Mission CX: Stay ahead of the game in Customer Experience
How can you create a groundbreaking Customer Experience?
What sets apart leading companies and how can you do it too?
Mission CX will inspire you!
What is Mission CX?
- 10 Monthly Digital Sessions on CX with moderators Steven Van Belleghem and Rik Vera
- New industry-leading speakers and company cases every session
- An exclusive community to build your network (+100 members already joined!)
Why should you join?
Mission CX offers value on 2 major fronts:
- Monthly inspiration through live sessions (with access to otherwise hard-to-reach experts)
- An online community of peers to connect with and grow your network
You and your team get access to a treasury of top curated content and unprecedented ways of connecting with the best in the field of Customer Experience!
For whom?
Mission CX is there for anyone who wants to build top-class Customer Experiences
Whether you are working in a customer-facing team, in sales or marketing, are part of a network or are a consultant, ... you'll definitely get something out of Mission CX for your business or your profile!
Program
nexxt up: On applying VR and AR to boost CX April 23
Are technologies such as Augmented and Virtual Reality great ways for businesses to complement their CX logic with new exciting flavors? They have been wading through a shroud of mystery, but these past few months, VR and AR have been shaping up as game changers for many companies' or brands' customer engagement strategies. They help collide real and simulated world, and thus might hit the sweet spot between digital convenience and emotional connection.
This Monthly Digital Session of Mission CX, will zoom into use cases and experiences with AR and VR to boost CX.
Major trends in VR an AR
Speaker: Alexander Haque
Alexander Haque
Alexander has been called a renaissance man. He has to admit that he loves that title. Alexander is a renaissance man in the eyes of most, perhaps since he seems unsettled: He has studied philosophy, law, business and even know how to code a bit. When he was 15 his dad suggested he should work at a fast food restaurant to "learn life skills". At the time, cooking chicken and manning the cash register seemed trivial but they were the building blocks to his core: he loves business. Not in the Wall Street power-suit sense. Rather, he loves innovation and self-actualization. Alexander is fortunate enough to be a part of a generation of people who believe that we can change how things are done and question everything at every step.
More about AlexanderIn the virtual and augmented world, content is king. Customers expect to be wowed by a variety of experiences that engage multiple senses one by one or at the same time. Alexander Haque can tell us a lot more about VR and AR creations that give users that "WOW!" moment.
Company case: Glue
Speaker: Jussi Havu
Jussi Havu
Jussi Havu is a business leader with a passion for technology and start-ups. Over the course of his nearly 15-year career, Jussi has been involved in senior management roles at both Microsoft and Nokia. He has been an active participant in a wide range of presentations at public speaking events throughout the Nordic region.
As CEO of Glue Collaboration, he has been instrumental in helping position it as the world leader in business-oriented VR conferencing.
More about JussiGlue is a universal collaboration platform for virtual, face-to-face like collaboration for organizations and teams around the world. Its mission is to help people collaborate in more human, productive and sustainable ways.
In the post-pandemic era, Glue is thus there to help customers around the world to achieve the same level of engagement and productivity for their remote collaborations as what face-to-face could provide.
MAY '21: CX in the East vs. the West May 28
Creating the best CX, is not a one size fits all story. And just like with many things, culture and geography can also play a determining role in how to look at CX. Or does it?
During this Monthly Digital Session of Mission CX, we want to exchange different views on CX through a cultural and geographical lens.
We will bring in both experts and companies to shed a light on questions like: Are there differences in CX between - broadly speaking - the Western and the Eastern world? Do American, European, Asian, etc. companies approach customer experience, customer relations and customer engagement differently?
CX in the East vs. the West
Speaker: Blake Morgan
Blake Morgan
Blake Morgan is a leader in customer experience. She is a keynote speaker and customer experience futurist and author of two books on customer experience.
Her bestselling second book is called “The Customer Of The Future: 10 Guiding Principles For Winning Tomorrow’s Business”, identified by Business Insider as one of the top 20 books executives are reading to deal with COVID-19.
She was called one of the top 40 female keynote speakers for 2020 by Real Leaders Magazine. She has worked with Comcast, Allstate, Genentech, Accor Hotels, Accenture, Adobe, Cisco, Parker Hannifin, Ericsson, Verizon, and more.
Blake is a guest lecturer at Columbia University, the University of California, San Diego as well as adjunct faculty at the Rutgers executive education MBA program.
Blake contributes to Forbes, the Harvard Business Review and Hemispheres Magazine. She is the host of The Modern Customer Podcast and The Be Your Own Boss Podcast.
She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, their two children and two dogs.
Customer experience futurist Blake Morgan will explain how today’s customers are already demanding frictionless, personalized, on-demand experiences from their products and services and how companies that don’t meet these new expectations won’t last.
But Blake can also highlight the invisible toxins that are killing your customer experience and your market share and how you should address them. Blake might set you up for success, outlining the key areas you need to address immediately so you can weather external changes, remain relevant and thrive in the ever-changing business landscape.
Blake lives in the Bay Area, in the United States, but is definitely able to paint a global picture of CX with lots of expertise and best practices from all over the world.
CX in the East vs. the West
Speaker: Pascal Coppens
Pascal Coppens is the expert in all things innovation in China, rooted in his deep understanding of the country as a sinologist. He is an entrepreneur at heart with more than 20 years of experience in China and Silicon Valley.
Pascal is an inspiring international keynote speaker,partner at nexxworks and author of the book China's New Normal, which offers sensational insights into business and technology in China and their potential for the rest of the world.
Pascal can bring in the Eastern lens to customer experience with real-life examples and lots of food-for-thought for you to turn the Chinese insights into opportunities for your business and customers.
JUNE '21: On platforms June 25
We've experienced the rise of personalized and always available platforms that assist customers very closely in their day to day lives. This has created wonderful opportunities, e.g. to interact more with customers, but has also posed big challenges to companies and brands on how to remain visible, how to stay (partially) in control of the relationship with their customers, how to keep creating value, ...
During this Monthly Digital Session of Mission CX, we look into how companies can stay relevant in this platform economy and what we can learn from platform ecosystems.
Company case: Bol.com
Bol.com, "De winkel van ons allemaal". (roughly) Translated: "Everybody's store". And how this online "store" transformed to a platform!
In 1999, Bol.com opened its virtual doors of the first online bookstore in the Netherlands. Nowadays, Bol.com changes retail to make everyday life easier, together with 1.900 colleagues ("bol.commers").
This is where Bol.com is at right now:
Over 10 million customers in the Netherlands and BelgiumOver 2.5 million visits per day at our platform21.5 million products in storeOver 4.000 bol.com pick-up points in the Netherlands & BelgiumOver 20.000 partners who sell on the platformSo, Bol.com has grown massively in a short time. Driven by natural curiosity, customer focus, daring to be critical and fundamentally making the difference for customers and partners.
Company case: ByteDance and TikTok
Speaker: Matthew Brennan
Matthew Brennan
Matthew Brennan is an author and internationally recognized speaker who specializes in Chinese mobile internet technology and innovation.
His opinions have been featured across global media including Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, BBC,The Financial Times and Forbes.
For several years his company ChinaChannel has organized the largest annual WeChat digital marketing conference in China for international brands.
Matthew has delivered dozens of presentations for many prestigious companies including Google, Tencent, Walmart, Visa, LinkedIn, BostonConsulting Group and more.
Originally from London, England, Matthew speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese having been based in mainland China for 16 years.
Following the "CX in the East vs. the West" session, Matthew Brennan is a wonderful addition to this session to help us gain insight into Chinese tech innovation and platforms.
He will deliver a combination of inspiration and insight into the new wave of Chinese digital innovation, and more specifically: help us understand ByteDance and TikTok.
Today, ByteDance is a sprawling corporate leviathan. Much like other large internet conglomerates, it has expanded into a myriad of online services consisting of gaming, education, enterprise productivity, payments, and much more. This is
made possible by three flagship businesses: Toutiao, Douyin, and - the one we know best - TikTok.
SEPT '21: Customer vs. Employee Experience September 24
Employees first, customers second? It's one of those typical experience paradigms. To get CX right, it is said, companies should start with their Employee Experience: your CX can only be good when you have customer-centric employees. Or is it the reverse: employees can only be customer crazy once the customer journey has been perfectly mapped out?
This Monthly Digital Session of Mission CX investigated how companies and brands can not only have a positive impact on the people they work for (their customers) but als the people they work with (their employees).
Customer vs. Employee Experience
Speaker: Nir Eyal
Nir Eyal
Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. Nir previously taught as a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford.
Nir co-founded and sold two tech companies since 2003 and was dubbed by The M.I.T. Technology Reviewas, "The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology."
He is the author of two bestselling books, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.
Indistractable received critical acclaim, winning the Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award as well as being named one of the Best Business and Leadership Books of the Year by Amazon and one of the Best Personal Development Books of the Year by Audible. The Globe and Mail called Indistractable, "the best business book of 2019."
In addition to blogging at NirAndFar.com, Nir's writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Harvard Business Review, Time Magazine, and Psychology Today.
Nir is also an active investor in habit-forming technologies. Some of his past investments include Eventbrite (NYSE:EB), Anchor.fm (acquired by Spotify), Kahoot! (KAHOOT-ME.OL), Refresh.io (acquired by LinkedIn), Product Hunt, Marco Polo, Presence Learning, 7 Cups, Pana, Byte Foods, FocusMate, and Shadow.
Nir attended The Stanford Graduate School of Business and Emory University.
More about NirNir Eyal is the author of 2 amazing, world-renowned books: "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" and "Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life".
In this digital session, Nir will bring in his expertise on the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. His expertise and insights encompass user experience, behavioral economics, and a dash of neuroscience - all of which he will share and apply to not only CX but also EX.
OCT '21: On sustainability October 22
Consumers expect companies and brands to take away their most primal fears (global warming, flooding, water shortage,…) and (help) solve world problems, too. They want it all: convenience, privacy, good deals, doing what’s good for the planet, ...
Many companies have already started projects aimed at making the world a better place. And this ‘doing good’ part does not just happen at the peripheries, it’s an intrinsic part of product, brand and marketing.
During this Monthly Digital Session of Mission CX, we learn from companies and experts that have already joined the movement and how companies can add an extra layer to their customer relationship and make themselves more unforgettable in the process.
Company case: MAX Burgers
Speaker: Kaj Török
Kaj Török
Kaj Török is Chief Reputation Officer & Chief Sustainability Officer at MAX Burgers. He has been working with sustainability communications since 1996. From strategy to practice.
What Kaj loves about his work at MAX Burgers, is to:
- Facilitate processes around trust, communication and sustainability
- Build meaningful brands and trustworthy organizations
- Maintain and develop meaningful personal relations
- Better himself
MAX Burgers is not only Sweden’s favourite hamburger restaurant chain, it is also one of the first. Back in 1968 the founders of MAX, Curt Bergfors and Britta Andersson, opened their first restaurant in Gällivare, high up in the northern part of Sweden.
Their hamburgers became so popular that within two years they opened more restaurants. Soon thereafter MAX was established in several other cities in Norrland (the northern part of Sweden). The rest is history.
Short facts
120 restaurants worldwideApprox. 5 400 employees worldwideTurnover of 220 million EuroMost profitable restaurant chain in Sweden outperforming both McDonald's and Burger KingMost satisfied customers in the business, twelve years in a rowMost preferred hamburgers in SwedenTop taste in test after test
On sustainability
Speaker: Erik Elvingsson Hedén
Erik Elvingsson Hedén
Erik Elvingsson Hedén is the Managing Director of SB Insight and the founder of Sustainable Brand Index™, Europe’s largest brand study on sustainability.
He has worked with sustainability for over a decade and has insights into more than 1.400 brands across industries and countries. Based on these insights, Erik lectures on how sustainability affects brands, communication and business development. He gives insights into (un)sustainable consumer behaviour and examples of how companies can use this to enhance customer experience.
More about ErikSustainable Brand Index™ is Europe’s largest brand study on sustainability. It offers unique data and insights on how sustainability affects your brand and what drives consumer behaviour when interacting with your brand and industry.
Founder Erik Elvingsson Hedén and Managing Director of SB Insight has worked with sustainability for over a decade and has insights into more than 1.400 brands across industries and countries.
Erik can give insights into (un)sustainable consumer behaviour and examples of how companies can use this to enhance customer experience.
NOV '21: From idea to storytelling November 19
No matter how gnarly, niche, systemic, or structural a problem or insight, it starts with a commitment. And then a headfirst dive into the mess of making things. From ideation to implementation: it can be solved with fewer echo chambers and more elbow grease.
This Monthly Digital Session of Mission CX will have us explore how we can change the world for our customers through technology and story. How we can do what’s never been done, get it done and tell it to the world.
From idea to storytelling
Speaker: Mick Ebeling
Mick Ebeling
Recently named by Fortune Magazine as one of the Top 50 World’s Greatest Leaders , a recipient of the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian of the Year Award and listed as one of the world’s most influential creative people by The Creativity 50’s, Mick Ebeling has sparked a movement of pragmatic, inspirational innovation. As a career producer and filmmaker and now founder and CEO of Not Impossible, Ebeling harvests the power of technology and story to change the world.
Ebeling founded Not Impossible, a multiple award-winning social innovation lab and production company, on the premise that nothing is impossible. His mantra of “commit, then figure it out” allows him to convene a disparate team of hackers, doers, makers and thinkers to create devices that better the world by bringing accessibility for all.
Named one of Wired’s ‘Agents of Change’, a two-time SXSW innovation of the year award winner, a two-time Tribeca Disruptor innovation winner, a fellow with The Nantucket Project, and recipient of every major creative and advertising award, Ebeling is on a mission to provide “Technology for the Sake of Humanity".
More about MickConsider starting with one person's one challenge. A wrong that you can help make right. Sometimes it takes months, sometimes years, but on the other side lies the greatest reward: a better future. That's how Mick Ebeling started, and he hasn’t stopped since. Mick Ebeling might ask you: do you know who is your one?
Mick has passionately studied “the fallacy of impossible”. All the modern conveniences we see around us were once considered impossible by people who didn’t know any better. Synthetic fabrics, cell phones and digital watches (not to mention cars and computers) were all figments of the imagination until inspiration met execution and the impossible became a reality.
Mick will dive deeper into “Impossible,” the underlying psychological affects it has on an organization, how to overcome this so true innovation can take place, and then bring it to life for your brand and customers.
DEC '21: Disrupting CX workshop December 17
After a year full of inspiration and connection with CX pioneers, we feel it's time to bring back some action and get us all geared up for another year of future-forward CX!
This Monthly Digital Session is once again a kickass virtual workshop. Literally.
We will look back to our main challenges of the year, pick our battles for the future and uncover how we can disrupt CX together.
Disrupting CX workshop
Speaker: Dietmar Dahmen
Dietmar Dahmen
Dietmar Dahmen is one of Europe’s top keynote speakers on change, disruption, customer-centric business success, and future trends and technology. His keynotes ignite managers all over the world. His insights inspire and motivate participants to go beyond knowledge and ACTIVELY SHAPE the future!
He is a digital guru, a CX rock star, a thought-leader who does not shy away from using a flamethrower to get the message across.
Dietmar started his career in advertising, heading teams and agencies in Europe and the US . Later, he became Chief Innovation Officer with ecx.io, an IBM company. Today, he is involved in various international start-ups, is president of the Swiss “social money” platform FYOOZ.IO, and owns and runs his own company BRAINKICKS.
More about DietmarDietmar Dahmen will bring his unique energy and creativity to help us act upon upcoming customer demands and business opportunities that are arising thanks to the latest trends and technologies.
Dietmar will create a setting that will stay in our minds and souls, will make the complex easy and will make the urgency of change, disruption and transformation fun.
This Disrupting CX workshop will be a custom-made, off-the-wall and highly creative workshop that will have us facing our challenges, fight off innovation blockers and train ourselves for another customer-centric year.
Let’s get ready to rumble!
JAN '22: Applying learnings to your CX strategy January 28
How about applying the learnings and insights from the monthly shots of inspiration to your own organization, to your own business, to your own customers - basically: to your own customer experience?
Depending on when you join(ed) as a member, you will have a (big or smaller) backpack full of inspiration and ideas. But what can YOU do with it? Or how to get started?
This Monthly Digital Session is all about putting you to work. But in a good way! Together, we'll look back to all the topics and learnings that have come and gone. And even more importantly: together we'll look ahead to what this could mean in your own day-to-day and how to strategize for the future.
This session is a working session, so no external speakers this month!
FEB '22: The future of marketing and branding February 25
Technology, socio-economics, the environment, the climate, the pandemic, ... our world and thus our customers' habits are continuously changing. As a result, the marketing landscape is also continuously changing. Apart from having creative and analytical minds, marketers have to always be up-to-date and on top of the latest trends. There is no space for irrelevant brands there.
This Monthly Digital Session wants to look into the future of marketing and branding: what's emerging, what's inspiring, what's innovating, what should be your next move?
More info and speakers will follow soon!
MARCH '22: Bringing humor into CX March 25
It has been clear for some time now that organizations are no longer fighting over the customer’s purse, but for their hearts. Could fun and laughter play a helpful role in that conquest? Humor is a tricky thing, though. It’s a goldilocks situation, where everything has to be just right for it to work.
That's why this Monthly Digital Session wants to tackle the passionate but explosive relationship between humor and customer experience!
More info and speakers will follow soon!
APR '22: What can hospitality teach us for CX? April 22
What do you think of when you think of "hospitality"? Cooking, waiting, opening doors, ... sure. But also: smiling, welcoming, serving and always putting the customer first. Hospitality is not only about hotels and restaurants, it is about human interaction. People doing something for other people, and always aiming for even higher levels of service.
During this Monthly Digital Session, we want to look into what we can learn from experts in the hospitality business and how to apply this to customer experience (in B2C and B2B).
More info and speakers will follow soon!
New sessions will be added throughout the year
Mission CX is an ongoing membership program. As a member, you pay a yearly fee of 1250 EUR (excl. VAT) that grants you exclusive access to the online community platform and 10 Monthly Digital Sessions.
The topics of the Monthly Digital Sessions have been confirmed up and until April 2022. Topics for sessions as from May 2022 will be added throughout the year, but what we can already share today: all upcoming sessions will continue to bring in pioneers with refreshing future-forward insights on CX-related technology, psychology, trends, organisation and innovation.
So stay tuned (and check our socials for regular updates, too!)
Past sessions
Mission CX is an ongoing exclusive membership program, consisting of an online community to connect with peers and Monthly Digital Sessions that tackle customer experience related content and topics.
Here's an overview of the sessions that have already taken place!
The Future of CX
In this Monthly Digital Session of Mission CX, we dove into what's next in customer experience, what trends are shaping the future and how to be ready for the day after tomorrow.
Next to moderator Steven Van Belleghem, we were joined by futurist and Salesforce's innovation evangelist Brian Solis, and AnyRoad's CEO and co-founder Jonathan Yaffe.
CX Innovation Workshop
After looking into what's next in CX, it was time to get to action and think of what this might mean for our members' companies or brands!
This Monthly Digital Session of Mission CX, was not another live Q&A but a kickass virtual workshop. Together with experts Steven Van Belleghem and Disney's former Head of Innovation and Creativity Duncan Wardle, our members reflected on their own future in CX, gained actionable insights and learned to up their (teams') minds to new, creative possibilities to connect with their customers.
Man vs. Machine
Customer-centric thinking, understanding your customers' needs, interacting and testing hypotheses, ... Is the best way to dig into the psychology of man, understanding behaviour and thus approaching consumers as humans? Or rather: by using machine learning, data and AI to uncover the best strategies and tactics?
In this Monthly Digital Session of Mission CX, we brought in both perspectives and Steven Van Belleghem debated them with consumer psychologist Ken Hughes and AI pioneer Inma Martinez.
On applying data and AI to CX
Ever wondered how to use Artificial Intelligence to serve your customers better, without them even having to ask? Want to learn how to personalize customer experience, improve brand image and enhance customer relationships? Or uncover business strategies and applications of AI?
In this Monthly Digital Session of Mission CX, we discovered what's next in the world of data, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics with Pieter Abbeel. Then, we made it tangible with the company case of OTO and its CTO Nicolas Perony. Finally, all members got to pitch in their own ideas and dreams of applying AI to their CX and got first-hand feedback from the experts.
Merging online and offline experiences
Customers are looking for products and services that are as streamlined and effortless as possible. Companies and brands thus seek to remove the gap between on- and offline behaviour by aligning online and offline in their future CX models. Companies that are still thinking in online and offline, in multichannel or omnichannel are making a lethal mistake. There are no more channels. Customers want online convenience in the offline world and offline experiences in the online one.
In this Monthly Digital Session of Mission CX (and following previous "tech" sessions), we dug into the hybrid or phygital world, where online merges with offline and vice versa.
We learned from two companies that both made big shifts to move their exclusive online or offline business towards merged experiences. Former Formula One's leader Mark Gallagher talked about the organizations pivots towards online at speed. Zappos' Head of Customer Research Alex Genov shared his vision on bringing in the voice of the customer and how to connect with the person behind a user from the perspective of an online brand.
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Mission CX: Stay ahead of the game in Customer Experience