Agenda Day 1
8:00 am - 9:30 am
Registration
Registration, Breakfast & Networking
8:30 am - 8:45 am
Welcome & Introduction from the Chair
Chair: Paul Sims -
Advisor,
Equal Experts
8:45 am - 9:15 am
Leveraging AI and Data to Deliver Smarter, More Personal Customer Experiences at Scale
Ian Plummer -
Chief Customer Officer,
Auto Trader
As customer journeys become increasingly complex, retailers are under continued pressure to deliver seamless, relevant and intuitive experiences across every touchpoint. AI and data-driven technologies promise to deliver this at scale—but the real question is: how can brands harness these tools without compromising on efficiency, trust, engagement and relevance?
In this keynote, Ian Plummer explores how a major digital marketplace leverages massive data scale to remove consumer friction, empower its retail partners, and build ecosystem trust.
- How utilising a foundation of robust, scaled data allows platforms to move past AI buzzwords and deliver predictable, high-value outcomes.
- Using AI and conversational insights to move beyond rigid search criteria, improving product discovery and connecting buyers with more relevant options faster.
- Empowering the wider ecosystem by translating consumer behavioural insights into intelligent, predictive data tools that help retail partners identify high-intent demand.
- Balancing automated, scalable digital journeys with transparent, low-friction interactions that build long-term consumer confidence and trust.
- Why the future of customer excellence requires industries to break down data silos and embrace collaborative partnerships to keep experiences simple and easy to navigate.
9:15 am - 9:45 am
SPONSOR PRESENTATION: How to Build Voice AI Agents That Actually Work
Catheryn Li, Co-Founder & CEO of Simple AI, shares how her team designs, builds, and deploys enterprise-grade AI phone agents for iconic businesses like DoorDash and Omaha Steaks.
In this masterclass, she'll walk through the real-world process:
- Getting started and writing effective evaluation frameworks to QAing conversations and cloning lifelike voices that align with your brand brand.
- Uncovering practical techniques and hard-won lessons from deploying production agents at scale that sound realistic and drive measurable business results.
Sponsored by: Simple AI
Networking
Data from Salesforce shows that nearly 40% of consumers (and more than 50% of Gen Z) already use AI for product discovery. As this shift accelerates, how is your brand’s loyalty reflected when a customer’s shopping mission is being undertaken by an agent?
Do you have access to this discovery data to help build a true 360° view of your customer? And how can you personalise when you’re no longer fully in control of the journey?
- If we’re moving towards an autonomous era where agents can purchase on customers’ behalf, what role does loyalty actually play?
- What is loyalty or brand to an agent, and can the emotional equity built with customers be reproduced through agentic commerce?
- What happens to loyalty when the agent acting for your customer is operated by a competitor?
Sponsored by: EqualExperts
10:25 am - 10:55 am
One-to-One Business Meetings
As AI agents begin to shop, search, and make decisions on behalf of consumers, brands face a fundamental shift. After all, how do you control the customer experience when you’re no longer in control?
11:35 am - 12:05 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION: Balancing AI with the ‘Human Touch’ to Deliver Customer Service Excellence
Deborah Honig -
Former Chief Customer Officer,
Samsung UK & Ireland
As AI evolves at breakneck speed and pressure mounts to adopt AI for efficiency, it’s tempting to use it across every part of customer service. But anyone who has ever called a contact centre knows the frustration behind the phrase ‘I just want to speak to a human’.
Lunch & Networking Break
12:05 pm - 12:35 pm
SPONSOR PRESENTATION: Reinventing customer experience with AI agents: Delivering fast, human service at scale
- Building a roadmap to turn customer service from a cost center into a driver of loyalty and lifetime value
- Lessons learned from migrating off legacy chatbot infrastructure and launching a new AI agent in weeks
- How to balance automation and empathy to create faster, more human experiences at scale
Sponsored by: Sierra
With the explosion of AI tools promising to transform customer experience, the question isn’t whether to invest, it’s where, how and why. Selecting the right partner has never been more important, but most leaders are paralysed by choice and under pressure to select the best partner, yesterday.
1:15 pm - 2:05 pm
Networking Lunch
Networking Break
In today’s fast-moving digital landscape, businesses often find themselves constrained by evolving technologies, fragmented platforms, and legacy systems that can’t keep pace. The question isn’t whether to replace everything, but how to extract the most impact from what you already have.
2:40 pm - 3:10 pm
FIRESIDE CHAT: Managing the Impact of Digital Transformation to Minimise Customer Frustration & Protect Loyalty
Adrian Evans -
Head of Digital Product Customer Commerce,
B&Q Plc
Re-platforming is essential for long-term growth, but it can easily disrupt customer journeys and stall delivery if not managed carefully.
3:10 pm - 3:40 pm
SPONSOR PRESENTATION: Using Technology to Power Loyalty at Scale & Increase Lifetime Customer Value
As loyalty evolves from a marketing initiative to a growth engine, proving the ROI of your loyalty programme has never been more important – without numerical proof it's near impossible to secure further investment.
Powering loyalty at scale demands the intelligent use of technology to understand behaviour, analyse and personalise journeys and drive measurable increases in LTV.
• Quantifying the financial impact of retention vs acquisition
• Using data to predict LTV and demonstrate the revenue unlocked through smarter, scalable loyalty
• Selecting the most impactful loyalty programme technology based on your customer's needs to ensure every penny spent is delivering a measurable return
In a climate where budgets are tight and customer expectations are rising, strengthening loyalty doesn't always require major investment – the most impactful improvements often start with revisiting the fundamentals.
By focusing on operational excellence, rather than expensive gimmicks, brands can deepen loyalty, drive repeat engagement and stay lean whilst still delivering on the moments that matter.
• How can you use existing data more intelligently to uncover simple,actionable insights to drive retention without major spend?
• Increasing operational efficiency to remove everyday frustrations that quietly erode loyalty
• Revisiting the fundamentals of customer experience to spot quick, inexpensive fixes that meaningfully improve satisfaction
4:20 pm - 4:50 pm
One-to-One Business Meetings
4:55 pm - 5:25 pm
LIGHTNING DEBATE
Take part in a high-energy, interactive benchmarking session where you’ll respond to a series of divisive, quick-fire statements by physically positioning yourself from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’.
5:25 pm - 5:55 pm
Turning First Party Data into Customer Intelligence to Uncover Friction Points, Personalise Experiences & Strengthen Loyalty
Matt Walburn -
Customer Executive Director of Marketing and E-Commerce,
A.S. Watson UK (Superdrug & Savers)
Retailers are rich in first-party data but poor in customer intelligence.
Matt Walburn
Customer Executive Director of Marketing and E-CommerceA.S. Watson UK (Superdrug & Savers)
5:55 pm - 6:25 pm
CHAMPAGNE ROUNDTABLES
Whilst a problem shared does not always mean a problem halved, but in the right room, a solution can be found. Each table will discuss shared challenges around the outlined topic and consider how they could overcome the issues put before them.
The concept of this session is not just to provide an outcome, but to give ideas and direction to the issue at hand, offer alternative perspectives, challenge existing ways to deliver outcomes and deliver food for thought.
Roundtable 1: Accessibility in CX
Roundtable 2: AI Search Optimisation
Roundtable 3: Driving Engagement with Loyalty Schemes
Sponsored by: Level Access
