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The Brewery, London – Tuesday 26th November

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REVOLUTIONISE YOUR BUSINESS AT EUROPE’S PREMIER CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

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1000+ ATTENDEES
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100+ PRESENTATIONS
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ONE-DAY EVENT
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ROUNDTABLE SESSIONS

THE FUTURE IS NOW AND brings A WEALTH OF OPPORTUNITIES

The future of Customer Engagement isn’t just exciting - it’s revolutionary! We’re on the brink of a seismic shift that will redefine how organisations connect with their customers.

We'll help you prepare for a world where holistic customer insights, powered by cloud solutions and diverse multichannel communications, create seamless and personalised experiences.

This isn’t just evolution; it’s a customer-centric revolution that will separate the innovators from the laggards. The Customer Engagement Summit embraces the future and is where you'll transform customer relationships forever.

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KEY FACTS

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1000+ Attendees
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100+ presentations
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roundtable sessions
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CASE STUDIES, INTERVIEWS & PANEL DISCUSSIONS
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1-2-1 MEETINGS

What to expect

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TOPIC STREAMS

Emerging Trends in Customer Engagement

We’ll explore the latest strategies and technologies that organisations can use to enhance customer interactions. This topic stream covers personalisation, AI-driven insights, omnichannel experiences, and evolving customer expectations, providing insights into how companies can build deeper connections and drive loyalty in a competitive marketplace.

Proactive Customer Engagement

Proactive customer service is key to engagement as it anticipates and resolves needs before they become issues. We’ll look at how, by offering solutions and updates in advance, organisations can enhance satisfaction, reduce frustration, and build trust and loyalty.

Personalisation and Customer Segmentation

This topic stream examines how organisations can tailor experiences to individual customers by leveraging data-driven segmentation. We’ll delve into techniques for identifying distinct customer groups, crafting personalised marketing strategies, and utilising advanced analytics to improve customer satisfaction, engagement, and overall organisational performance.

Customer Journey Mapping

We’ll look at how customer journey mapping improves customer engagement by providing a clear understanding of the customer experience across all touchpoints. It helps organisations identify pain points, optimise interactions, and personalise experiences, leading to greater satisfaction and loyalty. By visualising the customer’s path, companies can better align their strategies with customer needs, enhancing overall engagement and driving better outcomes.

Omnichannel Engagement

An omnichannel it ensures a seamless, consistent interaction across all touchpoints, whether online, in-store, or through mobile devices. This topic streams looks at how integrating various channels allows customers to switch between them effortlessly, maintaining continuity in their experience. This approach meets the modern customer's expectation for convenience and flexibility, enhancing satisfaction and loyalty.

AI and Automation

Our AI and Automation stream explores how organisations leverage artificial intelligence and automation technologies to streamline operations, enhance decision-making, and improve customer experiences. This topic stream covers the latest advancements in AI, practical applications of automation, and the impact these technologies have on efficiency, innovation, and organisational growth.

Predictive Analytics and Customer Insights

Predictive Analytics and Customer Insights showcases those best-in-class organisations and how they’re using data to anticipate customer behaviours and trends. This topic stream explores techniques for analysing historical data, generating actionable insights, and applying predictive models to personalise marketing, enhance customer experiences, and drive strategic decision-making within organisations.

Voice of the Customer

We’ll delve into how organisations capture and utilise customer feedback to shape products, services, and experiences. This topic stream explores methods for gathering customer input, analysing sentiment, and integrating feedback into business strategies to enhance satisfaction, loyalty, and overall organisational success.

Proving the ROI of Customer Engagement Excellence

Understanding how organisations measure the financial impact of effective customer engagement strategies is crucial. This topic stream focuses on quantifying returns, linking engagement efforts to revenue growth, and demonstrating the value of customer-centric approaches to stakeholders, ensuring sustained investment in engagement initiatives.

Customer Acquisiton & Loyalty

Exploring the strategies organisations use to attract and retain customers, this topic stream delves into techniques for driving growth and building long-term relationships. We’ll cover approaches to acquiring new customers, enhancing loyalty through personalised experiences, and leveraging data to enhance customer retention and lifetime value.

The Self-Serve Customer

As customers increasingly seek independence and ‘always on’ service, we examine how organisations empower individuals to solve their own needs. This topic stream explores the rise of self-service technologies, strategies for enhancing user experience, and the impact of self-serve options on customer satisfaction, efficiency, and organisational cost savings.

Marketing’s Role in Customer Engagement

Highlighting the critical influence of marketing in building strong customer relationships, this stream explores how marketing strategies drive interaction, loyalty, and brand affinity. We’ll cover the integration of personalised content, omnichannel approaches, and data-driven insights to enhance customer experiences and engagement across all touchpoints.

The Future of Customer Contact

This topic stream delves into emerging technologies and trends reshaping customer contact strategies. It covers advancements in AI, chatbots, omnichannel support, and personalised communication, as well as the all important topic of “humans vs. technology” in customer contact.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Exploring how organisations manage interactions with customers, this topic stream covers the strategies and technologies involved in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). It examines how CRM systems help track customer data, personalise communication, streamline processes, and improve overall relationships, driving customer satisfaction and organisational success.

Customer Engagement Service Design

Exploring how organisations craft exceptional customer interactions, this topic stream covers the principles of service design in creating a winning customer engagement stragey. It explores methodologies for developing seamless and personalised service experiences, integrating customer feedback, and optimising touchpoints to boost satisfaction, loyalty, and overall effectiveness in customer engagement strategies.

Building a Customer-Centric Culture

Examining how organisations cultivate a focus on customer needs, this topic stream covers strategies for building a customer-centric culture. It explores methods for embedding customer orientation into every aspect of the organisation, from leadership and employee training to policies and practices, to enhance satisfaction and drive long-term loyalty.

Balancing Human vs. Automated Engagement

Exploring the interplay between human and automated interactions, this topic stream examines strategies for balancing personal touch with technological efficiency. It covers how organisations can integrate human and automated engagement to optimise customer engagement, enhance service quality, and achieve effective, scalable communication across various touchpoints.



Vulnerable Customer Engagement

We explore strategies for effectively interacting with customers who face unique challenges or disadvantages. This topics stream covers creating empathetic communication, ensuring accessibility, providing tailored support, and fostering trust. It highlights best practices for organisations to meet the needs of vulnerable customers while maintaining respectful and supportive relationships.

Content Stages

Main Stage

Welcome to our largest stage, where you can anticipate transformational case studies, exclusive fireside chats, and in-depth panel discussions. We will focus on every aspect of customer experience, offering you unparalleled insights and practical strategies to cultivate customer belonging. Join us to explore innovative approaches and gain valuable perspectives from industry leaders and experts.

Customer Growth & Loyalty

This stage will explore best practices on how to create a loyal customer base. Customer loyalty is increasingly crucial in customer engagement, driving repeat business, reducing churn, and enhancing brand advocacy. Loyal customers often spend more and promote the brand through positive word-of-mouth, ultimately contributing to sustained business growth and a competitive edge in the market.

This stage will explore:

  • Strategies for Driving Acquisition & Retention
  • Leveraging Data for a Personalised Experience
  • The Role of Customer Feedback in Building Loyalty
  • Creating Value Beyond the Transaction
  • Measuring and Optimising Customer Lifetime Value
  • Cultivating Brand Advocates
  • Omnichannel Engagement for Sustained Growth
  • Building Long-Term Customer Relationships
  • Aligning Marketing Efforts with Customer Loyalty Goals
Contact Centre

Join the contact centre stage to learn take home tips and strategies from those paving the way to excellent customer contact. Contact centres are rapidly changing and becoming more digital to meet evolving customer expectations for quick, efficient service. Advances in technology, such as AI, chatbots, and cloud solutions, enable personalised, seamless interactions and 24/7 support, improving operational efficiency and enhancing the overall customer experience.

This stage will explore:

  • Balancing Human Touch with Technology in Customer Contact
  • Data-Driven Insights for Optimising Customer Contact Performance
  • Agent Empowerment and Training for Improved Customer Interactions
  • Omnichannel Integration for Seamless Customer Support
  • Managing Remote and Hybrid Customer Contact Teams
  • Reducing Customer Contact Attrition Through Employee Engagement
  • Personalisation and Customer Segmentation
  • The Future of Customer Contact
  • Building a Customer-Centric Culture
  • Proactive Customer Engagement
  • Vulnerable Customers
Data & Analytics

This stage will provide exclusive insight on how to effectively collect and utilise customer data and analytics. Data and analytics are essential in customer engagement, providing insights into customer behaviours, preferences, and needs. Enabling businesses to personalise interactions, predict trends, and make informed decisions, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction, loyalty, business performance and greater operational efficiency.

This stage will explore:

  • Building a Data-Driven Culture
  • Leveraging Data for Strategic Decision Making
  • Data Visualisation: Turning Insights into Action
  • Ensuring Data Quality and Governance
  • Customer Journey Mapping
  • Voice of the Customer & Customer Feedback
  • Predictive Analytics and Customer Insights
  • Customer Data Security
  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Customer Experience Management

Customer Experience Management (CXM) is vital for organisations as it focuses on optimising every customer interaction to enhance satisfaction and loyalty. This stage will showcase how effective CXM strategies help build strong, lasting relationships, improve brand reputation, and drive growth by ensuring consistent, personalised, and positive experiences across all touchpoints.

This stage will explore:

  • Implementing Technology for Enhanced Customer Engagement
  • Creating a Unified Customer Experience Across All Channels
  • Empowering Employees to Improve Customer Engagement
  • Defining and Measuring Customer Experience
  • Implementing Effective Customer Experience Metrics
  • Training Teams for Consistent Customer Experience
  • Handling Customer Complaints and Resolving Issues
  • The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Customer Service
  • Emerging Trends in Customer Engagement
  • Proving the ROI of Customer Engagement Excellence
  • Customer Engagement Service Design
Ollie Ollerton

Ollie Ollerton

Former UK Special Forces Soldier

As one of the first former UK Special Forces members and star of Channel 4's SAS: Who Dares Wins to talk openly to the media and reveal their identity, Ollie Ollerton has an incredible story to tell. A former Special Forces operative with the SBS, he has undertaken operations in some of the most dangerous and remote locations on the planet.

After leaving school and joining the Royal Marine Commandos, Ollie’s time in Northern Ireland and Iraq earned him a recommendation for the SAS. After joining the service's marine sister regiment, the Special Boat Service, he undertook high profile missions involving hostage rescue, counter narcotics, and counter terrorism.

When Ollie returned to the UK, after thirteen years overseas and on the frontline, he started developing a concept that would put his years of training and experience to best use and would benefit others. His Break-Point business is a leadership and development course aimed at the public and corporate sectors whilst also supporting veterans suffering the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It's a subject Ollie has spoken openly about, sharing his experiences and difficulties in adjusting to life, dealing with stress, and overcoming trauma.

Ollie is now also one of the training director/presenters of SAS: Who Dares Wins, a show in which he and other ex-Special Forces operatives recreate the SAS’s selection process with thirty recruits from the public. The show has become one of Channel 4's most popular, attracting over three million viewers per episode. Since starring in the show Ollie has also written a deeply personal account of life in and out of the military, also called Break Point, looking at the challenges he faced working to enter the Special Forces, under fire on the frontline, and coming to terms with civilian life. He has also written Battle Ready, a practical look at how to apply his training and experience to more everyday goals, risk-taking and leadership.

Nicky Haddow

Nicky Haddow

Victoria’s Secret UK Head of Marketing

I am an enthusiastic Marketing Expert that is passionate about delivering integrated & impactful 360 marketing propositions & campaigns that are not only Brand & Customer focused but commercially driven & data led. With 20+ years experience in Fashion & Apparel omni channel retailing, I love developing marketing strategies that perfectly align with the overall business objectives and market relevance, whilst driving innovation and retaining brand integrity.

Livia Fekiacova

Livia Fekiacova

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. Enterprise Marketing CRM Lead
Livia has spent the past three years at Estée Lauder Companies leading the Enterprise Marketing CRM team. In this role, she’s been working with a diverse portfolio of 17 prestige beauty brands, spearheading digital transformation while nurturing each brand’s unique identity and purpose. Her leadership has driven creativity and innovation through tech, vendors and internal CRM strategies, placing the customer at the heart of CRM campaigns.

Before her current role, Livia provided consultancy and led the strategic development of lifecycle programs, award-winning campaigns, and both national and international CRM transformation projects. Her expertise spans customer-led strategy design and execution, as well as product development. Her client portfolio includes retail, FMCG, hospitality, tech and beauty. With over 13 years of experience integrating marketing and technology, her specialization and passion lie in CRM, loyalty programs, and data-driven strategies.

Livia’s background also includes experience in sales, digital media, magazine & print advertising, direct mail, radio, and OOO advertising. 

Livia holds a Master of Science in Marketing and later served as a panel member at her university, contributing to the curriculum to keep it aligned with business trends for six years. Additionally, she has been actively sponsoring children in need in Africa for the past 20 years, a cause she deeply values.
Marco Merkx

Marco Merkx

IKEA Global Customer Engagement Development Leader

Over 25 years of experience in marketing management and strategy, e-commerce , digital marketing and customer relationship management both in operational and in strategical management roles for mainly fashion, food and lifestyle consumer brands and retailers. On national and international level, in organizations varying from start-ups to multinational corporations.

My professional purpose is to support companies with transformation, innovation and development of organization design, technology and customer engagement. Always based on customer data and insights, leading to tangible results and growth. Specifically realizing customer centricity, digital transformation and omni channel proposition development are my fields of expertise. For this, my commercial and technical know-how are as much of value and importance as are my creativity and my sensitivity towards the human, cultural and organizational aspects.

Currently working for Inter IKEA Systems, the owner and developer of the IKEA concept, range and brand, as Global Customer Engagement Development Leader, working on topics as engagement, loyalty, personalization and crm in an omni channel context.

Joana de Quintanilha

Joana de Quintanilha

Forrester VP, Principal Analyst
Joana is a VP Principal Analyst at Forrester where she serves customer experience professionals. Her areas of expertise include journey-centricity, digital customer experience, empathy, mental models, designing for emotion, and tools including journey mapping, and Agile methods. Joana also focuses on brand and leads Forrester’s coverage of journey mapping, journey analytics, and journey orchestration technologies.
Jasmin Wheeler

Jasmin Wheeler

John Lewis Customer Experience Lead

I’m an innovative and energetic Product Lead, motivated by getting the best for the people around me – whether that’s the customers I design for or the teams I work in or lead. My expertise has been built through five years’ working in retail across shops and head office for the John Lewis Partnership, during a period of radical change.

Honest, supportive and aspirational, I enjoy working collaboratively with people to create tangible results with a clear purpose in mind. Through leadership roles on the shop floor and in experience design, I’ve developed an agility to deliver both operational success and strategic vision. I focus on the future while meeting the practical needs of today.

Last year I learned a lot from being part of John Lewis’s Restart programme, which saw the safe and successful reopening of our 38 shops following the first national Covid lockdown. My focus was to ensure we were well placed to adapt to the change in our customers’ needs, particularly those from vulnerable groups.

Progression? I really value it, for myself and the teams I lead. So I’m energised by opportunities through which I can broaden my experience and enable others to reach their full potential.

Rebecca	Martin

Rebecca Martin

John Lewis Senior Customer Experience Manager

Rebecca is currently a Partner & Senior Customer Experience Manager at John Lewis & Partners. Rebecca started as Propositions Manager at John Lewis in 2021 and has since grown and developed her role into the Senior Customer Experience Manager position. 

Prior to that, Rebecca was at Vodafone for 7 years starting as an Internal Communications Specialist and transitioned to a Propositions Manager.

Emma Perkins

Emma Perkins

Experian Head of CX Strategy EMEA & APAC

Over the past 5 years Emma has driven the Customer Experience agenda delivering change and CX improvements across the EMEA and APAC region delivering significant increases in Relationship NPS scores year after year. Leading the CX programme across 12 countries to deliver actionable insights and improvement activities, collaborating across multiple functions and levels within the organisation. Understanding the value of CX and the impact on business outcomes has been key to success. 

Emma is committed to health and wellbeing and prior to joining Experian was fortunate to work in the fitness industry combining her love of being active outside with great Customer Experiences. 

Specialties: 
Customer Experience and Loyalty measurement
Market development
Driving change
Customer feedback mechanisms
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

Shannon	Hamer

Shannon Hamer

Economist Global Head of Customer Success

Shannon is Head of Customer Success at The Economist but was an early adopter of Customer Success in the UK having launched and led Customer Success globally in large organisations including RELX Group, Financial Times and Zoopla. When not doing all things Customer Success, Shannon enjoys spending time with her husband, three daughters and is an avid puzzle and wine enthusiast!

Simon Birch

Simon Birch

Hobbycraft Customer Service Manager
I am a dedicated and results-driven business leader with a strong background in Retail Management, Customer Experience, and Customer Contact management. Throughout my career, I have consistently championed the customer voice and spearheaded improvements across various facets of business operations. My track record speaks to my ability to build and lead high-performing teams that consistently deliver exceptional results. I am committed to elevating the customer experience and driving positive change within organisations.
Alessandra Canavesi

Alessandra Canavesi

AXA Investment Managers Head of Digital Marketing & Customer Experience

Alessandra Canavesi is an experienced international marketing and communications director with dual Italian and British citizenship, based in London. With over fifteen years in the industry, she has been leading marketing projects across globally, particularly within blue-chip financial organizations.

Currently, Alessandra is the Head of Marketing and Customer Experience at AXA IM Alts, a global leader in alternative investments. Since joining in 2016, she has driven significant results through innovative digital initiatives and strategic collaboration, leading to record capital-raising years, increased client engagement, and improved marketing ROI.

Her previous roles include Head of Marketing at LaSalle Investment Management, Senior Manager at M&G Asset Management, and marketing positions at Investec Private Bank and HSBC Group. Alessandra holds a Master’s degree in Classics and Philosophy from the University Statale of Milan and is fluent in Italian, English, and French.

 

Charlotte Burridge-Taylor

Charlotte Burridge-Taylor

Volvo Head of Training for Global Customer Care

Strategic, results-focused leader, driving commitment to excellence through learning development and delivery and expert management of teams and processes.

My motorsport background gives me a unique perspective when it comes to premium brands which I have been able to use in the classroom to really bring training programmes to life and drive forward excellent results. Experience with premium brands has also given me a clear understanding of corporate guidelines, KPI’s, processes and the importance of striving for the highest level of customer satisfaction.

Deborah Woods

Deborah Woods

Costa Coffee Contact Centre Manager
Professional, goal orientated, people manager with 20 years contact centre experience who has successfully delivered results in demanding, fast-paced, contact centre environments. With a strong track record of exceeding business metrics and who has the ability to influence people at all levels and negotiate effectively. A resourceful problem solver, who is resilient and calm with a high level of emotional intelligence. Works extremely well under pressure and trusted to manage teams effectively to achieve and exceed their key business objectives. Customer focused with a passion to deliver enhanced customer experience
Samantha Lewis-Williams

Samantha Lewis-Williams

Financial Times Head of Marketing Automation
Experienced Marketing Professional - adept at leveraging customer insights and analysis to identify opportunities to increase customer engagement via multi-channel customer-facing journeys.
Dina Hassan

Dina Hassan

LinkedIn Head of Customer Success - Global Clients, Search & Staffing - EMEAL
Dina is an accomplished customer success leader, currently heading a team within LinkedIn Talent Solutions, where she works closely with global staffing businesses HQ across EMEA & LATAM. With a deep focus on aligning technology, data, and change management, she has been instrumental in driving customer outcomes that foster long-term loyalty and engagement. Over the past nine years at LinkedIn, Dina has built a reputation for creating value beyond transactions by helping customers unlock growth through personalized strategies, data-driven insights, and scalable solutions across emerging and mature makrets. Known for her ability to cultivate relationships, Dina specializes in transforming customer feedback into actionable improvements that not only reduce churn but create brand advocates. Her unique approach combines strategic thinking, leadership, and a passion for human connection, empowering organizations to enhance customer lifetime value and achieve sustained business success.
Anna Wilcox

Anna Wilcox

Bupa Head of Customer Experience

Anna is an established customer experience and marketing professional with a proven track record of delivering excellent commercial performance over the 20 years of my career. 
I started my career in marketing, planning and driving growth for large corporate organisations across industries such as health insurance, the motor trade, pharmacy and IT. Over the years my passion for marketing sparked an interest in customer behaviour and 6 years ago I moved into the Customer Experience profession. 
I now head up the Customer Experience function at Bupa Insurance, aiming to be the world’s most customer centric healthcare organisation. 
 All helping to achieve our purpose of helping people live longer, healthier and happier lives and making a better world.

Chloe Rice

Chloe Rice

Shutterstock Director, Global Customer Experience
Chloe Rice is a global customer experience leader with over 15 years of industry experience in sales and customer success. Currently serving as Director of Customer Experience at Shutterstock, Chloe has scaled her approach of genuine empathy and care for customers to a global level, leading cross-functional teams and initiatives that drive customer-centric innovation across multiple regions. Driven by a commitment to elevating customer experience, Chloe combines strategic vision with hands-on leadership to foster open, collaborative environments. Her extensive expertise and multi-faceted lens through which she has viewed the customer landscape enables her to bring unique insights on scaling customer care and performance in today’s fast-paced digital economy.
Melanie Fischer

Melanie Fischer

Xero Director, Customer Experience - UK & EMEA

Melanie is a CX-centric Director with 20+ years’ experience embedding cultures of continuous improvement to optimise customer acquisition, satisfaction, and retention. She is passionate about maintaining high service efficiency and quality levels by championing customer success, Voice of Customer (VoC) implementation, complaints handling, and transparent communications. 

Melanie is currently the CX Director at Xero for UK & EMEA (global accounting software company) and has prior experience at retailers such as Waitrose, Post Office and Tesco. 

Areas of expertise include:
- major change and transformation
- leading large business units and teams

Rebecca Gordon

Rebecca Gordon

Westminster City Council Head of Online Customer Experience

As Head of Online Customer Experience at Westminster City Council, Rebecca brings years of dynamic expertise in leading digital transformation within the public sector. Known for developing user-centric services that surpass expectations, they champion agile methodologies and cultivate a collaborative spirit that propels teams to new heights. Attendees will gain insights into how innovative leadership and strategic digital delivery can revolutionise public service experiences.

With a proven track record in driving impactful change, Rebecca is passionate about inspiring teams to explore new technologies and fresh approaches that elevate customer engagement and service excellence. Join this session to learn from their journey of shaping exceptional digital solutions, sparking ideas that attendees can take back to their own organisations to foster transformation and innovation.

Vanessa Milan

Vanessa Milan

Cambridge University Press & Assessment Head of Voice of the Customer, Global Operations

I am a passionate Voice of the Customer lead and a natural advocate for customers. I am skilled at engaging internal stakeholders to strategically improve the customer experience across Cambridge University Press and Assessment.

I am a self-starter and multi-disciplinary person who leads the development and execution of the Voice of the Customer programme, strategy and governance for Global Customer Service, Credit Management, Royalties, the English division Channel Partners and English and Education product platforms at Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

Karen Stewart

Karen Stewart

Standard Life Vulnerable Customer Centre of Excellence - Snr Consultant

Joining Standard Life in Q4 2021, Karen has previously supported customers in vulnerable circumstances throughout her career in both retail banking and energy services.

She supports colleagues in embedding Standard Life’s Principles and Standards, support with best practice, internal and external training and upskilling resources and supporting Standard Life Workplace client visits when looking at our vulnerability management.

Karen is active externally in focus groups and forums around vulnerability and is a Vulnerability Champion for the Collaboration Network.

Focused on providing good customer outcomes, Karen has a particular interest in inclusivity and accessibility for customers and colleagues and showcasing the work we do to support our members.

Having experienced vulnerability personally, Karen is passionate about working to remove barriers and helping people get on with living their lives.

Suzanne Lannin

Suzanne Lannin

Standard Life Senior Operations Design Manager

Suzanne has worked for Standard Life since 1997 and performed roles in customer service, customer proposition, change delivery and most recently as a Senior Operations Design Manager.

She uses high quality insight to design and deliver enhancements for customers that remove barriers and drive better customer experiences and outcomes. This is enhanced with the use of journey maps and journey performance insight. She has a deep understanding of customer experience through tools such as Voice of Customer, root cause analytics, complaints outcome testing and behavioural science which leads to customer led solutions that are performance tested.

Suzanne is passionate about delivering the best possible outcomes for her customers, supporting them to live their dreams and go into later life with dignity and enjoyment.

Maria Mattos

Maria Mattos

Renault Group Customer Experience Transformation Manager
Maria Mattos is a passionate, collaborative CX professional with extensive experience in driving commercial improvements and retailer network performance. Maria has a strong background in Business Intelligence and has worked in the automotive industry for over 10 years. 
 
Having worked at Volkswagen Group UK, Audi UK and now Renault Group UK, Maria is experienced in deploying transformational and continuous improvement projects at a national level with a customer-first mindset.
Natalia Tatar

Natalia Tatar

Fuller Smith & Turner P.L.C Group Sales and Events Manager

Group Sales and Events Manager for Fullers since 2019

17 years of experience in Hospitality Sales and Events

Worked for companies like Novus Leisure and Revolution Bars

Sales Executive Apprenticeship Level 4

Member of Institute of Sales Professionals

I am a competitive and driven individual with a proven record of developing advanced sales structures and achieving consistent, sustainable sales growth. I focus my teams on delivering exceptional guest experiences as the key to outperforming their targets.

In my current role I navigate complex business landscapes, through building a strong sales and events team concentrated on enhancing customer engagement and adapting traditional sales processes to the demands of the modern digital economy.

Outside of work, I am a highly active mum of toddler who loves travelling, and spending time with her family and friends!

Naomi Sweeting

Naomi Sweeting

Places for People Group Head of Research & Insight
Naomi has an extensive background in customer experience and has recently joined the Places for People team as Group Head of Research & Insight.
Andy Purcell

Andy Purcell

WeTransfer Senior Manager Martech and Systems Operations
Andy Purcell has over 15 years experience making technology and data work for marketing teams and beyond at household names such as WeTransfer and The Walt Disney Company, as well as innovative start ups such as Immersive Gamebox. An expert in all things tech stack, Andy has worked with most systems across industries as varied as video game production, government and education.
Ashutosh	 Pandey

Ashutosh Pandey

Eutelsat Group VP Project Management, Quality and Process

Ashutosh is a leading Global Executive in the New Economy sectors of Space Technology, Satellites and Telecommunications. 

As a Transformation and Turnaround Leader, he has successfully delivered multi-dimensional cost intensive sustainable transformations bringing in more than 1 Billion Euro financial savings globally for multiple organisations.

As a Business Process Management (BPM) leader, he successfully led enterprise wide transformation of key end-to-end processes across the organisation, thereby unlocking multi-million cash and generate value via simplification, standardization and ERP consolidation (incl Digital Transformation)

As a Quality Management leader, he led successful end-to-end assessments for International standards like ISO 9001, TL 9000, CMMI, IS 27001, IS 18001, EFQM and set up Corporate ESG and Sustainability management metrics. 

He has strong expertise in leading Operations and Program management (incl Global PMO), change management and executing customer transformation using continuous improvement methodologies like Lean, Kaizen, Six Sigma and Hybrid/Agile PM.

He is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt (CMBB), ASQ Certified Manager for Quality & Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE), Certified Process Professional (CPP), ASQ Certified Quality Auditor (CQA), Certified Business Excellence Assessor (CBEA) on EFQM model, Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA), Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Fellow Chartered Manager(FCMI) from CMI UK.

Ashutosh is recognised as a cross-industry expert in Business Transformation, Operational Excellence and Lean Six Sigma and he has been a leading panellist and key speaker at multiple international forums globally since 2008.

As a trainer, he has trained 5000+ experts in various continuous improvement methodologies (lean/ kaizen/ six sigma/ design thinking/ agile).

By education, he is a Bachelor of Engineering and also holds a double MBA degree.

Laura Macleod

Laura Macleod

Virgin Money Senior Product Owner
As a collaborative leader Laura works cross functionally with engineers, designers, data scientists, business stakeholders and customers to align AI product strategies with Virgin Money’s organisational goals and regulatory requirements. Throughout their career Laura has blended a deep understanding of customer needs, digital offerings and emerging AI technologies to create user centric virtual assistants that simplify complex banking tasks, enhancing accessibility and boost customer satisfaction by leveraging data analytics and continuous improvement Laura has driven substantial enhancements in customer engagement, response accuracy and self-serve efficiency. In a world where personalisation and digital convenience are vital, Laura is dedicated to pioneering solutions that make financial services more intuitive, accessible, and future ready through the power of conversational AI.
Tim Fisher

Tim Fisher

Tapi Carpets Head of Academy
For over 18 years, Tim has led Learning & Development teams in a variety of sectors across Australasia, South Africa, and the UK. With a focus on combining technology with people-centered strategies, Tim works to build lean, high-impact teams that foster growth, enhance skills, and drive meaningful business outcomes for Tapi Carpets.
Daniel Bunton

Daniel Bunton

Cleo AI Head of Customer Support
Hi there! I'm Daniel, a former actor turned customer support enthusiast, currently Head of Customer Support at Cleo AI.
Like most actors, I became a Barista and knew how to make your coffee just right. This unexpectedly led to a role selling coffee by the kilo for a roastery.
When I stepped into the SaaS universe to head up Sales for a fresh start-up, I quickly realized the need for a robust support system. So, naturally, I took up that mantle.
Being at Cleo has allowed me to build a dynamic and empathetic team of support agents spread across the globe. Together, we've scaled our operations and enhanced user experiences from Series A to Series C...and we're just getting warmed up!
A key to our success at Cleo AI has been leveraging AI to automate processes, making customer journeys smooth and enjoyable. I find the intersection of AI and customer support to be fascinating and full of potential.
While the stage isn't my daily backdrop anymore, I keep my acting skills sharp through voiceover work. This has led to a variety of roles, including a recent gig voicing the yellow M&M.
Mark Nichols

Mark Nichols

Flagstone Head of Operations

Mark has extensive experience in client success, experience and operations and is now the Director of Operations at Flagstone.

 

Terry Ward

Terry Ward

Quilter Customer Insight Specialist
Terry is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) at Wealth Management company Quilter, who has over twenty years’ experience in financial services. He uses insights from customer data and customer feedback to drive product and service enhancements and to inform current and future strategic priorities.
Harriet Lack

Harriet Lack

Oxford Languages Head of Customer Success

Harriet Lack is the Head of Customer Success at Oxford Languages, bringing a decade of experience in Customer Success roles across a range of industries from Finance and Food Technology to Licensing. Harriet is renowned for her ability to build and lead Customer Success teams, driven by a passion for data-driven insights and a commitment to co-collaboration with customers. 

Throughout her career, Harriet has managed customer-facing teams in both start-ups and established businesses, covering areas such as Customer Success, Service, Operations and Telesales. She specializes in establishing and growing Customer Success teams, developing effective strategies and KPIs, implementing CRMs, and leveraging data analytics to drive growth and retention.

Harriet’s expertise and dedication to customer success make her an exceptional speaker on topics related to customer success and operational excellence. Her insights and experience provide valuable perspectives for any audience looking to enhance their customer success strategies and achieve sustainable growth. 

Nicola Adcock

Nicola Adcock

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (dstl) Customer Experience Lead

Nicola is a Customer Experience Leader who has 15 years of experience designing and improving services to meet the needs of their users. Her background is in public services and she understands the unique balance of customer requirement and public interest that exists within this sector.

Nicola has most recently established a customer focus approach which brings insights, experience and engagement together to provide a holistic change and improvement programme.

Nicola’s skills and expertise include; managing customer facing teams, designing services and service structures, embedding KPIs and data analytics, developing and embedding customer experience strategy, co-ordinating cross functional activities that lead to customer success.

Helen Luty

Helen Luty

Landmark Information Group Head of Customer Experience
Helen has over 25 years’ experience in Customer Experience Leadership across a variety of both B2B and B2C businesses. As Head of Customer Experience for Landmark Information Group, Helen covers service, support and success across a variety of divisions, building and improving processes to ensure Landmark are easy to do business with, that focus on positive outcomes, that seek and learn from feedback and that look to the ever-evolving needs of our customers. Helen has a passion for making a difference, this cascades throughout the Customer Service Teams and has resulted in high engagement scores and as we all know…… engaged and happy teams mean engaged and happy customers. Outside of work, Helen loves family time and live music and if you can combine the two, even better!
Nick Mills

Nick Mills

Landmark Information Group National Training Manager
Nick has been the National Training Manager for Landmark Geodata for 18 years, with responsibility for the planning and delivery of the varied training courses offered to clients. As a recognised expert on the Landmark Geodata products Nick develops user guides and training documentation and is key to testing of the system. With more than 25 years’ experience in creating and delivering training, Nick holds a Masters Diploma in Learning and Development and is a Gold Accredited Learning and Development Professional and Fellow of the British Institute of Training and Occupational Learning (ITOL). Outside of Landmark, Nic enjoys sports (with football and rugby league favourite topics!), theatre, music – and computer games, which he doesn’t seem to have yet grown out of!
Marcus Hickman

Marcus Hickman

Davies Hickman Managing Director

Jo and Marcus are founders of Davies Hickman Partners, set up in 2007. Responsible for one of the longest-running tracker studies of customer contact – The Autonomous Customer – they are market research advisers to the customer experience and contact centre industry, that includes some of the leading customer service associations. In 2023, Davies Hickman Partners were finalists in the Content Marketing Institute awards for research on AI for CX. Jo is on the BSI and ISO committee responsible for developing Contact centre, Customer service excellence and Complaint handling standards.

Jo Davies

Jo Davies

Davies Hickman Global Director of Market Research

Jo and Marcus are founders of Davies Hickman Partners, set up in 2007. Responsible for one of the longest-running tracker studies of customer contact – The Autonomous Customer – they are market research advisers to the customer experience and contact centre industry, that includes some of the leading customer service associations. In 2023, Davies Hickman Partners were finalists in the Content Marketing Institute awards for research on AI for CX. Jo is on the BSI and ISO committee responsible for developing Contact centre, Customer service excellence and Complaint handling standards.

Russell Yeates

Russell Yeates

AWS Principal Sales Specialist for Amazon Connect

Russell has been working in the contact centre industry for the past 20 years. Starting with operational contact centre management, he has transitioned into helping clients while working for some of the leading manufacturers in the industry.

In his current role at AWS, Russell helps clients in the enterprise accounts, with specific focus on the travel and hospitality, gaming and logistics companies to achieve their CX experience goals.

Luke Atkins

Luke Atkins

Front Senior Customer Support Specialist
Luke is a seasoned Customer Support Specialist at Front, a leading customer operations platform. With a passion for CX and a dynamic approach to problem-solving, he leverages Front's cutting-edge features to drive efficiency and elevate customer experiences. Luke is dedicated to creating seamless, optimised solutions that empower teams and enhance operational excellence.
Steve Baxter

Steve Baxter

Zoho Enterprise Marketing Manager UK

'Steve has worked in B2B marketing for over 30 years. He joined Zoho in March 2022. During his career, Steve has worked for a wide variety of company types: big multinationals like Kyocera and Zoho,  SMEs in the West Midlands and even for himself.

When he's not working, he's drumming in his rock band, following F1 or being dragged into equine activities by his wife and daughter.

Jim Miller

Jim Miller

Medallia Senior CX Consultant
Jim is an experienced CX professional that has worked across a number of industries, now focussing predominantly on advising large, multi-market organisations how to get the most from their CX programs. Jim is passionate about ensuring organisations are genuinely driving meaningful action from their CX programs
Lisa Garthside

Lisa Garthside

Medallia Director, Professional Services
Lisa joined Medallia in 2019. Since then she has advised a range of companies across sectors on driving change & building cultural transformation through listening to the customer. Lisa's focus is on driving true customer centricity and true business improvement.  
Mike Stewart

Mike Stewart

ArvatoConnect Head of Digital Practice
Mike Stewart is the Head of Digital Practice at ArvatoConnect, with a strong focus on blending technology with customer experience to deliver transformative digital solutions. With over 15 years of expertise in customer service technology, Mike has honed his ability to develop and implement strategies that streamline operations and enhance user engagement. His background includes leading major digital initiatives across sectors like financial services, telecommunications, and public sector organisations. Mike is passionate about using cutting-edge tools like AI and automation to create value for clients while ensuring seamless, customer-centric service delivery. 
Joseph Jack

Joseph Jack

ArvatoConnect Head of Compliance
Jospeh started at ArvatoConnect back in 2013 as a Customer Relations Consultant. Since then he has developed his career at ArvatoConnect and is now the Head of Compliance.
William Lynch

William Lynch

Freshworks Lead AE - Enterprise | UKI

Award-winning SaaS sales AE with over 6 years of experience. A proven track record of overachieving in closing roles. A wealth of expertise in B2B in Commercial and Enterprise SaaS Sales. Passionate. Positive. Persistent.
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
- Maya Angelou

Simran Kaur

Simran Kaur

Freshworks Enterprise Account Director

My success is based on an audience-centric approach, value-based selling & relationship building. Whilst I focus on achieving critical business goals.

Curious and ambitious to learn, I have enjoyed the challenge of many different industries, including IT, Research & Advisory, Advanced Manufacturing, Business Services, Energy & SaaS.

Creating a culture of equality & empowerment is very important to me, and I find great fulfillment through my volunteering activities with Khalsa aid and Thrive with mentoring. Amongst other things, my ambition is driven by my desire to be a positive role model to my 2 boys, encouraging them to build careers and lives of purpose and passion.

Balroop Bhogal

Balroop Bhogal

Freshworks Senior Solutions Engineer
I have worked in IT for 9 years now covering and gaining experience in various areas including technical support, software implementation and most recently in a pre-sale’s environment. As a solutions consultant I take pride in creating bespoke customer engagement solutions in a B2B environment, technically demoing software capabilities and helping existing customers develop and expand their solutions using a consultative approach. Specialties: Customer engagement, solution design, demo software capability, pre-sales, technical support, software support, hardware upgrades repairs and replacement, software and hardware testing, remote desktop support, highly adaptable, bespoke solutions, supervisory / management experience, salesforce
Tom Barrie

Tom Barrie

SmartSurvey Head of Product

I'm a people focused product manager and coach. I love building happy, multi disciplinary teams that collaborate effectively to solve challenges for users and organisations all over the world.

Over the last 10 years I've had the pleasure of working with clients such as Google, NatWest, Mozilla, Fiat Group, Kia, Subaru UK and the RAC as well as regional SMEs and startups.

Eric Jorgensen

Eric Jorgensen

Zendesk VP Sales, EMEA

Software sales leader with 20 years experience. Gained valuable experience building teams supporting hyper growth companies as they enter or expand in EMEA across all verticals.

Strong track record of over achieving sales targets, mentoring and coaching teams to exceed their potential and building long lasting relationships with customers and partners via a direct, honest and open approach.

Matthew Bell

Matthew Bell

Telesign Regional Director, EMEA

Matt is an accomplished Global revenue and sales leader with over 25 year’s experience in software and communications.

Matt has a deep understanding of the UCaas, CCaaS and CPaaS marketplaces which can be shown by the senior positions he has held at organisations such as Sinch, Vonage and 8x8.

Kathryn Simons-Porter

Kathryn Simons-Porter

Local Measure EMEA Sales VP

Kathryn has worked with Contact Centres and their associated leaders for over 20 years across the EMEA region, is a certified CX Specialist and holds a Post Grad in 'Applied CX and Emotional Intelligence'. Kathryn's co authored book is due to be published in December, which talks to the role of Emotional Intelligence in the workplace and how this can be cultivated through use of Generative AI. 

In Kathryn's role at Local Measure at VP of Sales for EMEA, Kathryn works across all sector verticals to guide organisations on successful contact centre optimisation programs. 

Pete Aitken

Pete Aitken

Kantar UK Head of Customer Strategy

As Kantar's UK Head of Customer Strategy, Peter supports an award-winning team of CX professionals. His team deliver platform-based experience measurement programmes across sectors, using this data to shape the customer strategy and inform experience innovation. In 2024 the Kantar CX team were awarded Best Use of Customer Insight by the Institute for Customer Service for their work with Virgin Atlantic, using Medallia’s experience management tech to identify where to improve their customer experience.

Peter leads the development of Kantar’s latest methods for CX strategy and insight, bringing a unique perspective for how customer experience is a critical enabler of brand growth. He draws from 16 years’ experience in research and consulting, with nearly 10 years in financial services, incl. HSBC, NatWest, LBG and Nationwide, plus experience across telco, energy, retail, auto and tech manufacturing.

James Bedford

James Bedford

Foundever Vice-President of Customer Success for Global Accounts

James serves as Vice-President of Customer Success for Global Accounts at Foundever, where he supports many of our global clients elevate their Customer Experience. He comes with a demonstrated history of working in BPO, client organisations & the consulting space.

At Foundever, he develops and implements CX strategies and transformation on behalf of some of the world's most recognised brands, with a focus on helping organisations move from where they are today, to the future they want to create. 

Jamie Thorpe

Jamie Thorpe

Ipsos Head of Experience Management (XM)

Jamie is a CX professional with over 20 years’ experience.  The majority of his career has been spent in Client Success/Service previously holding two board level positions and now Head of Experience Management (XM) at Ipsos.  Jamie’s expertise spans Offer, Marketing, CX Platforms, Professional Services and Delivery.  He is industry recognised as a CX leader in the UK (#3 in 2022).  His in depth of CX knowledge combined with a commercial and pragmatic/action-oriented style has seen Jamie deliver success with many clients across sectors and geographies.

Jean-Francois Damais

Jean-Francois Damais

Ipsos Global Chief Research Officer
Jean-Francois is Global Chief Research Officer at Ipsos, for Customer Experience. He has 15+ years of experience in helping brands measure and manage customer relationships across a wide range of sectors and geographies. Jean-Francois has led the development and global roll-out of several innovative solutions in the CX area, authored several papers, and regularly speaks at conferences.
Dvir Hoffman

Dvir Hoffman

CommBox CEO

As the current CEO of one of the leading AI-based customer service and engagement solutions in our market, Dvir has over two decades of experience in technology innovation and product strategy. Dvir has pioneered several innovations in the realm of CX technologies, guiding them from their inception and transforming them into award-winning global CX and enterprise solutions. His original vision on AI bots that can easily resolve complex inquiries is catalyzing a revolution in the customer experience domain as a way to radically reduce contact center load.

 

Huw Jones

Huw Jones

Verint Director, Solutions Consulting
Huw leads Verint’s specialist consulting team in EMEA – ensuring customers select and secure the most from Verint workforce management (WFM) solutions. Huw educates and inspires, having enjoyed over 20 years in tech. His customers credit him on his robust understanding of how customer behaviour drives new and innovative approaches to staffing across contact centre and back-office operations. An expert in the impact of digital contact, robotics and self-service, Huw is an advocate for using tech and the human touch to close the Engagement Capacity Gap.
Keith Barrow

Keith Barrow

Verint Director, Solutions Consulting
Keith Barrow has been working in the Customer Experience space for over 18 years and currently leads the Interaction analytics pre-sales team for Verint EMEA. Keith has witnessed the incredible evolution of Voice of the Customer solutions that provide meaningful insights, bringing together customer feedback across channels and helping organisations measure and improve experiences they provide to customers and employees so organisations can make the right business decisions. 
Ejieme Eromosele

Ejieme Eromosele

Quiq GM of EMEA
Ejieme Eromosele is an award-winning Customer Experience and Success Executive with over 15 years of experience in building high-impact customer programs. As the General Manager for EMEA at Quiq, Ejieme leads the company’s expansion across Europe, overseeing all aspects of business growth.
Alvin Blewitt

Alvin Blewitt

Prodyna Software & Cloud Architect
Alvin is a Software and Cloud Architect with 14 years experience, who has been working at PRODYNA for 5 years. Day to day Alvin is talking to clients to understand their challenges, designing value for money cloud native solutions, writing useful and testable tickets and requirements, coding idempotent infrastructure, automating processes and advising on SDLC & DevOps best practices.
Leona Heymerdinguer

Leona Heymerdinguer

Blackhawk Network Director of Customer Engagement

With 19 years of profound expertise in the enterprise market, particularly in the domains of consumer acquisition, retention, loyalty, engagement and compensation solutions, Leona emerges as a visionary and pioneering business leader. Her dedication to nurturing customer relationships throughout their entire lifecycle is fuelled by an unwavering passion. Leona boasts extensive experience spanning diverse industries and exhibits a resilient commitment to infusing the market with innovation, achieved through the artful simulation of consumer behaviour and actions via ingenious, reward-centric solutions.

Mark Lockyer

Mark Lockyer

CallMiner International Sales Director

With 20 years in the ever-changing contact centre and client engagement spaces, Mark has worked with some of the largest global entities on transformation projects ensuring technology delivers on expectation. Passionate about bringing agent and customer evaluation together through the power of speech and conversation analytics. Mark can draw on successful client projects that have delivered exceptional ROIs and Transformational change across entire organisations. Notable Brands – Dell, Orange, Ageas, Direct line, Teleperformance, HSBC, TeliaSonera, E.ON, BNP Paribas.

Freddie Rosslyn-Smith

Freddie Rosslyn-Smith

Emarsys Sales Manager UK
Freddie Rosslyn-Smith has worked alongside digital leaders worldwide to drive customer engagement, increase operational efficiency, and boost revenue for globally recognized brands, including Puma, Optimum Nutrition, and Molton Brown, with a little help from Emarsys. Freddie’s experience spans across numerous industries, including sports apparel, health and nutrition, and luxury beauty, specialising in identifying opportunities to streamline processes and maximising the return on marketing investments.
Chris Stewart

Chris Stewart

InMoment VP Sales
Chris has worked for over 20 years in Customer Engagement Technology in organisations such as SAP Hybris, Sitecore and Adobe, and has had the pleasure to support some of the most innovative and transformational programs across every industry. Now at InMoment he is accountable for the success of its European customer base and supports companies like British Airways, Natwest, Next, Primark, Cineworld to create amazing customer experiences that drive meaningful business outcomes.
Anna Miley

Anna Miley

The Foundation Partner
Anna is a strategy and insight specialist with a knack for uncovering what really matters to customers and helping clients design innovative and commercial responses. Anna has worked with some of the UK's leading brands including Harvey Nichols, PepsiCo, and Save the Children, helping them to grow customer loyalty to new levels.
Heidi O’Leary

Heidi O’Leary

Deloitte Digital Partner
With 20+ years of experience in customer-centric growth, Heidi is a trusted partner to board- and C-level executives, helping them catalyse transformative, tech-enabled change. By focusing on both the business opportunity & value and the needs of customers, employees and other key stakeholders, she drives change that is human-centred and sustainable. 

Heidi is a partner at Deloitte Digital, focused on AI-powered sales and service transformation. Before joining Deloitte, Heidi was at Salesforce for 7 years, leading a team of client-facing Innovation consultants across EMEA reporting to the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) of Salesforce EMEA. Over the course of her Salesforce leadership roles (covering UKI, EMEA, LATAM and APAC), Heidi consistently grew the team's influenced revenue and impact on some of the largest deals at Salesforce. Before Salesforce, Heidi spent 10 years at Accenture in customer strategy & consulting and 1.5 years at Market Gravity, a boutique proposition design agency. 

During her career, Heidi has worked across industries such as Retail, Consumer Goods, Automotive and Healthcare but has spent significant time in the Energy sector on customer, digital and decarbonisation initiatives. 

Heidi brings positive energy and mindset to all she does and is passionate about inclusive leadership, customer-centricity, nature preservation and growing businesses in a way that is sustainable and creates value for all stakeholders.

Heidi is internationally experienced, having lived and worked in 5 different countries and run teams and projects across EMEA, APAC and LATAM.
Maurice Gonzenbach

Maurice Gonzenbach

Caplena Co-Founder

Since co-founding Caplena in 2017, Maurice has been actively involved in the market research and CX industry, dedicated to translating the latest AI advancements into practical tools that not only make researchers more efficient but also enhance their enjoyment of previously repetitive tasks.

As an expert in feedback analysis, Maurice also lectures in Master of Advanced Studies courses and frequently presents current best practices at prominent conferences such as IIEX Europe/NA, Quirks NY, and Succeet.

Maurice holds a MSc Computational Science & Engineering from ETH Zurich and has published multiple scientific papers in the fields of image & natural language processing.

Simon Noakes

Simon Noakes

Columbus Global UK Business Line Director CXE
Simon has extensive Manufacturing and Supply Chain experience from time spent on the Customer side of the business. 10 years in consultancy using previous experience to guide business consultancy and solution implementations across ERP/CRM and the wider portfolio to help businesses achieve genuine improvements and increase value to their Customers.
Stephen Higgins

Stephen Higgins

Columbus Global Head of CRM
As a founding director of i-BusSol, and now Head of CRM at Columbus, I have spent the past 13 years helping clients fully exploit the capabilities of modern CRM sales and marketing activities.

With a technology background, coupled with several years as a business leader, I understand that CRM software by itself accomplishes little. It is how this software is layered and configured onto the sales best practices that organisations have developed and refined over a long period.

Through using Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a foundation, I help my customers increase their visibility and sales revenues with a consultative led implementation process which rapidly bring step-change improvements.
Martin Hill-Wilson

Martin Hill-Wilson

Brainfood Consulting Founder
I'm a customer engagement and digital business strategist. Also an author and international keynote speaker. Working under my own brand, Brainfood Consulting, I design masterclasses and transformational change helping clients evolve their social and digital capabilities. Current topics include omni-channel design, proactive, low effort customer experience, social customer service and customer hubs. All themed around service innovation.
Gerry Brown

Gerry Brown

Customer Lifeguard Chief Customer Officer
Gerry Brown, aka The Customer Lifeguard, is on a mission to save the world from bad customer service. He helps businesses save customers at risk of defecting and breathes life into their customer service operations and customer experience strategy. Gerry has provided organizational leadership on people development, business transformation, customer engagement and technology enablement for some of the largest companies in the UK, Canada, and EMEA. These include National Express, Nutricia, The Royal Albert Hall, Endsleigh Insurance, O2, Screwfix, Sage, Sky, Bell Canada and TELUS. He is a frequent speaker, chairperson, panellist and facilitator at conferences, webinars, company events and other business gatherings, where his many years of business and customer service experience provide stimulating, thought-provoking engagement and audience participation. He is also a published author and his new book When a Customer Wins, Nobody Loses is available on Amazon to help business leaders to create winning and memorable customer experiences.
Brandie Deignan

Brandie Deignan

Pier Health Group Chief Executive Officer

In early 2021 Brandie joined primary care within NHS in general practice as Chief Executive Officer. Prior to this role, Brandie was Managing Director at Marco Pierre White Restaurants, cementing her c20 years’ experience in the consumer service delivery industry across hospitality, retail and aviation. Before her MD role, Brandie held senior leadership positions at British Airways Plc, Tesco Plc, Whitbread, Travelodge and Hilton Hotels, where she started her career as a graduate trainee and worked her way up.
A true trailblazer, Brandie was the first female MD to hold her MD role at MPW Restaurants. As of 2020, Brandie was the first black female MD within branded restaurant groups in the UK. Brandie was recently named as one of the top 15 BAME high fliers in travel and tourism industry, and was a finalist at the Black British Business Awards, Senior Leader, Consumer and Luxury 2020. Brandie was recently voted No 41 of the Top 50 listening leaders and also nominated in the National Diversity Awards for positive role model, gender diversity.

Vinay Parmar

Vinay Parmar

Druva Star Founder
My career trajectory has been a case study in the power of networking, embracing a growth mindset and broad vision. Moving through various departments, I honed my skills in understanding the bigger picture of business operations. My transformative time at Egg.com cemented my beliefs in leadership, change management, and the profound impact of customer experience.
Brian Manusama

Brian Manusama

Actionary Executive Partner
Throughout my career, I have been at the forefront of delivering impact at scale, leveraging cutting-edge technology to resolve today’s business challenges and prepare for tomorrow’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) challenges. My passion for customer engagement, digital business, artificial intelligence and customer experience focused leadership have been a consistent theme in my career.

AGENDA

09:00 - 09:10 Opening Remarks
Our Event Host Martin Hill-Wilson will kick-start a day jam-packed with learning insights from world-class organisations.
Speaker:

Martin Hill-Wilson
Martin Hill-Wilson
Brainfood Consulting
Founder
I'm a customer engagement and digital business strategist. Also an author and international keynote speaker. Working under my own brand, Brainfood Consulting, I design masterclasses and transformational change helping clients evolve their social and digital capabilities. Current topics include omni-channel design, proactive, low effort customer experience, social customer service and customer hubs. All themed around service innovation.
09:10 - 09:30 Driving Outcomes With Customer Obsession

The customer experience (CX) realm is constantly evolving, presenting new opportunities to drive business outcomes with customer obsession. Emerging technologies like generative AI (genAI) are accelerating innovation and yielding new possibilities in customer and employee engagement.

It will start with low risk, low cost, or even “free” experiences, and as we build trust, we will learn to embrace more and more complex interactions. But don’t be distracted by noise. At the end of the day it’s about the steak, not the sizzle.

Basics like reliability, lowest price, and features account for about half of the purchase decision in most industries and countries. The fusion of human and AI capabilities will revolutionise how customers and organisations interact. In this world, empathy, trust, and emotion will be as essential as technology.

Speaker:

Joana de Quintanilha
Joana de Quintanilha
Forrester
VP, Principal Analyst
Joana is a VP Principal Analyst at Forrester where she serves customer experience professionals. Her areas of expertise include journey-centricity, digital customer experience, empathy, mental models, designing for emotion, and tools including journey mapping, and Agile methods. Joana also focuses on brand and leads Forrester’s coverage of journey mapping, journey analytics, and journey orchestration technologies.
09:30 - 09:50 How Hobbycraft Retooled Customer Service to Better Serve Crafters

In this session, learn how Hobbycraft successfully transitioned its renowned in-store expertise to digital channels, ensuring customers receive quick and accurate responses across their preferred platforms.

Learn how Freshworks technology has empowered Hobbycraft’s customer service agents by automating repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on delivering a better, personalised service. Explore how Hobbycraft has leveraged AI and an omnichannel approach to maintain high standards of service and enhance customer experiences across digital channels.

Three reasons to join us:

• How Hobbycraft has used Freshworks technology to free up agent time for more complex, personalised customer service

• How to use technology to create a customer journey that allows a leading UK brand to extend in-store experiences to digital channels

• Implement hybrid working and enhanced employee satisfaction and performance

Speakers:

Simon Birch
Simon Birch
Hobbycraft
Customer Service Manager
I am a dedicated and results-driven business leader with a strong background in Retail Management, Customer Experience, and Customer Contact management. Throughout my career, I have consistently championed the customer voice and spearheaded improvements across various facets of business operations. My track record speaks to my ability to build and lead high-performing teams that consistently deliver exceptional results. I am committed to elevating the customer experience and driving positive change within organisations.
William Lynch
William Lynch
Freshworks
Lead AE - Enterprise | UKI

Award-winning SaaS sales AE with over 6 years of experience. A proven track record of overachieving in closing roles. A wealth of expertise in B2B in Commercial and Enterprise SaaS Sales. Passionate. Positive. Persistent.
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
- Maya Angelou

09:50 - 10:10 Opening Keynote: Mental and Physical Readiness That Will Enable You To Think, React & Perform

We are thrilled to announce that Ollie Ollerton - former UK Special Forces soldier, bestselling author of How to Survive Almost Anything, and star of Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins - will be headlining this year’s Customer Engagement Summit.

Ollie’s extraordinary life journey and achievements provide a powerful and unique lens on leadership, resilience, and mentorship. His firsthand experiences in life-or-death situations as a Special Forces operator will captivate and inspire, offering lessons that transcend the battlefield and apply to both personal and professional success.

In his keynote, Ollie will arm you with proven mental and physical strategies to elevate your ability to think clearly, react swiftly, and perform at your best - even under pressure.

Speaker:

Ollie Ollerton
Ollie Ollerton

Former UK Special Forces Soldier

As one of the first former UK Special Forces members and star of Channel 4's SAS: Who Dares Wins to talk openly to the media and reveal their identity, Ollie Ollerton has an incredible story to tell. A former Special Forces operative with the SBS, he has undertaken operations in some of the most dangerous and remote locations on the planet.

After leaving school and joining the Royal Marine Commandos, Ollie’s time in Northern Ireland and Iraq earned him a recommendation for the SAS. After joining the service's marine sister regiment, the Special Boat Service, he undertook high profile missions involving hostage rescue, counter narcotics, and counter terrorism.

When Ollie returned to the UK, after thirteen years overseas and on the frontline, he started developing a concept that would put his years of training and experience to best use and would benefit others. His Break-Point business is a leadership and development course aimed at the public and corporate sectors whilst also supporting veterans suffering the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It's a subject Ollie has spoken openly about, sharing his experiences and difficulties in adjusting to life, dealing with stress, and overcoming trauma.

Ollie is now also one of the training director/presenters of SAS: Who Dares Wins, a show in which he and other ex-Special Forces operatives recreate the SAS’s selection process with thirty recruits from the public. The show has become one of Channel 4's most popular, attracting over three million viewers per episode. Since starring in the show Ollie has also written a deeply personal account of life in and out of the military, also called Break Point, looking at the challenges he faced working to enter the Special Forces, under fire on the frontline, and coming to terms with civilian life. He has also written Battle Ready, a practical look at how to apply his training and experience to more everyday goals, risk-taking and leadership.

10:10 - 10:30 Navigating the AI Revolution: Transformative Impacts and Proven Strategies for Success

In the midst of a technological storm, our industry is experiencing a revolution comparable to the industrial revolution, driven by the rapid advancements in AI. This transformation is reshaping the way we work, introducing new roles such as Data Curators and Prompt Engineers, and promising efficiency gains unseen in decades. However, the hype around AI often overshadows its practical impacts.

This session will explore the significant changes AI brings, the potential risks of being led by technology, and the critical elements that make AI projects successful. We will highlight real-world results from leading brands, demonstrating stronger and faster outcomes. By cutting through the AI noise, we aim to show how businesses can benefit from AI without disruption, ensuring future-proof investments and improved customer touchpoints across various channels.

Key points include:

• The transformative potential of AI in creating new roles and driving efficiency.

• The challenges associated with AI adoption, including data quality, governance, and the risk of prioritizing technology over customer outcomes.

• Proven strategies for successful AI projects, focusing on team structure, clear objectives, robust data governance, and practical implementation approaches.

• Real-world examples of AI delivering substantial ROI and improved CX, demonstrating the tangible benefits of integrating AI into business processes.

Speakers:

Huw Jones
Huw Jones
Verint
Director, Solutions Consulting
Huw leads Verint’s specialist consulting team in EMEA – ensuring customers select and secure the most from Verint workforce management (WFM) solutions. Huw educates and inspires, having enjoyed over 20 years in tech. His customers credit him on his robust understanding of how customer behaviour drives new and innovative approaches to staffing across contact centre and back-office operations. An expert in the impact of digital contact, robotics and self-service, Huw is an advocate for using tech and the human touch to close the Engagement Capacity Gap.
Keith Barrow
Keith Barrow
Verint
Director, Solutions Consulting
Keith Barrow has been working in the Customer Experience space for over 18 years and currently leads the Interaction analytics pre-sales team for Verint EMEA. Keith has witnessed the incredible evolution of Voice of the Customer solutions that provide meaningful insights, bringing together customer feedback across channels and helping organisations measure and improve experiences they provide to customers and employees so organisations can make the right business decisions. 
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee & Networking
Take 30 minutes to grab a coffee, meet our sponsors and network with industry peers.
11:00 - 11:20 Unlock the Power of First and Third Party Data to Supercharge Your Funnel
In this insightful session, you'll discover how to harness the full potential of your customer data to create a seamless journey from the moment they identify themselves to you. Learn how to combine your existing data sources with third-party data and unlock a deeper understanding of your customers' preferences and behaviours. Discover how an enhanced data collection strategy at each customer touchpoint can significantly improve the onboarding process for new customers and drive higher conversion rates.

You'll gain actionable insights into:

  • Identifying and integrating valuable first and third-party data sources
  • Designing data-driven processes to enhance customer understanding
  • Creating a unified, 360-degree view of your customers
  • Optimising onboarding and nurturing strategies for increased conversions
Speaker:

Andy Purcell
Andy Purcell
WeTransfer
Senior Manager Martech and Systems Operations
Andy Purcell has over 15 years experience making technology and data work for marketing teams and beyond at household names such as WeTransfer and The Walt Disney Company, as well as innovative start ups such as Immersive Gamebox. An expert in all things tech stack, Andy has worked with most systems across industries as varied as video game production, government and education.
11:20 - 11:40 Bupa Case Study: Creating Great Customer Experiences by Design

In this session Anna will talk about the importance of creating great customer experiences by design. And how in large organisations it is critical to have a clear and defined strategy which creates a structured framework to set a vision and expectations and to define best practice.

She will share some of the practices that Bupa use to create a customer centric culture where every employee remains close to the customer and understands how their job impacts the customer experience.

As well as a discussion on how they distil 1000’s of pieces of daily customer feedback into actionable insight.

A reminder of the CX basics and not a single mention of AI

Speaker:

Anna Wilcox
Anna Wilcox
Bupa
Head of Customer Experience

Anna is an established customer experience and marketing professional with a proven track record of delivering excellent commercial performance over the 20 years of my career. 
I started my career in marketing, planning and driving growth for large corporate organisations across industries such as health insurance, the motor trade, pharmacy and IT. Over the years my passion for marketing sparked an interest in customer behaviour and 6 years ago I moved into the Customer Experience profession. 
I now head up the Customer Experience function at Bupa Insurance, aiming to be the world’s most customer centric healthcare organisation. 
 All helping to achieve our purpose of helping people live longer, healthier and happier lives and making a better world.

11:40 - 12:00 Leading the Way in CX: Leveraging Human-Centric AI for a Competitive Edge
Join Zendesk to discover the hottest industry trends, with a unique focus on trendsetters that are outpacing their peers by using AI to forge more personal and human connections, leading to higher retention, revenue, and ROI. This is your chance to uncover game-changing insights that will turn CX into your competitive edge. The future is AI-powered—don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to stay ahead and transform the way you do business!
Speakers:

Eric Jorgensen
Eric Jorgensen
Zendesk
VP Sales, EMEA

Software sales leader with 20 years experience. Gained valuable experience building teams supporting hyper growth companies as they enter or expand in EMEA across all verticals.

Strong track record of over achieving sales targets, mentoring and coaching teams to exceed their potential and building long lasting relationships with customers and partners via a direct, honest and open approach.

Andy Wood
Andy Wood
Depop
Senior Manager - CX Technology Operations
Andy Wood has been the Senior Manager of CX Technology Operations at Depop since April 2023. With over six years of experience leveraging Zendesk to enhance customer experiences, he leads CX tooling strategies, oversees technical operations, and manages product specialist teams. Andy also acts as a key link between customer experience, product, and engineering teams. Prior to this, he spent over five years at LiveScore Group, where he held roles such as Operational Excellence Manager and Product Manager, focusing on optimizing operational workflows, driving customer self-service initiatives, and developing omnichannel support models.
12:00 - 12:20 Inside IKEA's Loyalty, Personalisation, and Ethical Engagement Strategies: In Conversation with Marco Merkx, Global Customer Engagement Development Leader at IKEA
In this exclusive interview, we explore the innovative strategies behind IKEA’s customer-first approach. We discuss how IKEA has redefined customer engagement, making it more personalised and impactful at every touchpoint - from the when and where of personalisation to the reasons why it’s critical for building loyalty. The conversation also covers the ethical guidelines IKEA follows in handling customer data, ensuring trust and transparency. Finally, we'll delve into how IKEA’s loyalty strategy extends beyond traditional programmes, cultivating lasting relationships and emotional connections with customers.
Speaker:

Marco Merkx
Marco Merkx
IKEA
Global Customer Engagement Development Leader

Over 25 years of experience in marketing management and strategy, e-commerce , digital marketing and customer relationship management both in operational and in strategical management roles for mainly fashion, food and lifestyle consumer brands and retailers. On national and international level, in organizations varying from start-ups to multinational corporations.

My professional purpose is to support companies with transformation, innovation and development of organization design, technology and customer engagement. Always based on customer data and insights, leading to tangible results and growth. Specifically realizing customer centricity, digital transformation and omni channel proposition development are my fields of expertise. For this, my commercial and technical know-how are as much of value and importance as are my creativity and my sensitivity towards the human, cultural and organizational aspects.

Currently working for Inter IKEA Systems, the owner and developer of the IKEA concept, range and brand, as Global Customer Engagement Development Leader, working on topics as engagement, loyalty, personalization and crm in an omni channel context.

12:20 - 12:40 Rewarding Customer Connections

Connection is key to every good relationship, and a brands relationship with its customers is no different. With more options than ever before, and the ability for customers to switch suppliers with the click of a button, how can your brand easily build a meaningful connection to increase loyalty, reduce churn and foster brand advocacy?

Leona Heymerdinguer, Director of Customer Engagement at BHN, explores the subject of acquiring  and retaining customers in the right way, sharing her expertise on how to easily and authentically build solid, long-lasting relationships with your customers. 

Speaker:

Leona Heymerdinguer
Leona Heymerdinguer
BHN
Director of Customer Engagement

With 19 years of profound expertise in the enterprise market, particularly in the domains of consumer acquisition, retention, loyalty, engagement and compensation solutions, Leona emerges as a visionary and pioneering business leader. Her dedication to nurturing customer relationships throughout their entire lifecycle is fuelled by an unwavering passion. Leona boasts extensive experience spanning diverse industries and exhibits a resilient commitment to infusing the market with innovation, achieved through the artful simulation of consumer behaviour and actions via ingenious, reward-centric solutions.

12:40 - 13:40 Lunch & Networking
Head to the Expo Hall to enjoy a delicious free lunch, chat with peers and meet our sponsors.
13:40 - 14:00 Research Reveal: The UK CX Report 2024

The UK CX landscape is still dominated by unremarkable experiences, and the need to connect brand promise and customer experience remains as strong as ever. In this thought-provoking and dynamic session, we reveal the latest findings from research by Engage and Ipsos, and how customers are still crying out for brands to deliver on the basics. 
 
We look at what brands can do in response, and what's now needed to elevate experiences to build stronger relationships. We also reveal customer perspectives on personalisation and the use of AI in customer service delivery - the findings may surprise you. Join us when we reveal key findings from the report, and our recommendations for action.

Speakers:

Jamie Thorpe
Jamie Thorpe
Ipsos
Head of Experience Management (XM)

Jamie is a CX professional with over 20 years’ experience.  The majority of his career has been spent in Client Success/Service previously holding two board level positions and now Head of Experience Management (XM) at Ipsos.  Jamie’s expertise spans Offer, Marketing, CX Platforms, Professional Services and Delivery.  He is industry recognised as a CX leader in the UK (#3 in 2022).  His in depth of CX knowledge combined with a commercial and pragmatic/action-oriented style has seen Jamie deliver success with many clients across sectors and geographies.

Jean-Francois Damais
Jean-Francois Damais
Ipsos
Global Chief Research Officer
Jean-Francois is Global Chief Research Officer at Ipsos, for Customer Experience. He has 15+ years of experience in helping brands measure and manage customer relationships across a wide range of sectors and geographies. Jean-Francois has led the development and global roll-out of several innovative solutions in the CX area, authored several papers, and regularly speaks at conferences.
14:00 - 14:20 An Honest Look in the Mirror: New Data Reveals if Brands Are Meeting Customer Expectations
New data reveals how brands can meet customer expectations in the UK. Our fresh research uncovers what UK customers really want – and where leading brands are falling short. 

Join us for an exclusive session to discover what's really driving positive customer experiences, how AI and automation become an inseparable part of customer experience, and strategies to align your business with customer expectations in today's competitive market. After the session, you’ll walk away with actionable insights to transform your customer experience and drive lasting loyalty.
Speaker:

Dvir Hoffman
Dvir Hoffman
CommBox
CEO

As the current CEO of one of the leading AI-based customer service and engagement solutions in our market, Dvir has over two decades of experience in technology innovation and product strategy. Dvir has pioneered several innovations in the realm of CX technologies, guiding them from their inception and transforming them into award-winning global CX and enterprise solutions. His original vision on AI bots that can easily resolve complex inquiries is catalyzing a revolution in the customer experience domain as a way to radically reduce contact center load.

 

14:20 - 14:40 Victoria's Secret UK Case Study: Thinking Global, Acting Local

As one of the world’s biggest lingerie retailers, Nicky shares her insights on how the UK is successfully bringing the iconic Victoria’s Secret brand to life, and winning new audiences in the market, through the increase of localised content creation.

Everything from guerilla marketing campaigns that grow regional awareness to subtle changes in language that increase the brands SEO strength in the UK, and all things in between, Nicky will explore how relevant local activity is being delivered in a way that engages the UK consumer, while remaining sympathetic and aligned to the Global brand.

Nicky will also share how combined localised market efforts helped create a swell that supported one of largest Global Moments of the year for Victoria’s Secret.

Speaker:

Nicky Haddow
Nicky Haddow
Victoria’s Secret UK
Head of Marketing

I am an enthusiastic Marketing Expert that is passionate about delivering integrated & impactful 360 marketing propositions & campaigns that are not only Brand & Customer focused but commercially driven & data led. With 20+ years experience in Fashion & Apparel omni channel retailing, I love developing marketing strategies that perfectly align with the overall business objectives and market relevance, whilst driving innovation and retaining brand integrity.

14:40 - 15:00 Growing from Experience: What Are Meaningful and Different Customer Experiences? And Why Are They the Best Predictor of Long-Term Success?
In a crowded market, what sets successful brands apart? We will explore the key traits shared by brands that achieve remarkable growth, sparking a discussion on what truly matters for differentiation—whether you're an established player or an emerging disruptor.
 
How did Aldi go from the margins to the mainstream? How did Octopus become the biggest energy supplier, in less than 5 years? Can Monzo revolutionize retail banking, or will it remain the fun challenger in financial services?
 
Spectacular success is years in the making. Kantar research demonstrates that brands grow by being meaningful and different to more people: delivering on the functional and emotional needs required in their category, and demonstrating they offer something that sets them apart from their peers. This is more than marketing. Successfully differentiating requires an organization to consistently reinforce its positive associations at every possible opportunity. Great experiences are vital.
Speaker:

Pete Aitken
Pete Aitken
Kantar
UK Head of Customer Strategy

As Kantar's UK Head of Customer Strategy, Peter supports an award-winning team of CX professionals. His team deliver platform-based experience measurement programmes across sectors, using this data to shape the customer strategy and inform experience innovation. In 2024 the Kantar CX team were awarded Best Use of Customer Insight by the Institute for Customer Service for their work with Virgin Atlantic, using Medallia’s experience management tech to identify where to improve their customer experience.

Peter leads the development of Kantar’s latest methods for CX strategy and insight, bringing a unique perspective for how customer experience is a critical enabler of brand growth. He draws from 16 years’ experience in research and consulting, with nearly 10 years in financial services, incl. HSBC, NatWest, LBG and Nationwide, plus experience across telco, energy, retail, auto and tech manufacturing.

15:00 - 15:20 Panel Discussion: The Importance of Human Experience in Cultivating Brand Loyalty

In an era where consumer choices are abundant and fleeting, organisations must go beyond traditional tactics to create lasting connections with their customers. This panel discussion brings together industry leaders and experts to explore the critical role of human experience in creating brand loyalty.

Join us as we delve into the nuances of what it means to create authentic, meaningful interactions with customers. Our experts will examine best practices for integrating empathy, transparency, and responsiveness into customer engagement strategies. We’ll also discuss the impact of emotional connections on customer retention and advocacy, as well as the role of storytelling and brand values in shaping consumer perceptions.

You'll leave with actionable insights on how to prioritise human experience in your own customer engagement strategies, ensuring they not only meet but exceed customer expectations in today’s competitive market.

Speakers:

Ashutosh	 Pandey
Ashutosh Pandey
Eutelsat Group
VP Project Management, Quality and Process

Ashutosh is a leading Global Executive in the New Economy sectors of Space Technology, Satellites and Telecommunications. 

As a Transformation and Turnaround Leader, he has successfully delivered multi-dimensional cost intensive sustainable transformations bringing in more than 1 Billion Euro financial savings globally for multiple organisations.

As a Business Process Management (BPM) leader, he successfully led enterprise wide transformation of key end-to-end processes across the organisation, thereby unlocking multi-million cash and generate value via simplification, standardization and ERP consolidation (incl Digital Transformation)

As a Quality Management leader, he led successful end-to-end assessments for International standards like ISO 9001, TL 9000, CMMI, IS 27001, IS 18001, EFQM and set up Corporate ESG and Sustainability management metrics. 

He has strong expertise in leading Operations and Program management (incl Global PMO), change management and executing customer transformation using continuous improvement methodologies like Lean, Kaizen, Six Sigma and Hybrid/Agile PM.

He is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt (CMBB), ASQ Certified Manager for Quality & Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE), Certified Process Professional (CPP), ASQ Certified Quality Auditor (CQA), Certified Business Excellence Assessor (CBEA) on EFQM model, Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA), Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Fellow Chartered Manager(FCMI) from CMI UK.

Ashutosh is recognised as a cross-industry expert in Business Transformation, Operational Excellence and Lean Six Sigma and he has been a leading panellist and key speaker at multiple international forums globally since 2008.

As a trainer, he has trained 5000+ experts in various continuous improvement methodologies (lean/ kaizen/ six sigma/ design thinking/ agile).

By education, he is a Bachelor of Engineering and also holds a double MBA degree.

Mark Nichols
Mark Nichols
Flagstone
Head of Operations

Mark has extensive experience in client success, experience and operations and is now the Director of Operations at Flagstone.

 

Helen Luty
Helen Luty
Landmark Information Group
Head of Customer Experience
Helen has over 25 years’ experience in Customer Experience Leadership across a variety of both B2B and B2C businesses. As Head of Customer Experience for Landmark Information Group, Helen covers service, support and success across a variety of divisions, building and improving processes to ensure Landmark are easy to do business with, that focus on positive outcomes, that seek and learn from feedback and that look to the ever-evolving needs of our customers. Helen has a passion for making a difference, this cascades throughout the Customer Service Teams and has resulted in high engagement scores and as we all know…… engaged and happy teams mean engaged and happy customers. Outside of work, Helen loves family time and live music and if you can combine the two, even better!
15:20 - 15:40 Achieving High-End Customer Experiences and Strengthening Brand Loyalty: How to Avoid Common Pitfalls in Technology Adoption and Maximise Value
The ultimate aim for any technology adoption is to ensure the best possible experience for the Customer which ultimately provides positive engagements and ensures they stay with you. Moving towards implementation elements that are specifically targeted at realising Customer or Business value or benefits rather than simply features and functions leads to improved return on any investment and delivers value faster. This presentation will expose the ways in which this can happen in practice and achieve better faster results.
Speakers:

Simon Noakes
Simon Noakes
Columbus Global
UK Business Line Director CXE
Simon has extensive Manufacturing and Supply Chain experience from time spent on the Customer side of the business. 10 years in consultancy using previous experience to guide business consultancy and solution implementations across ERP/CRM and the wider portfolio to help businesses achieve genuine improvements and increase value to their Customers.
Stephen Higgins
Stephen Higgins
Columbus Global
Head of CRM
As a founding director of i-BusSol, and now Head of CRM at Columbus, I have spent the past 13 years helping clients fully exploit the capabilities of modern CRM sales and marketing activities.

With a technology background, coupled with several years as a business leader, I understand that CRM software by itself accomplishes little. It is how this software is layered and configured onto the sales best practices that organisations have developed and refined over a long period.

Through using Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a foundation, I help my customers increase their visibility and sales revenues with a consultative led implementation process which rapidly bring step-change improvements.
15:40 - 16:00 Renault Group Case Study: Creating Customer Champions for a Customer Centric Organisation
Join Maria’s session to find out more about the revolution Renault Group UK has been on the last couple of years and the initiatives taken to become a truly customer centric organisation. Maria will share the importance of balancing human and technology when defining a CX strategy, as well as actionable insights to increase customer centricity.
Speaker:

Maria Mattos
Maria Mattos
Renault Group
Customer Experience Transformation Manager
Maria Mattos is a passionate, collaborative CX professional with extensive experience in driving commercial improvements and retailer network performance. Maria has a strong background in Business Intelligence and has worked in the automotive industry for over 10 years. 
 
Having worked at Volkswagen Group UK, Audi UK and now Renault Group UK, Maria is experienced in deploying transformational and continuous improvement projects at a national level with a customer-first mindset.
16:00 - 16:30 Coffee & Networking
Take 30 minutes to grab a coffee, meet our sponsors and network with industry peers.
16:30 - 17:00 Panel Discussion: Emerging Trends, Challenges & Opportunities in Customer Engagement

In today’s fast-paced, digital-first world, customer engagement has become a critical differentiator for organisations aiming to build lasting relationships with their customers. As technology evolves and expectations rise, organisations must navigate an ever-changing landscape to deliver personalised, seamless, and meaningful interactions. This panel will explore the emerging trends shaping customer engagement, the challenges organisations face in staying ahead, and the opportunities for innovation that can drive growth and competitive advantage.

Topics our panellists will explore include:

  • The evolution of engagement
  • The role of personalisation
  • Maintaining consistency across channels - Data and insights
  • The role of AI
  • Balancing technology with human experience
  • Mapping customer journeys
  • Privacy and trust
  • Shifting customer expectations
  • Scaling customer engagement
  • Opportunities for innovation and growth
Speakers:

Livia Fekiacova
Livia Fekiacova
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
Enterprise Marketing CRM Lead
Livia has spent the past three years at Estée Lauder Companies leading the Enterprise Marketing CRM team. In this role, she’s been working with a diverse portfolio of 17 prestige beauty brands, spearheading digital transformation while nurturing each brand’s unique identity and purpose. Her leadership has driven creativity and innovation through tech, vendors and internal CRM strategies, placing the customer at the heart of CRM campaigns.

Before her current role, Livia provided consultancy and led the strategic development of lifecycle programs, award-winning campaigns, and both national and international CRM transformation projects. Her expertise spans customer-led strategy design and execution, as well as product development. Her client portfolio includes retail, FMCG, hospitality, tech and beauty. With over 13 years of experience integrating marketing and technology, her specialization and passion lie in CRM, loyalty programs, and data-driven strategies.

Livia’s background also includes experience in sales, digital media, magazine & print advertising, direct mail, radio, and OOO advertising. 

Livia holds a Master of Science in Marketing and later served as a panel member at her university, contributing to the curriculum to keep it aligned with business trends for six years. Additionally, she has been actively sponsoring children in need in Africa for the past 20 years, a cause she deeply values.
Chloe Rice
Chloe Rice
Shutterstock
Director, Global Customer Experience
Chloe Rice is a global customer experience leader with over 15 years of industry experience in sales and customer success. Currently serving as Director of Customer Experience at Shutterstock, Chloe has scaled her approach of genuine empathy and care for customers to a global level, leading cross-functional teams and initiatives that drive customer-centric innovation across multiple regions. Driven by a commitment to elevating customer experience, Chloe combines strategic vision with hands-on leadership to foster open, collaborative environments. Her extensive expertise and multi-faceted lens through which she has viewed the customer landscape enables her to bring unique insights on scaling customer care and performance in today’s fast-paced digital economy.
Alessandra Canavesi
Alessandra Canavesi
AXA Investment Managers
Head of Digital Marketing & Customer Experience

Alessandra Canavesi is an experienced international marketing and communications director with dual Italian and British citizenship, based in London. With over fifteen years in the industry, she has been leading marketing projects across globally, particularly within blue-chip financial organizations.

Currently, Alessandra is the Head of Marketing and Customer Experience at AXA IM Alts, a global leader in alternative investments. Since joining in 2016, she has driven significant results through innovative digital initiatives and strategic collaboration, leading to record capital-raising years, increased client engagement, and improved marketing ROI.

Her previous roles include Head of Marketing at LaSalle Investment Management, Senior Manager at M&G Asset Management, and marketing positions at Investec Private Bank and HSBC Group. Alessandra holds a Master’s degree in Classics and Philosophy from the University Statale of Milan and is fluent in Italian, English, and French.

 

17:00 - 18:30 Drinks & Networking
Head to the Expo Hall for some refreshments and a chance to network with your peers.

Key Details

  •    Registration opens at 8:15am 

  •    Your badge will be printed on arrival

  •    Sessions begin at 9am and run until 5pm

  •   Breakout Stages are first-come-first-serve,
       from 1:40pm - 4:00pm

  •   Focus Groups and Cinema Sessions
      11am - 12pm and 1:40pm - 2:40pm

  •    Lunch and refreshments throughout the day are included with your
      ticket

  •    The Networking Drinks Party is from 5pm-6:30pm

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FIND OUT MORE
“Great event, good presentations and discussions, well prepared and organised.”
Senior VoC Programme Manager , TUI TUI
“It was very well organised, in a beautiful building/easy to get to, the networking opportunties were fab and the sessions were informative and inspiring. The shorter session length was great too!”
Head of Community, Wolf & Badger wolf-and-badger
“First time at the event, content and speakers were excellent.”
Head of Conduct, Governance & CX , Chubb Chubb_Fire_&_Security_logo
“I thoroughly enjoyed attending this event. Really insightful agenda topics and was great to hear from so many leaders in Customer Engagement & CX.”
Customer Delivery Manager, Correla Correla
“The lead into the event was really welcoming and encouraging - I liked seeing relevant and interesting topics on the agenda, being facilitated to view & connect with other attendees, and the regular reminders to attend. The speakers were really on-topic for customer engagement and provided lots of ideas that I can take back and apply in my own organisation and use to motivate my teams for success.”
VP Customer Ops, OneAdvanced OneAdvanced-1
“I found a lot of interesting insights and inspiration for my future plans at work and how to face challenges.”
Customer Success Manager, Milkrite Milkrite-1

VENUE DETAILS

The Brewery

52 Chiswell Street, London, EC1Y 4SD

TICKET OPTIONS

SUPPLIER TICKET

  • For Suppliers 
  • 5 Stages of Quality Content
  • Networking and Commercial Opportunities 
  • Interviews
  • Panel Debates
  • Networking Opportunities 
  • Lunch Provided
  • After-Event Drinks
  • Registrations are subject to approval