Thomas Oronti is the CEO at Advensus. He is based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The CX Files has explored many different nearshore options in the Caribbean region, but has never explored the Dominican Republic before and yet this location has the advantage of being able to easily offer customer support in English, Spanish, and French - thanks to Haiti also sharing the island of Hispaniola.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/wgpE2LoSLp9tu6TX6

Peter Ryan talked to Thomas about the growing importance of the DR in the nearshore CX and BPO sector and how Advensus strongly focuses on the role of the agent in any CX strategy.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-oronti-67777a12/

https://advensus.com/

SUMMARY:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the Dominican Republic's growing importance in the BPO and CX sectors. Thomas Oronti, CEO of Advensus, highlights the DR's unique trilingual labor pool, strong English proficiency, and robust connectivity. Advensus has grown from 100 to over 5,500 seats in 19 years, offering services like translation, collections, and customer service. The DR's stability, political reliability, and cost-effectiveness make it a premier nearshore destination. Oronti emphasizes the need for better English training programs and the potential for servicing Spanish, French, and English markets. The DR's success is attributed to its flexible workforce and strategic location.

PANEL: In Face of Stagnating Favorability Ratings, What’s Next for South African Offshore CX?

When Ryan Strategic Advisory published the most favorable offshore location study last May, South Africa had dropped to third position, compared to more recently topping the poll.

This survey features feedback from over 800 CX decision-makers and is potentially the largest survey that explores where CX leaders will consider operations.

https://ryanadvisory.com/india-is-the-most-favored-offshore-cx-delivery-point-in-2025/

India and the Philippines are now the most popular destinations, but have these giant destinations just reasserted their postiion or is something going wrong in South Africa?

South Africa is still in the top three destinations, but is this slip from the top position a significant change or a blip?

Peter Ryan called together a group of three experts to talk about the change in favorability and what is next for BPO and CX in South Africa...

Lian Rowlands

Owner and Principal Consultant at Tayma Solutions

Liverpool, UK

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lian-rowlands-a26119/

Steve Weston

Founder of ApexCX

Baltimore, MD, USA

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-weston-1843152/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/apexcx-customer-experience-support-services/

Mark Essey

CEO Custom Connect South Africa

Durban, South Africa

https://www.linkedin.com/in/markessey/

https://www.customconnect.com/

Summary:

In the CX Files podcast episode from July 3, 2025, hosts Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the recent Ryan Strategic Advisory survey on CX technology and global services, which ranked offshore destinations for favorability. India ranked first, the Philippines second, and South Africa tied for third with Poland. The conversation features experts Lian Rowlands, Steve Weston, and Mark Essey, who discuss South Africa's decline in favorability rankings despite maintaining a strong delivery system. They highlight the need for South Africa to reinvent its value proposition, focusing on data security, compliance, and advanced technology to regain its top position. The discussion emphasizes the importance of government support, industry cooperation, and forward-thinking strategies to enhance South Africa's BPO sector.

Pete Jones is the founder and CEO of Grypp. He is based in the UK between London and Birmingham.

Grypp is a visual platform that aims to help contact centers and the agents working within them see what their customers can see.

This can be a transformative technology for many support environments and it is low cost and proven - in contrast to many of the AI projects we have covered recently on the podcast.

Mark Hillary called Pete to get an ouline of the various ways in which a visual approach to CX can transform how the support process works and how this also creates opportunities for managing fraud and identity.

As the conversation suggests: we need humans In CX so why are we restraining them by not allowing them to see what the customer can see?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-jones-gryppcorp/

https://grypp.io/about-us/

Summary:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the evolution of visual customer experience (CX) with Pete Jones, CEO of Grypp. They highlight how visual CX, which allows agents to see customer issues in real-time, can reduce communication inefficiencies and enhance customer service. Jones shares that one in five enterprises now use visual CX, and Grypp has released 20 new innovations in the past two years. They also explore the potential of visual CX in fraud prevention and its integration with AI to improve customer interactions and operational efficiency. Jones emphasizes the importance of immediate value and the potential for significant cost savings and improved customer satisfaction.