Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a chat I had with Anna Falcon, VP of CX Transformation at MCA Connect – a Grant Thornton Company. We talk about why B2B firms must deliver B2C‑level experiences or risk losing relevance, what’s driving this imperative, why so many AI initiatives and transformations fail to deliver value, and why we need to put humans at the centre of transformation.

This interview follows on from my recent interview – Why contact deflection creates quiet loyalty erosion – Interview with Pasquale DeMaio, VP of Amazon Connect Customer – and is number 602 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders who are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.

Here are the highlights of my chat with Anna:

• B2B Buyers Benchmark Against B2C Standards: B2B customers expect seamless consumer-grade experiences, measuring B2B interactions against top apps like Starbucks or Delta rather than direct B2B competitors.
• AI Amplifies existing Operations—Good or Bad: AI is an experience amplifier; deploying it on top of siloed systems and fragmented data exacerbates operational disconnects rather than solving them.
• Anchor Strategy in the End-to-End Customer Lifecycle: Digital transformations must map to the full customer value chain—from prospective engagement through fulfilment and ongoing service—rather than single departmental goals.
• Unify Upstream and Downstream Stakeholders: Sustainable transformation requires cross-functional alignment across sales, operations, IT, and service, backed by a unified Customer 360 data view.
• Keep Humans at the Centre of Technology Design: System design should address core human pain points—such as resolving a customer’s stopped production line or easing front-line work—rather than focusing strictly on technical workflow mapping.
• Employee Experience Directly Drives Retention and CSAT: A case study demonstrated that simplifying scorecard metrics to 2–3 key indicators and removing daily agent friction reduced contact centre attrition from 200% to under 60% while elevating CSAT.
• Drive Simplicity by Removing Complexity: High-performing organisations focus on shielding customers from internal enterprise complexity by eliminating redundant steps rather than adding layers of automation.
• Shift from Hype to Thoughtful Enterprise Data Foundations: After initial AI pilot failures, leading firms are rebooting their approach to focus on unified enterprise data strategies and customer journey mapping.
• Transition from Systems of Record to Systems of Intelligence: Modern CRM platforms must evolve beyond passive data entry repositories into proactive intelligence engines that dictate next best actions.
• Prioritise Business-Led Value Over Feature Sets: Avoiding wasteful technology spending requires evaluating tech investments through business outcomes and long-term intelligence capabilities rather than standalone features.
• Anna’s best advice: Start with the human, sit with the human, do ride-alongs, do mystery shopping, do your due diligence….start with what the customer is trying to achieve. Or sit with your employee; if you’re an IT leader or a CTO, sit with a sales rep to see and experience what they’re experiencing day to day.
• Anna’s Punk CX brand: Chewy

About Anna

Anna Falcon is an enterprise customer experience and sales transformation leader with nearly two decades of experience helping organizations modernize how they connect with customers. As Vice President of Customer Experience Transformation at MCA Connect, she works with manufacturers and distributors to drive sales transformation, customer strategy, and go-to-market effectiveness through the Microsoft Dynamics 365 ecosystem.

Throughout her career, Anna has advised organizations on commercial process design, customer experience strategies, and digital transformation programs to activate customer insights and intelligence. Prior to MCA Connect, she held leadership roles at EY and Root16, and managed operations and special projects at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.

She holds an MBA from Emory University and a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from Georgia Tech. She resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and four young daughters.

Find out more about MCA Connect and feel free to connect/follow Anna on LinkedIn here.

Image credit: Photo by Conny Schneider on Unsplash