Customer Experience Magazine is profiling the top 10 Professionals and Influencers from our Top 50 CX Stars list.
Here we look at Number 6 in each category. Christina Liciaga of HSBC, is today’s featured Professional, and our Influencer is Nicola Millard.
We welcome feedback on our CX Stars list, and all correspondence should be sent to paul@cxm.world.
Number 6
Christina Liciaga
Head of Customer Service at HSBC UK Retail Bank & Wealth Management
Christina Liciaga oversees customer service at one of the most recognisable, and trusted, names in banking.
Her role places her at the heart of the brand’s complaint handling strategy, which has led to industry recognition at events including the UK Complaint Handling Awards, where last year HSBC secured Gold wins in categories including Innovation in Complaint Management and Product and Service Improvement.
Christina joined HSBC in 2011, and before her current post was involved in High Net Worth business development, advising large corporates on people-first post-merger integration opportunities.
She also advised on restructuring multinational global portfolios, developing client segmentation strategies, designing and delivering digital lifestyle solutions, and building and leading the global award-winning wealth proposition, Jade by HSBC Premier.
Describing her vital current role, Christina describes how she oversees “complaints and service recovery, root cause analysis and customer insight, as well as being the customer advocate who drives initiatives and interventions to make our customers better off everyday”.
Her expertise has also been shared through a speaker role at Awards International’s Winning With Complaint Handling Conference.
An ambitious professional with a global outlook, Christina has experience in emerging and mature markets across Asia, Europe, Latin and North America.
Under her guidance, her teams embrace innovation, embed change, and deliver commercial growth, truly translating strategy into reality.
Christina says: “I’m a passionate leader who builds and transforms teams through authenticity and curiosity, whether a team of 10 or over 500.”
Outside of her HSBC role, Christina – a passionate advocate for human rights – is Executive Director and Board of Trustee Member for non-profit organisation JUSTICE, which aims for fair and efficient legal support for all who need it.
Number 6
Dr Nicola Millard
Dr Nicola Millard is one of the UK’s most analytical authorities on Customer Experience, and is currently a Principal Innovation Partner with BT – a brand that has enjoyed well-deserved success at events including the UK Customer Experience Awards in recent years.
A true CX pioneer, Dr Millard has been involved in co-ordinating the brand’s customer contact strategies since the early 1990s, and has held posts including CX Consultant for BT Global Services, and until last year was Head of Customer Insight & Futurology for BT’s Global Innovation Team.
Her current role at the cutting edge of knowing what customers are thinking and feeling “combines psychology with futurology to try and anticipate what might be lying around the corner for both customers and organisations”.
Dr Millard has been behind a number of innovations at the telecommunications giant, including the first application of artificial intelligence in BT’s call centres.
She was also involved with the brand’s initial experiments with home working, and helping to develop BT’s Net Easy score, to better measure Customer Experience.
Her foresight remains as valuable as ever before as BT and the wider business world continues to explore the advantages and opportunities that lie in the digital workplace of the future – whether that’s in an office, or an employee’s home.
Nicola says: “Any innovation we put in front of customers needs to make their life easier.”
A prolific writer, blogger, speaker, and familiar media face for many, Dr Millard is the first name that comes to mind for anyone seeking to understand what a customer is thinking and feeling, and what an organisation can do to appropriately adapt.
Her impressive list of achievements includes the Outstanding Industry Contribution award from the UK Contact Centre Forum.
Click here for profiles of our Number 7 Professionals and Influencers.