David Rickard is a partner at Everest Group. He is based in the UK.

David recently visited Ethiopia for the Elevate Africa event. In this conversation with Peter Ryan David gives his take on Ethiopia and Africa more generally for CX and BPO.

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

https://www.everestgrp.com/

https://www.weelevateafrica.org/

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Africa has been talked about as "the next big thing" in outsourcing for at least two decades. South Africa became a serious global CX delivery location. Egypt built a powerful multilingual BPO proposition. Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, and several other markets are now attracting attention as buyers look beyond the traditional offshore giants.

But Ethiopia is starting to enter the conversation in a more serious way.

In Episode 419 of CX Files, Peter Ryan interviewed David Rickard, a partner at Everest Group, shortly after David returned from the Elevate Africa conference in Ethiopia. The conversation was valuable because David was not offering a promotional pitch. As an analyst, his job is to look at both sides of the equation: the opportunity and the obstacles.

The annual CXOutsourcers Mindshare event took place in Ottawa, Canada, earlier in May 2026 (May 18-20).

Peter Ryan took a microphone onto the conference floor to capture ideas and comments from the delegates in Canada for this CX-focused event.

https://cxoutsourcers.com/

In this episode of CX Files you will hear comments from:

Sean Duncombe - COO, Neuroframe (USA)

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

Nathalie Siphengphet - CMO and VP Strategy, NQX (Canada)

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

Yanique Grant - Chief CX Specialist, ElevateCX (USA)

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

Seandette Wiltshire - Founder, The Contact Hub (Barbados)

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

Dave Rumble - various roles including Director and Chair Maistro Group and board advisor to NDH Group (UK)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-rumble-4a4a09b/

Krzysztof Herdzik - Co-founder and Chief Expert, Nalu Experts (Poland)

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

Fauad Nasir - CEO and Founder, EmpireOne BPO (Canada)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fauad-nasir/

Anna Yotova - Head of Innovation and co-founder, CALLBOXS (Bulgaria)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-yotova-2471aa17b/

Veronica Richards - VP at WW Calls Canada (Canada)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-richards-9b26969/

Faye Joubert - CRO, iTalk International (South Africa)

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

Terez Rijkenberg - Executive Coach (UK)

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

Vinay Parmar - MD, Customer Whisperers (UK)

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

Note: the order listed here is the order the voices feature in the podcast - there is no secret formula about the order. It's the order in which Peter sent the audio files to Mark Hillary to be included in this episode.

What makes a customer love a brand?

It is a simple question, but it quickly becomes complicated. People often reach for the obvious examples. Apple customers lining up overnight for the latest iPhone. Harry Potter fans queuing in costume outside bookshops. Lego fans who pass their love of the brand from one generation to the next.

Jonas Berggren, Chief Client Officer EMEA at Transcom, explores this question. What connects the best brands with customers and building a relationship that can last for many years?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonasberggren2/

https://www.transcom.com/

Stephanie Reeves Millner is a Global EVP at TP. She is based in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. It is worth noting from the start of this podcast episode that Stephanie is talking in a personal capacity in this interview.

CX and BPO processes are usually seen as a cost to most businesses. Stephanie argues that there are a number of strategies that can be used to drive up revenue, protect existing revenue, and increase customer loyalty. Applying all these strategies together can turn a CX cost center into a revenue generation center - moving from planning service to sales.

In this conversation with Mark Hillary, Stephanie explains this service to sales concept. She also talks her her use of LinkedIn video to promote and share her own ideas - why is it so valuable to share raw and unfiltered content full of original ideas?

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

https://www.tp.com/

Summary:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the shift from viewing customer interactions as a cost to recognizing their revenue-generating potential. Stephanie Reeves Millner, a global EVP at TP, emphasizes the importance of human engagement in customer care, highlighting revenue protection, creation, trust, and loyalty. She advocates for a brand performance engine over a cost center, focusing on retention, repeat purchases, and lifetime value. Millner also discusses the role of AI in augmenting human decision-making and the need for agents to have autonomy in upselling. She shares her experience with videos on LinkedIn, which have gained traction and provided valuable insights to her audience.

Andrew Hall is the founder and CEO of Ethenta. He is based in Portugal.

The "DREAM" service from Ethenta is a strategic framework designed to help organizations transition from traditional hierarchies to intelligent, agentic networks. It is aimed at enabling "+65% Productivity" through "Enterprise Agentic AI Transformation"

Mark Hillary called Andrew to ask about Agentic AI and how a focus on AI across the organisation may have a profound impact on CX.

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

http://ethenta.com/

Summary:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the challenges in the CX industry, including increased airfare costs and the bankruptcy of Spirit Airlines. They introduce Andrew Hall, who has formed a new company, Ethenta, focused on agentic AI. Ethenta's "DREAM" methodology helps organizations reimagine their business processes by capturing and synthesizing data from various sources, including interviews and historical data. The tool provides a visualization of the enterprise's "corporate psyche," aiding in decision-making and root cause analysis. Andrew emphasizes the importance of intelligent people using AI to augment, not replace, human intelligence.

Nathan Muniz is the founder and owner of 247Secretary.com. The business is based in Florida, USA, but has contact center operations in the Philippines.

Nathan talked to Mark Hillary from the floor of his contact center on his approach to telling the world about his business.

He walks the floor and talks to real people doing their job. No studio. No scripts. No "AI transformation" buzzwords. Just real agents, real calls, and real insight. And here's the uncomfortable truth:

That raw, unfiltered content is doing more for his pipeline than most enterprise marketing teams with million-dollar budgets. Prospects are literally saying: "ChatGPT told us to talk to you."

Let that sink in.
While everyone else is using AI to churn out generic content, Nathan is using reality to train the AI engines.

Authenticity is the key word here. Nathan lets people see his business up close and the online viewers love it, but the AI audience is even more important - because these AI tools are telling people about Nathan's business.

https://247secretary.com/

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

Summary:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss Nathan Muniz's innovative marketing strategy for his BPO, 247Secretary.com, in the Philippines. Nathan's approach involves posting authentic, behind-the-scenes videos on LinkedIn, which has attracted clients through AI recommendations like ChatGPT. This transparency has led to significant engagement and new leads without traditional lead generation efforts. Nathan emphasizes the importance of showing legitimacy, especially for offshore BPOs, and highlights the value of original content over glossy marketing. He also notes the ongoing demand for human agents despite AI hype and advises businesses to be transparent about their operations to build trust and credibility.

Gary Slade is the Chief Commerical Officer at TP EMEA. He has many years of BPO and CX experience and he previously led the UK/Ireland operation at TP as CEO.

In this conversation with Mark Hillary, Gary is talking about BPO stability and how this is becoming an important new measurement that companies need to focus on. If you are looking for a BPO partner then how do you know if they will still be around in 5 years? There is so much M&A activity, Private Equity takeovers, and BPOs that rely on a single client or geography... how can you be sure that you are choosing a reliable partner who can support your future growth plans?

Is stability becoming the new BPO battleground?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyslade1/

https://www.tp.com/

Summary:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the importance of stability in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services, highlighting Gary Slade's (TP EMEA CCO) views on the shift from cost to reliability. They note the volatility in geopolitics and fuel crises, which emphasize the need for BPOs to be resilient and financially stable. Slade emphasizes the importance of geographic diversity, industry experience, and technological investment. He also discusses the impact of private equity on service quality and the need for total cost of ownership considerations. The conversation concludes with the importance of BPOs demonstrating long-term stability and adaptability to future disruptions.