
On The Path To Legendary CX
by Execs In The Know
Highlighting incredible leaders on the cutting edge of making CX Inspiration, Innovation, and Imagination possible.
On the path to legendary customer experience (CX), nothing worth having comes easy. This applies to offering meaningful and memorable experiences that intrigue and entice customers to keep coming back for more.
At this year’s Customer Response Summit (CRS) in beautiful Coronado, California, we will take you on an action-packed journey, and together we will draw INSPIRATION from community members, gain INNOVATION insights from our partners, and ignite our IMAGINATION to create legendary customer experiences.
As CX continues to become more intelligent, more immersive, and more connected, the guiding principles of inspiration, innovation, and imagination are more important than ever before. It’s how we will separate the ordinary from the extraordinary.
Clearly, we’re on the cusp of a new era, so what’s next?
Follow along as these four incredible leaders share how they are creating new possibilities for their employees and customers to unleash the power of CX.
What Inspires Legendary CX?

SHANNON PATTERSON
Senior Vice President, Customer Engagement Centers at Marriott International
“The first thing that always comes to mind are the words of our founder, J.W. Marriott: “Take care of associates and they’ll take care of your customers.” This remains the keystone of Marriott International’s culture and what I believe inspires legendary CX. By reinforcing the customer experience through an associate’s lens, we are not just booking and recovering, we are making personal connections. With journey-mapping, and we have the capability to see across the globe at customer patterns. We understand what information each associate needs to have to better serve the customer—what matters to our customers, their past experiences, and where the future is taking them.”
Where Will the Next Era of CX Innovation Take Us?
ALYSSA REYNOLDS
Vice President – Retail Contact Centers at Humana
“Brands can be making the biggest difference by journey mapping the entire customer experience. At Humana, our human care approach takes into account every facet of members’ lives. Having the necessary tools that deliver very detailed information at a broad scale will allow your associates to address customer wants and needs so you can react and stay ahead of the curve when people need you the most. That’s what gets people forever dedicated to an organization when there’s so many other options out there. You have to add that human element back into the mix and empower your associates to do what they can to go above and beyond what a customer could have ever expected.”
ANTHONY CAVANAUGH
Operations Manager, Customer Relations and Services at BMW of North America, LLC
“Where the next era of CX innovation will take us is largely based on customer expectations, especially after the pandemic. Their expectation of personalized service has shifted dramatically. Customers can’t simply be placed into groups based on demographics. They want to be known and they want recognition that they’ve contributed to your company’s success. Invisible and seamless service with fewer points of human contact are what customers have come to know, expect, and want. To keep up with changing customer expectations, personalized strategies are now key.”
How Can Brands Bring More Imagination to the World of CX?
SCOTT HORACE
Senior Vice President Consumer Support Services at Mastercard
“Here at Mastercard, we try to incorporate imagination into our service journeys and models at all times. Organizations need to embrace being intentional with the work they do but also think past the current boundaries to deliver superior customer experiences. You must tap into your customers’ imagination and fully understand both their needs and wants. Want to hit it out of the park? Figure out better ways for your employees and your customers to interact and resolve issues. You have to know your customers and give them everything they want – not just one aspect of what they want. We should always embrace imagination and never be constrained by the current way of doing things.”
Looking Ahead to the Future of CX
For brands to thrive, delivering best-in-class CX is only going to become increasingly important. From the perspectives of these dynamic leaders, the CX landscape of the future will be personalized, grounded in purpose and passion, focused on empowering your agents, automated, differentiated, and intelligent.
See you in Coronado, CA (the Crown City) October 24-26, 2022, for CRS!
Twice a year, CRS brings together the top CX Leaders across industries for an experience like no other. At the heart of everything we do lies community. And CRS is no different. It is an intimate and laser-focused forum, providing outstanding opportunities to engage with some of the brightest minds in customer leadership — “Leaders Learning From Leaders.”
Our next stops include Austin, TX (March 1-3, 2023) at the JW Marriott Austin and Nashville, TN (September 20-22, 2023) at The Grand Hyatt Nashville.
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The Rise of Multimodal Customer Experience: Are We Moving Too Fast?Omnichannel was promised as the solution to a fragmented customer journey. While it delivered in many ways a new paradigm is taking shape, one defined by multimodal experiences powered by AI, automation, and real-time context. Customers can now move fluidly between voice, chat, video, and digital channels, often without a visible transition. For some, this represents the ideal journey. For others, it can feel as though the human element of customer care is slipping away. As organizations race to innovate, many are unintentionally creating gaps, not just between channels, but between themselves and key segments of their customer base. With varying levels of digital fluency and generational differences, and varying expectations, a one-size-fits-all approach to CX no longer scales. So, the question becomes: In our pursuit of the future, are we leaving parts of our customer base behind? In this candid and forward-looking discussion, CX leaders will explore:
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CX Livewire: Consumer Voices, Real-Time ReactionsCustomer expectations are constantly evolving, and understanding how consumers perceive service, support channels, and emerging technologies is critical for shaping effective CX strategies. In this fast-paced and interactive session, panelists will explore key insights from Execs In The Know’s latest research findings, capturing the perspectives and expectations of CX leaders and consumers. Throughout the discussion, panelists will react to both the research findings and live polling of the CRS audience, creating a dynamic comparison between what consumers say they want and how organizations are currently approaching service delivery. These real-time insights will allow attendees to benchmark their own thinking against the room, while panelists share practical perspectives from inside their organizations on how they interpret, and respond to, shifting consumer expectations. Expect candid reactions, engaging audience participation, and thought-provoking contrasts between consumer sentiment and operational reality. This high-energy session is designed to spark conversation, challenge assumptions, and highlight where CX leaders may need to adapt in order to meet the evolving demands of their customers. |
Agent-Facing AI for CX: Through the Eyes of the AgentFor decades, contact center agents have been expected to act as human search engines navigating complex knowledge bases, policy documents, and fragmented systems to find the right answer for customers. But the emergence of agent-facing AI is beginning to shift that paradigm. Instead of simply retrieving information, modern AI tools can now interpret context, surface relevant guidance, and recommend next-best actions in real time. This panel will explore how CX leaders are deploying AI to transform the agent role, and what this experience is like from the agent’s perspective. Panelists will discuss how tools such as AI copilots, real-time knowledge synthesis, contextual assistance, automated summarization, and predictive assistance are helping agents navigate complex conversations more effectively while reducing cognitive load. At the same time, organizations must carefully balance automation with human judgment, ensuring agents remain empowered decision-makers. Panelists will also address the operational and cultural challenges of introducing AI into the agent workflow including trust, training, governance, and change management. Attendees will hear practical insights (and hopefully firsthand feedback from agents) on what’s working, what’s not, and how agent-facing AI can simultaneously improve efficiency, enhance employee experience, and deliver better outcomes for customers. |
The Next Gen CX Business Plan: Preparing for the Next 3–5 YearsFor years, organizations have piloted AI-powered support, automation, proactive service models, and intelligent self-service. Now, the industry is reaching an inflection point: what happens when these capabilities mature into the standard operating model? The question for leaders is no longer if these technologies work, but how to architect a business plan that thrives once they are fully integrated. Moving from pilot to scale requires a fundamental shift in how we lead. It demands a roadmap for workforce evolution, a commitment to data integrity, and a new definition of “success” that balances efficiency with the human connection customer still crave. What does workforce strategy look like when AI handles a significant portion of interactions? How do roles evolve? What investments must be made now in data quality, governance, and systems integration to support intelligent, proactive service? How is success measured? How do organizations deliver the trust, clarity, and the confidence that define Customer Assurance? In this discussion, CX leaders will explore:
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Customer Assurance: A Leadership Decision, Not a DepartmentCustomer Assurance is not a department or a checklist. It is the confidence customers feel when they know a company will show up with clarity, competence, and care. It is built through leadership decisions that shape how the organization communicates, operates, and responds when something matters most. In an era defined by automation, AI, and no-reply emails, customers are tired of simply being processed. They are asking deeper questions: Do I feel safe doing business with you? Do I trust this experience? Do I believe this company will take care of me when it counts? True assurance is what turns a transaction into trust. It requires more than strong service design. It takes leadership alignment, clear decision-making, and systems that make confidence possible at every stage of the customer journey. That includes how expectations are set, how issues are owned, how employees are empowered, and how technology is used to support rather than distance the customer relationship. In this discussion, CX leaders will explore:
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