Punk CX: Customer Experience Insights with Adrian Swinscoe

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. You might remember that I spoke to Geraldine just over a year ago (Moving from the era of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to the era of CMR (Customer Managed Relationships) and this interview was an opportunity to catch up and see what’s been happening in the data, privacy and development of the the emerging Personal Information Management (PIM)/Customer Managed Relationship (CMR) space. This interview follows on from my recent interview – What it takes to build an award winning and customer centric culture – Interview with Fiona McSwein of Simply Business – and is number 161 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.

Today’s interview is with Ian Fitzpatrick, Chief Strategy Officer and founding partner at Almighty, a Boston-based digital agency that helps its clients reimagine what it means to be their customer, and build tools, systems and experiences that support those relationships. They recently published a new report called Hearts, then Charts: a framework for meaningful approaches to customer experience that explores the challenges that organisations face in becoming customer centric and what they need to do to achieve that. He joins me today to talk about their research and what brands and leaders can learn from it. Hat tip to Ian Golding for putting me onto the report via his blog. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Let’s stop talking about data and start talking about outcomes – Interview with Geraldine McBride of MyWave – and is number 162 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.

Today’s interview is with Gareth Jones, Visiting Professor at the IE Business School, Madrid, and a Fellow of the Centre for Management Development at London Business School. He is also a founding partner of Creative Management Associates (CMA), a consultancy focused on organisations where creativity is a source of competitive strength. Gareth along with co-author Rob Goffee recently published a new book called Why Should Anyone Work Here? that explores what it takes to create an authentic organisation. Gareth joins me today to talk about the book, the research behind the book and the ideas within it. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customer experience begins with the empowering of people to affect outcomes – Interview with Ian Fitzpatrick of Almighty – and is number 163 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.

Today’s interview is with Ben Reason, founding partner of Livework, a leading service design firm. They help organisations with customer related challenges and how they affect the business and the organisation. Ben along with Lavrans Løvlie and Melvin Brand Flu, two other Livework partners, has recently published a new book called Service Design for Business: A Practical Guide to Optimizing the Customer Experience. Ben joins me today to talk about the book, what they have learnt, service design and how firms can use it to improve their customer experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Why Should Anyone Work Here? – Interview with Gareth Jones – and is number 164 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.

Today’s interview is with Michael Schneider who is the founder & CEO of Los Angeles-based Service (getservice.com), which is providing “on demand customer service” - this means that they helping consumers resolve issues that they have with businesses by taking them off their hands and managing their resolution. Michael joins me today to talk about what they are up to, how they do it, what he has learnt over the last few months and where they are going next. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The only person that everyone has in common is the customer – Interview with Ben Reason of Livework – and is number 165 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.

Today’s interview is with Rachel Lane, Director Customer Analytics EMEA at Verint, a US-headquartered analytics company which was founded in 2002. The company sells software and hardware products for security, surveillance, and business intelligence, which are designed through actionable intelligence to address issues in three areas: customer engagement optimization; security intelligence; and fraud, risk and compliance. Rachel joins me today to talk about a new report they have recently published about customer engagement and their findings related to data, trust and privacy. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Did the hardest part of customer service just get easier? – Interview with Michael Schneider of Service – and is number 166 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.

Today’s interview is with Ron Davis, who is co-founder and CEO of Tenacity, a new technology/software company that is helping contact centres change agent behaviours and transform their workplaces through peer accountability. Ron joins me today to talk about employee retention, turnover and engagement in the contact centre, the size of the problem, social physics and what Tenacity are doing to help address the situation. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customer data mapping, engagement and developing trust – Interview with Rachel Lane of Verint – and is number 167 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.

Today’s interview is with Evan Carroll who is a marketing technologist, author and speaker. Evan joins me today to talk about his new book: Blue Goldfish: Using Technology, Data, and Analytics to Drive Both Profits and Prophets that he co-authored with Stan Phelps of 9 Inch Marketing. Back in 2013, I spoke to Stan about a previous book in the series - What’s Your Green Goldfish? - which was number 57 in this interview series: Employee engagement is a commitment not a campaign. This time around I'm talking to Evan about what leading and smart firms are doing to leverage data and analytics in their businesses and how it is helping them drive improved performance and engagement. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Transforming agent attrition in the contact centre through social physics – Interview with Ron Davis of Tenacity – and is number 168 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers. Note: Please be aware that there is a slight echo, repeat, delay in the recording….technology!! It’s not too much of a bother, I believe. So, please persevere with it.

Today’s interview is with Anil Kaul who is the CEO and co-founder of Absolutdata, a big data and predictive analytics firm. They describe themselves as decision engineers, where they apply decision sciences to help improve decisions at the world's largest companies. Anil joins me today to talk about what they are up to and how predictive analytics can be used to help solve the problem of silent customer churn. This interview follows on from my recent interview – How to use data and analytics to improve the 3R’s with your customers – Interview with Evan Carroll – and is number 169 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.

Today’s interview is with Jay Baer, best-selling author, speaker and President of Convince & Convert, a strategy consulting firm that helps companies through the smart intersection of technology and customer service. Jay joins me today to talk about his new book: Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers, why complaints are a key way to help you keep your customers, the different type of complainers that exist and how to deal with them. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Predictive analytics and solving the problem of silent customer churn – Interview with Anil Kaul of Absolutdata – and is number 170 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.