SUMMER SPECIAL - COVID FLASHBACK

Covid-19 was five long years ago. In a series of short summer specials, CX Files is bringing you some memories of what was going on at a very chaotic time for the industry. During the early days of the pandemic, CX Files went from weekly to daily and captured many important observations on how the CX industry was coping across the world.

John Devlin is the Founder and CEO of Ascensos (acquired by Firstsource in 2024) - he is still in this position.

John talked to Mark Hillary on March 26, 2020. This was day one of the first Covid lockdown in the UK - the Prime Minister had urged everyone in the nation to stay at home on March 23rd... it was enforcable from March 26th. Companies with staff in offices had three days to figure out how to keep going and many businesses were not able to function at all.

Many of these conversations feel historic. It's worth revisiting some of them just to remember the sense of chaos in the industry at this time and how the industry adapted and coped with the challenges of 2020 and 2021.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-devlin-4731521/

https://www.ascensos.com/

https://www.firstsource.com/

Dave D'Arcy is the founder of Laughing Leadership. He is based in Tring, close to London in the UK.

Laughing Leadership was created to guide business leaders to build the environment to nurture and develop happy engaged employees. The solution is not in bean bags, slides, fruit on Friday or free tea and coffee. It is in culture. And culture is a byproduct of leadership style.

In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Dave talks about some of the 'groundhog day' issues he keeps reading about and seeing in CX. Why do we keep reading about the same CX issues over and over again? Why is the CX business news from years ago just about the same as today? Why do we always see the hype cycle with new technologies - such as AI?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemdarcy/

https://www.davedarcy.co.uk/

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qbH1R9yDdr4

CX FILES IS TAKING A BREAK FOR THE REST OF AUGUST - WE ARE BACK ON SEPTEMBER 4! Keep tuning in as we plan to repeat some clips from this time exactly five years ago during the Covid pandemic - how did the CX industry cope? CX Files switched to almost daily interviews during the early part of the pandemic, so we will clip a few of the best interviews to share with you again this August... see you again in September!

SUMMARY:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the final episode of the CX Files podcast before taking a break in August. They introduce Dave D'Arcy, founder of Laughing Leadership, who focuses on leadership and employee engagement. D'Arcy critiques common CX industry issues, such as outcome-based pricing models, lack of investment in training, and the overemphasis on impact sourcing. He argues that AI has not lived up to its hype and has led to employee disengagement. D'Arcy emphasizes the need for businesses to invest in their employees and align strategies with clear business objectives.

Amanda Quinn is the Founder and Principal of Quinn Growth Advisors.

She is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Amanda talks about her work advising BPOs on how to build growth and develop a sales pipeline. Amanda advises focusing on deep expertise and specialization, rather than claiming to offer every single service and excelling at none of them.

How can BPOs compete and leverage technology to improve what they offer to clients?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandaquinnmalach/

https://quinngrowthadvisors.com/

SUMMARY:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the challenges faced by BPOs (Business Process Outsourcing) in the market, emphasizing the need for specialization over generalism. They highlight the inefficiencies of BPOs claiming to offer a wide range of services without excelling in any. Amanda Quinn, founder of Quinn Growth Advisors, is introduced as a guest who advocates for BPOs to focus on niche markets and develop deep expertise. Quinn advises BPOs to identify their strengths through internal stakeholder meetings and client feedback, and to expand by adding related services or industries. She also stresses the importance of charging for value-added services and leveraging technology to enhance service delivery.