That gap between what the data says and what customers actually feel is the defining challenge for customer experience (CX) leaders right now. And it is exactly what keynote speaker Julie Weingardt, Chief Operations Officer at Turo, is bringing to the mainstage at CRS Scottsdale.

There is a quiet crisis happening inside organizations that, by every measurable standard, appear to be doing everything right. Operational benchmarks are met, and satisfaction scores hold steady. And yet trust, the thing that actually drives repeat business and long-term loyalty, is eroding in ways the traditional dashboard was never built to detect.

Weingardt has a name for this problem: dashboard blindness. It is what happens when organizations confuse hitting their numbers with understanding their customers. When the metrics are green, but the friction is real, the disconnect does not stay invisible for long. It shows up in social feeds, in churn, and eventually, in revenue.

The Signal in the Silence

One of the most important insights Weingardt will unpack is what unrated interactions reveal. An interaction that goes unscored is not a neutral data point. It is a gap, and those gaps have consequences that quietly compound over time.

As automation becomes a larger part of the customer journey, the moments where customers disengage without providing feedback deserve far more attention than most organizations give them. The absence of a response is itself a response.

The Pressure Every CX Leader Feels Right Now

There is no avoiding the conversation about artificial intelligence (AI). The pressure to reduce costs through automation is real, it is coming from the top, and it is not going away. But Weingardt will challenge CX leaders to think carefully about what gets lost when the pendulum swings too far.

Human empathy, speed in the right context, and the ability to read nuance are not luxuries. They are operational assets with a measurable impact on customer trust. The question is not whether to adopt AI. The question is how to evaluate the trade-offs honestly, using frameworks that account for what a cost-savings analysis alone will never show you.

This is the cost-trust paradox, and navigating it well is quickly becoming one of the most important skills a CX leader can develop.

From Satisfaction to Advocacy

The session is ultimately a call to rethink the entire leadership model around customer loyalty. Satisfaction, as a goal, is reactive by nature. You wait for the interaction to happen, measure how it went, and adjust. Advocacy requires something different: a proactive, systematic approach to how organizations listen, what they measure, and how they scale the kind of experiences that build loyalty over time.

That shift is harder than it sounds, especially inside organizations that have spent years optimizing for the metrics they know how to measure. But it is the work that separates companies’ customers return to from companies customers tolerate.

Why This Conversation Matters Now

The timing could not be more relevant. As AI capabilities expand and budget pressures intensify, the temptation to optimize for efficiency at the expense of connection has never been stronger. Weingardt brings a practitioner’s perspective to a conversation the industry needs to have with honesty and urgency.

Whether you lead CX for retail, a financial institution, healthcare, or anywhere in between, the dynamics she is describing are not unique to Turo. They are the defining tensions of the moment.

Hear Weingardt’s full keynote at CRS Scottsdale. Learn more and register to attend.

The post Why Trust is a CX Metric That Matters 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.

Todd brings over three decades of operational leadership experience to his keynote, along with a willingness to draw on his own personal journey. His session, Mental Athlete: Leadership in a Dysregulated World, explores the connection between a leader’s mental health and their effectiveness on the job, and offers a framework for thinking about self-regulation as a professional practice.

His central premise is that self-regulation (how a leader manages their own mental and emotional state) is a meaningful and often overlooked dimension of professional performance. He draws on the analogy of an elite athlete, for whom mental conditioning is as deliberate and structured as physical training, and asks what it might look like for leaders to bring that same intentionality to their own well-being.

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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.

But something else is happening at the same time, and it deserves equal attention: the interactions that reach human agents are becoming more complex, more emotionally charged, and more consequential than ever before.

That’s an opportunity. And the brands that recognize it are pulling ahead.

The Shift Nobody Is Talking About Loudly Enough

When AI handles the easy stuff, what’s left for human agents isn’t the leftovers; it’s the moments that define the brand. Service recovery. High-stakes exceptions. Customers who are frustrated, confused, or vulnerable. These are the interactions where trust is either deepened or permanently lost.

Research backs this up. According to Qualtrics, when a customer issue is resolved positively, that customer is likely to demonstrate greater loyalty over time than someone who never encountered a problem. This is the Service Recovery Paradox, and it only works when a human agent has the empathy, judgment, and autonomy to execute it.

Scripts don’t get you there. Rigid escalation paths don’t get you there. Empowered agents do.

The 18-Point Lesson from Southwest Airlines

At CRS Amelia Island, Kevin McDorman, VP of Customer Care at Southwest Airlines, made a point that reframed the entire conversation around CX transformation: the frontline isn’t where strategy gets executed; it is the strategy.

His argument wasn’t anti-technology. It was pro-human, with intention. As automation absorbs more transactional contacts, the human role must be elevated with equal deliberateness. That means moving from rigid scripts to guardrails that give agents room to exercise judgment. It means investing in soft skills (active listening, empathy, problem-solving) with the same rigor as any technology deployment.

Because customers don’t experience transformation through a roadmap. They experience it in the moment they need help.

What AI Can Genuinely Do for Your Agents

Here’s where it gets interesting: AI isn’t just replacing agent work; it’s also making agents better at their jobs. Simulation-based onboarding tools are helping new agents handle complex scenarios before they encounter them in real time. AI co-pilots are supporting agents in real time with knowledge retrieval, sentiment analysis, and next-best-action guidance. Auto-summarization is reducing after-call work so agents can focus on the customer in front of them.

The companies winning this transition aren’t choosing between AI and humans. They’re designing operating models where each does what it does best and where the intersection between them is intentional, not accidental.

Looking Ahead to 2030

The contact center of 2030 looks meaningfully different from today’s. Agent profiles will shift, and compensation structures will evolve. Hiring, onboarding, and career pathing will be redesigned around a new contact mix that demands higher emotional intelligence and sharper judgment.

The organizations that start building toward that now, investing in frontline empowerment as infrastructure, not afterthought, will have a structural advantage that’s hard to replicate later.

The question isn’t whether to automate. It’s whether you’re elevating your people at the same pace.

Read the full article in the April issue of CX Insight magazine →

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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.

Let me be honest with you: I’ve been to enough industry conferences to know when a room is just going through the motions. At CRS 2026 in Amelia Island, something was different.

When I stepped on stage to lead “When AI Acts: Leading Through the Shift from Copilot to Agent,” I wasn’t there to talk about tools or trends, or which model is in market right now. I was there to have the harder conversation; the one about whether our organizations are actually ready for what’s coming.

Because here’s the reality: AI isn’t waiting for us to be ready. It’s already acting.

“By 2028, agentic AI is expected to handle 68% of customer experience interactions with technology partners.” — Cisco Global Research, 2025 (7,950 decision-makers across 30 countries)

→ Source: Cisco Newsroom, May 2025

Sarah Jeanneault presenting at CRS 2026, Amelia Island

The Question That Shifted the Room

I opened with a simple question: “When AI starts acting on behalf of your team – who is accountable?”

You could feel it land. Not because it’s new, but because most of us haven’t answered it yet. And the gap between how fast AI is advancing and how prepared our operations are to support it? That’s the gap I’ve been thinking about every single day.

As long as AI is a chatbot or a copilot, humans are the final decision-makers. The moment AI becomes agentic – resolving transactions, routing cases, applying policy logic without waiting for someone to click approve, the responsibility structure changes entirely. AI becomes embedded in your operations, and your operations had better be ready to hold it.

“93% of IT leaders report intentions to deploy autonomous AI agents within two years, and nearly half have already started.” — MuleSoft 2025 Connectivity Benchmark Report (1,050 IT leaders surveyed)

→ Source: MuleSoft / Salesforce Connectivity Benchmark Report, 2025

From Suggesting to Executing

Here’s the progression I walked through, and it’s one that most organizations are living in real time right now:

Stage 1 – AI as Responder: Chatbots that react to prompts, deflect tickets, answer straightforward questions. Reactive. Limited.

Stage 2 – AI as Assistant: Copilots that sit alongside your agents, surfacing information and suggesting next steps. Humans still make the call.

Stage 3 – AI as Actor: Agentic systems that execute. They process requests, make decisions within defined parameters, and move work across systems — independently.

Most organizations I talk to are managing all three simultaneously. And that third stage? That’s not just a technical upgrade. It’s a change in risk, accountability, and operational design.

“23% of organizations are already scaling AI agents — yet operational governance remains the primary barrier to broader deployment.” — McKinsey State of AI, 2025 (1,993 respondents across 105 countries)

→ Source: McKinsey State of AI Report, November 2025

The Foundation Beneath the Intelligence

This is where the conversation really shifted. Because we quickly moved past “is your AI smart enough?” to ask a much harder question: is the foundation beneath your AI structured enough?

Most organizations still rely on document-based knowledge: policies written in long-form PDFs, procedures scattered across shared drives, tribal knowledge living in the heads of your most experienced team members. For years, that’s been fine because humans compensate for ambiguity. We fill in the gaps, ask clarifying questions, escalate when we’re not sure.

AI doesn’t do that. AI executes based on the structure it’s given. If your knowledge is fragmented, outdated, or unclear, those weaknesses don’t disappear when AI touches them. They get amplified.

Attendees engage in the Care Gap exercise

Naming the Care Gap

Midway through the session, we stopped theorizing and got practical. I put people into small groups and gave them three questions:

1. Where does customer care break in your organization?
2. What is the measurable business impact?
3. Why does that gap exist structurally?

Each group had to distill their answers into a single Care Gap Statement: the symptom, the impact, and the root cause.

What struck me was how fast people could do it. They didn’t have to think hard about where things break. Inconsistent responses driving repeat contacts. Escalations triggered by unclear decision thresholds. Copilot suggestions overridden because agents don’t trust the logic underneath them. Extended handle times because knowledge lives in four different places and no one can find what they need fast enough.

These aren’t new problems. What changed was the framing. We stopped calling them performance issues and started calling them what they actually are: structural gaps.

“Service reps spend 66% of their time on non-customer-facing tasks. AI implementation is directly tied to reducing that friction — but only when the underlying knowledge is structured.” — Salesforce AI Agent Research, 2024

→ Source: Salesforce AI Agents Statistics, 2024

Turning Breakdowns Into Opportunities

Once you name the gap, you can reframe it. I asked every group to complete this sentence:

“If we improved ___, we could achieve ___, without compromising customer care.”

The most compelling responses weren’t about acquiring better AI. They were about designing better systems. Improving decision logic clarity to reduce override rates. Centralizing and version-controlling workflows to lower escalations. Clarifying exception paths to improve first-call resolution. The emphasis wasn’t the tool; it was the architecture underneath the tool.

A Real-World Example of Structural Change

I shared a story from a large health insurance contact center that illustrates exactly what I mean. Agents were handling complex benefit and claims inquiries, and escalation rates were high. Leadership assumed it was a training problem.

It wasn’t. The knowledge existed. It was just structured in a way that nobody could use confidently under pressure. Policies lived across documents. Decision paths weren’t mapped. So, agents defaulted to escalation not because they didn’t know the answer, but because they couldn’t find it fast enough to trust it.

The organization rebuilt its processes into clear, visual workflows with defined decision logic and governance controls. The policies didn’t change. The structure did. Escalations dropped significantly. First-call resolution improved.

The transformation wasn’t technological. It was architectural.

The Maturity Journey

Toward the end of the session, I mapped out the maturity journey that resonated most with the room:

Documented: Information exists but remains static and interpretive. You’re dependent on SMEs to fill the gaps.

Guided: Processes are structured step-by-step. People can follow them without context.

Collaborative: Governance and version control are formalized. Knowledge is owned, not assumed.

Strategic: Knowledge is connected to analytics and continuous improvement.

Innovative: AI acts autonomously within defined guardrails. This is where the magic happens but only if the earlier stages are solid.

The sequence matters. I see organizations every week trying to leap directly to “Innovative” because of competitive pressure or boardroom enthusiasm. But automating ambiguity doesn’t eliminate it, it multiplies it. Scaling inconsistency doesn’t fix it, it accelerates it. Delegating judgment to AI without defining the rules introduces risk, not efficiency.

“Gartner predicts agentic AI will autonomously resolve 80% of common customer service issues without human intervention by 2029 — a 30% reduction in operational costs.” — Gartner, March 2025

→ Source: Gartner Press Release, March 5, 2025

What the Room Carried with Them

As we wrapped, conversations kept going at the tables. Leaders were asking each other: Who currently owns knowledge updates in your organization? Is your decision logic formally documented or just assumed? If AI executed tomorrow based entirely on how your systems are structured today, would you feel confident?

That last question is the one I want to leave you with too. Not because the answer is supposed to be “yes” right now most of us aren’t there yet. But because the question itself is the leadership shift this moment demands.

The Real Takeaway

AI will keep advancing. Its role in customer experience will keep expanding. The differentiator won’t be who adopts it first.

It will be who builds the strongest operational clarity beneath it.

When AI suggests, humans can adjust. When AI acts, structure determines trust.

That’s the shift. And it extends far beyond technology.

By Sarah Jeanneault, VP of Marketing, Procedureflow

About the Author

Sarah Jeanneault is VP of Marketing at Procedureflow, where she leads growth strategy and customer-centric programs. With 20+ years of experience across startups and enterprises, she focuses on the intersection of operational clarity and AI-readiness in customer experience. She spoke at Customer Response Summit 2026 in Amelia Island.

The post When AI Starts Acting appeared first on Execs In The Know.

More specifically: Who are you when the title drops, the metrics fade, and the pressure hits? Because, as Travis reminded the room, leading people is complicated. And in a world where every conversation seems to orbit around AI, automation, and scale, the differentiator that will define the next era of customer experience isn’t just technology; it’s emotional intelligence (EQ).

And EQ, he argued, sits on a deeper foundation: identity. Who you are determines what you do. This became the heartbeat of his keynote, “The Standard Is the Strategy.”

Metrics Matter. But They Aren’t the Whole Story.

Travis began with a story from his NFL days, specifically, a moment with legendary linebacker Willie McGinest. After a tough game, Willie posed a question that stuck with him long after he left the field: “Who are you?”

Too often in CX (and in life), Travis said, we obsess about the tangible:

• NPS
• Quarterly numbers
• Service levels
• Efficiency metrics

But in leadership, you can hit the metric and miss the moment. You can meet the standard but violate the principle.

This line landed hard. Because it’s true: in the rush to deliver, leaders can unintentionally drift from the values that made them leaders in the first place.

Standards vs. Principles: The Core Distinction

Travis broke it down simply:

• Standards are what we do.
• Principles are who we are.

Standards matter. They’re measurable, operational, and necessary. But standards alone don’t create culture. Principles do. And in an industry where AI is accelerating faster than any of us expected, Travis reminded leaders of something vital: AI will scale your systems. EQ will sustain your culture. Because CX, at its core, is still about people.

EQ is the skill that helps leaders manage themselves, navigate environments, read the room, and steward their teams through uncertainty. But EQ is built on something deeper: identity. Before you can lead others, you must define who you are going to be.

The Three Principles of Principles

The centerpiece of the keynote came when Travis outlined the three rules that govern how real principles work.

External Conditions Shouldn’t Determine Your Principles

If your principles only hold when conditions are ideal, they’re not principles; they’re preferences.

Travis told stories from NFL training camp, from tough seasons, from moments when every condition felt like a good reason to justify exceptions. But that’s exactly the point: conditions expose principles; they don’t rewrite them.

He challenged leaders to examine whether pressure or convenience has ever swayed their standards, from tone to honesty to accountability.

His reminder hit home: Pressure doesn’t create character. It reveals it.

And this wasn’t just for the boardroom. He drew the line straight into the personal: marriage, parenting, and home life.

Principles Shouldn’t Be Compartmentalized

Leaders don’t get one set of principles for the office and another for home. Character doesn’t clock in and out. Travis spoke about something many leaders quietly wrestle with: the disconnect between the “stage version” of themselves and the “real version” at home. Those gaps erode trust more than any missed KPI ever could.

Authenticity, he said, isn’t about saying whatever you want. It’s about alignment. The version of you in the boardroom, at the dinner table, behind closed doors, and in moments no one sees, should be the same person. And he asked a provocative question: What if authenticity became your most important standard?

Don’t Expect from Others What You Don’t Model Yourself

This one is leadership in its purest form. You cannot expect your team to live at a level you refuse to model. From effort to attitude to integrity, Travis shared: Teams may listen to what you say, but they will replicate what you model.

He reflected on parenting, on coaching, on how often leaders get frustrated with behaviors they actively or passively teach through their example. It was a moment of self-reflection for many in the room. Before you ask, “Why won’t my team rise higher?” Ask: “Have I?”

The Danger of Success in the Wrong Direction

One of the most powerful moments came near the end: a story about scoring what he thought was a touchdown only to realize he ran toward the wrong end zone.
The metaphor was striking. Because in CX, in leadership, and in life, you can hit every target, grow revenue, improve metrics, and still be moving in the wrong direction.

The only success that matters is the kind that aligns with your principles. External success ≠ principled success.

Why This Keynote Mattered

At a conference full of strategy, innovation, AI discussions, and operational breakthroughs, Travis did something different. He grounded the week in something unmistakably human. CX leaders today sit at the intersection of exponential technology and deeply human expectations. We’re balancing automation with empathy, speed with care, efficiency with trust. AI is rewriting the rules, but it’s not rewriting our values.

Travis reminded leaders that before you can build a modern, high-performing, AI-enabled customer experience, you must anchor your identity. Because your principles, not your models, not your workflows, not your dashboards, will determine whether your culture thrives or fractures in the years ahead.

He ended where he began, returning to Willie McGinest’s question: Who are you? And is that the person you really want to be?

Because the future of CX is not just AI-powered; it is principle-powered. And as Travis said, the standard is the strategy.

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The post Travis Brown on the Power of Principles in a Changing CX World appeared first on Execs In The Know.

This question was front and center in the presentation by Meghan Nicholas, Walmart’s Vice President of Customer Engagement Services, at the recent Execs In The Know CRS East Conference. You can watch a preview of her presentation here. At TP, we see this not as a challenge, but as our guiding principle.

We share Meghan’s vision —a people-led, tech-powered future for customer support. This approach recognizes that technology like AI and automation are powerful enablers. They help us operate at scale, remove friction, and deliver faster service. But technology alone is not the answer. The real difference is made by people. When we empower our experts with the right tools and insights, they can provide the empathy, care, and expertise that turn a good interaction into a great one.

In this post, inspired by the insights shared in Amelia Island, we will share the keys to delivering this balanced and resilient customer experience model at scale – shown through our work with a client that needed to transform its CX model. This example provides a model for designing modern service operations that strengthen both empathy and efficiency, use technology to enhance the moments that matter most, and build a foundation of trust that brings you closer to the people you serve.

The client faced a common but significant challenge: their existing customer service model couldn’t keep up with rising expectations. They needed to improve first-contact resolution, boost customer satisfaction, and create a more streamlined, positive experience from end to end. The goal was to not just solve issues but to build lasting trust and loyalty.

Recognizing the need for a fundamental shift, they partnered with TP to co-create a new service model. This collaboration moved beyond a traditional client-vendor relationship into a true strategic alliance focused on shared goals and continuous improvement.

The first step was building a dedicated team of TP experts. These weren’t just general customer service agents; they were specialists who received intensive training tailored to the client’s unique needs. This specialized knowledge empowered them to handle complex inquiries with confidence and accuracy, providing customers with reliable answers on the very first call.

Creating this highly skilled team significantly increased first-contact resolution. Customers no longer had to endure frustrating transfers or repeated calls. Instead, they connected with an expert who could own their issue and see it through to completion.

With a strong foundation of human expertise in place, the next phase was to integrate innovative technology to enhance, not replace, the human element. This included a suite of advanced tools designed to streamline processes and empower the customer experts.

One of the most impactful solutions was a “digital assistant” that provided real-time guidance during customer interactions. This tool offered instant access to knowledge bases, suggested next steps, and ensured compliance with all necessary procedures. By automating the search for information, it freed the experts to focus entirely on the customer—listening with empathy, understanding their emotional state, and providing personalized solutions.

This combination of specialized human talent and smart technology delivered remarkable results. The new model not only met but exceeded expectations, achieving a significant boost in customer satisfaction scores. The client saw firsthand that efficiency and empathy are not mutually exclusive; they are two sides of the same coin.

The success of this partnership demonstrates a clear path forward for any organization looking to elevate its customer experience. It starts with a commitment to understanding customer needs on a deeper level and investing in the people and technology required to meet them.

By building specialized teams, integrating smart digital tools, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, companies can transform their customer service into a powerful engine for growth and loyalty. This approach doesn’t just solve immediate problems; it builds relationships that last, turning satisfied customers into passionate advocates for the brand.

As Meghan mentioned, the future of customer experience is one where innovation serves humanity, and every interaction is an opportunity to create a meaningful connection.

by Mike Lytle, Chief Delivery Officer, TP

The post Delivering CX Without Compromise at Scale appeared first on Execs In The Know.

As Derek Bell, VP of Product at Procedureflow, recently observed: ‘AI is being asked to operate, not just assist, but most organizations are still running document-based knowledge systems.’ This disconnect is creating what I call the execution gap, and it’s where many AI initiatives are stalling.

Procedureflow’s three-pillar approach: treating knowledge as a system, enabling agents by design, and providing controlled autonomy.

The Evolution: From Responder to Actor

Stage 1: AI as Responder (Chatbots) – Answer questions, deflect tickets, surface knowledge articles. Reactive and limited in scope.

Stage 2: AI as Assistant (Copilots) – Sit alongside agents, suggesting responses and pulling information. Humans make final decisions.

Stage 3: AI as Actor (Agentic Systems) – Execute tasks autonomously processing returns, updating accounts, coordinating across departments. They don’t just recommend; they do.

Most organizations manage all three stages simultaneously. A chatbot handles initial contact; a copilot assists escalations, and agentic workflows trigger in the background. According to McKinsey’s State of AI research, 23% of organizations are already scaling AI agents, yet operational governance remains the primary barrier to broader deployment.

The Hidden Gap: Intelligence Without Structure

Here’s the paradox: As AI becomes more capable, the need for operational clarity intensifies. A chatbot can mask knowledge gaps. A copilot can surface options without committing. But an agentic system that processes a refund incorrectly creates compliance risk, erodes trust, and violates policy.

As Derek Bell puts it: ‘AI doesn’t fail because it lacks intelligence; it fails because it isn’t connected to structured, executable knowledge.’

Consider a customer contacting support for a defective product outside the return window. An agentic system needs to know: Does this customer qualify for an exception? What is the approval threshold? Who gets notified? Which system gets updated first? Without structured decision logic, AI either freezes or acts on incomplete information.

What Makes Agentic AI Different

• Decision Authority vs. Decision Support – Copilots suggest. Agents decide. AI must operate within clear governance frameworks defining approval of thresholds, escalation triggers, and exception handling.
• Cross-System Orchestration – Agentic systems coordinate actions across multiple platforms. A simple ‘update my subscription’ might require changes in billing, CRM, fulfillment, and communication systems in a specific sequence.
• Accountability in Ambiguity – Humans handle edge cases through judgment. Agentic AI requires explicit rules for ambiguity. Organizations that haven’t defined these boundaries find their AI either over-escalates or under-escalates.

Four critical capabilities: guided execution following defined paths, deterministic outcomes for predictability, embedded guardrails for safety, and real governance for traceability.

Building the Foundation: From Knowledge Chaos to Operational Clarity

Leading organizations approaching agentic AI start with knowledge architecture, asking:

• Where does our operational knowledge live? For most companies, it’s fragmented across SharePoint, Slack, email threads, and tribal knowledge. Agentic AI requires centralized, structured, and version-controlled operational knowledge.
• How do we translate expertise into executable logic? The best agents make dozens of micro-decisions per interaction. Enabling AI to replicate this requires breaking down judgment into decision trees and conditional workflows. Organizations succeeding here treat processes as living systems, not static documents.

(Learn more about transforming process workflows.)

• How do we maintain consistency across channels? When policy changes, does it update everywhere AI needs it? Organizations with mature operational structures build single sources of truth that all systems including AI reference.
• How do we govern what AI can do? Define confidence thresholds (‘If certainty is below 85%, escalate’), impact boundaries (‘No AI decision exceeds $500’), and audit requirements.

A Framework for Leaders: The Four Pillars of AI-Ready Operations

Procedureflow serves three audiences: Knowledge Managers accelerate creation, Human Agents get increased automation, and Customers benefit through agentic APIs.

Pillar 1: Structured Decision Logic

Move from ‘here’s what we usually do’ to ‘here’s exactly what to do when X, Y, or Z occurs.’ Document decision trees, define variables, and codify exception handling.

Pillar 2: Governed Knowledge Systems

Establish a single source of truth for policies and procedures. Implement version control so changes propagate systematically. Create ownership accountability.

Pillar 3: Workflow Visibility

Map how work actually moves through your organization. Identify hand-offs, dependencies, and bottlenecks. Make implicit steps explicit. The most sophisticated deployments expose workflows through structured APIs that AI systems can query in real-time. Procedureflow’s Agentic API exemplifies this, enabling AI agents to follow defined steps while maintaining full traceability.

Pillar 4: Continuous Feedback Loops

Build mechanisms to capture when AI decisions work and when they don’t. Create review processes where edge cases inform knowledge updates.

The Leadership Imperative: Designing for Human-AI Collaboration

The goal isn’t to remove humans from customer experience, it’s to position them where they add most value. Agentic AI should handle routine execution, freeing humans to manage complexity, build relationships, and solve novel problems.

The maturity journey: Organizations progress from documented (text-based, SME reliant) through guided, collaborative, and strategic phases to innovative (AI chat bots, agent assist, agentic API).

This requires leaders to rethink workforce development. As AI takes on transactional work, the human role shifts toward judgment, empathy, and strategic intervention. Training must evolve from ‘how to process a return’ to ‘when AI guidance may not serve this customer’s best interest.

Transparency with customers is equally critical. Organizations leading in AI deployment are upfront about when AI is acting and how customers can request human review.

Starting Points: Where to Begin

Audit your knowledge infrastructure. Where are operational policies and decision rules documented? How easily could an AI system access them?

Map one end-to-end journey. Choose a common request password reset, return processing and document every decision point, system touch, and hand-off.

Define AI governance principles. What decisions should always involve humans? What are your risk tolerances? Establishing these boundaries prevents reactive policy making.

The Opportunity Ahead

The companies that will lead aren’t those with the most advanced AI they’re those with the operational clarity to deploy it safely and effectively.

The shift from copilot to agent requires building organizations where intelligence, automation, and human judgment work in concert. Where customers receive faster, more personalized service without sacrificing accuracy. Where frontline teams feel empowered rather than replaced.

Consider what becomes possible: A health insurance company automating complex eligibility determinations across 50 states while ensuring every decision follows current regulations. A financial services firm enabling 24/7 account servicing while maintaining audit trails. A utility provider orchestrating multi-system processes without workflow fragility.

These aren’t hypothetical. Organizations building on structured knowledge foundations are already achieving them. The early results from companies deploying governed agentic systems show dramatic improvements because when AI follows the right process, it works better, not just faster.

The question isn’t whether agentic AI will reshape customer experience it already is. The question is whether your organization will lead this transformation or react to it.

by Sarah Jeanneault, Procedureflow

About the Author

Sarah Jeanneault is VP of Marketing at Procedureflow

Sarah brings over 20+ years of experience leading growth-focused strategies and building customer-centric ecosystems that drive revenue, strengthen engagement, and increase long-term value. She has guided teams across startups and enterprises to achieve multi-million-dollar growth. Outside of work, Sarah enjoys skiing, biking, trail running, gardening, and baking sourdough bread.

About Procedureflow
Procedureflow simplifies knowledge management by turning complex processes into visual guides that are easy to navigate, while ensuring they remain accurate, collaborative, and compliant. Our visual and strategic approach to managing standard operating procedures helps organizations deliver trusted knowledge that scales and drives operational efficiencies. Clearly guided processes combined with task automation help employees quickly grasp critical details and execute requests with confidence. Create a unified knowledge source that anyone can navigate and count on to deliver exceptional service. Discover more at www.procedureflow.com.

Related Resources:

• Process Workflow Automation Guide – Practical approaches to transforming static processes into executable workflows
• Procedureflow Product Overview – Explore how leading organizations are building AI-ready operational systems

The post When AI Acts: Leading Through the Shift from Copilot to Agent appeared first on Execs In The Know.