The Cx Cast

Cecilie Kobbelgaard was tasked with driving journey orchestration at Grundfos. But the Global Customer Journey Manager recognized that the organization needed the basics first. So, she led the development of a customer journey mapping “cookbook”, turned the cookbook into skills, built a journey atlas, and standardized the approach so different business units were working the same way – just to name a few accomplishments. Featuring: Cecilie Kobbelgaard, Global Customer Journey Manager, Grundfos Show Notes: Cecilie Kobbelgaard was tasked with driving journey orchestration at Grundfos. But the Global Customer Journey Manager recognized that the organization needed the basics first. So, she led the development of a customer journey mapping “cookbook”, turned the cookbook into skills, built a journey atlas, and standardized the approach so different business units were working the same way – just to name a few accomplishments. We discuss:  How to gain traction in an organization with varying maturity in journey

As customers' expectations shift due to their adoption of new technologies, organizations need to adapt. TCQ, Forrester’s Technology Change Quotient, measures the readiness of employees, teams, and organizations to adapt to technology in a way that drives productivity, creativity, and inventiveness. J. P. Gownder, VP, Principal Analyst joins us to explain how. Featuring: J. P. Gownder, VP, Principal Analyst Show Notes: As customers' expectations shift due to their adoption of new technologies, organizations need to adapt. TCQ, Forrester’s Technology Change Quotient, measures the readiness of employees, teams, and organizations to adapt to technology in a way that drives productivity, creativity, and inventiveness. J. P. Gownder, VP, Principal Analyst joins us to explain:  How the pace of technological change is accelerating  What TCQ is and how it informs change leadership  How to balance opportunities and challenges of rapid tech advancement  What CX pros should understand about tech advancem

Angelina Gennis and Martin Gill sit down with Joana de Quintanilha, VP and principal analyst, to explore how companies can go beyond fixing broken experiences and cocreate breakthrough value with customers. Joana highlights actionable strategies and creative techniques, as well as how to strike the balance between data-driven insights and imaginative thinking to supercharge your customer journeys.

Originally episode 283, this recording focuses on how American Express evolved their VoC program. Show Notes: Originally episode 283, this recording focuses on how American Express evolved their VoC program. Luis Angel-Lalanne, VP of Customer Voice at Amex, shares his organization’s journey from survey fundamentals to a robust feedback program that continuously engages stakeholders in CX understanding and drives action. Related content: 283: Amex Takes VoC To The Next Level - Forrester 319: The Future Of VoC - Forrester

Joana de Quintanilha and first-time CX Cast guest Richard Sheahan unpack the creation and impact of the Experience Room — an immersive, hands-on learning experience debuted at Forrester's CX Summit EMEA 2025. Created to be fast-paced, emotionally engaging, and highly collaborative, the Experience Room offered participants — working together as a bank team to improve the home-buying experience — a unique, interactive way to engage customers with four key CX tools.

We come to you live this week from Forrester’s annual CX Summit NA conference in Nashville! This year, Forrester unveiled its new Total Experience Score framework, a new measurement that connects brand and CX to deliver a more comprehensive picture of where brands stand. We spoke to some Forrester analysts at the event to discuss the research they shared and insights they gathered.

Harley Manning, longtime Forrester analyst and author of the seminal book on CX, "Outside In," takes a break from retirement to discuss the evolution of CX over the past decade. Harley dives into the foundational principles of CX, the importance of emotion in creating customer loyalty, and how CX efforts must tie into business results. Harley also shares a wealth of anecdotes that span his decades-long career as a CX thought leader.

Conny Kalcher, Group Chief Customer Officer of Zurich Insurance, discusses the transformative role of AI in customer experience with us. Conny shares insights into Zurich's journey towards becoming more customer-focused, emphasizing the importance of empathy, transparency, and reliability in AI applications. From speeding up claims processing to enhancing internal communications, discover how Zurich is leveraging AI to benefit both customers and employees. Featuring: Conny Kalcher, Group Chief Customer Officer of Zurich Insurance Show Notes: Conny Kalcher, Group Chief Customer Officer of Zurich Insurance, discusses the transformative role of AI in customer experience with us. Conny shares insights into Zurich's journey towards becoming more customer-focused, emphasizing the importance of empathy, transparency, and reliability in AI applications. From speeding up claims processing to enhancing internal communications, discover how Zurich is leveraging AI to benefit both customers and employees. We discuss:

We come to you live this week from Forrester’s annual CX Summit EMEA conference in London, England. This year's summit is all about the gap between brand and customer experience and between strategy and execution with a dive deep into metrics and journeys. We capture some attendee and speaker voices discussing the research shared during the event. Featuring: Multiple speakers and attendees: Hanneke Mulder (Xerox) Shawn Stanyer (Bank of Valletta) Jorissa Neutelings (ABN AMRO) Nils Schmeling (NECXT) Magdalena Suchanek (Bank Millenium) Lovette Onunuga (FIRS) Isabella Grant and Ben Cooke (UCL students) Show Notes: We come to you live this week from Forrester’s annual CX Summit EMEA conference in London, England. This year's summit is all about the gap between brand and customer experience and between strategy and execution with a dive deep into metrics and journeys. We capture some attendee and speaker voices discussing the research shared during the event. You’ll hear:  About attendees' event

Frontier Communications emerged from bankruptcy in 2021. That bankrupcy was the result of a broken customer experience sitting on terribly broken and outdated systems. It's new CEO launched four priorities to refocus the organization: Build fiber, sell fiber, improve customer service, become operationally efficient. Frontier's Chief Customer Operations officer, Charlon McIntosh tells the CX transformation story, with winning examples of stakeholder collaboration and guerilla CX.

Originally episode 147, this recording kicked off a theme we've continued to cover: employee CX. Show Notes: Originally episode 147, this recording kicked off a theme we've continued to cover: employee CX. VP, Principal Analyst Maxie Schmidt and former CX Cast host Sam Stern dive into how incentivizing better CX scores encourages unintended behaviors, stepping into the shoes of employees who “game the system." The lesson: design the system carefully in the first place to encourage the right behaviors for better CX. Related content: 332: How To Set CX Metrics Goals - Forrester 147: Paying Employees For CX Is A Bad Idea (Part 1) - Forrester 148: Paying Employees For CX Is A Bad Idea (Part 2) - Forrester

This week, Principal Analyst Max Ball joins to explain the history and current state of AI in the contact center. Max highlights the immediate improvements brought on by AI and outlines areas where AI still has far to go. We also touch on the challenges faced by human agents and the confusion around terminology like "agentic" and "agents."

High-Tech firms operate in fiercely competitive and price-sensitive industries, making CX a potentially transformative differentiator — if implemented effectively. Principal Analyst Su Doyle joins us to share practical CX strategies tailored for high-tech firms, emphasizing the importance of aligning CX with business objectives, leveraging customer success programs, and adopting performance-focused approaches to drive growth and improve customer relationships.

All those reasons why customer obsession is too hard don’t matter. Customer experience wins business. VP, Principal Analyst Shar VanBoskirk explains how customer obsession is not just a goal, but a continuous practice that can lead to significant improvements in customer experience and business efficiency. She shares real world examples, challenges in measuring customer obsession, and future directions for the research. We discuss:  How customer obsession aligns with business strategy and operations  How mindsets need to shift for continuous practice  How to assess a firm’s customer obsession  Where to find insight to improve customer obsession practices  To learn more, join Shar for her keynote and much more interactive content at CX Summit North America.  

Does a CX team’s position in the organization affect its influence? Principal Analyst Judy Weader shares insights from recent survey data and qualitative research, revealing that there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer. The placement of CX teams varies widely across different companies and industries, but organizational dynamics go beyond the org chart. The burden is on the CX leader to drive influence and flex with the nonlinear nature of CX maturity. Judy offers a decision-making framework to help organizations determine the best placement for their CX functions, emphasizing the role of executive sponsorship and the necessity for CX leaders to be proactive in their roles.

You don’t just manage, you lead. Managing the details of CX – execution, measurement, strategy – is crucial, but for you to truly succeed, you must lead your people to become customer-obsessed, empowered workers who understand and care about your customer’s outcomes.

Why should CX professionals care about brand experience (BX)? Forrester VP, Principal Analysts Dipanjan Chatterjee and Thomas Husson join the podcast to discuss the challenges organizations face in delivering a total experience and shed light on how BX can help drive growth.

CX transformation requires leaders to determine the specific employee behaviors that drive customer loyalty and shape the conditions that enable them to activate the entire workforce to demonstrate customer focus. In this episode, Angelina introduces a blueprint consisting of three key steps: 1) describing current and ideal culture; 2) assessing the current culture; and 3) leading culture change.

Employee feedback is part of a virtuous cycle of improving customer experience (CX) through employee empowerment and enablement that builds customer trust. But if you’re not building your CX strategy using this loop, you’re in a reactive cycle of EX-blind customer focus instead. Breaking the cycle begins with an effective employee listening strategy, followed by accountability at the leadership level to ensure that employee voice leads to appropriate action. Forrester Principal Analyst David Brodeur-Johnson joins us to discuss.

Most CX teams are too reliant on feedback (survey) data, leading to limited insights and even misinformed action. Forrester senior analyst Rich Saunders joins us to make the case for advanced analytics. He outlines the path forward – even for those intimidated by advanced analytics.