Customer experience leadership - whether during my tenure in a Hospitality, Financial Services or Outsourcing – has been none other than the sum total of all the interactions a customer has with a brand during their customer lifecycle—and has become the critical differentiator in today’s hyper-competitive, hyper-connected global marketplace. Differentiation based on product innovation is no longer sustainable because competitors can leapfrog feature/function advantages more quickly than ever. And differentiation based on price kills profitability. On the other hand, research shows that 86 percent of consumers said they would be willing to pay more for a better customer experience. And