Punk CX: Customer Experience Insights with Adrian Swinscoe

Today’s interview is with Alan Trefler, who is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pegasystems, the publicly traded American software company which has several products that focus on customer service and predictive analytics. Alan joins me today to talk about his new book: Build For Change, which argues for a complete overhaul of how businesses think about and use technology to create customer-centric organizations. This interview follows on from my recent interview: Successful innovation doesn’t have to involve a massive breakthrough in technology – Interview with Adrian Collins of bac< and Ziggurat Brands – and is number 117 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate, become more social and deliver better service.

Today’s interview is with Charlie Peters, who is Senior Executive Vice President of Emerson, a diversified global manufacturing and technology company that is working to solve the world’s most complex engineering challenges. Emerson has a market capitalisation of $45 billion, approximately 135,000 employees and 235 manufacturing locations worldwide. Charlie is a 40+ year veteran of Emerson and his main responsibility is to develop innovative global business models that build the company’s capabilities and create added value for Emerson’s customers. Commonly known as Emerson’s “innovation guru”, this is the second time Charlie has joined me on the podcast. First time around, back in February earlier this year, he joined me to talk about: The changing world of B2B customer experience and what the future looks like. Today, Charlie joins me to talk about 'B2B versus B2C marketing’ and 'Big Data versus ‘little data’. This interview follows on from my recent interview: Business needs to be agile and customer centric if it is to avoid the coming customerpocalypse – Interview with Alan Trefler, CEO of Pegasystems – and is number 118 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate, become more social and deliver better service.

Today’s interview is with Peter Kriss, Senior Research Scientist at Medallia, whose software helps corporations track and manage the experiences of their customers. Medallia’s software, delivered as an Internet service, integrates and delivers data from everywhere that a company that touches a customer, analyses it and presents it visually so that employees can see very quickly what is going on and then decide how to respond. When he’s not at Medallia, Peter is also the Director of Research for Vision Prize. Peter joins me today to talk about the work that he is doing on valuing the impact of delivering a great customer experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview: Big and little data, building trust and B2B marketing – Interview with Charlie Peters of Emerson – and is number 119 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate, become more social and deliver better service.

Today’s interview is with David Mattin, Head of Trends & Insights at trendwatching.com, who help over 260,000 subscribers and 1,200+ clients understand the new consumer and uncover innovation opportunities through their reports and trend watching services. David joins me today to talk about their September 2014 Trend Briefing - The Future Of Customer Service: Five trends that will redefine great service in 2015 and beyond. This interview follows on from my recent interview: Quantifying the business value of a great customer experience – Interview with Peter Kriss of Medallia – and is number 120 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate, become more social and deliver better service.

Today’s interview is with Geraldine McBride, CEO of MyWave, a next generation CRM solution that puts the customer in charge of their data and their experience. Geraldine joins me today to talk about MyWave, the emerging Personal Information Management (PIM)/Customer Managed Relationship (CMR) space and how we are moving from the era of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to the era of CMR (Customer Managed Relationships), where the customer is now in the driving seat. This interview follows on from my recent interview: Five key trends that will define the future of customer service – Interview with David Mattin of trendwatching.com – and is number 121 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate, become more social and deliver better service.

Today’s interview is with Carey Smith, founder & CEO (Chief Big Ass), and Dave Waltz, Customer Advocate, of Big Ass Fans, a manufacturer of high-volume low-speed fans for industrial, agricultural, commercial and residential use. Carey and Dave join me today to talk about how their customer service strategy has been central to growing the business from $34 million in revenue in 2009 to a projected $175 million in 2014, what they are doing that’s different, silent complaints, why they hired a full-time customer advocate and what that person (Dave and his team) does and what they are responsible for. This interview follows on from my recent interview: Moving from the era of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to the era of CMR (Customer Managed Relationships) – Interview with Geraldine McBride of MyWave – and is number 122 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate, become more social and deliver better service.

Today’s interview is with Ted Coiné and Mark Babbitt, co-authors of a new book called: A World Gone Social: How companies must adapt to survive. They join me to talk about their book, the challenges that they see many firms facing, how to address these challenges and why customer service is not only an issue for whole organisations but is also a leadership issue. This interview follows on from my recent interview: Find and fix customer problems by hiring a Customer Advocacy Manager – Interview with Carey Smith and Dave Waltz of Big Ass Fans – and is number 123 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate, become more social and deliver better service.

Today’s interview is with Stew Bloom, CEO of Aspect, who help enterprise contact centres deliver their customer experiences across every channel through their software platform. Stew joins me today to talk about proactive customer service and why proactive customer service drives customer loyalty. This interview follows on from my recent interview: Social leadership and why the C-Suite has to go social – Interview with Ted Coiné and Mark Babbitt – and is number 124 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate, become more social and deliver better service.

Today’s interview is with Angela O’Connell, the Strategy & Marketing Director for MetaPack. Founded in 1999, MetaPack provides a SaaS delivery management system to retailers, third-party logistics companies and carriers enabling better choice and more freedom in delivery options to all consumers, both in B2B and B2C markets. Angela joins me today to talk about recent research about consumer feelings, anxieties and preferences about deliveries following online purchases, the last mile/yard of customer experience and where companies can improve. This interview follows on from my recent interview: Proactive customer service drives customer loyalty – Interview with Stew Bloom of Aspect – and is number 125 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate, become more social and deliver better service.

Today’s interview is with S. Chris Edmonds, who is the founder and CEO of The Purposeful Culture Group. Chris joins me today to talk about his new book: The Culture Engine: A Framework for Driving Results, Inspiring Your Employees, and Transforming Your Workplace, which gives firms and leaders a new framework for building and maintaining the culture that they need to develop in order to compete and drive their businesses forward but one that they can develop without falling behind on everything else. This interview follows on from my recent interview: Nearly 60% of customers will go elsewhere following a bad delivery experience – Interview with Angela O’Connell of MetaPack – and is number 126 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate, become more social and deliver better service.