Author: Mark Atterby

Returning to the beautiful Mornington Peninsula in 2025, the CX Retreat is not your standard industry conference. Following the successful launch in 2024, this two-day, two-night event is explicitly designed as a retreat-style networking event for the Victorian CX Community, aiming to elevate discussions and forge truly meaningful connections among the state’s most influential customer experience (CX) leaders. Violet Lazarevic-Sittrop, Head of Customer Experience for the Commercial Bank at ANZ, is providing opening comments for both days of the event. She says, “Learning and innovating constantly is becoming increasingly important for CX professionals. The CX retreat brings together a unique…

A recent report from Concentrix, the CX Divide: The Cost of Underinvestment – August 2025, establishes a clear and compelling link between Customer Experience (CX) capability and stronger financial performance, confirming that CX is a growth engine, not a cost centre. Organisations neglecting their CX capabilities are, quite literally, “leaving money on the table.” Dhiraj Kumar, General Vice President of Growth, ANZ at Concentrix, advises, “The single most critical capability is end-to-end orchestration of the customer journey – not just better front-line service, but the ability to connect data, channels and decisions so an organisation consistently solves their customer’s problem…

New research highlights a growing gap between the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) in customer experience (CX) and consumer reality, with Australian consumers exhibiting deep skepticism about its application. The fifth annual Qualtrics Consumer Experience Trends report indicates that Australians are among the world’s least trusting consumers regarding corporate use of AI, even as pressure to demonstrate a return on AI investment (ROI) intensifies for businesses. Ivana Papanicolaou, Head of Customer Experience Solution Strategy, ANZ at Qualtrics Comments, “For Aussies, there’s a lot of speculation when it comes to AI. And this is expected, as Australians are generally reluctant to…

In one of the largest deals in the customer experience (CX) software sector, Qualtrics has announced on Monday it has agreed to acquire healthcare market research firm Press Ganey Forsta for a staggering $US 6.75 billion. The deal, which signals a major consolidation in the Voice of the Customer (VoC) space, is widely viewed as a land grab for proprietary data to fuel the next generation of generative AI models. The union of Qualtrics’ predictive analytics and AI capabilities with Press Ganey’s massive dataset—particularly its deep expertise and sensitive data networks in healthcare—is set to dramatically accelerate the development of…

Customer experience (CX) is often equated with personalisation and speed. Companies strive to collect more and more data to anticipate needs and streamline interactions. But what happens when that pursuit of convenience clashes with the fundamental need for security and safety? For Yarra Valley Water (YVW) this question is at the heart of its CX strategy. YVW found a way to balance both with their ‘Privacy Check Pop-Up’ initiative, which won the Employee Experience Initiative of the Year at the 2025 Auscontact Excellence (Vic/Tas) awards. This pop-up helps contact centre staff securely verify customer identities, making their jobs easier and…

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing how organisations listen to, understand, and act on customer feedback. Moving beyond the limitations of traditional, structured surveys (like NPS or CSAT scores), modern AI solutions are capable of analysing vast amounts of real-time, unstructured data. To fully grasp the success of AI, organisations must be able to understand and measure the hard revenue metrics it influences. Sid Banerjee, Chief Strategy Officer for Medallia ,comments, “Modern AI solutions can now analyse unstructured data from phone calls, chats, online interactions, and social media to understand customer experiences qualitatively. Large language models are particularly powerful at…

Recently founded research and advisory firm, Crayon IQ, has released its inaugural “APAC Contact Centre CX Platforms With AI buyer’s Guide.” This report is the first independent, regional analysis to assess and rank 17 major vendors, providing a local perspective on a market often dominated by North American research. According to Audrey William, founder of Crayon IQ, global research and vendor rankings often fail to account for the unique challenges and opportunities of the Asia Pacific (APAC) market, leading to a significant disconnect for regional businesses. “Throughout my 25 years as an analyst, I’ve consistently observed that most industry reports…

The Australian Customer Experience (CX) job market is currently experiencing solid growth, with strong demand in the financial services, retail, and healthcare sectors. While competition for senior roles is high, there’s a notable need for professionals who can combine strategic thinking with hands-on technical skills and data analysis. CXFocus editor, Mark Atterby talks to Fiona Gilfillan. Managing Partner for CX recruitment specialists SCC TALENT about the latest trends in the CX job market. Mark Atterby (MA): What is the current demand for Customer Experience (CX) professionals in Australia? Are there specific industries (e.g., retail, banking, healthcare) where the demand is…

Intelligent experiences, powered by AI, are no longer a theoretical concept. They’re a tangible reality that’s transforming how businesses operate and how they connect with customers and employees. I recently spoke with Fabrice Martin about the trends reshaping customer engagement through AI and how Medallia’s roadmap is evolving to meet this trend. Mark Atterby (MA): What trends do you see in the evolution of CX and AI, and how does Medallia’s roadmap aim to address these trends? Fabrice Martin (FM): The evolution of customer experience fundamentally centres on the “listen, learn, and act” framework, but AI is transforming each of…