I used to be Mr Customer-Centricity

Big programmes. Global standards. Top-decile NPS results.

With my teams, we touched 500m+ customers and 1m+ employees in insurance, accounting, beauty, automotive, wine and 20+ other industries. We generated hundreds of millions in value. Even more smiles.

I’m proud of what we did.

But I had doubts

The more customer programmes I worked on, the more I found myself challenging the theatre of it all.

The obsession with metrics. The undifferentiated experience standards. The illusion that teams could be aligned, nudged and cascaded into change.

So I started looking for a better way.

I stepped out of my business bubble

I studied with narrative designers, neuroscientists, theatre makers, systems thinkers, psychologists, improv teachers.
Hung out with Nepalese monks, tarot readers, soldiers, poets and people in taboo professions.

While I knew the corporate moves, they taught me that I still had a lot to learn about the way humans and organisations change.

It took me close to a decade to catch up.

The result: The Transformation Code

A deceptively simple approach to make change real for customers, organisations, and even yourself.

Get the book on Amazon

The Transformation Code by Alain Thys: How to really transform your customers, your organisation, yourself.

Credentials

I know I'm only as good as my next project.

But as part of your due diligence, you probably want to know what I've done and where I've been.

I’ve been involved in too many projects to list, but these already give a flavour.

I'll happily discuss other credentials and limited case details in a personal conversation (subject to NDA).

Since 2006 I'm a regular collaborator with Toyota and Lexus Europe on a variety of strategic projects.

Deliverables
- Help create Europe's best automotive experience (Lexus)
- Achieve industry leading NPS results
  Drive new vehicle sales
  Increase impact of after sales teams
  Improve brand clarity
  Enhance employee experience
I helped a global non-food retailer reconcile it’s AI-first ambitions with its people-centric culture.
Deliverables:
- A clear AI narrative within the corporate strategy.
- A motivating positioning of AI towards all employees.
- A programme to make AI relevant to store staff.
- A movement plan for positive AI engagement..
- Deeper strategic questions and recommendation.
For a crematorium group, I am leading a project to transform McFunerals into meaningful farewells.
Deliverables:
- Three customer resonant farewell experience scripts
- Design guidelines for new facilities opening in 2029
- A new resomation ritual
- 150+ innovation opportunities
- The start of an industry movement
Over the years I have supported ING Insurance (and later NN) on number of strategic customer projects.
Delverables:
- An internationally unified set of customer promises and experience standards.
- A detailed “gap-closing” programme leading to #1 NPS position in all but one market.
- An organic change movement with hundreds of initiatives across all offices.
- A move towards interest-led lead generation.
Over the years I've assisted Grant-Thornton in multiple client relationship programmes.
Delverables:
- A globally aligned client journey
- A set of client experience standards
- An experience capability development roadmap
- A global client experience implementation programme
- Practical (NPS) ClientVoice programme improvements
For the Generali Group, I led the development of global customer experience standards
Deliverables:
- A global customer experience manifesto
- Purchase, claims, service and renewal journeys for motor, home, life and health insurance
- Minimum and differentiating experience standards for each journey stage
- People, technological and organisational capability requirements to deliver on the experience ambitions,
- 12 avenues for experience innovation
I helped Philips International’s marketing teams develop the capabilities to become more customer-centric.
Deliverables:
- one of the world’s first global, cross-functional Net Promoter implementations.
- significant increase in customer-led marketing capabilities.
- better alignment of marketing, sales and technology agendas.
Some other projects include:
- Creating and implementing international experience standards at Oriflame, Vodafone, Bridgestone, …
- Implementing customer-centricity programmes at Bekaert, Deloitte, Weber-Stephen, Mercedes, McLaren, …
- Developing and introducing new value propositions at MCE, Lantmännen-Unibake, Sanoma Group, …
- Setting up a global advocacy programme for Bordeaux wines (tasty!)
- and so on …

What others say about me

"With his collaborative, commercial and hands-on approach, Alain sparked a fire for customer experience across the company from the moment he started."

Alexandra de Greck
Chief Operations Officer
Oriflame
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
World Experience Organisation
For the first time in my life, I got a more structured way of thinking about customer experience and client satisfaction.

Nikolaas Tahon
Global Board Member
Deloitte
Alain helped define and form our customer-centricity program. His skill to listen, understand and bring everything into the context of his client is amazing.

Dominik Endler 
VP Customer & Commercial Excellence and CMO
Bekaert
Alain has worked with us on our CX agenda from the beginning. He brings clarity, relevance and a commercial mindset to engage a diverse and international audience.

Paul English
Global Leader - Markets & Clients
Grant Thornton International

Are you ready to drop the customer charades?

Make customer transformation real?

Let's meet for a virtual coffee

I used to be Mr Customer-Centricity

I stepped out of my business bubble

Credentials

"With his collaborative, commercial and hands-on approach, Alain sparked a fire for customer experience across the company from the moment he started."

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

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

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

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

Are you ready to drop the customer charades?

Make customer transformation real?

alainthys.com

alain@alainthys.com

I used to be Mr Customer-Centricity

I stepped out of my business bubble

Credentials

Toyota and Lexus Europe

Global AI Transformation (retail)

Pontes Crematoria

ING Insurance/NN

Grant Thornton International

Generali Group

Philips International

And yes, there's more...

"​With his collaborative, commercial and hands-on approach, Alain sparked a fire for customer experience across the company from the moment he started."

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

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

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

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

Are you ready to drop the customer charades?

Make customer transformation real?

alainthys.com

alain@alainthys.com

"With his collaborative, commercial and hands-on approach, Alain sparked a fire for customer experience across the company from the moment he started."