Steven van Belleghem
About Steven van Belleghem
Speech topics
The Customer Experience Renaissance
Today, AI feels like an unstoppable superpower for businesses.
Efficiency, productivity, cost savings — it's everywhere.
But if we only focus on internal improvements, we risk becoming irrelevant to our customers faster than we think.
The forgotten side of AI: the customer.
While companies race to optimize their operations, AI is quietly reshaping customer behavior and expectations — profoundly and permanently.
Customers will search differently. They’ll expect instant, conversational service — ChatGPT-level responsiveness.
They will gravitate toward brands that feel easy, personal, and trustworthy — and abandon those that don’t.
The real mission isn’t just to work smarter inside our walls. It’s to use this moment to create new customer value — to stay deeply relevant in a world where expectations are changing at lightning speed.
We are living through a Customer Experience Renaissance.
New technologies.
New behaviors.
New expectations.
It’s time to fundamentally rethink how we build relationships with our customers.
This moment calls for bold, creative answers to four critical questions:
How can we use AI to create the ultimate convenience — where engaging with us feels effortless?
How can we use AI to create new value propositions — offering experiences and services customers didn't even know they wanted?
In a world where automation threatens to turn brands into commodities, how can we reignite the emotional power of our brand story?
And most importantly: how can we prove to customers that we truly value their business — building trust and loyalty in an era of intelligent machines?
The companies that dare to rethink customer relationships today won’t just survive the AI revolution — they’ll lead it.
Speaking videos
Books by Steven van Belleghem
“A diamond in the rough: Over a 100 specific tips to build a strong customer culture” (2023)
is book shows you how to build a customer-oriented corporate culture. Turn your rough diamond into a beautiful shiny jewel. Many companies have the intention to be customer-oriented, but only a few succeed in making the customer really happy. The key to success is building a customer-centric culture: a culture where both leaders and employees of an organization are aware of their role towards the customer at all times. In this book you will learn in very concrete steps and clear tips on how you can develop a customer-oriented corporate culture. Success or failure is often in details and in having the right attitude.
“The Offer You Can't Refuse: What If Customers Want More Than Excellent Service?” (2020)
How can you stay relevant for your customers? The answer is a combination of the following three factors: technology, personal involvement and social commitment. The past ten years have been marked by the arrival of 4G, mobile services, and robotics. These technologies have brought about a revolution in the field of customer experience and in the future, this will evolve even further. As a company, you will have to take a more active part in the personal life journey of your customers. This opens up the opportunity to tackle, together with your customer, concrete social world problems, including climate change, mobility, and health care. Customers increasingly seek out companies that do good for both themselves, and the world.
“Customers the Day After Tomorrow: How to Attract Customers in a World of AIs, Bots, and Automation” (2018)
Phase 3 of digitalization has started. A phase of artificial intelligence has revolutionized the buying behavior of customers: collecting information, the buying process and customer service have changed dramatically. This book explains the impact of the 'internet of things', virtual assistants, bots and client data. But first of all this is a book about customers. In a world of automatization the most important question remains: how can I be customer-oriented?
“When Digital Becomes Human: The Transformation of Customer Relationships” (2016)
In an age when customers have access to vast amounts of data about a company, its product and its competitors, customer experience becomes increasingly important as a sustainable source of competitive advantage. But success doesn't just rely on digital engagement and excellence, but also on combining a digital-first attitude with a human touch. In When Digital Becomes Human, Steven Van Belleghem explores and explains the new digital relationships. Packed with global examples from organizations that have successfully transformed their customer relationships, such as Amazon, Toyota, ING, Coolblue, Nike and Starbucks, When Digital Becomes Human presents a clear model that companies can easily implement to integrate an emotional layer into their digital strategy. This guide to combining two of a business's most important assets - its people and its digital strengths - covers the latest issues in digital marketing and customer experience management, including omnichannel and multichannel experiences, big data and predictive analytics, privacy concerns, customer collaboration (ie crowdsourcing) and more.
“The Conversation Company: Boost Your Business Through Culture, People and Social Media” (2012)
Research shows that consumer conversations, client happiness and empowered employees are the pillars of growth in a successful company. However, many organizations make decisions that contradict these findings and hamper their prospects of expansion. The Conversation Company will help your organization become a business in which people are the key driver of growth, sharing engaging content and building the company's culture and business objectives. People now expect any brand to have a human 'face' and you need to define a clear set of values for both employees and customers, incorporating them in your marketing so that all company communication reflects the DNA of your organization. Based on solid research and including interviews and case studies of companies such as Zappos, Kodak, Nokia and Microsoft, The Conversation Company is the key to sustainable success.
At a glanceSteven van Belleghem
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