The topic this time was "The Role of Empathy in Digital Customer Experience." Companies had been focusing on operational efficiency, which customers saw as a ‘hygiene’ factor rather than a differentiator. The explosion of digital and the drive to remove friction in customer experience meant that companies had engineered out meaningful and personal relationships with their customers. This operational focus missed the key component in what became the next competitive battleground - Digital Empathy.

From the UK, we had Peter Dorrington. As the inventor of Predictive Behavioural Analytics, Peter was an expert in providing customers with more human experiences across all channels, including mobile and digital.

We held our next CX-Brussels Round Table event. This time, we had one of our own members, Horst Remes (Onestone), who talked about the pitfalls of customer centricity. In this keynote address, Horst explained why too many customer-centricity initiatives fail. Numerous times, customers did not notice the difference between ‘before' and ‘after.'

As a result, there was no effect on their behaviour: no increase in word-of-mouth, improved sales, or higher loyalty. During this interactive session, we learned how to avoid those pitfalls and move forward effectively and efficiently.