A Skipton Framework Goes to France: CX Bridge Takes CUSCOE to the International Stage
21 September 2026
Most consultancy frameworks are delivered via a slide deck containing a client testimonial. CUSCOE isn't. It's been through academic peer review and accepted for presentation at an international conference.
CX Bridge, based in Skipton, will present the paper at KMIS 2026, the 18th International Conference on Knowledge Management and Information Systems, running 28-30 October in Angers, France. The audience is researchers and practitioners from information systems departments across the world.
That distinction matters. Getting a paper through peer review means independent academics have scrutinised the argument, checked it against existing research, and decided it holds up. Most consultancy IP never faces that test. It goes straight to market on the strength of a good pitch.
The paper, co-authored with independent researcher Kathy Mogford, tackles a structural problem in professional services and managed services firms moving into AI delivery. Traditional operating models assume software is finished at go-live. AI isn't. It drifts, it needs ongoing tuning, and the skill level required to support it doesn't drop off the way it does with conventional software.
CUSCOE addresses this with a Centre of Excellence model built on five design principles, tested in a live business scenario. The paper then extends that model to cover portfolio management, customer success, sales, finance, legal, compliance, IT and board-level governance, treating AI accountability as something that has to run through the whole operating model rather than sitting with one function.
If you run or work in a PS or MSP business anywhere in the north, this is directly relevant to you, not because we say so, but because the underlying problem, siloed technical knowledge, sales teams overselling, and customer churn, exists in the sector regardless of postcode.
What's different here is the route to credibility. CX Bridge chose academic publication over case-study marketing, deliberately, because a peer-reviewed framework carries a different kind of weight than a well-produced brochure. For a network of IT businesses evaluating who to trust with operating model work, that's a useful signal to know how to read.
Damian Copeland, founder of CX Bridge and certified CAIO, will be presenting in France in October. He's happy to talk to anyone in the network before or after the conference about what the framework covers and where it applies.