VUX World

In this episode, recorded at the CCW UK Summit, we’re joined by Jordan Anglin from Vodafone to explore the company's approach to customer experience and how AI supports faster, more seamless issue resolution across digital and human channels.
Jordan explains how Vodafone combines its AI assistant, TOBi, asynchronous messaging, and dedicated resolution teams to reduce customer effort, eliminate repetitive conversations, and create genuine ownership from start to finish. Jordan also shares how AI is improving frontline performance through agent assistance, conversation summaries, quality assurance and real-time guidance, while offering a practical perspective on where large language models deliver real value and where they fall short.
Jordan closes with his take on where AI attention in customer experience is currently misplaced, and where he sees low-hanging fruit that's easy to miss.
Show notes
Discover the CCW Europe Summit in Amsterdam: ⁠https://europe.customercontactweekdigital.com/events-ccweurope/?utm_source=vux.world&utm_medium=Media%20Partner&utm_campaign=27400.010_VUX_Podcast%20episodes%20post%20event&utm_term=&utm_content=&disc=&extTreatId=7638147⁠

Follow Jordan on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-anglin-a2672610b/⁠⁠⁠⁠
Follow Kane on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms⁠⁠⁠

Take our AI Maturity Assessment: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio⁠⁠
Subscribe to VUX World: ⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio ⁠⁠
Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms⁠

We recorded this episode at the CCW UK Summit in May, capturing some of the key conversations shaping customer experience, service and AI.
AI is everywhere in customer experience, yet few organisations are turning that excitement into measurable business outcomes.
We're joined by Paul Cuglietta, Customer Services Director at Simplyhealth, and Paul Atkins, Head of Business Optimisation at Simplyhealth, alongside Shane Lynn, CEO and Founder of EdgeTier, to explore what successful AI adoption really looks like.
We discuss how Simplyhealth scaled generative voice AI with PolyAI from 5% to 50% of interactions and how the company uses EdgeTier's conversational intelligence platform to turn everyday customer conversations into actionable business insights. We also cover why organisations should start with real business problems rather than chasing the latest AI trends.
Simplyhealth funnels its conversational data through a prioritisation process to decide which customer journey improvements to make first. The team explains why progress comes from small measurable iterations and how they keep a human in the loop to handle the moments that automation should not touch.
We also weigh in on where the AI narrative is overhyped, where its real value remains underutilised, and why the unglamorous work of digging through conversations to fix broken policies and processes is where genuine impact happens.

Show notes
Discover the CCW Europe Summit in Amsterdam: https://europe.customercontactweekdigital.com/events-ccweurope/?utm_source=vux.world&utm_medium=Media%20Partner&utm_campaign=27400.010_VUX_Podcast%20episodes%20post%20event&utm_term=&utm_content=&disc=&extTreatId=7638147

Follow Kane on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms⁠⁠

Take our AI Maturity Assessment: ⁠⁠⁠https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio⁠
Subscribe to VUX World: ⁠⁠⁠ https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio ⁠
Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: ⁠⁠⁠ https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms⁠

When you switch off your call centre, AI has no safety net to fall back on. RVU did exactly that, building an AI-first customer operations function that serves millions of UK consumers.
In this episode, we’re joined by Anna Fedorchuk, Customer Operations Manager at RVU, the company behind brands including Uswitch, Confused.com and Money.co.uk. Anna shares how her team transformed customer support from a traditional contact centre into an AI-first operation, achieving AI resolution rates of 65-70% while maintaining a strong customer experience.
We discuss how RVU rolled out AI across chat, email and social media without relying on engineering teams, and why building the right knowledge base mattered far more than chasing the latest model. Anna walks us through how AI categorisation and carefully designed workflows lifted resolution rates across genuinely complex customer journeys, where similar keywords across energy, broadband and mobile made accurate routing a real challenge. Anna also describes how Claude and Intercom now work together to analyse conversations and surface operational insights in the team's own language.
People are a big part of this conversation. Anna explains how involving her team early gave each agent their own vertical to run and a real sense of ownership, and how AI even softened the stress of handling difficult complaints. She closes on what's next: data connectors and more agentic customer experiences.

Show notes

Follow Anna on LinkedIn:
⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-fedorchuk-b84232102/⁠
Follow Kane on LinkedIn:
⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms⁠

Take our AI Maturity Assessment: ⁠⁠https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio
Subscribe to VUX World: ⁠⁠
https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio

Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: ⁠⁠
https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms⁠

Japan has one of the lowest average NPS scores in the world, and the reason is cultural: Japanese customers expect more.
Daniel Orenes Ferrández, Senior Manager of Customer Experience at Uber, discusses Omotenashi, the Japanese philosophy of anticipating customer needs and apologising sincerely before resolving a problem.
Daniel has lived and worked in Japan for over a decade, including five years leading conversational AI initiatives at Rakuten. He explains why the Japanese language has between ten and fifteen ways of saying sorry, why choosing the right level matters as much as solving the issue, and how generative AI prompts can now select an apology tone based on contact type and severity, something fixed NLU responses could never do.
The conversation covers Aimai, the Japanese concept of ambiguity used to maintain conversational harmony. Japanese speakers rarely say no directly, and AI systems need specific prompting to catch these signals in sentiment analysis.
We also discuss the escalation strategy, digital mascots, integration with the Japanese messaging app Line, and practical guidance for global brands deploying conversational AI in Japan.

Show notes

Read Daniel's Substack, Japan CX Insider: https://danielferrandez.substack.com/
Follow Daniel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielorenesferrandez/

Follow Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms

Take our AI Maturity Assessment: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio

Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio

Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms

What happens when customers stop opening banking apps and start managing their finances through AI assistants?
In this episode, we sit down with Mathias Fanschek, Head of Digital Transformation and Retail Strategy at Raiffeisen Bank International, to explore how one of Europe's largest banking groups is preparing for a future of headless banking, agentic commerce and AI-powered customer experiences.
With 18 million customers across 11 markets and managing over €200 billion in assets, Mathias shares what it really takes to move generative AI from experimentation to production. We had a good discussion about virtual mobile assistants, transforming legacy data infrastructure, and managing executive expectations in a rapidly changing, highly regulated landscape.
You'll also hear Mathias' perspective on Revolut's new PRAGMA model, why context is the missing ingredient in today's AI experiences and how banks can remain trusted intermediaries as customers increasingly interact through AI-powered distribution channels.