Xplorer Keith Maciver

On bringing a lifetime of experience to great customer experiences 

As the Director of Customer Success at Xplor Pay, Keith Maciver has worn many hats in different countries, and now uses all his life experience to deliver better experiences for our customers.

As the Director of Customer Success for Xplor Pay at Xplor, Keith Maciver has worn many hats in different countries, and now uses all his life experience to deliver better experiences for our customers. With a career spanning law enforcement, hospitality, technology and retail sectors, Keith has always followed his heart, wherever it may take him. “That’s part of what I love about Xplor,” he said. “I get to do something that always makes me happy, meeting folks from around the big green ball we all live on.”

Growing up in Glasgow, Keith had a passion for football (or soccer, as it’s known in the U.S.) and spent his early years touring Europe as the Glasgow Celtics’ number one fan. After marvelling at the idea of living in America for years, Keith left his job with the police force in Scotland and finally voyaged overseas in his late twenties, landing his first job in an Irish bar. “A Scotsman in an Irish bar. Must be an old joke in there somewhere,” he laughs. Soon after, he worked for a Microsoft partner just after Y2K, when the new virtual machine launched evolving IT operating systems for businesses. There, he dealt with clients in the UK, Spain, The Philippines, and Australia; little did he know he was setting himself up for a lifelong career of working in tech, delivering innovation and supporting international customers. After that role, he worked in ecommerce for a pawn broker and felt unsatisfied—he realized he wanted to help people have a great customer experience, but he wasn’t being set up for success. “I was in the industry, but not with a company that was doing pleasant or supportive things for their customers,” he said. “They didn’t seem to be innovating or building for them.”

Now, he’s proud to work for a company that treats customers and its people with respect, which he sensed right from his initial interview. “I am beyond proud that Xplor has its customers and Xplorers at the front and centre of everything; it’s not common,” he said. “I’m passionate about customer experience, and that sold me on the switch. I met so many good people on my day of interviews I just knew I had to be here.”

When it comes to the Xplor value that most resonates with Keith, it’s make life simple. Keith says it’s something he always keeps in mind when working in a customer-facing role. “Business owners have enough to worry about. We should be the ones taking the stress of cash flow, deposits, and reconciliations away, and making software updates almost invisible,” he said. This became especially true during the pandemic, when Keith and his team had to help customers more than ever, all while navigating unfamiliar challenges the pandemic brought about. “We met virtually every day, had meetings at night to look at the stars and just made sure we all stayed close,” he said, “We quickly learned about the Paycheck Protection Program and other things outside of our usual payment’s wheelhouse, because our customers needed us to. And our desire to help was one of the things we got great feedback from customers on when we asked.”

Keith has also learned lessons about customer experience when he was on the client side of tech, creating apps for his own company Aipple Media. “When Apple launched the App Store, I just knew I had to have an app,” he said. His most popular app was the first app to provide real-time match updates for the Glasgow Celtic Football Club. While sadly no longer in the app store, he was grateful that Apple managed in-app payments, as he found the complicated rules and regulations you must navigate, just to pursue a passion, tough. “Tax, T&Cs, code updates from third parties…It really takes your time away from doing what you love. That’s another reason I like it at Xplor. We strive to remove so many of the headaches of running a small business by being a partner – we offer so much more than just a standard vendor. For example, the way Xplor educates small business owners on how to run their sales to help prevent higher processing fees,” he said.

When asked how he personally helps his customers and fellow Xplorers to reach their full potential, Keith turns to one simple action: Listening. “The people I’ve learned the most from are great listeners. And they don’t listen to reply; they listen to understand and process,” he said. If there’s one thing Keith listens to outside of his career, it’s his desire to chase his dreams. “Everything is possible. I followed a dream and now wake up smiling every day, albeit it after a few twists and turns,” he said.

If you’re a young person looking for career advice on getting into tech and customer experience, then Keith is a great person to talk to. When reflecting on his advice for people starting their career, he recommends reading the poem If by Rudyard Kipling, a poem about composure, self-control, integrity, and humility.