CX Connect marked a historic first for Sri Lanka’s customer experience landscape with the successful launch of its inaugural meetup on 25 June 2026 at Radisson Colombo.
The event brought together customer experience professionals, business leaders, practitioners and enthusiasts from banking and financial services, healthcare, hospitality, retail, technology and other industries. It created a dedicated space for professionals to connect, exchange practical knowledge and discuss the challenges shaping customer experience across Sri Lankan organisations.
CX Connect was established as a community-driven initiative to promote collaboration, continuous learning and innovation in customer experience. Its vision is to build Sri Lanka’s leading CX community and help elevate customer-centric practices across industries.
The evening included opening remarks by HNB Customer Experience Head Uthpala Pinnaduwahewa, followed by an introduction to customer experience by Domino’s Sri Lanka Customer Relationship Management Head Thiyangie De Mel. Participants then moved into three breakout groups covering banking and financial services, healthcare, and a mix of other industries. The discussions focused on real challenges experienced by professionals in their organisations, including fragmented customer journeys, disconnected data, limited ownership of customer experience, slow complaint resolution, internal resistance to change and the need to translate customer feedback into measurable action.
Rather than following a traditional conference format, the meetup encouraged open and honest conversations among participants. Members were able to share their experiences, compare industry challenges and identify opportunities for collaboration.
Radisson Colombo supported the inaugural gathering as the Official Hospitality Partner by providing the venue, refreshments and event facilities. This contribution played an important role in creating a welcoming environment for the community’s first meeting.
Emojot Inc. also came onboard as the AI Experience Partner, supporting the initiative’s focus on the growing role of artificial intelligence, experience intelligence and technology in understanding customers and improving business outcomes.
The insights gathered during the breakout discussions will help guide the community’s future activities. CX Connect plans to continue hosting meetups, feature CX leaders and practitioners as speakers, establish industry-focused working groups and explore collaborative initiatives that address shared customer experience challenges.
Among the ideas being considered is a healthcare customer experience collaboration and shared industry survey, designed to identify common issues and create practical insights that participating organisations can use.
CX Connect will also continue developing opportunities for members to contribute as speakers, facilitators, hosts and volunteers. Future sessions will focus on practical case studies, emerging technologies, industry-specific challenges and actions that organisations can take to improve customer and employee experiences.
Professionals interested in becoming part of the community can search for CX Connect on social media and send a message.
The community welcomes CX professionals, customer success teams, contact centre leaders, marketers, product managers, digital transformation professionals, business leaders, students and anyone interested in helping raise customer experience standards in Sri Lanka.