July 09, 2025
e& Reinvents CX to Build Loyalty With Its Telco-to-Techco Transformation
At Dubai Mall, telco e&, a recent GCXA Award Winner, is reshaping retail with both its flagship store, designed around open spaces, vibrant displays and immersive screens, and its second AI-powered autonomous store, EASE. CXM talked to CCXO Chris Lipman about the changes and goals in the drive to become a “Techco.”
Registered customers can pick up items and walk out, thanks to facial recognition and seamless digital payments. Together, these locations reflect a bold retail strategy rooted in innovation, AI and frictionless design.
The reimagining of its retail experience is part of e&’s broader transformation, which began in 2022 with a rebrand marking its evolution from a telecom operator into a global technology company. That year, it changed its corporate identity from Etisalat to e& (pronounced ‘e-and’).
“Today, e& aims to become the UAE’s most loved and trusted brand — and it’s well on its way”, said Chris Lipman, Chief Customer Experience Officer (CCXO), e& UAE. According to the Brand Finance Global 500 Brand 2025 report, e& was named the “World’s Fastest Growing Brand,” achieving an eight-fold increase in brand value to reach USD 15.3 billion. This remarkable growth is the result of a three-year transformation journey, significant investments, and the consolidation of the historic Etisalat brand under one unified identity.
Please Explain the Journey From Telco to Techco?
e& stands as a leading telecommunications provider, offering the fastest network speeds and evolving into one of the most advanced technology companies. “As a techco, we have to be adaptable and customer-centric,” said Chris Lipman.
Customer experience has shifted from a supporting function to a central part of e&’s business. Every interaction, service, and innovation is built around the customer. “The CEO, Group CEO, Chairman and the Board — they’re all aligned on making customer experience a real focus,” said Lipman. “We’ve made huge progress. Customer experience is now in a really strong place, and we’re continuing to build on that.”
In 2024, e& UAE made major gains in customer experience, reflected in a 21% increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS) and a 59% drop in escalated complaints. These improvements are driven by Change Factory, the company’s award-winning initiative that integrates customer feedback to continuously improve service delivery. Results include a 31% reduction in top-of-funnel volume and a 21% decrease in agent-level interactions, thanks to proactive issue resolution.
How Did You Build A Companywide NPS Framework?
Previously, e& had used a mix of metrics like CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) customer effort score, and two NPS formats. “It gave a lot of false positives,” said Lipman. “Now, we only have NPS.” The new CX Measurement Framework collects survey-based data across various segments, products, and touchpoints through over 60 NPS surveys. This data contributes to the company’s “NPS pyramid,” which serves as a consolidated performance metric. “Our objective is to ensure that wherever there is human-to-human interaction with customers, a survey is conducted,” Lipman emphasized.
Currently, the organisation receives around 20,000 survey responses monthly — excluding transactional feedback. About 25% include unstructured comments, most of which are “very specific,” according to Lipman. The system is powered by the upgraded Qualtrics platform, which allows episodic surveys and uses AI to analyse results.
Every e& team member — from the C-suite to back-office functions — carries an NPS target. “You might think, what can the head of legal or finance do to impact NPS? Plenty!” said Lipman. By linking NPS directly to commercial performance, e& reinforces customer experience as a competitive differentiator. “There is a real commercial reason why customer experience is important,” Lipman added. “We know that if customers move from happy to sad, we are losing revenue. If they move from sad to happy, we’re gaining and reducing churn.”
Lipman is already looking to the next phase of CX strategy, exploring Fred Reichheld’s “earned vs. bought value” model under NPS 3.0. “We’ll ask customers why they’re buying from us at the point of purchase. If it’s because of experience, not marketing, that changes how we think about customer acquisition.” All in an effort to further drive customer loyalty.
What Are the Benefits of the Telco’s Call Centre as the Barometer of the Business?
These gains wouldn’t be possible without a transformed call centre strategy. e& UAE digitised over 90% of customer journeys, slashed call volume by ~42%, and resolved over 81% of calls in a single interaction. A 48% drop in technical repairs further minimised disruption.
“Nobody ever calls to say, ‘you’re doing a great job’. They’re calling because there’s a problem,” Lipman said. The call centre is now central to CX insight. “If we’re getting more calls, experience is getting worse. It’s that simple.”
The Change Factory, a robust framework, helps track and fix root causes, achieving 100% capture of customer input across all channels. The framework enables tracking and resolution of root causes, with issues systematically logged, quantified, categorized, and prioritized in a queue for action. “Nothing is forgotten. Even if only two people complain, it will get fixed,” said Lipman.
First call resolution (FCR) is a top priority, with strict tracking: two calls from the same number within seven days count as multiple contacts, even for unrelated issues. “It drives urgency and ownership,” said Lipman. “If a process elsewhere is broken, the team will raise it.”
And How is Your C-suite Moving Beyond the Desk, Especially as a Telco?
To embed customer experience deeper into the culture, e& launched its “Beyond the Desk” initiative. For customers who called e& on 1 May, their calls may have been answered by senior executives or even the CEO, who spent the day at the call centre engaging directly with callers. “Every c-level executive has taken away one issue from the calls they took, and they have to burrow to the bottom of the problem, and resolve the root cause,” said Lipman. It is e&’s way of truly being customer-obsessed across all levels of our organisation, beginning with its leadership. The programme will expand across e&’s management ranks.
Our customer obsession is validated by numerous award wins, highlighting e&’s strong CX culture. At the Gulf Customer Experience Awards in April, the company won gold for Best Use of Customer Insight and Feedback, and CX Team of the Year. It also took home silver for Best Use of AI and bronze for Best Contact Centre. At the Forrester CX Summit in London, e& UAE was awarded with the “Most Customer Obsessed Enterprise in EMEA”. These recognitions endorse our transformative strategy and its effective implementation in driving customer satisfaction.
e& is showcasing how industry leaders can drive CX innovation at scale, setting new standards for transformative customer experiences and redefining the future of engagement.
