The DEX Show: A Show for IT Change Makers

Reality Bytes is back, with Tom, Oriana and Dina joined by Nexthink Head of UX Lisa Kleinman. Fresh from Nexthink’s visual refresh, Lisa explores what sits beneath good design: psychology, anthropology, curiosity and the willingness to look beyond the data. Why do people use technology in ways its creators never imagined? Why is “more training” so often the wrong answer when software feels difficult? And what can DEX professionals learn from the UX team’s effort to understand the person behind the click?

Download your copy of The Forrester Wave™: Digital Employee Experience Management Solutions, Q4 2026 here (https://nexthink.com/forrester-wave)

More often than not in 2026, AI is presented as THE existential threat. Kevin Surace, futurist, inventor and father of the virtual assistant, joins Tom to make the optimistic case. Drawing on his decades in technology and his new book The Joy-Success Cycle, Kevin explains why AI can make us smarter, more productive and happier by taking joyless work off our plates. He challenges the backlash against automation, considers who may gain and lose in the AI economy, and looks ahead to self-driving cars, AI tutors, domestic robots, gene editing and radical longevity.

Download your copy of The Forrester Wave™: Digital Employee Experience Management Solutions, Q4 2026 here (https://nexthink.com/forrester-wave)

In this episode special DEX Show epeisode. Tom sat down in person with with guest speaker Christy Punch, Principal Analyst at Forrester covering digital workplace and digital employee experience, to explore why DEX has become the competitive advantage every technology leader can no longer ignore.

From the rise of AI-powered automation to the critical shift in how we measure DEX success, Christy shares insights from Forrester’s research with enterprise customers and vendors – and reveals why most organizations are getting it wrong when it comes to scaling DEX initiatives across the business. We dig into how organizations can operationalize DEX improvements at scale, why frontline workers deserve better technology, and what the future holds as AI agents and automation become embedded in every workflow – and why governance and trust become non-negotiable. For CIOs and technology leaders, Christy challenges you to stop thinking of DEX as an IT problem to solve, and to start thinking about it as a cross-functional business imperative. Watch this conversation if you want to learn how to drive lasting change across the organization.

Download your copy of The Forrester Wave™: Digital Employee Experience Management Solutions, Q4 2026 here (https://nexthink.com/forrester-wave)

Watch the  full video of the conversation on The DEX Show's sister podcast Soul of the CIO here  (https://www.youtube.com/@SouloftheCIO/videos)

What happens when internal communications becomes an employee experience problem? Sharon O’Dea and Jonathan Phillips, co-founders of Lithos Partners and co-authors of a new book on digital communications at work, join the show to explore the hidden architecture of the modern workplace in complex organisations. They explain why employees are not a captive audience, how communication gets lost across layers of tools and processes, and why discovery matters more than simply auditing what already exists. The conversation covers AI, information overload, shadow channels, bad metrics, email, intranets, leader communication and the “means, motive and opportunity” test for digital employee experience.

Get hold of Digital Communications at Work here: https://www.digitalcommunicationsatwork.com/

Experience 26 was the biggest and best yet, and this special double bill relives both the event itself and the DEX Show’s own contribution to it. Tom is joined by returning guest Laura Reeves for a lively recap of the people, ideas and customer stories that stood out in Orlandano.

Then it’s time for the full, exclusive IT Nerd Mastermind, featuring specialist rounds on X-Men, Star Wars, European football, Pokémon and poker, followed by a fiercely contested general knowledge final.

Plus, news of the Best of Experience 26 webinar.

Register for 'Best of Experience ‘26: Agents of Change in Action' (ft. Dru Yamagiwa, Suntory Global Spirits) below: 
CET (Thursday, November 12th, 11:00 am): register here
EST (Thursday, November 12th, 12:00 pm ET): register here