There are two topics you never discuss, we'll we're going to discuss one of them anyways: Politics.... But, what is the connection between politics and Customer Experience you may ask? This time round, the InspireCast features special guest Mostafa El-Bermawy, a startup growth and marketing strategist, who has worked with some of the biggest brands around: American Express, P&G and Ford Motors plus is a regular tech contributor for Wired magazine and BBC Arabia. Mostafa posits that our world view (as seen recently in campaign elections is being "filtered" by Facebook and Google.... The impact on Customer Experience is also undeniable - so tune-in and listen to the entire podcast to understand just how does a filter bubble tunnel-vision your brand's CX approach.

Customer experience is a key competitive differentiator for business today. Now, the battle has gone beyond products, prices, and promotions. Brands must engage with customers thoroughly, on the levels of personal preferences and emotions, in order to keep them coming back for more.

In this InspireCast podcast, with our special correspondent in Singapore, Julie Simon, she interviews digital experience expert Rod Strother of Starhub (Singapore's leading info-communications company) where, he shares his thoughts on customer experience, the impact of digital transformation, views on the “customer-first” mindset in light of today’s digital consumers, practical steps on how organizations can evolve their business models to remain relevant to their audiences and finally, views on omni-channel communications.

This episode of the InspireCast is a must-listen for any CX professionals wanting to learn from a true CX and digital experience guru.

Antoine Hemon-Laurens discusses three disruptive forces challenging banks' legacy IT systems: AI (artificial intelligence), robotics and Blockchain. AI powered Robo-advising in wealth management is already here. So if AI is the brain, robotics is the muscle and the braun. There are numerous examples of banks using chatbots and within call centers. The blockchain is the last piece of the puzzle and provides knowledge and are soon to become repositories of data. With the above in mind, this is a not-to-miss episode for any banking, tech or CX professional wondering out loud just what impact these new technologies will have on their profession.

This is not your usual episode of the InspireCast, well, we're still talking up customer experience and loyalty, though this time we're throwing in pinball machines, drones and selfie cams into the mix. A great session focusing on the concept of innovation for a product that "no-one needs" according to Founder of Jersey Jack Pinball, Jack Guarnieri. Jack discusses at length the concept of customer loyalty, the power of building trusted relationships, how to embrace new technologies and the value of selling by not selling. A great listen for startup Founders, sales execs and CMO's wanting to understand just how to practically focus on the customer. As Jack puts it - without customers, you don't have a business.

Annette Franz, CCXP, author, speaker, CXPA board member and Founder of CX Journey discusses the rise of the customer experience executive as an equal C-level member within the C-suite. A great must-listen to for any CEO of any business or brand wanting to understand why a company needs a CX executive, be it a Chief Customer Officer or a Chief Customer Experience Officer. Annette further discusses the CX executive's critical success factors plus their biggest challenges to success within this role. All of which can be found in Annette's newly authored book she highlights in this episode: The Rise of the CX Executive, featuring interviews with real life CX executives: Donna Peeples, CCO of Pypestream, Christine Corbett, CCO of Australia Post, Isabelle Conner, CMO/CCO of Generali Group, Nick Frunzi, CCO of Esri and Ingrid Lindberg, former 4-time CCO. Make sure to make this episode part of your playlist if you're an upcoming CX professional or a CEO wanting to focus on CX for their business.

Returning guest, Karthik Ramakrishnan of Element AI discusses the future impact and implications of artificial intelligence on business and society at large. A deep dive into AI for CMOs and CIOs who are focusing on digital transformation, and also somewhat of a correction in terms of our views and perceived myths about AI technology. We've reached a stage where data is readily available, deep learning algorithms are recognizing speech (ex. Siri), AI can see (computer vision) - recognize objects (think driverless cars) and talk back - i.e. speech (Siri responding to you) plus AI research on touch and smell. Add the layer of computing power to process data in milliseconds.... does this all mean that our products and services we provide to our customers will all be automated in the near future? Will the future be all about chatbots? Will we even need to drive a car in the future? What about the future of urban planning? What does this mean for the future of work? 20 hour work-weeks perhaps? Listen to understand where AI and CX are heading over the next decade....