Just better service, smarter choices,
And a little more trust next year.
From every brand to every customer,
Let’s build it human, let’s build it right,
All I want for CX-mas is the future,
And the CX Files on a Wednesday night.
Verse 2
Agents, bots, and blended teams,
Journeys changing shape,
Less about the tech itself,
More about escape
From broken processes,
From friction no one sees,
Designing moments that feel simple,
Even when the systems aren’t easy.
Pre-Chorus
We’ve learned that scale needs patience,
And strategy beats speed,
The future’s not autonomous,
Unless it serves a real human need.
Chorus
All I want for CX-mas is the future,
Not another pilot that won’t land,
Just outcomes, empathy, and clarity,
Finally working hand in hand.
From every continent and culture,
One community, one shared view,
All I want for CX-mas is the future,
And the CX Files guiding us through.
Bridge
From São Paulo sunshine,
To Montreal snow,
Two hosts, one question:
“Where do we go?”
Analysts, founders, leaders, friends,
Four hundred stories, and still it never ends.
No silver bullets, no easy claim,
Just better questions changing the game.
Final Chorus
All I want for CX-mas is the future,
Designed with care, not just code,
Where trust is built in every interaction,
And experience carries the load.
So here’s to 2026 and beyond,
To curiosity, courage, and insight,
All we want for CX-mas is the future,
And the CX Files lighting the way each night.
Outro
So press play, pour a drink,
Let the old year fade from view,
The future of CX is being written—
And it starts with me and you. 🎄✨