A new research report from Execs In The Know, CX Agent Insights: Perspectives from the Front Line, changes that. Based on a 33-question survey of 107 contact center agents across internal and outsourced environments, it delivers something rare: an unfiltered, data-driven look at what agents actually experience, what motivates them, and what’s holding them back.

A Workforce That Genuinely Wants to Succeed

Here’s the good news: your agents care. A lot.

An overwhelming 88% of agents surveyed report being passionate about the brands they represent, and 82% say they’re satisfied in their roles. Nearly 9 in 10 believe their organization is committed to putting the customer first. This isn’t a disengaged workforce waiting for the clock to run out; it’s a motivated group of professionals who want to do meaningful work and do it well.

In fact, 67% of agents say they plan to stay and grow within the contact center industry in the long term. That’s a workforce with real tenure potential, and a real appetite for investment. So if agents are engaged and aligned, what’s the problem?

Tools, systems, and technology that simply aren’t keeping up with job demands.

Your Agents Want Faster, More Reliable Tools

When agents were asked what area of their contact center operation most needed improvement, technology ranked first, cited by 24% of respondents. Only 40% say they’re very satisfied with the technology they use day-to-day. Just 50% report that their systems integrate well and work seamlessly together. And when asked what single technology improvement would make the biggest difference in their work, the answer wasn’t AI or fancy new features; it was faster, more reliable tools, named by 54% of respondents.

The picture that emerges is of a capable, committed workforce operating with one hand tied behind its back. Agent performance isn’t capped by motivation; it’s capped by the operational environment around them.

The Hidden Risk: Career Clarity

There’s another gap that the research surfaces that deserves attention. While 67% of agents plan to grow in the field, only 47% feel their organization provides clear career paths and advancement opportunities. For a workforce that’s experienced (45% have five or more years in the role), that disconnect is a retention risk hiding in plain sight.

Agents are willing to commit. Organizations need to show they’re willing to invest in return.

What This Means for CX Leaders

The research is clear on one thing: improving CX outcomes starts with improving the agent experience. Not through perks or culture programs alone, but through faster systems, better integration, clearer career frameworks, and feedback loops that actually lead to visible change.

Ready to see the full picture? The complete CX Agent Insights: Perspectives from the Front Line report is packed with data, analysis, and actionable insights across hiring, satisfaction, technology, and operational strategy.

Read and Download the Full Report →

The post 107 Contact Center Agents Have Spoken — Are CX Leaders Listening? appeared first on Execs In The Know.

A keynote speaker at Customer Response Summit (CRS) in Clearwater Beach, Florida, Edmond took the stage to discuss change, not just in shifting consumer behaviors or advancing technologies, but the kind that redefines an entire industry.

A Childhood Rooted in Change

“I want to start by telling you a little bit more about myself,” she began.

Edmond’s journey in hospitality started beside her grandmother, making hotel beds. The repetition, the attention to detail, the care taken with every tucked-in corner—these weren’t just tasks; they were lessons in pride, service, and resilience.

Change wasn’t just a professional necessity for Edmond; it has always been a way of life. She’s lived in 10 different cities in 30 years, moving between Hilton and Marriott, adapting, evolving, and learning along the way. It was never just about climbing the corporate ladder; it was about deeply understanding the guest experience, leading with empathy, and building something bigger than herself.

As she stood on that stage, she didn’t just speak about transformation. She embodied it.

A Career Built on Evolving

Edmond’s career began at the Boston Quincy Marriott Hotel, where she first learned the nuances of on-property operations. From there, she rose through the ranks, taking on corporate roles that gave her a panoramic view of hospitality, from the frontlines to the executive suite.

One of her defining moments? Leading the historic merger of SPG^® and Marriott Rewards^® into Marriott Bonvoy^®, a transformation that impacted 6,900 hotels and millions of loyalty members worldwide. This wasn’t just a branding exercise. It was a massive operational and emotional shift for travelers who had built their routines, rewards, and brand trust around these programs.

The challenge was enormous, but Edmond saw it as an opportunity to reimagine what loyalty could mean. The results spoke for themselves: a 7% increase in Elite Appreciation among top-tier guests, proving that intentional change, when done right, fosters deeper guest loyalty.

Then came the introduction of a $235M Property Management System, a transformation designed to streamline operations without sacrificing personalization. Because, as she emphasized, innovation in hospitality isn’t about replacing the human touch. It’s about enhancing it.

Leading Transformation at Marriott International

Many companies wait until an economic downturn forces their hand. Marriott doesn’t believe in waiting. Under Edmond’s leadership, Marriott’s CEC has undergone a strategic realignment, ensuring the company isn’t just reacting to change but anticipating it.

Hospitality is evolving at breakneck speed. The industry is larger, more complex, and more technology-driven than ever before. But Edmond’s philosophy is clear: The best time to reimagine the future isn’t when you’re forced to; it’s when you have the strength and stability to do so on your own terms.

The Power of Human Connection

At its core, travel is deeply personal. A weary business traveler stepping off a red-eye flight, a honeymooning couple arriving at a beachside resort, a solo adventurer checking into a boutique hotel—each guest carries a story. The question is: how does your brand become a meaningful part of it?

For Edmond, the answer lies in the power of human connection, a principle woven into Marriott’s DNA. Technology is a tool, but it’s not the solution.

It’s the warmth of a front desk associate who notices a guest’s exhaustion and offers a complimentary late checkout. It’s the housekeeping team that arranges a child’s stuffed animal just so, making a hotel room feel like home. “Being human is the ultimate competitive advantage,” she said.

This resonated deeply. In an industry often focused on efficiency, cost-cutting, and automation, Edmond reminded us that true hospitality isn’t transactional; it’s emotional.

Lessons in Leadership & Change

Edmond has learned that change isn’t something to fear; it’s something to embrace. She has led through economic downturns, the rise of digital-first travelers, and an industry-wide shift toward sustainability. “Never find yourself standing still; if you stand still, you die. Keep moving,” she explained.

She also reminded attendees of something simple yet powerful: never underestimate the power of asking for help because sometimes, that one ask can change the trajectory of your career.

It’s easy to get lost in the mechanics of hospitality, like room rates, occupancy numbers, and service recovery metrics, but Edmond brought the conversation back to what truly matters: people. As leaders in the customer experience space, our challenge is clear: We must be architects of change and relentless in our pursuit of human-centered innovation.

Because in hospitality, the best experiences aren’t just designed. They’re felt. And that’s exactly what Edmond left us with: a feeling that the future of hospitality isn’t just about where guests sleep, dine, or relax. It’s about how we make them feel.

A special thank you to Frid Edmond and the entire Marriott International team for sharing their insights and leadership with us at Customer Response Summit. Your dedication to innovation, service, and human connection continues to set the standard for the hospitality and CX industry. We appreciate your time, expertise, and the inspiration you brought to the stage!

Ready to continue the conversation? Join us at the next CRS, September 30-October 2, 2026. Connect with fellow CX leaders, hear from trailblazing brands, and explore the strategies shaping the future of customer experience. Learn more and reserve your spot.

The post Marriott International’s Frid Edmond on Leading Transformational Change in Hospitality appeared first on Execs In The Know.

But there is a particular kind of conference experience that senior CX leaders tend to describe when you ask them what they are actually looking for. It’s not about the biggest audience or the longest speaker list. It’s about something harder to engineer: a conversation that changes how you think, a CX peer who has wrestled with the exact problem sitting on your desk right now, and relationships that are still paying dividends years later.

When is the last time you left a conference having learned something that actually changed how you work? When is the last time you met someone in a session who became a genuine thought partner, not just a LinkedIn connection? When is the last time a conference sent you home thinking differently about your job function?

That is what CRS is built around.

At CRS Scottsdale (September 30–October 2, 2026), the format is intentionally intimate, designed to foster real conversations, share knowledge, and build relationships that outlast the event itself.

Here’s what sets it apart from other CX conferences.

Leaders Learning from Leaders

At most conferences, you learn from a stage. At CRS, you learn from the person sitting across from you at dinner. The insights come from the CX executive who just cracked a problem you have been wrestling with for months, or the C-suite keynote speaker who is willing to share not just what is working, but what isn’t. There is a candor in the room that is rare because it is composed of people who have actually done the work.

“This is the only event where true CX leaders can learn from other leaders.”

— Ebrahim Hyder, Vice President of Customer Service, Michael Kors

That peer-to-peer dynamic changes everything about how knowledge moves through an event. You aren’t passively absorbing presentations. You are actively exchanging hard-won experience with the people who understand your challenges most deeply.

Intimate by Design

CRS is intentionally small. And that is the whole point. You are not navigating a convention center floor hoping to catch five minutes with someone meaningful. The smaller scale is a deliberate structural choice that shapes every aspect of the event, from the session format to the way the agenda is built, with dedicated connection time woven throughout.

Collaboration at scale is a contradiction in terms. Real collaboration, the kind that surfaces new ideas and shifts your thinking, requires enough space for a genuine conversation. CRS is built around that insight.

“One of the things I really love about these conferences is how intimate it is. The smaller environment allows for a lot more collaboration.” 

— Dima Cichi, Global Customer Success & Service Transformation Leader, Microsoft 

An Openness You Won’t Find Anywhere Else

Something happens when you put the right people in a room together. The attendees who come to CRS are not there to pitch or to perform. They are there because they genuinely care about the customer experience and want to get better at it, alongside others who share this. That shared purpose creates a culture of openness that is hard to manufacture and impossible to fake.

“What keeps me coming back year after year are the friendships you make and the people you trust.” 

— Lisa Oswald, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Member Services, Travelzoo

When the people in the room trust each other, conversations go deeper. Problems get examined honestly. Advice is given and received in good faith. That is the environment CRS creates and protects.

Relationships That Last Beyond the Event

A conference that leaves you with a stack of business cards is forgettable. A conference that leaves you with a network of genuine partners is something else entirely. Attendees describe the connections they have made at CRS as those that have made them better leaders, strategists, and people. Relationships that did not end when the event did.

“I have developed relationships from coming here over many, many years that transcend work. They’re my partners. And I think that’s very unique in the conference space.There’s no other community like that in the industry.”

— Dave Pitsch, Vice President of Guest Services, Arc’teryx

That word, community, is what separates CRS from everything else. An event happens once a year. A community is always there.

Come Experience CRS for Yourself

We are at a complex moment in customer experience, trying to figure out how to harness AI while doubling down on the human connection that still defines great brands. The tension between those two imperatives is real, and the organizations navigating it best are the ones learning together in rooms like the ones CRS creates.

There is no better place to work through that challenge than alongside the leaders doing it in real time. If you have not been to CRS before, this is the year to find out what everyone keeps coming back for.

Learn More  

Register Today 

The post What Makes CRS Different from Other CX Conferences appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Uber decided to do something different.

The company’s Global Digital Experience team, the group sitting at the crossroads of customer support operations and engineering, started asking a harder question: what if you could infer how every single customer felt, even the ones who never filled out a form?

The answer became an artificial intelligence (AI) engine that analyzes the full universe of support interactions in real time, surfacing satisfaction signals that traditional surveys simply can’t see. No waiting for voluntary feedback, no sampling bias, and no blind spots.

The Three Measuring Levers 

The model is built around three pillars: Resolution, Effort, and Sentiment.

Resolution is the foundation. Did the customer’s problem actually get solved? Effort is the friction audit. How hard did the customer have to work to get there? And Sentiment is the hardest piece: tracking the emotional arc of an interaction from first message to final reply, measuring whether someone left feeling better or worse about the brand than when they arrived.

None of these is new in isolation. What’s new is the synthesis, such as weaving together transactional data, real-time trip telemetry, conversation logs, turn counts, and tone signals into a single, coherent picture of what a support experience actually felt like.

The Lessons Were Hard-Won

Building this wasn’t a clean sprint. Uber’s team quickly discovered that years of CSAT data had given them a false sense of understanding. Once they started peeling back layers to define more nuanced sub-metrics, they found complexity that legacy surveys had been quietly papering over all along.

Aligning stakeholders across different business lines, languages, and markets on one shared definition of “satisfaction” required iteration after iteration. Teaching an AI model not just that it failed, but why, within a specific cultural or operational context, turned out to be genuinely hard work.

It’s the kind of friction that only makes the output more valuable.

What’s Next for Digital Experience at Global Scale

The near-term unlock is significant: for the first time, Uber can compare performance across fundamentally different support technologies (legacy automation and modern conversational AI) using a normalized metric. Apples to oranges, finally made comparable.

But the longer-term vision is more ambitious. The team sees a future where AI doesn’t just measure satisfaction; it anticipates friction before customers feel it, resolves issues without a single click, and transforms every support interaction from a transaction into a trust-building moment.

That future isn’t fully here yet. But the infrastructure being built now is what makes it possible.

Want the full story?  Access the complete case study, including how Uber’s team structured the cross-functional build, what broke along the way, and how they see AI reshaping customer experience on a global scale.

The post What Happens When You Stop Waiting for Customer Feedback? appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is absorbing routine interactions at an unprecedented scale. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments are being publicly tested. Frontline agents are navigating more complexity than ever before. And as customer expectations continue to rise, organizations are being forced to reckon with a more fundamental question, not just how to serve customers faster, but how to serve them better, more inclusively, and with the kind of human judgment and empathy that no technology can replicate at scale.

Our April issue of CX Insight magazine brings together research, practitioner perspectives, and real-world case studies to examine the forces reshaping CX leadership and how organizations can stay ahead of them.

The DEI Performance Gap Is Widening

The business case for inclusive customer experience has never been stronger, or more urgent. Yet a critical gap persists. CX leaders rate their own accessibility and inclusion efforts 18 points higher than consumers do. That disconnect does not resolve itself. It shows up in churn, in negative sentiment, and in the quiet erosion of loyalty over time. This article examines what closing that gap actually requires operationally, structurally, and strategically.

The Frontline is Not a Support Function

Kevin McDorman, Vice President of Customer Care at Southwest Airlines, made the case plainly at CRS Amelia Island: brands will not differentiate by how much they automate. They will differentiate by how well they equip their people for the moments automation cannot handle. The shift from rigid scripts to empowering guardrails is not a cultural preference; it is a strategic imperative. This article explores what that shift looks like in practice and why organizations that get it right will find it difficult to replicate.

Brand Spotlight: How Grubhub Maintains Service Reliability at Global Scale

Behind every seamless food delivery experience is an operational infrastructure most customers never see. In this issue’s Brand Spotlight, Tanisha Parker, Associate Director at Grubhub, pulls back the curtain on how one of the world’s most recognized food delivery platforms manages global BPO partnerships, workforce strategy, and service consistency across a vast and dynamic ecosystem of couriers, merchants, and diners. Her perspective on eliminating operational friction, without compromising customer value, is one of the most practically useful conversations on this issue.

Case Study: How Uber Is Closing the Customer Feedback Gap with AI

Traditional customer satisfaction surveys capture only a fraction of the experience. Uber decided that was not good enough. In this issue’s case study, Anindya Sundar Das, Senior Director and Head of Global Digital Experience at Uber, details how Uber’s Global Digital Experience team deployed an AI engine that infers customer satisfaction across every single support interaction. It was structured around three core metrics: Resolution, Effort, and Sentiment. The result is a real-time quality signal that enables proactive improvement at a global scale and fundamentally changes how Uber understands and responds to the experience it is delivering.

KIA Spotlight: Balancing AI and Human Connection at Carrier Enterprise

In a service environment where HVAC contractors rely on fast, accurate support to keep their businesses running, the balance between technology and human connection is not an abstract leadership question; it is an operational reality. Michael Luyster, Director of Customer Experience at Carrier Enterprise and a KIA Champion, shares how Carrier Enterprise has built a hybrid service model grounded in customer choice, operational consistency, and trust. His conviction that AI should augment human capability rather than replace it offers a model worth studying across industries.

The Growing Impact of Women in CX Leadership

CX is one of the most cross-functional, human-centered disciplines in business, and women are leading it with measurable impact. The feature on women in CX leadership examines why the pipeline still narrows too early, what structural barriers remain, and why advancing women into senior leadership roles is one of the most strategically sound decisions a CX organization can make. Contributing their perspectives to this important conversation are Lisa Oswald of Travelzoo, Maureen Barnett of Fanatics, Jessica Patel of Belk, and Dima Cichi of Microsoft: four leaders who are actively shaping what modern CX leadership looks like and what it can become.

When AI Improves Metrics but Not Outcomes

Organizations across industries are deploying AI to reduce costs and increase efficiency. By conventional measures, it appears to be working. Automation rates are rising, and handling times are falling. Containment continues to improve, yet retention remains flat. Customer experience remains inconsistent, and business outcomes remain unchanged.

Cortney Jonas Burnos, Vice President of AI & Digital at Transcom, offers a sharp diagnosis: the problem is not the technology. It is the misalignment between how customer experience is measured and where it actually creates value. As AI absorbs the most repeatable interactions, what remains for human agents is more complex, more consequential, and more emotionally demanding — and most organizations have not restructured around that reality.

The Trillion-Dollar Cost That Never Appears on the P&L

According to Qualtrics XM Institute, businesses worldwide risk losing $3.8 trillion annually due to poor customer experiences. More than half of negative interactions lead customers to reduce or stop their spending entirely. Yet this cost rarely surfaces on a standard profit and loss statement. It disappears into churn metrics, missing renewals, and referrals that were never made. This article from Procedureflow provides the framework CX leaders need to translate experience quality into financial risk and bring that conversation into the boardroom where it belongs.

The question this issue keeps returning to is this: what does it actually take to lead well in this moment?

The answer, across every article and every conversation, is the same. It begins with people. The organizations that understand this and build accordingly are the ones that will emerge from this period of disruption with something the competition will find very difficult to replicate: the trust of the people they serve.

Read and download the full April 2026 issue of CX Insight magazine.

The post Just Launched: The April Issue of CX Insight Magazine appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Proposed measures include requiring English proficiency, limiting certain types of foreign call handling, and allowing customers to request a U.S.-based agent, all of which signal a meaningful shift in how brands conduct their customer care operations. 

For customer experience (CX) leaders, this is not simply a regulatory development — it is a strategic inflection point. For decades, contact center models have been optimized around global delivery, balancing cost efficiency with scalability and coverage.

These proposals introduce a new compliance dynamic that could reshape how brands approach CX, potentially creating operational complexities for verticals subject to heavy regulation, including finance, healthcare, travel/hospitality, and other high-touch industries. Ultimately, this could become an opportunity to differentiate. Furthermore, if customers are given more control over where their support comes from, organizations may need to rethink their delivery models, potentially creating new, flexible approaches that might accommodate both preference and practicality.

This raises fundamental questions about cost structures, staffing strategies, and how brands define and deliver consistency across channels and regions. 

What CX Leaders Should Be Evaluating Right Now

As these conversations begin to take shape, CX leaders should consider engaging with their C-suite counterparts now. Understanding current exposure to offshore support, modeling the financial implications of increased onshoring, and evaluating the role of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) in facilitating necessary changes. In many ways, these proposals could accelerate trends already underway.

As labor constraints tighten and expectations rise, AI-powered self-service and agent-assist technologies may play an even more central role in maintaining efficiency while supporting a potentially more localized workforce. At the same time, organizations will need to carefully consider how they preserve experience quality, particularly as customer expectations around clarity, communication, and trust continue to evolve. Now is the time to analyze and understand both the go-forward plan and the eventual impact on customers. 

Transparency, Tradeoffs, and the Customer Experience

Communication with customers will also become a more strategic lever. If implemented, these proposals (particularly those related to consumer control over call routing) offer brands an opportunity to reframe parts of the service experience around choice and transparency, giving customers greater control over how they receive support. But that choice must be paired with clear expectations.

If requesting a U.S.-based agent introduces longer wait times or different service pathways, those tradeoffs will need to be communicated proactively and thoughtfully. Done proactively and well, this change could strengthen trust and reinforce a brand’s commitment to both service quality and customer assurance — an increasingly important differentiator in a landscape shaped by automation, AI, and heightened scrutiny around safety and security. Most leaders tasked with making these changes might benefit from getting ahead of the curve and engaging their counterparts and various stakeholders now. 

Preparing for 2027 Starts Now

Looking ahead to 2027, the organizations best positioned will be those that begin adapting (or planning steps to do so) now. This means evolving routing logic to account for customer preferences and regulatory requirements, reassessing workforce strategies to include more flexible domestic capacity, and strengthening quality assurance frameworks to align with emerging expectations around communication and performance.

Perhaps most importantly, it means shifting the mindset from reactive compliance to proactive design. These proposals are not just about where support happens … they are about how trust is built and maintained in every interaction. And in that sense, they may ultimately define the next chapter of customer experience. 

Look for more on this topic in the months to come, and practitioners can connect with peers in the Know It All (KIA) community to compare notes on getting ready for these imminent shifts. 

The post What CX Leaders Need to Know (and Do) as FCC Call Center Rules Advance appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Those things still matter. But they are no longer enough.

Today, customers are looking for something deeper from the brands they choose to do business with. They want confidence and clarity. They want to know that when something goes wrong, they will be supported by a brand that is competent, consistent, and worthy of their trust. In other words, they want assurance.

That is why Customer Assurance is such an important idea for CX leaders right now.

What Is Customer Assurance in Customer Experience?

Customer assurance is not just about making promises. It is about creating experiences that leave customers feeling informed, protected, respected, and certain they are in good hands. It is what happens when trust, empathy, operational excellence, and intelligent innovation come together in a way the customer can actually feel.

And in this moment, that matters more than ever.

Why Customer Assurance Matters More in Today’s CX Environment

Across industries, leaders are navigating enormous change. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping the contact center, automation is taking on more routine tasks, and self-service has become the norm. Customers are moving faster, expecting more, and giving brands less room for error. At the same time, organizations are operating in an environment marked by cost pressure, shifting workforce expectations, economic uncertainty, and constant pressure to modernize.

That combination has created a new kind of challenge for CX teams. It is no longer enough to ask, “How do we make service faster?” The more important question is, “How do we make customers feel confident in this new experience?”

How AI Is Raising the Stakes for Customer Trust and Confidence

Because as AI becomes more visible across customer journeys, confidence becomes the differentiator. Customers may appreciate faster answers and 24/7 support, but speed alone does not build trust. If an AI agent gives incomplete information, if a handoff to a human feels disconnected, if policies are enforced without empathy, or if customers are left wondering who or what they are actually dealing with, trust begins to erode. And once trust slips, loyalty often follows.

This is where customer assurance becomes a leadership imperative. For CX leaders, assurance is about setting a higher standard for how experiences are designed and delivered. It means building operations that work responsibly, ensuring customers have clear information and support that feels grounded in both intelligence and care, and preparing teams to lead through change, not just react to it.

Why Customer Assurance Is a Competitive Advantage

For organizations, customer assurance is becoming a business advantage. In a market where products can be copied and prices can shift overnight, trust is one of the few differentiators that grows stronger over time. Brands that create confidence through every touchpoint are better positioned to retain customers, protect reputation, and grow long-term value.

For teams, assurance creates alignment. It gives frontline leaders, agents, technologists, and executives a clearer shared purpose. Not just to reduce handle time or to deploy new tools. But to deliver experiences that customers believe in. That is a much stronger rallying point, especially in a time when many teams are being asked to adapt quickly to new technologies and new expectations.

And for the industry, customer assurance may be one of the most important ideas shaping the road ahead.

CX is entering a period where the conversation is expanding beyond efficiency and into responsibility. Beyond implementation and into impact. And beyond what technology can do and into what experiences should feel like when they are done well. The brands that lead in this next chapter will not simply be the ones adopting AI the fastest. They will be the ones using it in ways that strengthen trust, empower employees, and create more confident customer relationships.

That is the opportunity in front of us.

Attend CRS Scottsdale, Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2026

At CRS Scottsdale, this is the conversation we are bringing to the forefront. CX leaders will come together to explore what it really takes to build trust, confidence, and clarity in a new era of care. From AI and leadership to service strategy, customer expectations, and operational transformation, the focus is not just on what is changing, but on how leading organizations are responding with intention.

Want to learn more about what Customer Assurance looks like in practice? Visit the CRS Scottsdale website to learn more. 

The post Customer Assurance: The Strategy CX Leaders Can’t Afford to Ignore appeared first on Execs In The Know.

A customer encounters an issue, reaches out, and the business reacts. For years, success has been defined by how well that recovery happens: how quickly teams respond, how efficiently they resolve, and how satisfied the customer feels afterward.

But that model is starting to show its limits.

Not because companies don’t care about experience, but because customers increasingly expect something different. They don’t want fast recovery. They want the issue handled before it ever becomes their problem.

Across industries, CX leaders are rethinking what it means to deliver great service: shifting from reacting to anticipating, from resolving to preventing, and ultimately, from servicing customers to staying ahead of them.

The gap isn’t intention — it’s execution

There’s no shortage of ambition. Most organizations already recognize that proactive, anticipatory service is the goal. The challenge is turning that ambition into something operational.

What consistently gets in the way isn’t a lack of vision, but a breakdown between insight and action.

Data lives across disconnected systems, making it difficult to see the full customer journey in real time. In regulated industries, even when the signals are clear, compliance requirements can slow or limit how teams respond. And internally, ownership isn’t always defined — who decides when a signal is strong enough to act, and what action should follow?

The result is a familiar pattern: companies are getting better at identifying potential issues, but they still struggle to do something about them before the customer feels the impact.

This isn’t a strategy problem. It’s an execution gap.

What proactive CX actually looks like

When organizations successfully make the shift, it doesn’t come from trying to predict everything. It comes from identifying the moments that matter — where timely intervention can meaningfully change the outcome.

In practice, this means recognizing friction early and stepping in before the customer has to.

• A payment likely to fail is addressed before service is interrupted
• A delayed order is communicated before the customer checks on it.
• A drop in product usage triggers outreach before a cancellation decision is made.

But what makes these moments effective isn’t just the prediction — it’s the experience that follows.

Customers aren’t simply notified; they’re given clear, immediate paths to resolution. The interaction feels helpful, not intrusive. And most importantly, it removes effort instead of adding to it.

Over time, these interventions do more than reduce contact volume. They build trust, reinforce reliability, and shift the relationship from reactive support to something that feels intuitive, seamless, and aligned with customer needs.

Rethinking how success is measured

One of the more nuanced challenges in moving to proactive CX is measurement.

Most organizations are still wired to evaluate success based on what happens after something goes wrong. Metrics like handle time, speed to answer, and post-interaction satisfaction all assume that the interaction has already occurred.

But in a preventative model, the most meaningful outcome is often the absence of that interaction.

That requires a different way of thinking about success. Instead of asking how well an issue was resolved, teams begin to look at whether it was avoided altogether. Instead of focusing solely on efficiency, they start to connect proactive interventions to outcomes like retention, reduced churn risk, and long-term value.

It’s a subtle but important shift. The goal is no longer just to fix problems faster; it’s to design experiences where those problems don’t surface in the first place.

The role of AI (and the reality behind it)

AI is often positioned as the driver of anticipatory CX, but the reality is more grounded.

AI is most valuable when it helps teams make sense of signals at scale. It can surface patterns, highlight risk, and recommend actions that would be difficult to identify manually. But it doesn’t deliver the experience on its own.

What enables proactive CX is the combination of data, AI, and human execution. Data provides the signal, AI interprets it, and people (agents, operators, and CX teams) deliver the response in a way that builds trust.

Where organizations tend to struggle is not in deploying AI, but in operationalizing it. If teams don’t trust the output, they won’t act on it. If systems aren’t connected to execution, insights stay theoretical. The value only materializes when those signals are embedded directly into workflows and decisions.

What progress actually looks like

For organizations looking to move forward, progress tends to come from focus and practicality rather than sweeping transformation.

The most effective approach isn’t to build a fully predictive model across every touchpoint. It’s to start with a small number of high-impact scenarios where the path from signal to action is clear. Addressing something like payment failures, delivery disruptions, or early churn indicators can create immediate value and, just as importantly, build internal momentum.

From there, progress comes through iteration rather than perfection. Waiting for flawless data or fully unified systems often delays action indefinitely. Organizations that make meaningful gains are the ones willing to test, learn, and refine.

And throughout that process, the anchor remains the same: outcomes. The goal isn’t to implement new technology for its own sake, but to reduce avoidable contacts, improve retention, and create more seamless customer experiences.

From cost center to revenue driver

At VXI, this shift is central to how we think about the role of CX.

Proactive service isn’t just about efficiency or deflection. It’s about recognizing that every moment (whether it results in a customer interaction or not) has the potential to influence revenue.

When organizations combine AI-driven insight with human delivery, they move beyond support and into something more strategic. They prevent churn before it happens, identify opportunities to engage at the right time, and create experiences that feel consistent and effortless.

It’s a model built on both automation and expertise (what we often describe as “bots + brains”) where technology identifies the opportunity, and people ensure it’s delivered in a way that resonates.

Designing for what doesn’t happen

The organizations that stand out in modern CX aren’t defined by how quickly they recover. They’re defined by how often customers never need to reach out at all.

Anticipatory CX isn’t about predicting every possible outcome. It’s about consistently preventing the moments that matter most.

For organizations willing to rethink how experience is designed, measured, and delivered, that shift is already within reach.

Written by Lauren Kindzierski, Head of Strategy & Innovation, VXI

About VXI

VXI Global Solutions is a leading global BPO providing omnichannel customer service, CX, and digital solutions for top brands, with 40,000+ employees across 43 locations worldwide. For more information, visit www.vxi.com

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And across industries, that pressure is showing up in the same places: how to move faster without losing trust, how to create efficiency without eroding the experience, and how to separate what is genuinely transformative from what is simply new. Those were among the biggest undercurrents in this week’s Virtual Executive Roundtable, where leaders came together to talk candidly about what AI is changing within their organizations right now.

What made the conversation so valuable was not that anyone claimed to have it all figured out. It was that the discussion stayed grounded in the tension leaders are actually managing every day. What does agentic AI really mean in practice? Where is it delivering measurable value today? Where do human teams still matter most?

And perhaps most importantly, are organizations using AI to modernize the same old service model or to build something better from the ground up? The conversation made one thing clear: this moment is bigger than automation. It is a very real opportunity for CX leaders to rethink what great service looks like next.

What does “agentic” really mean?

One of the most useful parts of the conversation was the effort to separate true agentic AI from the catch-all language that’s flooding the market. Leaders repeatedly came back to one simple distinction: traditional AI reacts, while agentic AI acts. Traditional AI answers the question, and agentic AI helps complete the task. It is more conversational, more proactive, and better at taking action across systems than simply surfacing information.

That distinction matters because confusion is still slowing organizations down. Several leaders noted that many companies say they are building agentic capabilities when, in reality, they are still enhancing scripted bots. That disconnect is important. If leaders use the same word to describe radically different levels of maturity, it becomes harder to benchmark progress, align teams, and make smart investment decisions.

The industry is still early

A striking theme from the discussion was how low current adoption still is. Estimates in the room placed true agentic AI adoption somewhere below 15%, with some leaders putting it closer to 3%-5%. And yet nobody sounded relaxed about that. Quite the opposite. The tone was urgent. Leaders acknowledged that while the industry is still early, the pace of change is accelerating fast enough that waiting now could create a real competitive gap later.

That is the tension many organizations are sitting in right now. They know they do not have all the answers. They also know they do not have the luxury of standing still. If competitors have already spent the last two years learning, testing, failing, refining, and scaling, what happens to the organizations that are just beginning to ask foundational questions now?

Where leaders are seeing real value today

The conversation stayed grounded in practical use cases, and that was refreshing. Leaders discussed high-volume, repeatable work such as account updates, password resets, and status checks. They also discussed more advanced uses: proactive service interventions, automated quality auditing, and knowledge management that updates in near real time based on live interactions.

One example stood out: instead of simply telling a customer that an order is delayed, an agentic system can recognize that the customer paid for expedited shipping, predict the miss before the customer complains, and proactively issue a refund. That’s not just efficiency; that’s service with foresight.

Leaders also pushed back on a narrow definition of value. This is not only about removing cost or reducing headcount. The more mature conversation is about containment, speed, routing accuracy, reduced friction, better use of human expertise, and stronger experiences overall. In other words, if your scorecard for AI is only labor reduction, are you measuring the wrong thing?

The human-in-the-loop is a strategy

If there was one point the group returned to again and again, it was this: human oversight still matters, especially in emotionally charged moments. Leaders shared examples from industries where the issue is not a simple transaction but a life event, a safety concern, or a vulnerable moment. In those cases, the role of AI is not to replace empathy. It is to recognize when empathy is required and make the handoff smarter, faster, and more informed.

That raises an important leadership challenge. Are organizations training AI only on business rules? Or are they also teaching it context, tone, and the signals that should trigger human intervention? Because the risk is obvious: a system can be technically correct and emotionally disastrous. And in customer experience, that still counts as failure.

A few shared perspectives

• “The old AI is ‘what do you want to know?’ agentic AI is ‘what do you want to do?’”
• “Instead of AI being a helper, AI is now your accountable digital labor. It’s part of your workforce.”
• “Standard AI was reactive… agentic AI is more proactive in how we solve for the customer.”
• “Traditional AI is scripted responses. Agentic AI can go out, pull from multiple sources, and make decisions.”
• “The AI would say your order is confirmed. Agentic AI will predict it won’t arrive on time and refund the expedited shipping in real time.”
• “It’s moving from supervised learning to autonomous decision-making.”
• “Agentic AI isn’t just answering questions; it’s completing the transaction end-to-end.”

This is bigger than automation

The biggest takeaway from the discussion was not that AI is moving quickly. Leaders already know that. It is the organizations making the most meaningful progress who are asking sharper questions as they move. They are not just chasing use cases. They are thinking carefully about trust, orchestration, customer expectations, employee impact, and where human connection still matters most. That is the real work in front of CX leaders now; not simply adopting AI, but shaping how it shows up in the experience in a way that is thoughtful, responsible, and genuinely useful.

What should AI handle? What should stay human? Where can we remove friction? Where should we add reassurance? And how do we use this moment not just to do service cheaper, but to do it better?

These are exactly the kinds of candid, leader-level conversations happening inside our Virtual Executive Roundtables. If you want to hear how your peers are thinking through the opportunities and tradeoffs ahead, and contribute your own perspective to the discussion, join us at a future Virtual Executive Roundtable. It is a chance to step into a smaller, high-value conversation with fellow CX leaders navigating many of the same questions in real time.

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As consumer use of AI-powered and self-help solutions continues to expand, CX leaders are increasingly focused on resolution, abandonment, and measurable ROI rather than containment alone. Although digital and AI-powered channels continue to grow, phone-based support still dominates a massive portion of contact volume, and many brands still struggle to deliver seamless experiences across blended journeys. The research suggests that the next phase of CX leadership will be defined not by how much automation exists, but by how intelligently it is governed and how seamlessly channels work together.

“AI is no longer experimental — it’s operational,” said Susan McDaniel, Co-Founder and COO of Execs In The Know. “But what this research makes clear is that adoption alone isn’t enough. The brands that succeed will be those that simplify journeys and ensure automation complements — rather than replaces — live-assisted support.”

Some of the most notable findings from this new research include:

• AI adoption within the contact center has more than doubled since 2022, with 67% of organizations now using AI, and another 24% planning to do so soon.
• Consumers are increasingly navigating multichannel journeys, yet only 11% of CX leaders feel their organization delivers a seamless experience.
• Self-help and AI-powered resolution are scaling, with 35% of brands now resolving 20–60% of total volume through self-help, up from just 13% in 2024.

The 2026 CX Leaders Trends & Insights: Corporate Edition report, along with the entire Execs In The Know CX research library, including past Consumer and Corporate Editions, is accessible on the CX Research portion of the Execs In The Know website.

About Execs In The Know  

Execs In The Know brings together customer experience (CX) leaders from across industries in an effort to advance the conversation and set a new agenda for delivering amazing experiences for consumers. As a global community of the brightest minds in CX, Execs In The Know provides opportunities to learn, share, network, and engage to innovate. Operating under the motto, “Leaders Learning From Leaders,” Execs In The Know facilitates many opportunities for community engagement, such as its bi-annual national Customer Response Summit and private, online community, Know It All “KIA.” There are also exclusive, laser-focused engagements like industry briefings and executive roundtables. Execs In The Know also guides and informs the industry with a rich tapestry of CX-related content that includes CX Insight magazine, industry research, webinars, blogs, and much more. For more information, visit Execs In The Know’s website.

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