CX Files

Andrew McNeile is the Chief Customer Officer of ThinScale Technology. He is based in Dublin, Ireland. ThinScale enables remote and hybrid work using bring-your-own-device by ensuring that remote employees can connect securely. The company saw a boom as the pandemic forced office workers to work from home, but what does the situation look like now? Is WFH and hybrid here to stay in CX and BPO? Mark Hillary called Andrew at his base in Dublin to catch up and see how he thinks BPO will evolve... https://www.linkedin.com/in/amcneile/ https://www.thinscale.com/

Sagufta Janif is the Executive Director of Outsource Fiji. She is based in Suva, Fiji. Fiji is located in the South Pacific, east of Australia and north of New Zealand. It is an island country with a population of approximately one million people, but Fiji has been punching above its weight in CX and BPO. What is Fiji offering and why are so many companies interested in BPO from Fiji? Peter Ryan called Sagufta at her base in Suva to explore these questions. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sagufta-janif-social-impact-entrepreneur/ https://outsourcefiji.com/

Chris Hague is the head of marketing at Yoummday. He is based in Prague in the Czech Republic. Yoummday is based in Germany and offers a platform-based approach to CX that resembles the GigCX we have often talked about on CX Files, but in the interview Chris explains how Yoummday differs from the classic gig approach. Mark Hillary called Chris after reading an article Chris published asking if the traditional BPO model - contact center and customer service employees - is dead... Chris argues that there is a more positive and flexible future where agents can choose the brands they are working with, choose their working hours, and choose to work from home. They get more flexibility and also earn more - and this flexible approach costs the brand less. Is this flexible model of CX going to replace traditional BPO? Listen to Chris and decide for yourself... https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-hague/ https://www.yoummday.com/en

Nerys Corfield is the founder and director of Injection Consulting. She is based in South Wales, close to Newport. Nerys posted on LinkedIn recently about how a retail bank is using digital non-voice customer service channels - it wasn't a compliment. Peter called Nerys to discuss why so many organisations are getting voice right, but are not paying attention to chat, email, and texting... why are so many companies dropping the ball when it comes to digital channels? https://www.linkedin.com/in/neryscorfield/ https://www.injectionconsulting.co.uk/

Dianne McCoubrey is the VP of Sales at Grypp. She is based in Toronto, Canada. Grypp helps customer service agents to get closer to customers by providing an immersive video experience. In this conversation, between Mark Hillary and Dianne, the CX Files explores how video can be used to improve customer service interactions. Why is it not used more often today and can it be more than just a video call between a customer and agent? https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianne-mccoubrey-7a87b510/ https://grypp.io/

David Neale is the Chief Growth Officer at Nutun CX. Mike Butler is the Executive Director of Sales and Marketing at Nutun CX. David and Mike are both based in the UK, but Nutun operations are in South Africa. Every BPO says that they do Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Every annual report features an update on Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance (ESG) these days... but are BPOs and clients really taking this seriously? The team at Nutun believes that their approach raises the bar. It involves employees and clients and they can see a dramatic improvement in employee engagement because of the work they do in the local community - this directly leads to better performance and better CX. The CX world is seeing a strong focus on cost at present as many countries are facing up to an uncertain economy, but is the real way to evaluate ESG not just that it is a good thing to do, but it is also good for business? https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-butler/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-neale-08b80011b/ https://www.nutun.com/ https://melloneducate.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4wMzJ03Jvc

Diane Edwards is Director of the consulting and professional services unit at the Mona School of Business & Management in Kingston, Jamaica. Diane has a long history in BPO management and promotion and she led JAMPRO, the Jamaican trade and investment agency for over 9 years, until 2022. In this CX Files episode, Peter Ryan talks with Diane about the compliance implications of the Jamaican Data Protection Act 2020. This law comes into force on December 1, 2023 and many companies are still not ready. Is this a Caribbean and nearshore version of the rush for GDPR compliance we all saw a few years ago in Europe? https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-m-edwards-mba-a1a9501/ https://www.mona.uwi.edu/msbm/ https://jis.gov.jm/data-protection-act-regulations-to-be-tabled-in-parliament-soon/

Michele Rowan is the founder and president of the Work From Home Alliance. She is based in Virginia in the US. The CX Files talked to Michele over two years ago in 2021. At that time we were leaving the worst period of the pandemic - the lockdowns were over and a vaccine was just starting to roll out. Michele then predicted that WFH and hybrid working would remain a permanent feature of BPO and CX. The new normal would include WFH. Mark Hillary caught up with Michele to see what the WFH Alliance has been doing in the past two years and what Michele thinks of her prediction from 2021. Michele also contributed a foreword to the recent book 'GigCX: The Benefits of a Flexible Workforce' by Mark Hillary, Terry Rybolt, and Brian Pritchard - as featured on the CX Files episode from last week. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-rowan-6006516/ https://www.wfhalliance.com/ https://www.amazon.com/GigCX-Benefits-Workforce-Brian-Pritchard/dp/B0CJB9WV7N

Terry Rybolt is the Chief Revenue Officer at LiveXchange Technologies. He is based in Boston. LiveXchange is a platform that allows companies to augment their existing customer service processes with a team of gig workers - a bench of GigCX. This talent can be called on daily or occasionally, as and when it is required. It works for companies that manage their CX internally and also if a BPO is managing the process. Terry recently published a new book - co-authored with Mark Hillary - on GigCX so Mark called him up to ask about the book and some of the trends in GigCX that Terry has been recently observing. Follow the link below for more information on the new book: https://www.amazon.com/GigCX-Benefits-Workforce-Brian-Pritchard/dp/B0CJB9WV7N/ https://www.livexchange.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/terry-rybolt-808361/

Beza Tekola is a doctor. She is a gastroenterologist based in Fairfax, Virginia. Beza founded Suture BPO to help manage the back office processes within healthcare organizations. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Beza talks about why healthcare needs BPO expertise and what is especially important about the healthcare industry. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bezawittekola/ https://www.getsutured.com/