Jim Farnsworth - HiOctayne - Restoring Investor Confidence In BPO
CX Files
Jim Farnsworth is Founder and CEO of HiOctayne. He is based in Denver, Colorado. Jim has a long history as a senior leader within and advisor to multiple BPOs and CX experts. He is therefore well placed to comment on why the publicly traded BPOs have seen their share price collapse - and what can these companies do to recover? Publicly traded BPO and CX companies have faced a dramatic collapse in investor confidence over the past few years. Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan open this episode by exploring how AI disruption, falling valuations, short sellers, and weak industry storytelling have...
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BONUS: Mark Hillary - If AI Can’t See You, Buyers Won’t Either: The New Rules of B2B Sales
CX Files
If AI Can’t See You, Buyers Won’t Either: The New Rules of B2B Sales In this special bonus episode of CX Files, Peter Ryan turns the microphone on his co-host Mark Hillary to discuss Mark’s latest book, If AI Can’t See You, You Don’t Exist: How B2B Sales Changed Forever. Mark explains how AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are transforming the earliest stages of the buying journey. Potential clients are now using AI to define their problems, compare solutions, investigate suppliers, and create shortlists—often before a salesperson knows that an opportunity exists. The...
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Jessica Pleffken and Ana Marvulle - P&M Marketing - No One Outsources to a Company They’ve Never Heard Of
CX Files
Jessica Pleffken is the founder and CEO of Pleffken & Marvulle Marketing. Ana Marvulle is co-founder and managing partner. Jessica and Ana both have a long history working inside CX and BPO companies and now their specialist marketing company advises companies working in the CX environment. Both Jessica and Ana are based in São Paulo, Brazil. Jessica and Ana explain why the traditional separation between marketing and sales no longer works. BPO buyers now conduct extensive research before contacting a provider, using LinkedIn, client referrals and AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude and...
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Tugs and Adrian Smith - ATAC Global CX - Proof, Not Promises: Certifying the Remote Contact Center Agent
CX Files
Peter Ryan speaks with Tugs Smith and Adrian Smith, co-founders of ATAC Global CX in Oshawa, Ontario, about the launch of the Certified Remote Service Agent certification. The discussion explores why remote contact center work now needs a trusted global standard, how agents can prove they are ready to handle real customer interactions from home, and why resumes and interviews are no longer enough. Tugs and Adrian explain how the CRSA combines written assessment, live call simulation, and blockchain verification to create a portable credential for work-from-home CX professionals. They also...
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Muhammad Yahya Patel - Huntress - Cybersecurity Is Now a CX Problem
CX Files
Your contact center may be one of the most valuable targets in the enterprise supply chain. Peter Ryan speaks with Muhammad Yahya Patel, Cybersecurity Advisor at Huntress, about why cybersecurity has become a critical issue for CX leaders, contact centers, and BPO providers. He is based in Blackburn in the UK. Muhammad Yahya Patel explains why CX operations are attractive targets for cybercriminals, how outsourcers can become vulnerable points in the enterprise supply chain, and why customer data makes these environments so valuable to attackers. The conversation explores identity as the new...
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Donald Berryman - ProfectusCX - The Future For The Enterprise-BPO Relationship
CX Files
Donald Berryman is the Founder & Managing Director at ProfectusCX. He is based in Florida, USA. Don writes a LinkedIn newsletter called The CX Advisor Perspective. He recently published several newsletters focused on how the enterprise to BPO relationship needs to develop - to bridge new AI technology use and also to change how BPOs charge for their services. Mark Hillary called Don to explore the issues he raised and how he sees the future of the bridge between the enterprise and BPO and the RFP supplier selection process. ProfectusCX Don Berryman - LinkedIn The CX Advisor...
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Lara Klick - Klick Advisors - Why Patient Feedback Rarely Leads to Better Care
CX Files
Lara Klick is the Founder and President of Klick Advisors LLC. She is based in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA. Klick Advisors is a trust-centered consulting practice that helps healthcare leaders and teams navigate high-stakes moments with clarity, empathy, and courage. Lara heard our episode from March where Melanie Disse explored why companies ask for feedback, but don't use it. She suggested that this subject could be explored futther with a focus on healtcare and the Patient Experience - so Mark Hillary called Lara to explore feedback, PX, and designing better healthcare experiences. Lara has...
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Guillaume Luccisano - Yuma AI - The Great CX Reset: Why BPOs May Need a New Business Model
CX Files
The BPO Industry Isn't Dying. But It May Need to Reinvent Itself Faster Than Anyone Expected. Yuma AI CEO Guillaume Luccisano argues that customer experience providers must evolve from labor arbitrage specialists into AI orchestrators and systems integrators—or risk becoming irrelevant. For years, critics of the business process outsourcing industry have predicted its demise. First it was robotic process automation. Then conversational AI. Then Generative AI. Yet the industry survived every previous wave of disruption because technology changed the way work was delivered rather...
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David Rickard - Everest Group - Elevate Ethiopia
CX Files
David Rickard is a partner at Everest Group. He is based in the UK. David recently visited Ethiopia for the Elevate Africa event. In this conversation with Peter Ryan David gives his take on Ethiopia and Africa more generally for CX and BPO. --- Africa has been talked about as “the next big thing” in outsourcing for at least two decades. South Africa became a serious global CX delivery location. Egypt built a powerful multilingual BPO proposition. Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, and several other markets are now attracting attention as buyers look beyond the traditional offshore giants. But...
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CXOutsourcers 2026 - Voices From The Conference
CX Files
The annual CXOutsourcers Mindshare event took place in Ottawa, Canada, earlier in May 2026 (May 18-20). Peter Ryan took a microphone onto the conference floor to capture ideas and comments from the delegates in Canada for this CX-focused event. In this episode of CX Files you will hear comments from: Sean Duncombe - COO, Neuroframe (USA) Nathalie Siphengphet - CMO and VP Strategy, NQX (Canada) Yanique Grant - Chief CX Specialist, ElevateCX (USA) Seandette Wiltshire - Founder, The Contact Hub (Barbados) Dave Rumble - various roles including Director and Chair Maistro Group and board...
info_outlineMichael Gray is the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Spacial Working. He is based in London, UK.
Spacial Working is focused on helping companies to create a flexible work environment that embraces both working from home and working in offices. The aim is to create a flexible arrangement that works well for the company and employees.
The media often reports that WFH is finished and most employees are heading back into offices, but the reality is quite different. There is less WFH than during the pandemic period, but it has plateaued and is not dropping much further - so there is much more flexibility today compared to 2019.
But many companies still struggle to make it work well so what does Michael advise?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgray7/
Summary:
In this CX Files episode, Mark Hillary speaks with Michael Gray, Chief Strategy Officer at Spacial Working, about what the pandemic really changed — and what it didn’t — in customer experience operations. Gray explains that work-from-home in the contact center industry is not a temporary COVID experiment but part of a much longer evolution enabled by technology and workforce expectations. While some executives continue pushing return-to-office mandates, the evidence shows the future is hybrid: organizations must redesign recruitment, training, management, and performance measurement rather than simply sending agents home with laptops. Flexible working can improve retention and productivity, particularly for parents, carers, and geographically distant employees, but only if supported by proper monitoring, communication structures, and culture. The real challenge for CX leaders is no longer deciding whether remote work works — it is learning how to operationally manage a permanent hybrid workforce.
Disclosure:
Mark Hillary is a research adviser to Spacial Working