The CX leader on building a customer-driven organisation and the keys to successful Customer Experience work 

Maria Lallerman joined UC as Head of Customer Operations in 2018, when the company became part of Enento Group and a new organisation began to take shape. For the past three years, she has also served as Head of Customer Experience for the entire group. From the start, she saw the need to shift the organisation towards a stronger customer focus. Since then, she has helped build a culture where customer insights and business value go hand in hand. UC has been a Netigate customer since early 2025, and we met Maria to talk about their journey and what it takes to succeed with a strong Customer Experience approach.

“Customer first should not just be a value, it should be our way of thinking”

Maria Lallerman is Nordic Head of Customer Operations and Customer Experience. She leads support, onboarding, investigations, and delivery across Sweden, Finland, and Norway, while also overseeing the overall CX strategy for the entire group. Enento’s goal has been clear from the start: to create an organisation where the customer perspective influences everything they do and every decision they make.

“Customer first is not just an initiative, it is a long-term culture we want to create, embed, and strengthen. The aim is for the customer perspective to permeate everything we do, all decisions, and all priorities,” says Maria.

She explains that the early work focused on creating structure and a shared language around customer experience and CX. The company had long been product-focused, but Maria quickly saw the need for a shift in perspective.

“I wanted to build a shared understanding of why the customer should always be the starting point for everything we do,” she adds.

From measurement to action

An important part of the change has been creating better conditions for understanding and using customer insights. Historically, many surveys were sent out, but the data was fragmented and difficult to use.

“We could only guess why certain KPIs were falling. We needed a clearer picture of what was actually happening and why. It was hard to spot trends and turn the responses into something actionable,” Maria explains.

The need for a more structured approach to collecting, analysing, and acting on customer feedback became clear. Maria describes how the work to find a new solution began with a simple but crucial question: What is the future way of collecting and using customer insights to drive business value?

“The most important thing is not how much data we collect, but what we do with it. Do we really understand the feedback? Can we see the root causes? Can we act quickly? That is where real impact happens,” she says.

A modern CX tool is essential for making insights accessible and actionable. It’s not just about collecting data, but about creating understanding and insights that the entire organisation can act on.

“We wanted to see what the future way of collecting customer insights actually looks like. For me, it wasn’t just about features, but about which tool could truly help the organisation act on the insights,” Maria explains.

For her, Customer Experience is about creating understanding of the insights, clarity on what needs to be done, and the ability to act across the entire organisation. 

A shared direction 

To drive the change forward, Maria has built close collaboration across countries and business areas. Today, the work is carried out through local CX streams in Sweden, Finland, and Norway, where representatives from different parts of the organisation work together on shared goals and focus areas for each market.

“It has been important for us to work cross-functionally. When we have shared goals and a common vision and strategy for customer experience, it becomes easier to create change. It is also a way to ensure that insights are properly handled and turned into action,” Maria explains.

She emphasises that CX work always starts with strategy. Before even looking at solutions or vendors, you need to define what you want to create, what change you want to achieve, and how it connects to the company’s overall goals.

“Many get stuck on the question of tools, but the tool is never the solution in itself. It is an enabler. Without the right strategy and clear goals, no system in the world will create value,” she says.

Linking CX to business value

One of the most common challenges Maria sees among CX leaders is the difficulty of making the case for internal investment.

“It’s not enough to say that happy customers are important. You need to be able to show how it impacts growth, revenue, and profitability. When you put it in concrete business terms, it’s easier for others to understand why CX work is critical for growth,” she says.

She believes that strong CX work requires both strategy and the right tools.
“For me, it’s about putting CX into numbers. Which bottlenecks are removed, which costs are reduced, and how does it affect time to market? When you can show that, it becomes much easier to gain support internally,” Maria explains.

She explains that the tools you use should be a direct enabler of the strategy you want to drive. They should make it easy to understand customer needs, spot trends, and act on insights.

“If we want to drive our customer first strategy, we need a tool that supports that. If we just want to measure NPS, then something simpler is enough. It’s about linking the investment to the results you want to achieve,” she says.

She also emphasises the importance of using language the whole organisation can understand.

“Talk about insights and actions, not just NPS and CSAT. Those terms don’t mean much to people who don’t work with customer data every day. What matters is explaining what we learn and what we do with that knowledge.”

A journey that takes time 

For Maria, working with customer experience has been a continuous journey of development. It’s about having the courage to challenge, both internally and in discussions with vendors, as well as having the patience to fail, try again, and experiment.

“It takes longer than you think. Building a culture where the customer truly comes first requires perseverance. You are constantly learning and must allow yourself to grow with the task. CX is not something you ever finish; it’s something you do every day,” she says.

Maria’s 8 tips for choosing the right tool and vendor 

1. Start with your CX strategy and define the change you want to achieve and why.
   
2. Express the impact in business terms, linking it to growth, revenue, and retention.
   
3. Describe the target outcome, who should be able to act on insights, and how results will be measured.
   
4. Choose a tool that makes insights understandable, relevant, and easy to turn into action.
   
5. Ensure you can identify trends and root causes, not just measure results.
   
6. Communicate internally about insights and actions, not just KPIs.
   
7. Be patient and willing to experiment – it takes time to deliver results and drive real, sustainable change.
   
8. Continuously challenge both vendors and internal organisational processes