As companies get to grips with inflation, cost of living crises, supply chain issues, and geopolitical conflicts, meeting customers' expectations has never been so challenging. Today, we're having a roundtable with two of KPMG's global sector leads to talk about trends that we're seeing in the marketplace around customers and consumers, and how companies are interacting and engaging with their customers, and how they're trying to stay ahead of disruption.

Our speakers this week:

• Julio Hernandez, Global Customer and Operations Service Line Lead, KPMG International
• Anna van Poucke, Global Sector Lead for Healthcare, KPMG International
• Judd Caplain, Global Sector Lead for Financial Services, KPMG International

From emerging technologies like the metaverse, to speech-processing and improved location-based services, organizations are trying to balance the quest for insight versus the protection of customer data. Today, our panel discuss what good customer privacy looks like, and how it is shaping customer interactions.

Our speakers this week:

• Julio Hernandez, Global Customer and Operations Service Line Lead, KPMG International
• Sylvia Klasovech Kingsmill, Global Head of Privacy and Partner, KPMG in Canada

• Paul Henninger, Global Head of Lighthouse and Partner, KPMG in the United Kingdom.

How can companies manage rising inflation and the impact on customers? In this episode, our panel talk about the importance of brand, loyalty, and tactics that companies can take to manage higher inflationary pressure.

Our speakers in this episode:

• Julio Hernandez, Global Customer and Operations Service Line Lead, KPMG International
• Yael Selfin, Chief Economist, KPMG in the UK
• Edgar Molenaars, Partner, KPMG in The Netherlands

In this episode, our panel explore constantly rising customer expectations that are challenging companies to innovate fast to keep up, and discuss how organizations can maintain the momentum of transformation accelerated by COVID to ensure their positive results continue. Innovation is not just limited to technology but rather enabled by it.

Our speakers this week:

• Isabel Zisselsberger, Partner, Head of Financial Services Strategy and Operations, KPMG China
• Sam Ganga, Principle, National Consulting Industry Leader - Consumer & Retail, KPMG in the United States
• Patrick Maes, Director, Head of Customer, Sales, Marketing and Innovation Advisory, KPMG in Belgium

In this episode, our panel explore personalization and how companies should look to cultivate proactive, one-to-one connections with their customers that deliver on their expectations, without threatening their trust in the brand. They also discuss how, going forward, businesses must be sensitive and systematic in how they utilize data, always demonstrating the clear benefit to the consumer.

Our speakers this week:

• Amanda Hicks, Partner, Customer Brand and Marketing Advisory, KPMG Australia
• Tom Lurtz, Partner, KPMG in Germany
• Paul Henninger, Partner and Head of Lighthouse, KPMG in the UK

Today, during our episode of Customer First, we're going to be talking about orchestrating customer experiences and KPMG's Global Customer Experience Excellence report for 2021. We'll be discussing what are the key trends from year's research and who are the companies leading the way in CX?

Our speakers this episode:

• Julio Hernandez, Global Lead - Customer and Operations, KPMG
• Jenny Roche, Partner, KPMG Australia

• Peter Liddell, Global Head of Operations, KPMG

In this episode, our panel explore the emergence of a new type of customer, whose decisions are driven increasingly by purpose, integrity and reputation. They discuss how businesses can achieve customer buy-in and translate that into practice, illustrating their points with some great examples of trust-building key events.

Our speakers this episode:

• Jo Stringer, Partner, KPMG in the UK
• Edgar Molenaars, Partner, KPMG in The Netherlands

• Carmen Bekker, Partner, KPMG Australia

In this episode, the panel highlight how business success is no longer measured purely in financial terms and how purpose now has to be built into strategy if organizations are to survive and thrive. Ethics are now tightly entwined in the wider business agenda of commercial resilience and the need to implement processes both for the customer and employees to ensure brand integrity and protect against reputational damage, are discussed.

The speakers this week are:

• Tim Knight, Partner, KPMG in the UK
• Samantha Gloede, Managing Director, KPMG in the US
• Vamsi Duvvuri, Managing Director, KPMG in the US