E23: The Human Touch: Jacqui Turner on Customer Experience, Training, and Brand Loyalty
In this episode, Oliver Lennon chats with Jacqui Turner – fondly known as the Customer Service Dancing Queen to explore the vital role of human connection in customer experience. Jacqui shares insights from her 28-year career spanning training, coaching, and customer service, emphasizing the importance of fostering brand loyalty through empathy, consistency, and empowered employees. Together, they discuss how organizations can overcome internal silos, shift away from rigid scripts, and invest in meaningful training to enhance customer satisfaction and employee engagement.
This episode delves into the evolving landscape of customer service amidst technological advancements like AI while reinforcing the enduring significance of human-centric interactions. Jacqui highlights the value of emotional intelligence, innovative coaching, and organizational alignment to create exceptional service experiences. Whether you're a CX professional or a curious listener, this conversation offers a wealth of actionable insights and a reminder of why the small things often have the biggest impact.
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48:29
E22: Transforming Customer Experience Through AI: Twilio’s Isabelle Staub on Automation, Hyper-Personalization and CPaaS Innovation
In this episode of the Syndeo Podcast, host Oliver Lennon chats with Isabelle Staub, Senior Vice President of Global Operations at Twilio, to uncover how AI and automation are transforming customer experience in the Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) industry. Isabelle shares her fascinating journey from a two-decade career in finance to leading operations at one of the most innovative companies in tech. She reveals how Twilio leverages AI to create highly personalized, adaptable customer interactions using copilot tools and individual AI models tailored to each client. They discuss the intricacies of building and fine-tuning AI models, the importance of clean, well-structured data and Twilio’s early adoption of automation to enhance customer service efficiency.
The conversation dives deep into the concepts of hyper-personalization and multimodal AI, showing how Twilio is working to ensure seamless, proactive customer support by combining real-time data and advanced machine learning models. Isabelle and Oliver discuss the future of AI and automation, touching on how robots could soon impact customer service, education and everyday tasks. They explore the challenges of developing AI in a way that remains flexible and cost-effective as technology advances, and the crucial role of data governance and security in today’s AI-driven world. This episode provides valuable insights for anyone interested in the intersection of AI, customer experience and CPaaS technology.
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48:50
E21: Unpacking AI's Evolution in Finance and Beyond: Insights with Dr. Michael Kollo
In this episode, host Oliver Lennon welcomes Dr. Michael Kollo, CEO of Evolved.ai, for an insightful conversation on the intersection of AI, finance and the future of work. Dr. Kollo, with a background in quantitative finance and over 15 years of experience in AI, shares his journey from academia to pioneering AI applications in asset management. The discussion unpacks how AI, particularly natural language processing and sentiment analysis, is reshaping capital markets by providing deeper insights into market behavior, sentiment and expectations. Dr. Kollo explains how AI models like GPT have moved beyond forecasting tools and are now helping industries extract hidden patterns in unstructured data, such as market sentiment, creating new competitive advantages.
The conversation also expands to explore AI’s broader societal impact, including how generative AI is changing workforce dynamics across industries. Dr. Kollo reflects on the challenges of AI adoption, where many organizations struggle to define problems AI can solve, while others are proactively using it to reshape their operations. He delves into the future of work, touching on how AI will augment human capabilities, shift traditional roles and challenge our understanding of value in the workplace. Whether you're interested in AI's role in finance or its transformative potential in everyday life, this episode provides a thought-provoking look at where technology is headed.
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49:07
E20: Reimagining Customer Experience and the Future of BPO: AI, Voice and Beyond with Ray McDiarmid
In this episode, host Oliver Lennon engages with Ray McDiarmid, an industry veteran with deep expertise in customer experience (CX) and the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. Ray reflects on his extensive career, spanning travel, hospitality and private equity, to offer a unique perspective on the shifts occurring in customer service. From the rise of AI and large language models to the emerging role of automation, Ray and Oliver discuss the opportunities and challenges these technologies bring to the BPO sector. They explore whether the industry is ready to adapt to innovations like generative AI and voice triage systems, which could transform how businesses handle customer interactions.
The conversation also delves into the evolving expectations of customers and how organizations can better connect technology with genuine human touchpoints. Ray offers insights into the future of CX, predicting a potential renaissance for voice communication, especially as younger generations change how they interact with brands. He also addresses the ongoing consolidation within the BPO space and how companies can create more strategic, value-driven customer engagement models.
Whether you're a CX professional or simply interested in the future of customer service, this episode provides a thought-provoking look at where the industry is headed in 2025 and beyond.
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52:03
E19: Exploring the AI Revolution in CX: A Conversation with Simon Kriss
In this episode, host Oliver Lennon is joined by Simon Kriss, Australia’s leading voice on AI in Customer Experience (CX). Author of “The AI Empowered Customer Experience”, Simon is a sought-after keynote speaker and consultant, named among the 2024 CX Top 50 Global Influencers to follow. With over 30 years of experience in the contact center and CX industry, Simon provides a deep dive into the transformative power of generative AI and its implications for businesses today.
The conversation explores the evolving landscape of CX, where Simon discusses the dual challenges of the fear of missing out (FOMO) and the fear of moving forward (FOMF) that many organizations face when integrating AI. He shares practical advice on how companies can leverage AI, starting with small, well-defined use cases, and stresses the importance of aligning technology with a strong business strategy and a focus on people.
Listen in as Simon and Oliver delve into the future of AI in CX, how to overcome common obstacles, and what it takes to successfully implement AI solutions that enhance both efficiency and customer satisfaction. Whether you’re a CX professional or simply curious about the future of AI in business, this episode is packed with valuable insights from one of the industry’s most respected thought leaders.
The Syndeo Podcast, hosted by Oliver Lennon delves deep into all things Conversational AI with some of the sharpest brains from the most innovative companies in the world of Customer Experience (CX). These are not a series of interviews, but conversations – a regular discourse designed to provoke, educate and enlighten business professionals with insights, learning and guidance on leveraging conversational AI to deliver meaningful CX.
Music by chillmore from Pixabay
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