Robert Napoli

Most leaders of mid-market financial firms struggle to manage the growing complexity of their technical ecosystem. You've moved past the point where an IT support desk or outsourcing alone is sufficient, yet technical chaos continues to erode profit margins.

I work with CEOs of financial services firms where technology is a high-stakes ecosystem. When your technical infrastructure fails to operate as an integrated whole, your EBITDA, revenues and regulatory standing are at risk.

You see the symptoms: data silos requiring manual reconciliation, headcount increasing just to manage software gaps, and an IT department stuck in reactive firefighting mode. Despite constant spending on new tools, systems feel more fragmented than ever, slowing your decision velocity and ability to respond.

The root cause of this friction is rarely your infrastructure or systems. It's the lack of strategy and direction for your technical ecosystem.

Your technology is not a list of separate tools but an interconnected system where changes in one area create friction in another. Most firms keep trying to "fix the tools" when they should be optimizing the ecosystem - driving technical debt, operational drag and margin leakage. The path back to predictability is shifting from reactive maintenance to proactive ecosystem optimization.

I step in as a Fractional CIO to set strategy and direct implementation. I don't just advise - I drive the work that reduces technical debt and aligns systems with financial objectives, turning your infrastructure into a predictable asset that protects profit and supports growth.

My engagements deliver three fiduciary outcomes:

✦ 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲: I transition firms from reactive maintenance to proactive ecosystem direction - uncoupling headcount from volume growth so infrastructure supports expansion without ballooning overhead.

✦ 𝗘𝗕𝗜𝗧𝗗𝗔 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆:  I identify drag from fragmented, redundant or legacy systems. By consolidating your ecosystem and aligning tools with board-level goals, I recover significant annual spend and stop technical debt from eroding margins.

✦ 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: I replace shadow IT and data silos with audit-ready, integrated environments - ensuring your data infrastructure remains an asset during regulatory scrutiny or M&A due diligence, not a liability.

If your technology is blocking growth rather than enabling it, visit Agile Tech Advisors and take our ITEO Diagnostic to identify where your margins are leaking.

Founder & CEO

I founded Agile Tech Advisors to provide businesses with the guidance and expertise they need to navigate the challenges and capitalize on the opportunities presented by technology. My extensive experience in IT leadership and consulting has shown me that companies need a strategic and proactive approach to technology management to thrive.

Agile Tech Advisors takes a value-driven approach to technology management, delivering tangible benefits and measurable outcomes that directly impact the bottom line. Our deep technical expertise and proactive approach enable us to facilitate innovation, streamline processes, and uncover growth opportunities while addressing potential cybersecurity and compliance risks.

Central to our approach is building meaningful relationships based on trust, integrity, and a deep understanding of your business. We do not believe in “technology for technology’s sake.” Your technology roadmap must align with the business and have clearly defined and agreed-upon goals. We take the time to understand your unique needs and offer customized solutions that maximize the effectiveness of your technology strategy and set the foundation for long-term success.

When you work with Agile Tech Advisors, you can expect measurable improvements in your business operations. Our results-driven approach, technical expertise, risk mitigation strategies, and commitment to building genuine relationships enable us to deliver maximum value from your technology investments.

Keynote Speaker on Customer Experience | Turning CX into a Business Disruption Strategy | Author | Trainer | LinkedIn Learning Instructor | Cyclist

Most businesses believe they are customer-centric. They aren't.

They operate in silos, work misaligned and are obsessing over short-term gains instead of truly serving customers. This disconnect erodes trust, creates friction, and kills revenue. In a world where switching brands takes seconds, this isn't just a problem, it's a business killer.

The reality is that customers don’t care about your internal structure, they care about seamless, effortless, and meaningful interactions.

I work with companies that refuse to settle for "good enough" and want to turn customer experience into a competitive advantage. Through executive advisory, professional speaking, and training, I challenge outdated thinking and help organisations set new standards for excellence.


My keynotes disrupt comfortable assumptions. I use real-world case studies, provocative questions, and proprietary frameworks to expose the disconnect between what companies believe about their customer relationships and the reality. I educate, challenge conventional thinking, and equip leaders with the tools to fundamentally transform how they serve customers.


What I Help Companies Achieve:

→ Prioritise customers in every decision
→ Align business objectives with customer needs 
→ Simplify processes that improve experiences without sacrificing efficiency
→ Embed and align customer-centric thinking at every level, from the C-suite to the frontline


I've inspired leaders at Coca-Cola, ING Bank, Aegon, SD Worx, and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and companies across finance, insurance, and consumer goods to drive customer-centric transformations.

My insights have shaped thousands of professionals through my LinkedIn Learning courses, masterclasses, and keynotes delivered to Fortune 500 C-suites and industry conferences across multiple continents

I'm also the author of Journey to Centricity: A Customer-Centric Framework for the Era of Stakeholder Capitalism, a blueprint for businesses ready to align their operations with what customers and stakeholders actually value.


Ready to truly serve customers better? 


www.ileniaVidili.com



___


Born in Sardinia, Italy, Ilenia lived and worked across Spain, Southeast Asia, and the UK, where she built her corporate career before building her own company. Her mission is to see a future where businesses embrace a higher purpose, create meaningful value, and contribute positively to society.

Ilenia Vidili

Nothing says “we care” like a chatbot replying “Great!” after you type “I got scammed.”

That is PayPal’s virtual agent... Brady’s money is gone, and the bot is living its best life.


This is where we are with automation. Sophisticated enough to sound helpful. Not quite sophisticated enough to understand when "Great!" is... not great.


To every company deploying chatbots:

► sentiment analysis isn't optional, it's essential

► your customers deserve better than algorithmic cheerfulness in their worst moments


A few basics that stop this sort of chaos:

1. Detect crisis words and switch tone fast.
2. Escalate to a human in one click.
3. Give clear next steps, and apologse like an adult.
4. Never celebrate a customer’s disaster.


And to PayPal's team: 

I'm sure you're working on this. In the meantime, maybe add "financial loss" to the list of things that shouldn't trigger a positive response?



#customerexperience #ai #artificialintelligence #cx

Most customer centric programs fail.

Here is why and how to fix it:


1. Lack of connection to business value
↳ If CX programmes aren’t clearly tied to business strategy (growth, retention, cost reduction), they struggle for sponsorship and resources.

▶︎ Link every CX initiative to a measurable business outcome. Show the ROI in language leaders care about.


2. Inconsistent leadership support
↳ Programme fails when leaders talk about customer centricity but don’t visibly back it: no budget, no priorities, no accountability.

▶︎ Get leaders visibly involved. Ask them to sponsor projects, join customer calls, and be held accountable for outcomes.


3. Data silos / fragmented systems
↳ Customer information lives in different departments and never gets connected. That creates disjointed CX.

▶︎ Ease silos with shared systems, shared goals, and regular cross-team reviews.


4. Poor adoption among employees
↳ Frontline staff often don’t get the training, tools, or motivation to deliver the customer promise.

▶︎ Train, equip, and inspire employees. Show how customer centricity makes their work more meaningful.
5. Focusing on metrics over meaning
↳ Over reliance on survey scores (NPS, CSAT, etc.) without digging into why: sentiment, stories, qualitative feedback.

▶︎ Combine metrics with qualitative feedback and act on them.


6. Rigid tech that can’t adapt
↳ If your tech stack is inflexible, you can’t respond fast to changing customer expectations.

▶︎ Choose tools that adapt to processes, not the other way around. Keep technology light, flexible, and always tested with real users.


7. Neglecting changing customer expectations
↳ Customer needs evolve. If the programme doesn’t frequently revisit feedback and adapt, it becomes misaligned.

▶︎ Build continuous listening loops. Regularly review and refresh journeys.


8. Poor governance over customer journeys
↳ Many companies map journeys beautifully but don’t build processes & ownership to sustain them across departments.

▶︎ Assign ownership for each stage of the journey. Make sure someone is accountable for improving and sustaining it.


9. Change resistance
↳ Organisations often resist changing their “way things are done”.

▶︎ Start small, show wins, and celebrate progress to shift mindsets.



What else would you add?



#cx #customerexperience #customerrelations

Most customer centricity initiatives fail because companies can't decide which problems to fix first.


Try my PIF framework:

⁃ Pain: How frustrated does this make customers?

⁃ Impact: How much does it damage the relationship?

⁃ Frequency: How many customers hit this wall?



For example:

Improving your internal ticketing categories vs. detecting duplicate charges before customers see them.


Duplicate charges win on every dimension: 

• higher pain (customers feel cheated), 
• bigger impact (erodes trust instantly), 
• greater frequency (happens across thousands of transactions).


✕ Yet most companies prioritise the ticketing system because it's visible internally and easier to control.


The best customer-centric initiatives share three traits:

✓ Solve problems customers actually lose sleep over 
✓ Test fast with real customers, learn faster
✓ Scale what works, kill what doesn't


The truth is your customers aren't leaving because of your competitors, they're leaving because you're fixing the wrong problems.


Stop fixing what's convenient and start fix what costs you customers.



#cx #customerexperience #customerrelations

This is why I do what I do… For the moment when a room full of people leaves with a clearer sense of what must change

Love my job ❤️




#cx #customerexperience #publicspeaking

Ryanair’s marketing team shows more nerve than most governments. 

Now match it in customer care 😏

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Robert Napoli

Ilenia Vidili

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The Battle

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Ilenia Vidili

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Engagements

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