The CX Cast

Many organizations create journey maps. Far fewer use them to drive measurable change. This replay breaks down seven practical steps for creating journey maps that align teams, uncover customer pain points, and support better business decisions. Featuring: Joana de Quintanilha, VP, Principal Analyst Show Notes: Many organizations create journey maps. Far fewer use them to drive measurable change. This replay breaks down seven practical steps for creating journey maps that align teams, uncover customer pain points, and support better business decisions. We discuss: How to structure a successful journey mapping initiative. Common mistakes that limit impact. Ways to connect journey insights to action. Approaches for building stakeholder support. If your organization is investing in CX, journey mapping, or experience transformation, this episode provides a proven foundation.

Many CX leaders know culture needs to change before a customer experience (CX) transformation can succeed. The challenge is knowing where to start. In this episode, Angelina Gennis and Martin Gill explore a surprisingly simple approach: using powerful customer-focused questions as organizational rituals. Drawing on real examples from executive workshops and customer-centric organizations, they explain how the right question can expose silos, encourage knowledge sharing, improve accountability, and reinforce customer-focused behaviors. We discuss: Why culture change starts with behavior, not slogans How simple rituals can reshape behavioral norms Questions leaders can use to encourage customer curiosity Ways to uncover accountability gaps and siloed thinking How customer-focused questions create habits that support lasting CX transformation

In this episode, Martin Gill and Angelina Gennis welcome Enza Iannopollo — VP, principal analyst — to discuss new research on trust, responsible AI, and what businesses must do to earn customer confidence. Drawing on fresh European consumer data, they explore why distrust has become the default response to AI and how organizations can build experiences that customers are willing to trust. The conversation introduces four distinct consumer groups, from AI distrusters to embracers, and explains how different customers evaluate AI-enabled experiences. The discussion also examines the foundations of responsible AI, including transparency, accountability, fairness, privacy, security, reliability, and human oversight.

AI moderators promise to make qualitative research faster and more scalable, but where do they fit in the research process? Senem Biyikli joins Martin Gill and Angelina Gennis to explain how AI-moderated interviews work, when they deliver value, and why human researchers remain essential. The discussion covers practical use cases, implementation guidance, participant trust, and the future of AI-powered customer research.

Many organizations collect customer feedback. Far fewer consistently turn it into action and measurable business results. Angelina Gennis speaks with Michelle Samuel, Chief Customer Officer at Nationwide, about building a customer-driven operating model inside a 100-year-old mutual company. Michelle shares how her first 90 days focused on listening, alignment, and capability assessment, and how those insights led to a simple but scalable CX framework: Listen. Act. Monitor. They cover: How to move from customer-focused activity to customer-driven impact How to prioritize journeys that create the greatest customer and business value The role of associate empowerment in delivering exceptional customer experience (CX) Lessons from scaling CX across both B2C and partner-led business models How to connect CX measurement to loyalty, retention, and growth outcomes

This week on the CX Cast we dig into our archives to bring you an episode that's stood the test of time. Fujitsu is a global B2B technology and services company, and Europe is its largest region outside of Japan. To double down on customer centricity, Fujitsu Europe focused on four success factors: Blending CX expertise with business inputs and creating clear CX accountability across countries Proving the value of CX to leaders and account teams Using a standardized but customizable approach to scale CX across account teams in various countries Focusing on value by cocreating improvements with customers Ben Phillips was the Head of Customer Experience Performance Centre when we recorded this episode. He joined us to share the path Fujitsu Europe took on its CX transformation.

Most organizations still design for an "average" customer. The problem? There is no average customer. In this episode, producer Hannah Jachim, who in her day-job is a Forrester Researcher, joins Angelina Gennis and Martin Gill to explore the report she recently published exploring inclusive design in the automotive industry. Our discussion reveals how designing for people with different abilities, needs, and circumstances unlocks better experiences for everyone. From the origins of cruise control to the challenges of autonomous vehicles, Hannah explains why accessibility should be treated as a driver of innovation rather than a compliance exercise. The conversation also explores how assumptions about drivers, passengers, age, ability, and technology continue to shape customer experiences across industries. We cover: Why inclusive design often produces better products for all customers. What is the "curb cut effect" and what business leaders can learn from it. How automotive design highlights broader customer experience (CX) challenges. How organizations can embed inclusion early instead of retrofitting accessibility later. Why the entire customer journey matters, not just the product itself. Whether you're focused on customer experience, service design, accessibility, journey mapping, or product strategy, the lessons extend far beyond automotive.

Customer growth comes from two sources: strengthening relationships with existing customers and attracting new ones. Forrester's Total Experience (TX) framework was designed to measure both. Now it takes the next step. Host Angelina Gennis welcomes James McQuivey, VP, Research Director at Forrester, to discuss the next generation of Total Experience and the introduction of EX impact, a new measure that reveals how employee experience influences customer experience (CX) and brand experience (BX). James explains why employee experience is not simply another score to add to the model. Instead, it acts as a force that can accelerate or hinder growth ambitions. Using examples from retail brands such as Costco, Trader Joe's, and Aldi, Angelina and James explore how employee empowerment, enablement, and inspiration shape customer outcomes and long-term business performance. They discuss: Why Total Experience focuses on customers and non-customers as the two sources of growth How employee experience can amplify or constrain CX and brand performance What Forrester's new EX impact measure reveals about organizational momentum Why some companies achieve strong CX despite weaker employee experience, and the risks that creates How leaders can use connected customer, brand, and employee data to make smarter investment decisions

Most CX leaders know stakeholder alignment is hard. Strategy workshops stall. Teams focus on blockers. Momentum fades before transformation begins. In this episode, Angelina Gennis and Martin Gill share lessons from a season of CX forums and immersive experiences. From stakeholder management workshops to AI-powered game shows and full-scale transformation simulations, they explore how interactive learning helps people build skills, collaborate across functions, and experience change before it happens. We cover: Why simple, hands-on activities create stronger engagement and learning How gamification helps teams move past organizational barriers Ways to use AI and audience participation to make CX education more effective What immersive simulations teach leaders about CX strategy, governance, and stakeholder management How CX teams can create their own CX Week or CX Day using game-based learning Angelina shares examples from Forrester CX Forums, including a stakeholder management workshop, a live "hype or happening" AI game show, and a transformation simulation that challenged participants to build growth-focused CX strategies under pressure. The discussion also explores interactive learning, CX transformation, stakeholder management, AI in CX, and organizational culture change.

Most organizations have journey maps, dashboards, and customer insight. Many struggle to turn them into meaningful decisions. In this CX Cast episode, learn how to bridge the gap.

Great CX starts outside-in. If customers aren’t using what you built, the problem isn’t them. Host Martin Gill speaks with Tom Mouhsian, Principal Analyst at Forrester, about why, even after years of investment, digital experiences still fail. The issue isn’t channels or technology. It’s a persistent gap between how customers want to get things done and how organizations force them to do it. Tom introduces the Digital Moments Map and Digital Connections Tracker—two frameworks that reframe CX around customer goals, interaction modes, and real-world behavior. We discuss: Why thinking in channels is outdated and what to replace it with The four “moment types” that define all digital behaviour (control, consumption, communication, commerce) How interaction modes (voice, chat, GUI, XR) shape effort and adoption How to identify the gap between current usage and customer preference What device, channel, and platform complexity means for CX design Tom shares real-world examples to show how even “successful” digital transformation can increase cost and friction when misaligned with customer needs.

Most CX strategies fail to land. Not because the ideas are wrong, but because teams don't internalize the decisions behind them. Host Martin Gill speaks with Joana de Quintanilha, VP and Principal Analyst, about how immersive, gamified experiences turn CX strategy into action. Drawing on real examples like escape‑room style simulations to auction‑driven prioritization, Joana explains how leading organizations drive alignment, confidence, and better decisions at scale. We discuss: Why immersive experiences outperform traditional workshops for CX strategy rollout The five design principles: experiential, purposeful, participatory, repeatable, measurable How to use gamification to improve decision quality—not just engagement How to design for impact, including memory, behavior change, and stakeholder alignment Practical formats: journey labs, customer carousels, simulations, and executive decision rooms Joana shares lessons from real deployments, including how to stage experiences, measure outcomes, and avoid common pitfalls. If CX leaders want strategy to stick, teams need to learn by doing, not just listening.

CX Summit EMEA brought CX, digital and marketing leaders together to challenge them to build the experience AI can't. We focused on earning trust, aligning teams, and turning experience strategy into something that actually operates at scale. We added an employee lens to our Total Experience framework to draw a clearer line between employee experience (EX), brand perception, and customer outcomes, and we leant into trust, empathy and the human foundations of AI. We sent producer Hannah out onto the conference floor with a microphone to find out what the attendees thought. Featuring multiple attendees: Mickael Subileau & Nicolo Broccati, Jungheinrich Service & Parts Adam Kaye, Sonata Software James O'Connor, AmplifyXM Krishneel Naidu, Infineon Technologies Richard Prochazka, TheyDo Tina Lilje, Xenadi GmBH Adelita Artero, Netigate Deutschland

Enterprise CX transformation rarely starts with journey maps or dashboards. It starts with fixing real problems fast. In this episode of CX Cast, Angelina Gennis and Martin Gill speak with Amory Somers‑Vine, Customer Experience Director at Expereo, about leading customer‑centric change during a major B2B business model shift—from wholesale network services to enterprise partnerships. Amory shares how Expereo: Prioritised CX improvements based on live customer issues, not theory Built a customer health model from frontline insight before formal metrics Used behaviour‑led culture change to win hearts, not just compliance Linked customer experience (CX) directly to employee experience (EX) and growth Scaled trust and partnership in a highly technical, high‑risk B2B environment This conversation is a practical playbook for CX leaders operating in complex B2B services, infrastructure, or technology‑heavy environments navigating transformation under pressure. Amory Somers‑Vine is Customer Experience Director at Expereo, a managed network service provider supporting global enterprises. She leads CX strategy, culture, and customer health across the organisation.

AI makes it easy to generate ideas. The hard part is deciding which ones deserve investment. In this episode of CX Cast, Forrester Principal Analyst Manuel Geitz joins Angelina and Martin to unpack how AI is fundamentally reshaping the innovation lifecycle from ideation to commercialization. Manuel explains why AI’s real advantage isn’t speed or scale, but decision quality. As innovation becomes continuous and data‑orchestrated, leaders must shift focus from producing more ideas to killing the wrong ones faster. We talk about: Why AI turns innovation into an always‑on system, not a stage‑gate process How better questions matter more than better models Where CX skills like experimentation and hypothesis testing already give teams an edge The limits of AI‑driven innovation — and where human judgement still wins How to avoid innovation fatigue for customers This conversation explains how to reframe AI in CX innovation as a discipline, not a shortcut, and makes the case for CX leaders as essential partners in deciding what actually creates customer value.

In this episode, hear how hosts Angelina Gennis and Martin Gill use Forrester's research to design immersive, game‑based experiences for our CX Forums that move leaders from theory to action.

AI isn't killing design — but it is reshaping workflows, roles, and expectations. Principal Analyst Gina Bhawalkar joins the CX Cast to discuss her findings from interviews with design leaders.

Customer complaints are not noise. They are high‑fidelity signals of broken expectations, rising risk, and lost value. In this episode of CX Cast, Principal Analyst Riccardo Pasto joins Martin Gill to reframe how leaders should re-think about complaints from a compliance burden to a strategic CX asset. The conversation breaks down why low complaint volumes can be a warning sign, how complaint costs quietly multiply across churn, brand damage, and employee burnout, and what it really takes to turn complaint data into action across silos. We cover: Why complaints signal customer trust, not failure How to identify the true direct and indirect cost of poor complaint handling How broken ownership and siloed metrics block resolution How to use the "Four Rs" of complaint management value: Repair relationships. Redesign experiences. Reshape culture. Regulate risk. Where CX, service, compliance, and product teams must align to fix root causes

CX leaders are at an inflection point. AI can now do much of the work CX teams once defined themselves by, such as journey mapping, insight synthesis, and analysis. That creates an existential threat. Or a breakthrough moment. In this episode, Angelina Gennis and Martin Gill are joined by ex-Forresterite Kerry Bodine, co‑author of Outside In, to explore how CX leaders can move from defense to reinvention in the age of AI. We cover a range of pop culture influences, from Terminator‑level anxiety about the coming AI apocalypse to our "Avengers Assemble" moment, which uncovers how the diversity of CX leaders' backgrounds, roles, approaches, and definitions is a feature — not a bug. However, to apply this advantage, teams must stop hiding in echo chambers and start speaking the language of executives: risk, outcomes, and organizational impact.

Many CX teams say they are journey‑led. Fewer can prove the value of those journeys. In this episode, Angelina Gennis and Martin Gill speak with Maxie Schmidt, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, about how to reboot journey measurement so it drives decisions, rather than populates dashboards. We examine how to move beyond end‑of‑journey surveys and NPS to focus on measuring what actually matters: value for the customer and value for the business. We cover: Why end‑of‑journey surveys are lagging and often misleading The three levels of CX measurement: relationship, journey, and touchpoint How to define journey value using strength and stability The difference between success metrics and signal metrics How to design metrics around journey goals, not default scores Where benchmarking helps — and where it distracts