Finastra has appointed Neil Blagden as Chief Customer Officer. He ultimately takes responsibility for customer success – overseeing everything Finastra does to design, deliver and enable excellent experiences for its customers.
Neil brings deep expertise in this space, coupled with a wealth of knowledge in customer support, operations and digital transformation. Throughout his career he has focused on building agile ‘customer-first’ cultures, including working with teams to build solutions that harness AI and data to provide greater insight for businesses – enabling them to better engage and deliver compelling and meaningful customer experiences.
He joins Finastra from his post as Director of Customer Services, Operations & Digital at Vodafone UK, where he oversaw a number of areas, including customer experience for 24 million UK customers across mobile, broadband and Internet of Things (IoT) services. Prior to that, he worked at Direct Line Group as Director of Customer Experience & Conduct, progressing from his previous role as Director of Business Services. In the early part of his career he also held front-office consulting roles at Accenture, EY and PwC working with clients across multiple sectors.
Neil said, “I am passionate about customer experience, which has always been the key focus throughout my career, and I’m excited to bring my learnings to Finastra. The open innovation vision of the leadership team, and the value that the business places on ensuring the customer is at the heart of everything, is inspiring. I’m looking forward to accelerating that drive and deepening these relationships.”
Part of the Finastra Executive Leadership team, Neil is based in the company’s London office (working remotely at present, due to the pandemic situation).
Simon Paris, CEO at Finastra said, “Neil brings with him significant insight into shaping customer experience with the help of innovative technologies. His enthusiasm for his craft and proven track record aligns with our commitment to shape our solutions and the way we work with our customers. We’ve always strived to build deep and long-lasting relationships with our customers, and long may this continue and evolve with Neil on board.”
