Are you ready to make a difference?

Let's co-create experiences that differentiate your business, engage your teams and enrich lives.

As a customer passionate executive, you already do a lot.


​But life should be more than easy, seamless and digital. 

​You want to offer customer experiences that...

  • ​​make your brand stand out from the competition;
  • inspire your people and ecosystem partners;
  • future-proof your business for the needs of 2025 and beyond;
  • translate the customer smiles you generate into cash.  

If any of the above are on your wishlist, we should talk.​

Hi, I'm Alain Thys


​I can help you create and implement customer experiences that:

  • Differentiate your business, by uniquely connecting to your organisation's DNA;
  • Engage employees, ecosystem partners and shareholders around a common purpose; 
  • Enrich customer lives by being memorable. Meaningful. Even transformative.
  • Drive profit ​by connecting to the drivers of growth and eliminating what doesn't add value.  
  • Even create a better tomorrow

With my teams, I've influenced the experience of over half a billion customers and >350,000 employees world-wide. In the process, creating hundreds of millions in value. And many more smiles 🙂.
​

Testimonials

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Alain has worked with us on our CX agenda from the beginning. He brings clarity, relevance and a commercial mindset that helps to engage a diverse and international audience.

Paul English

Global Leader - Markets & Clients
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Grant Thornton

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From our first interactions, I thought: Wow, this guy's sharp - super smart & also super honest. He exemplifies the concept of radical candour.

James Wallman

CEO
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World Experience Organisation

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Alain helped define and form our customer-centricity program. His extraordinary skill to listen, understand and bring everything into the context of his client is amazing.

Dominik Endler

VP Customer & Commercial Excellence and CMO
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Bekaert

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For the first time in my life, I got a more structured way of thinking about customer experience and client satisfaction​

Nikolaas Tahon

Chairman
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Deloitte Belgium

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Alain brought this experience concept, he showed it, and it just broke us. People were crying, very emotional. That’s the value that Alain brought. It was really outstanding.”

Vladimir Gaspar

Director of Customer Care
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ING/NN CZ

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What clients typically get when working with me

Together, we co-create your next level customer experience

Practically, this includes:
  • A unique customer promise that differentiates the company and energizes the business.
  • A roadmap to bring this promise to life at every journey step and touchpoint.
  • A method to align and engage your colleagues and ecosystem partners beyond the manual. 
  • A framework to evaluate effectiveness and turn customer smiles into cash. 
  • A mindset to stay ahead of the competition. Again, and again. ​


Want to explore the next level for your business?

Credentials

Brands I worked with

Over three decades, my teams have globally influenced the experience of over half a billion customers and 350,000 employees across 30+ brands. In the process we created hundreds of millions in value. And many more smiles 🙂.
​

Getting started in 1, 2, 3

100% of the successful projects I worked for started with an informal conversation, followed by a small assignment to get to know each other. So rather than lose ourselves in complex pitch processes and proposals, I propose we do just that.

1. Virtual coffee (free)

​In 90 minutes, we discuss your situation and ambitions. To speak freely, I recommend a mutual NDA. 

If, at the end of this conversation, we both feel the 'chemistry', we continue. If not, we stay friends.

2. Roadmapping

​In a 3-4 hour workshop, we deep-dive into your situation. I bring useful practices and ideas. You bring your data and strategy.

Together, we co-create a high-level roadmap to experience success.

3. Make things happen

​We build 'one team' that co-creates a clearly defined set of deliverables within jointly managed timelines and budgets. 

I stay around until your team can carry on by itself.

So what 'exactly' do I do?

Cases that may interest you

Strategy talk always sounds a bit abstract. So here are some examples of projects I've worked on in the past.
​For a more complete list, visit my about page.
Luxury automotive
Since 2006 we have regularly helped Lexus reinvent the luxury automotive experience. The brand's programmes have raised the industry's bar in Europe, LATAM, the Middle East and Asia and drove continuous growth.

​In late 2021, we helped the company with a  Journey of Inspiration to start its next experiential design drive.
STEEL WIRE & COATING 
With a global leader in steel wires and coating we co-created and introduced an internationally aligned set of customer promises linked to their new brand identity.

In spite of a challenging economic climate, these will help the business differentiate by bringing to life its brand promise. 
INSURANCE
When the insurance giant Generali Group decided to establish new customer experience standards, they aimed for more than merely 'meeting expectations'.

So after reviewing global customer voice data and looking at key consumer trends we worked with a global, cross-functional team of experience champions to define a clear Generali difference at every stage of the customer relationship.

Thus creating a platform for short- and long-term differentiation.
BEAUTY & WELLNESS
To enter its next phase of growth and increase customer loyalty, we helped the global beauty and wellness company Oriflame create a set of customer promises that would truly differentiate it from any direct sales company on the planet.

We are currently assisting the different functions and markets to turn these promises into 'customer noticeable' activities.
EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
To increase employee engagement with a strategic change, we helped Toyota Motors Europe reconsider its work experience at every stage of the employee relationship.
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The final design balanced the employee's needs with the (behavioural) goals of the business.
WORK AS AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE
For a London based global HQ, we asked a team of architects, experience designers and neuroscientists to reimagine work as an immersive experience.

The resulting mix of spaces, stories and behaviours created an office concept that both attracts talent and encourages it to live the company values.
DEATH CARE
Triggered by a strong societal need, we dug deep into what Gen X consumer needs to reimagine the Western funeral for more meaning, sustainability and mental health.

The concept experience that ensued is currently developed into a series of micro-ventures that can transform key elements of death care. 

Would you like to explore how we can help your business differentiate and stay ahead of the competition?

​Frequently asked questions

To help you clarify whether we should talk, I'm including a few answers on questions I get frequently.
DO YOU PERSONALLY work on all projects?
YES. I tried the traditional consultancy route, in which I show up as 'senior partner' and then let teams do the work. But it left both my clients and myself wanting. So I decided to only work with a handful of clients at any given point in time.

Sometimes I work alone. Sometimes, I involve associates who are specialised in one or more domains of relevance. But I am ALWAYS hands-on, in every project. And I will be there when it matters. e 
How long will a project take
I personally prefer sprints of ca. 100 days. This is long enough to avoid rushing, but short enough to fit the corporate desire for visible progress. Not to mention in a hundred days, the world can change twice over.

So, even if you're working on a multi-year transformation, I'll typically recommend focusing on getting a next tangible deliverable in the next 3-4 months. 
Which methodology do you use
A friend once called me 'method-agnostic' as I like to mix and match methodologies based on the organisational context and situation. As long as it achieves the result, I'm happy to work with anything.

how many employees have you got
Zero. While I can activate up to 100 associates in a wide variety of specialisations, I employ no one but myself.

This is a deliberate choice, as I learned the hard way that, in advisory work, a fixed payroll can get in the way of doing what is right for the customer (i.e. do I sell you another hour to pay someone's salary, or do I show you how to do the work yourself?). 

So I've created a model, where I can activate associates who add project value at a variable cost. And deactivate them, if you can do the work yourself. 
Why should we choose you over another consultancy
Well, maybe you shouldn't. It depends on your needs.

If you seek a traditional consultant who uses a proven methodologies, Gantt-charts, steerco meetings and workshops to get you to a PowerPoint-able result, I can recommend some people who are really good. 

I'm the guy you call if you want to play for results. People tell me I'm great at listening and aligning. At thinking-out of the box. At getting people excited about implementation. At being a maverick, while staying politically correct. At not accepting mediocrity. 

So get in touch if you want honesty and a no-nonsense, root-cause focus based on both intuition and rigour. I'm convinced that we'll get along just fine. 
How much is the ROADMAPPING & inspiration SESSION?
Each case is a different, but I typically charge €5,000 for a roadmapping & inspiration session (excl. travel costs).

In Europe, I recommend doing this session 'in person', as this allows much more interactivity. Outside of Europe, it is more practical to work online. 

Shall we do this?

If you've made it this far down the page, we should probably talk.
​Let's have that virtual coffee!

Not yet ready to have a conversation?

​Then read my mind

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“The Last Best Experience You Had Anywhere, Becomes Your Expectation Everywhere.”