#104: Common Barriers to CX Success and How to Overcome Them

The Delighted Customers Podcast with Mark Slatin

Cyndi Lyon is the VP of Customer Experience and Strategy at Otava. She's a Certified Customer Experience Professional and earned her Master of Science in Customer Experience Management from Michigan State University. In this episode, she broke down some of the key barriers that get in the way of building a successful customer experience management practice and offered some actionable ways to overcome them.

In this episode Cyndi answered these questions and more:

• Do You Have a Clear Vision and Plan for Your Organization? Cyndi underscores the importance of having a clear roadmap for your organization’s future. It’s not just about the big picture—breaking it down into manageable, actionable steps that employees and stakeholders can understand and support is crucial for long-term success.
• Are You Iterating and Celebrating Small Wins? Cyndi believes that even the best plans will fall short without iteration. Starting small and making adjustments along the way allows for steady progress. By breaking long-term strategies into smaller, achievable milestones, you not only keep teams engaged but also create momentum by celebrating each victory.
• Is Your Approach Employee- and Data-Centric? Cyndi highlights the power of linking CX metrics to business data and effectively communicating these insights to stakeholders. She emphasizes the importance of understanding who owns the data and engaging champions within the organization to propel the CX strategy forward.

Meet Cyndi!

CYNDI LYON, CCXP

With nearly 30 years of industry experience, Cyndi Lyon is a trailblazer in the realm of customer

experience (CX). As the Vice President of Customer Experience Strategy at OTAVA, she is

leading a transformative shift towards a customer-centric model, ensuring that the customer is

always at the heart of every strategy through relentless focus on continuous improvement and

operational excellence.

Cyndi's dedication to CX is unparalleled. Recently, she earned her Master’s in Customer

Experience Management from Michigan State University, marking her as a pioneer in this

evolving field. Her expertise spans creating exceptional customer experiences, operationalizing

CX strategies, drive continuous improvement and fostering a customer-centric culture that

permeates every aspect of business operations. For Cyndi, the cornerstone of every successful

business is a deep understanding and genuine appreciation of the customer.

Cyndi's career spans product management, technology operations, professional services,

marketing, and more. This breadth of experience fuels her passion for delivering top-notch

customer experiences. Her drive for enriching product and service delivery is realized through

innovation, collaboration, process improvement, and organizational development.

Since joining OTAVA in 2018, Cyndi has built a legacy of success, leading the company’s

product, marketing, and business strategy, and heading the operations team to streamline

processes and systems. Her ability to build and inspire teams, coupled with her strategic

foresight, has been instrumental in OTAVA’s growth and customer satisfaction.

Outside of her professional life, Cyndi is a proud wife and mother of two teenage daughters. She

holds the prestigious CCXP certification and enjoys regularly participating in half marathons and

spending quality time with her family in Ann Arbor, Michigan.