Chris Chance is the Senior Vice President for East Africa at CCI Global. He is based between Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. CCI Global is headquartered in the UAR, but has extensive operations across Africa - they aim to be the largest and most respected BPO in Africa through a combination of offering innovative services with a focus on impact sourcing and community uplift.

In this conversation with Mark Hillary from his base in Ethiopia, Chris talks about the creation of the Outsourcing Alliance of Kenya (OAK) - what does it mean for the region that we are seeing stronger organization around promotion for CX and BPO?

Beyond the new alliance, Chris talked about the increased development of services from Africa - with a new wave of countries even coming up close behind the ones he is working in.

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

https://cciglobal.com/

Reports mentioned in the podcast:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/david-rumble-4a4a09b_elevateafrica-gbs-globalbusinessservices-activity-7435711466642608128-owOl/

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ethiopian-investment-holdings_elevateafrica2026-ethiopianinvestmentholdings-activity-7434521009770323969-LPhl/

https://www.storydoc.com/11ba14bd4fd414f857a280044f096bcc/800e1f-ee50-f41c-6572-bbe14876d62/691346c299a86062dbbd6c6c

https://genesisgbs.com/2026-abridged-east-central-africa-gbs-benchmarking-market-report-download/

Summary:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the emergence of Kenya and other African countries as significant players in the CX and BPO sectors. Chris Chance from CCI Global highlights the Outsourcing Alliance of Kenya (OAK), which aims to unify the industry and align with Kenya's 2030 vision. Kenya's BPO sector has grown 10% annually, generating $700 million in revenue and creating 40,000 jobs. Chance emphasizes the importance of leveraging local skills, such as Kenya's expertise in mobile money, and the shift towards value-led delivery models. The conversation also touches on the broader African market, including emerging and nascent markets, and the need for organized, accessible information about these opportunities.

Steve Sullivan is the founder of Channel Doctors. He is based in Bournemouth in the UK.

Channel Doctors is a specialist advisory company focused on CX, contact centers, and especially issues such as data protection and GDPR.

Peter Ryan called Steve after seeing a LinkedIn post on managing customer rage. Are customers more angry today and how are companies dealing with it? How can it be managed in the contact center and how is it managed for customer service advisers who need to interact directly with customers - for example in retail?

Is the increased rage linked to social media and what can companies do to serve customers more effectively when they are more and more angry?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-sullivan-3275391/

https://channeldoctors.co.uk/cx/

Summary:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the growing phenomenon of customer rage, particularly post-pandemic, with Steve Sullivan from Channel Doctors. They highlight the impact of social media on customer behavior, the rise of anonymous abuse, and the need for better training and support for customer service agents. Sullivan notes that customer frustration has increased due to self-service failures and cultural disconnects. He emphasizes the importance of organizations addressing these issues to prevent attrition and improve customer experience. They also discuss the potential negative effects of AI-driven automation on customer interactions and the need for personalized AI assistants to mitigate customer rage.

Melanie Disse is the Principal Consultant and Tech Adviser to Melanie Disse Consulting. Melanie Disse Consulting is a CX & VoC consulting firm helping businesses leverage CX as a key competitive differentiator to drive business performance through understanding customer experiences. Melanie is based in Auckland, New Zealand.

In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Melanie outlines how companies can more effectively obtain feedback from customers and how to make use of this feedback. Most companies struggle to turn customer feedback into action and many are still relying on the surveys that customers hate completing.

Is there a better way to engage customers and get productive feedback?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-disse/

https://www.melaniedisseconsulting.com/

Summary:

Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the importance of leveraging customer insights to drive great customer experience (CX) with Melanie Disse, a consultant from New Zealand. Melanie highlights the need for organizations to move beyond just collecting feedback to actually acting on it. She identifies three stages: listen, analyze, and act, emphasizing the challenges in breaking down silos and using technology to unify data from various sources. Melanie also notes the global phenomenon of poor customer service and the necessity for organizations to implement feedback to improve CX.

They conclude by promoting the CX Outsourcers event in Ottawa, where Melanie will be speaking.