Dive Brief:

• Verizon named Brian Higgins as its first-ever chief customer experience officer to lead its new customer experience organization, the company said Monday. He will report to Sowmyanarayan Sampath, CEO of Verizon’s consumer group.
• The telecommunication giant also appointed Walmart veteran Dory Butler as SVP of customer experience. Higgins will lead the development of sales and service experiences across the end-to-end customer journey.
• Other leaders in the customer experience division include Lance Koenders, VP of experience products, and Chris Paul, VP of digital, sales and experience. Koenders will work on developing new customer-focused products, while Paul will concentrate on improving the online experience.

Dive Insight:

Verizon’s customer experience organization is charged with improving the experience for customers and employees alike. The organization will focus on improving AI use, personalization and digital channel and systems functionality, Verizon said.

Meeting these objectives will require collecting customer feedback from multiple channels and acting upon it to ensure positive experiences at every consumer touch point, according to Higgins.

“Our mission is to provide the best experiences for our customers, however they interact with us,” Higgins said in an email to CX Dive. “To achieve that, we need to be students, constantly listening, learning and applying those learnings to action.” 

One of the team’s initial goals will be simplifying experiences for customers. This includes consolidating choices for shoppers building plans through Verizon’s myPlan and tapping into AI to help frontline teams offer faster, more efficient service.

MyPlan, an unlimited plan launched last May, lets customers choose the add-ons and service they want. 

The service had more than 13 million subscribers as of Q4 2023 and is credited with driving Verizon’s average revenue per account, CEO Hans Vestberg said on an earnings call last month. Simplifying the process of signing up for myPlan could further accelerate growth.

Verizon’s customer experience organization will also work to build collaboration across the entire Verizon team. Higgins noted that “customer experience is not an overnight fix,” and that his team is already working on improving existing processes and creating new capabilities.

“We’re committed to putting the customer at the center of everything we do because we know our success depends on it,” Higgins said.