Stephen Wood

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT STEPHEN WOOD

I help companies to define and design better experiences for their customers and their colleagues. I do this by finding opportunity in ambiguity and building compelling cases for transformation that engage stakeholders and win sponsorship.Throughout my career I\'ve focussed on CX from four different perspectives, building a Swiss Army Knife of CX skills. As a, I\'ve spent months immersed in contact centres and digital operations, finding ways to take friction out of services, increasing impact and lowering cost-to-serve. As a I\'ve helped client’s CxOs to imagine and innovate. I’ve created compelling visions of the future, clear business cases and practical roadmaps to pilot, test and scale.As a, I built models that forecast the adoption of new tech and helped companies and investors evaluate emerging front-office tech and place better bets that generated bigger returns.As a, I\'ve founded and grown multi-disciplinary design teams in organisations that weren\'t \"design-led\". I\'ve promoted the wider commercial impact of designing, building advocacy and securing additional $mm funding for the team year-on-year. Outside of work I\'m an active member of the global Service Design community, an amateur podcaster, and a frequent event speaker. Most recently I\'ve spoken about:• Fostering the conditions that encourage bolder design and real impact• How digital design creates the foundation for financial inclusion• Why accessible design is about outcomes not compliance. Over the past decade I\'ve also been privileged to work with the next generation of designers through university mentoring programs and school outreach schemes. I\'d recommend both activities; nothing is more eye-opening or energising.I\'m always keen to link up with designers and hear about the challenges and opportunities they\'ve spotted as the role of design continues to evolve.