Jo van Riemsdijk and Kate Baird are delighted to bring to you our Autumn edition of the CX Talent Ltd newsletter. We have been over the moon with how these interviews with Senior CX professionals have been received since we started doing these. In this latest edition we interview Nicola Murphy Head of Experience Delivery Affinity Water . Nicola has had a very interesting career to date working in financial services, automotive and Consultancy. She has some fascinating insights to share, which we have no doubt you will find invaluable!

You’re currently Head of Experience Delivery at Affinity Water. What does your remit cover today, and what are the key priorities for improving customer experience in the water sector?

My role is to lead the customer experience strategy within a major transformation programme. Right now, our focus is on improving self-serve capabilities, giving customers more choice in how they interact with us.  Unlike other utilities, customers can’t choose their water supplier. That means we serve a very broad and diverse customer base, under the scrutiny of a highly regulated environment. Because of this, resolving customer queries quickly and effectively is critical to building satisfaction and trust. Most people don’t think about their water service until something goes wrong — so when they do reach out, it’s essential that the experience is simple, convenient, and easy.

You’ve led CX, digital and transformation across industries as varied as utilities, banking, and automotive. What are the common threads of great customer experience, no matter the sector?

When looking at customer journeys I stand by the mantra they need to be personal and relevant . How is this journey personal to the customer and how it is relevant to the   It sounds simple but journey planning can inadvertently take a turn when designs start to become a neither of these things so then you must question why you’re doing it.  I’m a big fan of Matt Watkinson’s book, The Ten Principals of Great Customer Experience.  One, it’s an easy read, but for me, if you follow these well thought out principals, you lead up to making your experiences relevant to your customers and therefore more personal.

At Metro Bank you launched the organisation’s first chat service, and at Volvo Cars UK you built the brand’s first end-to-end online car-buying experience. Which of those past innovations best prepared you for challenges in water services?

Automotive, banking, and water all share a common thread: regulation. In banking, it’s the FCA; in water, several regulators and bodies. Even in automotive, regulation is ever-present, particularly as many cars are bought on finance. Each sector has shaped how I approach my current role. Banking taught me how to design experiences for a broad and diverse customer base, always with compliance front of mind. Automotive, by contrast, is less transactional and far more emotional — buying a car is often one of the biggest purchases someone makes, so the journey has to feel personal and memorable. Bringing those experiences together has prepared me well for water services — combining the rigour of regulation with the need to design journeys that feel both seamless and human.

Looking back across your career, is there a project you’d describe as a turning point in how you think about customer journeys?

Absolutely. During my time at Volkswagen Group, I led the launch of SEAT’s first retail store — right in the middle of a shopping mall. It was a rare opportunity to completely reimagine the car-buying journey.

The traditional dealership model hadn’t changed for decades: sales targets, commission-led staff, and price negotiation. Dropping that into a shopping centre just didn’t make sense to me.  Instead, we designed a true retail experience.

Out went commission-based sales executives; in came people with a retail background and no sales targets. Fair, transparent pricing meant creating a brand-new legal framework. And to match the setting, we built a fresh, modern environment inspired by SEAT’s Barcelona roots — complete with self-serve touchscreens, sunrise-style lighting, and a bespoke handover and test drive centre.

Every element of the journey was reimagined with one guiding principle: the customer comes first. The result was a bold new retail approach that customers loved — and it reshaped how I think about customer journeys to this day.

Can you share an example of how you’ve helped an organisation with limited CX resources design meaningful customer journeys?

During the pandemic, I worked with a consultancy supporting a client in the fishing industry. They had a long track record of success in B2B sales but were looking to launch a direct-to-consumer model. The challenge? They didn’t know who their end customers were or how to build an online buying experience. There was no voice-of-the-customer programme, no modern CRM, and very little data to work with.

What they did have, though, was deep industry knowledge and years of experience. Over three intensive days, I worked with their core team to create five target personas. We built these using customer questionnaires, first-hand insights from trade fairs, and even comments and blogs from online forums. To bring the personas to life, we gave them names and stories.

Next, we explored the motivations behind angling — why people buy, how they make decisions, and what might stop them. We then broke down the customer journey into sections, focusing on making each stage feel personal and relevant.

By combining the team’s expertise with some structured CX practices, we created a clear “north star” for their online journeys — each one designed with its own “magic moment” to surprise and delight customers. It showed that with the right approach, even limited resources can spark a customer experience that feels meaningful and distinctive.

Most underrated CX metric?

Customer effort is the metric which springs to mind. I was once asked in an interview how I’d sum up customer experience in a few words. My answer was: when you’ve invested huge amounts of energy, resources, and budget into a new feature or service — and the customer simply says, “well, that was easy.”

It may feel underwhelming after all the late nights and hard work, but in reality, that’s the perfect outcome. Effortless experiences are what customers truly value.

Customer Effort Score can be hard to quantify and even harder to build a business case around — but consistently removing even the smallest pain points is what makes the difference between a good experience and a great one.

A CX myth you’d retire.

Personalisation is all about the data.It also comes from empathy, listening to our front line teams and designing journeys which empower your teams to be human.

Kate Baird and Jo van Riemsdijk would like to thank Nicola Murphy for making time to speak to us and sharing her insights and thoughts.

We intend to continue producing these interviews with Senior Leaders throughout 2025. If you have a desire to hear from someone from a specific industry or there is a particular Leader you would love to hear from – please do let us know and we will do our best to accommodate. To subscribe to these newsletters – please do hit the subscribe button to make sure you don’t miss out on future editions.

CX Talent Ltd is the recruitment partner you need for all Customer Experience, Customer Operations, Transformationn, Strategy, Digital Experience and Service Design roles of all levels. We have been trading for over 13 years and are connected with the best and brightest talent. If you want to work with a recruitment partner who supports excellent candidate experience, diverse and inclusive recruitment practices and works with efficiency, integrity and honesty at all times – please do give us a call!

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Welcome to the April 2025 edition of the CX Talent Ltd Newsletter. Kate Baird and Jo van Riemsdijk are so delighted and grateful to the amazing Jamie Lord – Customer Experience Lead at Waitrose & Partners . When we originally interviewed Jamie for this edition of the newsletter, he was still at John Lewis (Financial Services). Since then, he has moved on and is now working for one of our favourite brands – Waitrose & Partners. We would like to thank him for his incredibly valuable time and insights.

Thank you Jamie for agreeing to be our latest guest in our Senior CX Leader interview series. What are your current reflections on the world of CX and Service Design?

When I started out in design, customer experience wasn’t as established as it is today. The language, the tools, the understanding of its value – they’ve all come a long way. But at its core, the work has always been about the same thing; understanding people, solving real problems, and making experiences better.

In this Q&A, I’ve shared a bit about my own journey, what I’ve learned along the way,and some thoughts for anyone starting out in CX today. It’s not a straight path, and the work is often messy, but that’s also what makes it meaningful.

Jamie – in your last role you were Experience and Service Design Lead at John Lewis Financial Services – please can you tell us what this entailed and what your main responsibilities were?

In a nutshell, my role was about making sure we’re designing the right experiences for our customers, not just what looks good on a screen, but what actually works for people across the end-to-end journey. I sat within the financial services arm of the Partnership, but we didn’t own the products, they were provided by third parties, and so a big part of the role was about bridging the gap between supplier and brand, making sure what we delivered still felt like a John Lewis experience.

I led a brilliant team of blended designers, covering interaction design, service design, customer journey and research. It was a great mix that allowed us to look at problems from different angles and shape solutions that work for both customers and the business. We focused just as much on shaping strategy as we did on delivery, which meant influencing the broader experience roadmap, advocating for the customer at a senior level, and embedding design thinking into how we approached transformation.

One thing I really valued is getting out into our John Lewis stores and Waitrose branches, especially during peak trading, to speak with customers and our incredible Partners. You get so much from those conversations. It brings the real-world context to the fore and helps build empathy, not just for our customers, but also for the people delivering the experience on the ground. That insight is priceless when you’re designing change that actually works.

You have some really interesting multi-sector experience – from airlines, telecoms to automotive and financial services. Which sector have you enjoyed working within the most and why?

That’s a tough decision . Each sector has taught me something different and brought its own challenges. But if I had to choose, I’d probably go back to the beginning, to my time in travel at Virgin Atlantic, where I started out in Service Design. I was lucky to work on some brilliant projects. Shaping the experience in the iconic Upper Class Clubhouses, designing the dedicated check-in and drop-off facility at Heathrow, and running countless in-flight trials to evolve the service throughout the cabins. It really showed me the power of design thinking in action, the way small, thoughtful touches can make a lasting impression.

One story that’s always stuck with me was hearing about a crew member who noticed a broken coat button on a passenger’s jacket. They quietly took it away, sewed on a new one overnight during the flight, and handed it back to the customer on landing – no fuss, no need for recognition. That kind of unscripted, human moment is what creates true brand loyalty. It taught me that great design isn’t just about systems and flows, it’s about people, and how we make them feel. That experience gave me a solid foundation, and it’s something I’ve carried with me into other sectors.

In telco, for example, the focus shifts; it’s fast-paced, complex, and commercially driven, with constant innovation in tech and propositions. Working at O2 really pushed me to think differently, to challenge conventions, and to understand how to design experiences at scale, under pressure, and still make them feel meaningful.

Every sector has sharpened a different skill , but I think it’s that blend of emotional insight from aviation and commercial pragmatism from telco that’s shaped how I lead today.

Do you think that by working in CX, Digital Design and Service Design – having multi-sector experience is a help or a hindrance and why?

It’s been a massive help. Every organisation brings its own culture, constraints and customer dynamics, and working across sectors forces you to adapt, listen, and learn fast. That adaptability is invaluable, especially when you’re trying to drive change. You start to see the patterns. The things that are universal in customer experience, but you also build a toolkit for navigating the realities of different environments. Whether it’s regulated industries, complex supply chains or legacy tech, having seen it from different angles helps me challenge assumptions and bring fresh perspective. It also keeps you grounded. You learn to respect the operational detail while keeping sight of the bigger picture.

Can you talk us through the project or initiative that you are most proud of? Were there any particularly tricky challenges that you had to overcome to drive it to success?

One of the projects I’m most proud of is the work we’ve done to define a set of service behaviours that underpin the experience strategy for an upcoming insurance proposition. It’s the first time we had full ownership of a product, so it gave us a real opportunity to step back and ask, what should a John Lewis experience feel like in this space?

Rather than jumping straight to solutions, we focused on shaping a behavioural foundation. This focussed on looking at how we wanted customers to feel, and what that meant for the way we show up as a brand, as a service, and as people. This was especially important given the complexity of our model: we’re operating through a third party, within a regulated environment, and yet customers still expect a John Lewis experience.

Working through that tension was a real challenge, designing for consistency and empathy when the delivery is through someone else’s systems, processes and people. We weren’t trying to control every moment, but to influence the culture and shape the conditions for good decisions to be made, and good experiences to follow.

There’s always a temptation in financial services to focus purely on the functional, what must be said, what can’t be promised. But people don’t experience services that way. It’s human to human, not policy to policy. So we brought it back to intent: what arethe cues we can design into the journey to help people feel reassured, supported, and in control? It meant making space for more human touches, moving away from robotic defaults, and being mindful that even in a tightly governed environment, you can still design for warmth and clarity.

It was a brilliant example of how design can help an organisation navigate ambiguity and build something meaningful, not just for compliance, but for connection.

What skills and experience or personal qualities do you look for when hiring individuals to join your teams?

One of the main things I look for is curiosity. People who are genuinely interested in how things work and how they could be better. It’s not about having all the answers, but about having that natural instinct to explore, to ask questions, and to dig a little deeper. That kind of mindset, what I call a growth mindset, can really bring a more three-dimensional view to the work.

I also think it’s important to build a team that doesn’t all think the same way. People who see things slightly differently often bring fresh perspectives, and as a leader, they challenge and grow your thinking too. I’m not looking for a team that just aligns with my views. I aim for a blend of strengths, approaches and lived experiences. That diversity of thought usually leads to stronger ideas, more rounded decisions, and ultimately, better outcomes for both customer and business.

Given the current climate, with tighter budgets and less certainty, it’s more important than ever to have people who can think differently. Individuals who can see around corners a bit, spot future possibilities, and apply that thinking to today’s challenges. That kind of creative pragmatism is incredibly valuable, it helps you move forward, even when the path isn’t obvious or the resources aren’t what you’d like them to be.

And finally, it’s about collaboration. I always say to the teams I work with; “great design is done with people, not to them.” So I look for people who can influence, bring others with them, and build momentum. Those are the designers who really help drive change in the right direction.

What advice do you wish you’d had at the beginning of your career that you could share?

I think early on, I underestimated the importance of understanding how businesses make decisions. It’s one thing to design a great experience, it’s another to get it funded, prioritised and delivered. I wish someone had told me sooner that influencing, storytelling and commercial awareness are just as important as creative skill.

Also, don’t wait for permission. Some of the most rewarding work I’ve done has come from spotting a gap and just starting the conversation. It doesn’t have to be perfect – progress is often better than polish. And finally, back yourself. Imposter syndrome is real, but you often know more than you think, and your perspective is valuable.

We know that AI is being integrated in all areas of organisations and for many customer touchpoints. What advice would you give to people thinking about training up or getting exposed to these tools? What sort of systems or tools should people be. looking to understand and develop their experience of using?

AI is definitely reshaping how we design and deliver customer experiences, but it’s not about chasing the tech for the sake of it. My advice would be; start with understanding the problem you’re trying to solve. Tools come and go, but the ability to frame the right question and assess where AI can add value is what sets people apart.

It’s worth getting familiar with journey analytics platforms, AI-assisted research tools, and conversational design, especially around chatbots and voice. But even more important is understanding data; where it comes from, how it’s used, and what its limitations are. Knowing how to interrogate data and draw meaningful insights is a key skill, whether you’re designing with or without AI.

And don’t forget the ethics. We have a responsibility as designers to think about fairness, inclusivity and unintended consequences when we work with AI.

If you could describe your next ideal role – what would it look like?

My ideal role would give me the space to shape strategy, not just deliver on someone else’s brief. I really enjoy operating in that space where design meets business –translating ambition into something real, with measurable impact for both customers and the organisation.

I’d want to be in an organisation that genuinely values design thinking, not just in principle, but in practice. Somewhere that empowers its teams, trusts them to solve problems, and gives them the headspace to think beyond the next quarter. In my experience, organisations that are purely commercial and short-term focused often lose sight of how to evolve. They end up chasing immediate wins at the expense of longer-term value and customer loyalty.

The culture matters too. I’m energised by collaborative environments where people from different disciplines work together to shape better experiences. And as a leader, continuing to build and support strong, curious teams is a big part of what drives me.

How important has professional networking been for your career development?

It’s been more important than I realised at the start of my career. Some of the biggest opportunities I’ve had have come through conversations, not job boards. Networking doesn’t have to be formal, sometimes it’s just staying in touch with someone you worked with, or reaching out to share a thought on something they’ve posted.

I’ve learned a huge amount from peers in other sectors. It’s helped me see patterns, spot trends, and sometimes just feel a bit less alone when you’re trying to drive change in a complex organisation. It’s also great for perspective – hearing how others have tackled similar challenges can really sharpen your own thinking.

Not all projects and initiatives go to plan! Have you ever had something not be as successful as you may have hoped, and what did you learn from that?

Absolutely! Not everything goes the way you’d like. One thing that stands out is a service improvement initiative we kicked off with all the right intent, but not quite enough clarity. We jumped in too quickly, without nailing down what success actually looked like, and as a result, things drifted. Everyone was busy, but not necessarily aligned.

The big learning for me was about the importance of definition. Take the time upfront to align on outcomes, not just outputs. And don’t assume shared understanding, say itout loud, write it down, get agreement. It’s not glamorous, but it makes all the difference when things get tricky. That said, there’s a flip side. In some cultures, there’s such a heavy emphasis on planning that it can slow teams right down. The belief that everything has to be predetermined or perfectly scoped can be a real blocker to momentum. Not everything can be predicted, and that’s where design plays a really valuable role. It helps de-risk decisions through iteration, testing, and learning as you go. Sometimes the most important thing is getting the business on the right path, it’s not just about building the thing right, but making sure you’re building the right thing in the first place!

Any last reflections you’d like to share with us?

If you’re just starting out in CX, my biggest piece of advice is to stay curious and stayhuman. Tools will change. Roles will evolve. But if you can keep empathy at the heart of your work and stay open to learning, from customers, colleagues, and even the tough bits, you’ll always be moving forward.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and push for better. Some of the best work I’ve seen has come from fresh eyes seeing something the rest of us had stopped noticing. That’s your superpower, use it!

And finally, a huge thank you to Jo and Kate from CX Talent. Two super people I’ve had many great conversations with over the years about roles, people and brands. Really grateful for the opportunity to share a bit of my journey here.

Kate Baird and Jo van Riemsdijk would like to thank Jamie Lord for making time to speak to us and sharing his insights and thoughts.

2025 continues to be difficult for recruitment and for CX. If you have a desire to hear from someone from a specific industry or a particular Leader you would love to hear from – please do let us know and we will do our best to accommodate! To subscribe to these newsletters – please do hit the subscribe button to make sure you don’t miss out!

CX Talent Ltd is the recruitment partner you need for all Customer Experience, Customer Operations, Transformationn, Strategy, Digital Experience and Service Design roles of all levels. We have been trading for over 13 years and are connected with the best and brightest talent. If you want to work with a recruitment partner who supports excellent candidate experience, diverse and inclusive recruitment practices and works with efficiency, integrity and honesty at all times – please do give us a call!

www.cxtalent.co.uk

We are delighted to present our first Newsletter of 2025, and it’s a cracker! Ben Phillips CCXP is a Certified CX Professional (CCXP) with almost 20 years working directly in Customer Experience (CX) roles for worldwide enterprise-grade organisations, both B2C and B2B.

He has held Director, Leader and consultancy positions in CX for market research agencies, financial companies and technology businesses.

He is part of an award-winning CX team and is the author of 3 books on the subject of CX, including “The CX Dictionary”. He is consistently ranked in the top #25 CX Influencers recognised by CX Magazine year on year. Ben presents keynotes, CX knowledge sessions and hosts events for companies worldwide.

He lives in the Midlands, UK with his family and is a passionate musician, Level 3 Personal Fitness Trainer and whisky enthusiast. We are grateful that he has taken the time to answer our questions and hope you enjoy this edition.

• Ben, you are currently Head of Customer Experience Performance Centre at Fujitsu, can you tell us what this entails?

Yes, I am effectively the CX Practice Lead for the European business, so my job is to ensure the company and our colleagues follow best practices and use all of the tools, methods and technologies at our disposal to ensure better Customer Experiences.

• You’ve got some fantastic experience across a wide range of sectors. Please can you tell us which role you’ve enjoyed the most and why?

I think it goes right back to my first role at a Mystery Shopping company where it all began – and the reason was not the subject material, but the start-up, hands-on, tightly knit feel & culture of the business. We all laughed together, cried together and I cut my teeth on market research, people management, account management, sales and a myriad of other things which have stayed with me ever since. Having said all that it was pretty nice travelling the world and learning about global CX culture working for almost 3 years at Nielsen, too 😊

• You have a lot of experience in Market Research and Customer Insight businesses, how do you think this has influenced your approach to CX as a discipline?

Market research & Insights are fundamental to a completely rounded CX experience and remit. Perhaps I didn’t even understand that well enough at the start, but actually as time has gone on I realise that you can’t make business decisions based on whim, anecdote, and supposition. You need data like lifeblood to support business recommendations. Tell the story first and get the interest, then support the argument using empirical data. And anyway, research is just interesting and always surprising.

• What has been your biggest success in terms of CX initiatives in your career to date?

Easily the way by which we set up a collaborative CX Team at Fujitsu, which was empowered to create whatever we needed to accelerate CX change within our organisation. We used untypical methods to create our engagements with country teams, ensuring that CX was not a “we’re going to do it for you” occupation but instead was one of “showing the way”. At the same time we were highly effective, very vocal and often showcased our progress on internal demo calls and Town Halls. We went on to win CX Team of the Year at Awards International’s European event in 2022 – so very happy with that!

• Not all CX initiatives go to plan! Have you ever had something not be as successful as you may have hoped and what did you learn from that?

Learn to fail in CX, I can tell you that on day #1 :-D. Seriously, this is something people don’t get, it really isn’t like any other business discipline. Most of the time you are fighting against disbelievers who can’t see the financial return for the effort and therefore aren’t necessarily interested. But then when the penny drops the rewards are so much more beneficial.

I can remember trying something with AR technology involving Mystery Shopping at Nielsen which didn’t grow any legs, and I can also recall investing time and effort into creating personas at a previous company that got very little traction. But the counter to all of that is that none of it was invaluable – you learn to improve, try something else, re-engage, and get a little bit better at it each time.

• What skillsets do you feel people wanting to pursue a career CX now need to really develop?

Today is always different to yesterday in fast-moving industries and CX is no exception, however I think storytelling is key in this business. I don’t mean making stuff up Hans Christiansen Andersen-style, I mean finding a way to make a business argument stick, and drill home the whole “What if we do, what if we don’t” positioning. You don’t have to be the world’s best presenter or speaker (although frequency of doing that helps a lot with just making it feel like another day on the job). What you need is to be able to look people in the eyes and have the confidence to express your most salient points and ensure sponsorship, budget, advocacy – whatever your goal might be.

• How important has professional networking been for your career development?  And how much of this has been virtual or in person?

This is another one of those things I didn’t realise was important until I was already doing it, but it’s been instrumental in the roles I have secured at all of my previous companies. I’m talking about a spread of activity across professional networking groups. Including using LinkedIn, talking to peers in WhatsApp communities, keeping busy on the awards/reviews/publishing circuit, even sitting down with folks that might have something in mind for you. I did that very thing at a research company and ended up going to work for a digital agency just through sharing similar thoughts on CX over a coffee.

• How do you see CX evolving in the future?

Well, I hope for all our sakes I am not the only one thinking it won’t be just because AI seems incredible and amazing and world-problem-solving. Because it isn’t. As long as AI is deployed as an evolved and complimentary service solution, then I have no problem with it. But I would 100%, any day of the week, expect (and nurture) human-to-human interaction and talent over and above any spend on automation or pseudo-service experiences. You go down that path, just because you think it’s clever and innovative, I think you’re asking for trouble. So – in answer to your question – capabilities for people to have the freedom to serve the customer any way that enhances the experience.

• How do you see AI influencing CX beyond the call centre?

Read my previous question! 😀

• If you had to describe the ultimate CX role for you – what would that look like?

Wow, good one. Okay, one that enables multi-cultural and multi-territory experience management, leveraging real-time data, creating and crafting solutions collaboratively, telling powerful and experience-changing stories, working with a great team and with top-down confidence and support that CX is exactly the right business area to invest in. There, what a mouthful.

• If you were setting up a CX team from scratch for an organisation where budget was no object, and nothing was in place –  what roles would your ideal team consist of?

As I have done more than once 😉. This all depends on context – what is the type of business, who is the customer, what does CX really mean where you are, etc. But I guess my experience tells me I’d build a dream team made up of:

–              Great business networkers (to cross channels & silos in the biggest orgs)

–              Confident storytellers & presenters (to relay key business information effectively)

–              A good number cruncher (statistical background most likely)

–              Great trainers (to embed best CX principles and find ways to do this with different personalities)

–              Creatives (comms, graphics, content, marketing etc – it’s all critical to getting the message out and across)

One of the most important things is to have those individuals report in together as one team; not proxy-managed elsewhere or dotted line into someone else. You lose the imperative sense of team and demands on those people’s time would get split or diluted. So centralised collaborative team-working is best, and you can then create a team culture everyone else will be envious of. And the work is damn fun, too 😊

A very warm welcome to the November 2024 edition of the CX Talent Ltd Newsletter. Kate Baird and Jo van Riemsdijk are very grateful to Vish Patel – currently responsible for the growth, strategy and experience of Meta’s biggest partnership clients in EMEA – for his time and insights in this months’ interview.

• Vish, you are currently Partner VP, Strategy (EMEA) at Meta. Can you tell us what this entails?

In real simple terms, I am responsible for the growth, strategy and experience of Meta’s biggest partnership clients in EMEA. It’s a blend of commercial, partnerships and customer experience packaged into one, really unique!

• You’ve got some fantastic experience across consultancy, telco, media and tech. Please can you tell us which role you’ve enjoyed the most and why?

This is a tough one, but I would say it’s my current role at Meta. Why you ask?

Meta really embraces cross-functional collaboration, allows people to have autonomy on how they work and the tools they use, which makes doing your job so much easier. The other reason is because I have learnt so much from the realm of partnerships which compliments my previous skillsets really well.

• What has been your biggest success in terms of CX initiatives in your career to date?

It has to be the 18pt improvement in Brand NPS which I achieved for CenturyLink within 12 months of joining. When I joined, the business had merged with Level 3 but had a really poor perception amongst customers and high churn. However, with sponsorship from a great leadership team, a solid 2 year-plan, digital transformation and a huge culture shift, we turned customer experience into a differentiator within the B2B Telecoms space!

• How valuable have professional qualifications been in your career?  You’ve recently qualified for your MBA as well as having Prince 2, Lean and Six Sigma.  Would you recommend any or all of these to CX professionals developing their careers now?

You can never learn too much, so I would 100% recommend doing them all. My recommendation for CX professionals would be to go for LEAN or Six Sigma qualifications in particular, as they as building blocks for problem-solving alongside practical execution. And if you want to fast-track yourself into the c-suite, think about doing an MBA.

• What skillsets do you feel people wanting to pursue a career CX now need to really develop?

Nowadays, I think people wishing to pursue a career in CX should focus on 3 things in particular:

Data analysis and insight

Strategy / design-thinking

Stakeholder engagement

Data is really the foundation of everything. Being able to understand, manipulate and tell a story from data is key for CX professionals. Strategy and design-thinking are also super critical because you need to inspire a vision that meets the changing expectations of customers and markets. Finally, stakeholder engagement is your ticket to success. You have to be a catalyst in getting buy-in from senior leaders/sponsors, collaborating with multiple teams across functions and driving customer-centricity internally. It takes a whole organisation to make the step changes in customer experience. Be the master of the orchestra.

• How important has professional networking been for your career development?  And how much of this has been virtual or in person?

It’s a game changer. Professional networking, and personal networking with mentors, capitulated my career upwards in a short space of time. I would say it’s a 70%-30% split in favour of in-person networking for me personally, possibly influenced by the fact that I am a social butterfly.

• How do you see CX evolving in the future?

Over the next 2-3 years, I think we are going to see more around:

Hyper-Personalization with AI and Data: Real-time, predictive personalization using AI and ML will become standard, balanced with privacy.

Multi-Channel Experiences:Integration of physical and digital touchpoints, leveraging conversational AI, chatbots and big shift in native commerce experiences, for example Travel SIMs.

Ethics and Sustainability in CX:Transparency and ESG practices will heavily influence customer decisions, engagement and loyalty with brands

Shift towards Predictive Proactive Support:ML and Predictive-AI application in customer care will push organisations to re-think service SLAs and operating models.

Employee Experience as CX’s Cornerstone:Doubling-down from organisations on improving employee experience (EX) to influence customer outcomes, linking EX directly to CX success.

• If you had to describe the ultimate CX role for you – what would that look like?

My ultimate CX role would be a chief customer officer role at a multi-conglomerate organisation or an industry-leading organisation that oversees strategic, commercial and experiential aspects of customers across the entire journey for all brands. I personally would relish the chance the drive CX across multiple verticals and more importantly be the pioneer who keeps pushing the standards to new levels by innovating. Today is not tomorrow’s future!

• If you were setting up a CX team from scratch for an organisation where budget was no object, what roles would your ideal team consist of?

The key roles I would certainly have in my fantasy dream-team are:

–       Customer Experience Professionals

–       Data Scientists / Analysts

–       Software Developers / Shadow IT

With these 3 roles, you have a holy trinity. A small but complimentary group that have multifarious skills capable of solving problems end-to-end in a timely manner, and could even be spun as a professional service, call it CX-as-a-service.

Kate Baird and Jo van Riemsdijk would like to give our enormous thanks to Vish Patel for making the time to answer our questions. We hope that you’ve enjoyed reading this latest edition of our Senior CX Leaders series.

CX Talent Ltd produces a newsletter monthly where we interview a senior CX Leader on their views and insights about working in CX and the skills and experience that they feel candidates will need for the future. If you do not want to miss out on these incredibly valuable observations and views – do hit the subscribe button!

CX Talent Ltd is the recruitment partner you need for all Customer Experience, Customer Operations, Transformation, Strategy, Digital Experience and Service Design roles of all levels. We have been trading for over 13 years and are connected to the best and brightest talent. If you want to work with a recruitment partner who supports excellent candidate experience, diverse and inclusive recruitment practices and works with efficienty, integrity and honesty at all times – do give us a call!

www.cxtalent.co.uk

#customerexperience #cxtalent #cx #recruitment #cxjobs

Welcome to the September 2024 edition of the CX Talent Ltd Newsletter. Kate Baird and Jo van Riemsdijk are so delighted and grateful to the amazing Sara Chapman – Executive Experience Strategy Director at adam&eveDDB for her incredibly valuable time and insights. We have been increasingly working with agencies in their CX and Experience Design teams and it’s a growing area. We are keen to pass on valuable insights and advice to those in our network who are interested in a career in an agency and what skills and experience you should be looking to get in order to be able to do so and could think of no-one better to ask! We certain that you’ll find Sara’s advice and observations of interest.

Sara, you are currently the Executive Experience Strategy Director at Adam&EveDDB. Please can you tell us what this entails?

In a nutshell, I help our clients to understand their consumers better and partner with creatives, strategists and account leads to make experiences that deliver on those needs. I also look at the technology and new thinking that’s coming down the line and make sure we’re thinking about how we as a CX team need to evolve what we do to make sure we keep our clients ahead of the curve.

What skillsets and attributes do you particularly look for when considering those who will work in your team (in terms of CX and Experience for your clients)?

Mindset is super important for me when I’m hiring new team members. In an industry like CX it’s really important to be entrepreneurial and have that resilience or grit needed to make your ideas a reality.

It’s great if you’re well versed in best practice but if you can’t adapt the theory based on the time, budget and client then you won’t bring work to market. And as CX-ers we only make a difference if we put new experiences or improvements live as that’s the only point the consumer feels the benefit – if our work dies in a slide deck then we haven’t made change happen.

Are there any skillsets you’d particularly recommend candidates honing if they want to pursue a career in CX in an agency that are likely to be in demand in future roles?

I think it’s important to have a great grasp of how the brand and technology influence an experience. Historically CX has focused on empathy and design thinking which is great but it can get you to a sea of sameness where everyone is following best practice and so everything is similar. Adding brand into the mix adds personality and it shows you the places in an experience where a client should be showing up. So when we’re doing experience strategy in the agency we’re not just asking where consumer pain points and gain points are, we’re also really interrogating where does this particular brand have expertise or knowledge that could really help. Then we’re layering in emotion; emotion drives decision making and smart CXers know how to conduct research that reveals how emotion drives decision-making and how to design solutions that use that emotion to create momentum and action.

How do you see AI impacting CX?

We’re already seeing some use of synthetic personas in research (where companies use their consumer data to build an AI consumer who researchers can chat to in order to stress test early thinking). I think the use of these personas will become more wide-spread and help us get to hypothesise for work faster. Of course that means we’ll have to work harder to justify our research budgets but it’s really vital that AI consumers don’t replace testing and research with real consumers!

Do you think that AI will affect how organisations use agencies in the future?

Of course! We’re at the point now where it’s vital organisational leaders to be thinking deeply about where they believe AI will help creativity and productivity and where it will not. Just because we can automate certain things doesn’t mean that we should – one of the most fascinating things I’ve learnt recently is that the brain needs boring tasks to give it down-time. And that if you don’t have that people experience cognitive overload and burn-out. It’s a bit like if you go on holiday and you do ten days of sight-seeing and don’t give yourself time to watch Netflix or read a book on the beach; you leave having had a lovely time but you still need a break! Well human brains are the same – if we remove all the boring admin and give it to AI then we simply won’t function.

Do you think it is essential for candidates for your consideration to have come from a similar agency background? If not – why not? If so – why so

This is one where it depends on the role. If you need to hit the ground running then it’s helpful to have worked in an agency before as you’ll know how the creative process works, who to engage when etc. But some of the most interesting candidates I’ve met have been people who have a real diversity of experience and this means they bring in different perspectives and ways of doing things that can make the team stronger.

Is there anything in your career that you wish you’d done differently? Any organisation you wish you’d had the chance to work at?

No. I’ve always been of the mindset that if you want to try something then go do it. When I started my career I specialised in digital. I remember going to a recruiter and telling them I wanted to work in comms and they told me “You can’t do that, you don’t have any experience”. But by working at it I got a job in a comms agency. Then when I wanted to move out of client services and become a strategist I experienced the same reaction, but I just pursued it because it was my goal and it was something I wanted to do. All this is a long way of saying, if you want something don’t just wish for it, you can make it happen!

What career advice do you wish you had been given in the early stages of your career that you would like to share?

Ask for forgiveness, not permission. A very wise CEO I worked with took me aside once and told me I’d get a lot more done if I trusted my instincts and tried things rather than waiting for people to tell me it was OK to get off the beaten path. Obviously you need to do this with a bit of care, but I find it really helps me experiment and find better ways of doing things when I follow this mantra.

Kate Baird and Jo van Riemsdijk would like to give our enormous thanks to Sara Chapman for making the time to speak to us, we’d also like to give our very best wishes to her as she begins her maternity leave. We hope that you’ve enjoyed reading this latest edition of our Senior CX Leaders series.

CX Talent Ltd produces a newsletter monthly where we interview a senior CX Leader on their views and insights about working in CX and the skills and experience that they feel candidates will need for the future. If you do not want to miss out on these incredibly valuable observations and views – do hit the subscribe button!

CX Talent Ltdis the recruitment partner you need for all Customer Experience, Customer Operations, Transformation, Strategy, Digital Experience and Service Design roles of all levels. We have been trading for over 13 years and are connected to the best and brightest talent. If you want to work with a recruitment partner who supports excellent candidate experience, diverse and inclusive recruitment practices and works with efficienty, integrity and honesty at all times – do give us a call!

www.cxtalent.co.uk