THINKJAR • CX RESEARCH • 2026
→ About → Expertise → Frameworks → Insights → Contact
Customer experience strategy abstract
EST. 2006 • THINKJAR RESEARCH LAB • NEW: CX OUTCOMES FRAMEWORK 2026

CUSTOMER
OBSESSED
BY DESIGN.

I'm Esteban Kolsky — analyst, founder of ThinkJar, and troublemaker-in-chief for bad service. For 25+ years I've helped the world's most ambitious brands turn CRM, service and journey chaos into loyalty, revenue and love. No fluff. Only frameworks that work.

25+Years in CRM & CX
400+Advisory Clients
1.2KKeynotes & Workshops
98%Would Recommend
★ CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ★ THINKJAR ★ CRM STRATEGY ★ JOURNEY MAPPING ★ SERVICE DESIGN ★ AI AUGMENTATION ★ VOICE OF CUSTOMER ★ ★ CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ★ THINKJAR ★ CRM STRATEGY ★ JOURNEY MAPPING ★ SERVICE DESIGN ★ AI AUGMENTATION ★ VOICE OF CUSTOMER ★
01 — What I Do

I FIX BROKEN CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

Most companies don't have a technology problem — they have a customer understanding problem. I research, advise and build operating models where every interaction creates value.

01

CX Strategy & Research

ThinkJar independent research, maturity assessments, VoC programs, persona & journey science. From insight to P&L impact.

CX strategy workshop
02

CRM & Service Platforms

Vendor-agnostic selection, implementation rescue, unified agent desktop, knowledge, automation and AI guardrails.

CRM platform dashboard
03

Culture & Enablement

Keynotes, masterclasses and advisory retainers that turn support centers into loyalty engines and agents into heroes.

Customer service team culture
Esteban Kolsky - ThinkJar founder
FOUNDER • THINKJAR LLC
ESTEBAN KOLSKY
★ SINCE 2001
02 — ABOUT • THE HUMAN BEHIND THINKJAR

ANALYST. REBEL. CUSTOMER ADVOCATE.

I started ThinkJar in 2006 after leading CRM at eVergance and Gartner because I was tired of tech-first thinking. Customers don't care about your stack — they care if you solve their problem fast, with empathy, and without making them repeat themselves.

Today I work at the intersection of research, strategy and pragmatism: publishing frameworks like Customer Service Value Chain, CCRM (Collaborative CRM), and the 2025-2026 Outcomes-Based CX Model adopted by telcos, banks, retailers, B2B SaaS and public sector teams worldwide.

2026 →Outcomes CX Lab. Launching AI-augmented journey analytics + agentic service playbooks. Advisory for 30+ global brands.
2015-25ThinkJar Scale. 400+ advisory engagements, Gartner & Forrester cited research, top 10 CX influencer every year.
2006Founded ThinkJar. Independent research firm focused 100% on customers, not vendors.
1998-06Gartner / eVergance. Covered CRM, service & support. Built first social CRM frameworks.
See Frameworks Book Advisory
25+
YEARS
60K
READERS / MO
4.9★
RATING
03 — Frameworks That Actually Work

FROM JOURNEYS
TO OUTCOMES

Customer journey mapping framework
★ Most Downloaded 2026

Outcomes-Based Journey Mapping 3.0

Stop mapping touchpoints. Start mapping value. 6-layer model: intent → effort → emotion → outcome → value → memory. Includes Miro + AI prompts.

Customer service value chain
Service Leaders

Service Value Chain: Reactive → Proactive → Predictive

How top service orgs cut 32% cost while growing CSAT 18pts. Knowledge, automation triage, agent augmentation blueprint.

Collaborative CRM
CCRM

Collaborative CRM

Customers as co-creators. Community + service + product feedback loop that I pioneered.

AI in customer service
AI 2026

Augmented Agent Manifesto

AI should make humans more human. Guardrails, copilots, QA automation without losing trust.

04 — INSIGHTS • NEWS & RESEARCH NOTES

LATEST FROM
THE LAB ✎

Unfiltered takes on CX, CRM and service. No vendor pay-to-play. Just data, stories from the field, and what to do Monday morning.

Iptv Portugus
Oct 27, 2026● Featured

Iptv Portugus

How IPTV is Revolutionizing Customer Experience in the Digital Age In today’s hyper-connected world, customer experience…

→ Read full story
GET THE CX BRIEFING — EVERY FRIDAY, NO SPAM.
Join 60,000+ CX, service and CRM leaders. One email. Three ideas. One action.
05 — Manifesto

CUSTOMERS DON'T WANT DELIGHT. THEY WANT RESOLUTION WITHOUT FRICTION. MAKE IT EASY, MAKE IT HUMAN, MAKE IT COUNT — EVERY SINGLE TIME.

"Esteban doesn't sell software. He tells you the truth about your customers — then gives you the system to fix it. Our NPS went +22 in 9 months."


— VP Customer Experience, Fortune 100 Retailer
Retail customer experience

"The only analyst who actually answers, actually helps, and actually understands service operations. His AI augmentation model saved us $4.2M."


— Chief Service Officer, Global Telco
Service operations team
06 — WORK WITH ME

LET'S MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS STAY.

Advisory retainers • CX audits • Keynotes • Workshops • CRM rescue missions. Currently booking Q1-Q2 2026. Response within 24h.

Start Conversation →Read First
CONTACT CARD
ESTEBAN KOLSKY
◉ ThinkJar LLC
◉ Keynotes Worldwide
◉ Advisory — Remote / Onsite
◉ estebankolsky.com
Esteban Kolsky keynote stage