As last year drew to a close, Customer Experience Magazine presented our list of our Top 50 CX Stars, in which we ranked our selection of the UK’s top 25 CX Influencers – those consultants, coaches, authors, and guiding lights who inspire customer centricity – and our top 25 CX Professionals.
Having established a shortlist of candidates for both lists, we began ranking our final order, from number 25 to number one, primarily based on publicly available information, and our own considered, professional judgement.
For our CX Professionals, we looked into backgrounds and achievements including industry impact, awards success, and their influence both within and outside of their respective organisations – influence earned through activity including published written articles.
Our CX Influencers were ranked on the scale of said influence. Our methodology saw us compare published books, articles, social media activity – even television appearances, among other visible and influential pursuits within the UK CX realm.
We presented our final list as Christmas arrived, and here CXM begins a series of profiles of our Top 10 CX Stars in both Professional and Influencer categories.
We welcome feedback on our CX Stars list, and all correspondence should be sent to paul@cxm.world.
Number 10
Phil Durand
Director of Customer Experience Management at Confirmit
Software firm Confirmit is now the premier name in feedback analysis, and at the helm of UK CX within the operation is Phil Durand, a professional with over two decades of experience in agency and client-side roles.
His wealth of knowledge has led to his key role in Confirmit’s CX consulting team, overseeing the design and implementation of cutting-edge programs for a wide range of B2C and B2B organisations.
Phil is a firm advocate of designing CX with the end-goal in focus from the beginning, and one of his inspirations is the late Apple magnate Steve Jobs, who famously said: “You’ve got to start with the Customer Experience and work back toward the technology – not the other way around.”
Words to live by, professionally, and Phil does just that.
In creating this list, we learned of how one of his clients, who had unfortunately suffered a challenging history of customer engagement, has since adopted a “what would Phil have said?” attitude to solving problems.
An attitude that will certainly pay off!
Although one of our CX Professionals, Phil is an influencer in his own right, sharing his knowledge in articles for a range of publications. Customer Experience Magazine is both fortunate and proud to have provided a platform for his writing in recent years, while he is also increasingly in demand for his judging skills and eye for expertise at events including the UK Customer Experience Awards.
Phil says: “The goal for anyone aiming to deliver a great Customer Experience should categorically be to design the programme with the end in mind. It’s about creating an experience that meets the needs of your customers first and foremost.”
In terms of his own awards success, last year saw Phil nominated for the CXPA’s CX Impact Awards, and he will no doubt continue to make waves in 2020 as Confirmit and its tech solutions grow in scale and scope.
Number 10
Claire Boscq-Scott
Businesses throughout the UK and beyond will know Jersey-based Claire Boscq-Scott as the Busy Queen Bee of Customer Experience, whose energy, enthusiasm, and sheer love of seeing a business perform to its best of its abilities is evident in her videos, writing, and speaking engagements.
CXPA Claire’s passion for customer-centricity is fed through her membership of the Mystery Shopper Providers Association and the Encouraging Women into Franchising body.
Awards under her belt include 2014’s Director of the Year award from the Jersey branch of the Institute of Directors, and she has also received nominations for plaudits including the Forward Ladies Women in Business Awards.
Claire’s instinctive CX skills are founded in her former roles in the hospitality sector, where as a hotelier she worked at the coalface of customer centricity. There are few sectors more suited to honing Customer Experience nous, and Claire is committed to sharing those skills with a whole new generation of enthusiastic entrepreneurs.
Her two books: Thrive With the Hive and Thriving By Caring are both highly recommended reads, featuring simple and practical steps that can help bring immediate positive results to your business.
Meanwhile, as far as branching out goes, you won’t see many CX gurus with their own perfume brand! But Claire’s instinctive passion for personalisation saw an idea to add scent to business cards grow into her very own perfume, EAU d’abelle.
That’s what we call a nose for branding innovation!
Claire says: “The Queen Bee is at the centre of her community, without her the hive wouldn’t exist – she cares for her bees and their environment so they can deliver that delicious honey.”
Whether she is creating buzz in the UK, her native France, or in speaking engagements and workshops all across the globe, Queen Bee Claire remains one of the industry’s hardest working influencers, and we can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store for her.