In Episode 2 of CX Leaders, host Mark Hillary talks to Corinne Ripoche, CEO of ellio, the newly independent CX business created from the carve-out of Capita CX.

Corinne explains why ellio is more than a rebrand, and how independence gives the company an opportunity to rethink the traditional BPO model. She discusses moving beyond headcount and operational KPIs towards outcomes, consulting and customer journey transformation, while embedding AI into CX rather than simply adding another technology layer.

The conversation also explores ellio's "Born Curious" culture, the changing role of the CX partner, and the skills contact centre employees will need as automation transforms the industry. Corinne argues that the future will require fewer transactional roles, but greater emphasis on empathy, data, storytelling, prompting and higher-value advisory work.

This is a conversation about building a new CX company — and what the next generation of BPO could look like.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinne-ripoche-692a162/

http://elliocx.com/

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

https://www.linkedin.com/company/https-cxalliance.org-/

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Summary:

In Episode 2 of CX Leaders, host Mark Hillary talks to Corinne Ripoche, CEO of Ellio, the newly independent CX company created from the carve-out of Capita CX.

Corinne explains why Ellio should be seen as much more than a new brand. The company brings more than 30 years of CX experience, over 10,000 employees and an established client base, but independence gives the leadership team an opportunity to rethink how a modern CX business should operate.

A major theme of the conversation is the shift away from the traditional BPO model built around headcount, seats and operational KPIs. Corinne argues that CX partners need to focus much more on business outcomes, customer journey redesign, consulting and value creation. Rather than simply delivering a specified number of agents, the future CX partner should help clients solve problems, improve first-contact resolution and strengthen the relationship between customers and brands.

Corinne also explains the thinking behind Ellio's "Born Curious" positioning. She describes curiosity as a cultural principle rather than just a marketing slogan: employees should be encouraged to ask better questions, challenge existing processes and then take responsibility for developing better answers. This supports Ellio's ambition to move from traditional outsourcing towards a more advisory and consulting-led relationship with clients.

AI and automation are another important part of the discussion. Corinne warns against simply adding AI on top of existing processes. Instead, companies need to redesign customer journeys and determine the right combination of humans and technology. The goal should be a seamless experience where the customer receives the right answer without needing to think about whether AI or a human agent delivered it.

The conversation also examines how this transformation will change contact centre careers. Corinne expects greater emphasis on empathy, data skills, prompting, storytelling and the ability to work effectively with AI tools. She is also candid that automation will mean fewer people are required for some types of work, but believes the roles that remain will become more sophisticated and higher value.

Finally, Corinne discusses Ellio's priorities as the company begins its independent future: building a new culture, developing strong technology partnerships and pursuing growth. With more than 400 customers already coming into the new organisation, Ellio has the unusual opportunity to combine the scale and experience of an established CX provider with the freedom to redesign how it wants to operate.

#CustomerExperience #CX #BPO #Outsourcing #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #CustomerService #ContactCenters #DigitalTransformation #CXTransformation #Automation #FutureOfWork #Leadership #Ellio #CXLeaders #CustomerJourney #BusinessTransformation #GenerativeAI

In the first episode of CX Leaders, the podcast from the Customer Xperience Alliance (CXA), host Mark Hillary talks to Dan Fay, IT Director at Interact Contact Centres, about how AI is changing the role of the contact centre.

Dan argues that the most effective approach is often "AI enabled, but people led." Simple interactions may increasingly be automated, but complex, emotional, or relationship-based conversations still benefit from human judgement and empathy. AI can instead support agents by surfacing the right information at the right moment, allowing them to focus more completely on the customer.

The conversation also explores AI governance, security, knowledge management and the real cost of deploying AI at scale. Dan explains how Interact's employee-owned structure encourages longer-term thinking about technology, with AI viewed as a way to make employees more capable rather than simply reducing headcount.

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-fay-78881695/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/interact-cc

https://interactcc.com/

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Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markhillary/

CXA: http://www.thecxalliance.org/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/https-cxalliance.org-/

Welcome to the CX Leaders podcast from the Customer Xperience Alliance!

Host Mark Hillary introduces the podcast - interviews coming soon!

Podcast launches on July 28, 2026.