Roger Barlow - LATAM Translations - AI Has Changed Translation Into Interpretation
Release Date: 02/26/2026
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_outlineRoger Barlow is Director of LATAM Translations. He is based in São Paulo, Brazil.
Roger is British and has lived in Brazil since 1998. Since 2001 he has focused on helping Brazilian companies engage with a global audience. This involves a significant amount of translation from and to Portuguese.
Multilingual CX is a subject we have often covered on CX Files so Mark decided to call up Roger because of his experience managing a company that is entirely focused on translation. How has AI impacted translation and will we see a complete replacement of translation because AI can now do this work?
The answer may be surprising. AI is getting better, but the reality is still that many humans don't understand each other so there are many subtle messages and meanings that may still require human attention.
CX leaders considering a complete move to automated multilingual support may need to take these ideas on board - day-to-day basic services can be automated, but it's still not possible to achieve 100% accuracy using AI in translation or interpretation.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-barlow-87270991/
Summary:
Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the impact of AI on translation services with Roger Barlow, who runs LATAM Translations in São Paulo. Barlow highlights that while AI can handle basic translations, it struggles with nuances and context, especially in complex documents like ESG reports. He notes that most of his work comes via email, and the pandemic led to a permanent shift to remote work - WFH is now normal. Barlow also mentions that AI is often used without permission, leading to errors. He predicts a potential pushback against AI-driven translation due to its limitations in conveying subtle meanings and maintaining document quality.