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 →

The post Why Human Agents Are Your Most Important CX Asset appeared first on Execs In The Know.

The political headwinds around DEI have been loud, but the business signals are louder. According to our 2026 CX Leaders Trends & Insights: Corporate Edition report, 68% of consumers say it’s important for companies to take a public position on their DEI practices and allow that position to guide their operations. Yet only 36% of CX leaders say their company actually does this. That gap isn’t a branding problem. It’s a performance problem.

The Purchasing Power Behind the Principle

The consumers who care most about DEI aren’t a niche; they represent some of the fastest-growing pools of spending power in the country. Black buying power in the U.S. is projected to top $2 trillion in 2026. U.S. Latino purchasing power stands at $3.78 trillion. The LGBTQIA+ community represents an estimated $1.4 trillion domestically, and up to $4.7 trillion globally. Multicultural consumers now account for more than 65% of U.S. expenditure growth.

And they’re making purchase decisions accordingly. One-third of consumers say they’ve already cut back or stopped buying from brands that rolled back DEI commitments. Among Black and Latino consumers, that number jumps to 45%. Among LGBTQIA+ consumers, it reaches 58%.

The Contact Center

Corporate statements about inclusion don’t matter if the customer experience doesn’t reflect them. When CX leaders were asked how their company performs on accessibility and inclusion in customer support, 76% rated themselves “Very Good” or “Somewhat Good.” When consumers were asked the same question about those same brands, only 58% agreed.

That 18-point perception gap is a blind spot, and blind spots in CX show up in churn, negative reviews, and eroding loyalty over time.

The Companies Staying the Course

While some brands pulled back in 2024 and 2025, others held firm, and their results are worth noting. Costco’s board unanimously urged shareholders to reject an anti-DEI resolution in early 2025; shareholders agreed by a 98% margin. The company’s employee turnover rate is roughly 7%, well below the retail industry average of over 60%. That’s not a coincidence; it’s the return on a workforce that feels valued and a customer base that feels seen.

McKinsey research shows companies in the top quartile for leadership diversity are 39% more likely to outperform financially. Boston Consulting Group found that organizations with above-average diversity generate 19% higher innovation revenues. Harvard Business Review reports that diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time.

The Window Is Open

This moment has created an opening. As some brands step back, others are signaling something unmistakable to the market: who they’re building for, and whether they can be trusted to hold that position when things get harder.

The brands that will emerge strongest aren’t the loudest; they’re the most consistent.

Want the full picture, including a practical roadmap for auditing your CX experience through an inclusion lens, connecting DEI to core KPIs, and building multicultural fluency into your service design?

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

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The back-office (claims teams, billing, fulfillment, underwriting, compliance) has rarely been treated as part of the experience engine. Yet as artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and agentic systems reshape operations, CX leaders are realizing something critical: The back office is no longer behind the scenes; it’s center stage.  

In this roundtable, executives unpacked the operational and cultural shifts needed to finally align these historically separate functions. What emerged was a clear call to action, and a glimpse into how the most future-ready organizations are preparing for what comes next. 

Back-Office Modernization Is Now a CX Priority 

One leader put it plainly: “From the customer’s perspective, there is no front office, there is no back office. There’s just the company.” 

Consumers don’t care which department “owns” a task. They care about clarity, speed, and avoiding repetition. Yet many organizations still invest heavily in front-line tools while leaving back-office workflows untouched, creating the very friction customers feel in the form of delays, inconsistencies, and escalations. 

Leaders agreed on several truths: 

• Back-office operations are essential to the end-to-end experience, not hidden support layers. 
• Most executive teams still underestimate the CX impact of back-office modernization. 
• Teams across the enterprise need to see back-office work as part of the customer journey. 
• Fragmented handoffs, not agent performance, are often the root cause of customer dissatisfaction. 

Silos, Systems, and the Alignment Problem 

If there was one shared pain point, it was this: alignment is still the most significant barrier to progress. 

Executives described a familiar scene: HR systems that don’t speak to CRM, fulfillment platforms that operate independently, product teams designing workflows “in a vacuum,” and data scattered across what one participant called “islands of automation.”  

But the most powerful insight came from a simple observation: Sometimes the most impactful transformation starts with a basic cross-functional meeting. 

In one organization, simply bringing together CX, operations, and product teams in the same room revealed a dozen downstream issues, many of which were quickly solvable. It reminded the group that alignment is not only a systems challenge, but also a cultural one.  

As one attendee shared: “Bringing teams together, they’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize it did that.’” Sometimes awareness is the first step toward modernization. 

From Frankenstacks to Unified Data 

Every executive on the roundtable acknowledged a version of the same problem: the “Frankenstack.” Tools bolted together, inconsistent data definitions, and multiple versions of the truth. And with AI moving from experimental to operational, that fragmentation is no longer just inefficient; it’s risky. 

Leaders stressed the need for: 

• A single data layer 
• Consistent data governance 
• Clear prioritization of 30–90 day value wins 
• Unified KPIs that make back-office contributions visible 

The takeaway was clear: AI is only as good as the data it’s fed. One leader summed it up nicely: “Once we have a better view of what’s going on, we can finally measure the value the back office brings.” 

The Human + AI Workforce Is Here 

Perhaps the most forward-looking part of the conversation focused on agentic AI and the idea of a combined workforce: human and AI agents working side by side. 

Leaders shared early wins: 

• 4× throughput increases 
• 100% auditability 
• Manual tasks reduced from 4 hours to 1 
• Entire queues eliminated 

But they also highlighted new responsibilities: 

• Monitoring AI like a team member
• Building clear governance 
• Ensuring transparency and explainability 
• Training employees to work with, not against, AI systems 

As one participant said, “AI will not replace people. But people who do not understand AI will be replaced.” The future of CX isn’t human vs. AI. It’s human + AI + aligned operations. 

CX Leadership Is Shifting from Cost to Value  

The conversation closed with a noticeable shift in mindset: Leaders are moving away from AI for cost-cutting and toward AI for value creation, quality, and growth. Organizations are building value-realization frameworks, taking incremental wins rather than massive transformations, and focusing on internal AI adoption before rolling out customer-facing solutions. 

Their North Star goals for the next 12 months? Unified data, automated back-office workflows, better regulatory processes, and strengthened centers of excellence. The direction is unmistakable: Modern CX leadership is operational leadership. 

Be Part of Conversations Like This 

This is what makes the Execs In The Know community special: leaders openly sharing, challenging, and learning from one another. Just real problems and real solutions. Our Virtual Executive Roundtables are built on that promise: Leaders Learning From Leaders. 

If you want to be part of these candid conversations, connect with top CX executives, and stay ahead of the trends shaping our industry, we invite you to join one of our upcoming virtual or in-person events. In the meantime, explore our recent report in partnership with NiCE, CX Without Silos: Bridging Front- and Back-Office Operations to Elevate CX.

The post Breaking Down the Back Office: What CX Leaders Told Us About the Next Era of Customer Experience  appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has accelerated, expectations have skyrocketed, decision cycles have compressed, and somewhere in the middle of all that progress, a surprising truth has surfaced: leaders are feeling more isolated than ever. Not because they’re disengaged, nor because they’re lacking data or dashboards. But because the nature of leadership itself is changing faster than the support systems around it.

In our January issue of CX Insight magazine, we explore this emerging phenomenon of intelligent isolation and why leaders at the forefront of AI transformation are also the ones feeling the most alone in their decision-making.

The Rise of Intelligent Isolation

Today’s CX executives run global operations, agentic AI pilots, predictive analytics engines, and omnichannel ecosystems, all while supporting frontline teams navigating intense customer emotion and nonstop change. It’s a level of sophistication the industry has never seen.

But beneath that capability is a quieter reality: Many leaders are carrying the emotional and cognitive weight of transformation alone.

Calendars are full, Slack channels are buzzing, and standups are sharp and efficient. But the spaces where leaders once processed ambiguity together (the unstructured conversations, the shared problem-solving, the peer-to-peer sense-making) have eroded.

The result? Leaders are more operationally connected, yet more emotionally isolated. And that disconnect is influencing everything from strategic clarity to team culture.

AI Isn’t the Cause, But It Is the Catalyst

AI didn’t create leadership isolation; it amplified it. The speed of AI-driven change has compressed reflection time, increased expectations for certainty, and accelerated the pressure to “get it right the first time.” Leaders now carry more complexity with fewer moments to pause and sanity-check decisions with peers who understand the weight of the role.

And as our research shows, when systems fail to connect, leaders become the connective tissue doing the integration work that should be shared across the organization. It’s not sustainable. But it is solvable.

Across our community, we’re seeing CX leaders intentionally redesign the way they lead:

• Reinvesting AI-created efficiencies into connection: coaching, listening, and reflection

• Creating fewer, higher-quality spaces for shared judgment and peer advisory support

• Normalizing uncertainty earlier: pressure-testing assumptions before decisions harden

• Building community outside formal reporting lines as a form of strategic infrastructure

These are leadership competencies, and they’re becoming differentiators as AI becomes more deeply embedded in customer operations.

Why This Matters for the Future of CX

The next era of CX won’t be shaped solely by technology. It will be shaped by leaders who recognize that connection is a performance driver, not a personality trait.

This is the shift unfolding across our industry, and the full article in our January issue takes you inside the research, the patterns, and the emerging leadership practices defining 2026.

Read the full article in the January issue of CX Insight magazine.

The post Why Reclaiming Human Connection Is Now a Leadership Imperative appeared first on Execs In The Know.

This issue brings together some of the most forward-thinking perspectives, real-world case studies, and leadership insights shaping the future of CX. From predictive models to emotionally intelligent design, this quarter’s publication gives CX leaders the clarity and context to navigate a year that promises to be both transformative and deeply human.

Inside the January 2026 Issue

The Future Is Predictive: Inside the Shift Toward Anticipatory CX

The cover story breaks down the move from reactive service to anticipatory, predictive care, showing how agentic AI and strong governance turn insights into action before customers ever reach out. CX leaders will find a practical playbook for building a predictive framework rooted in ethics, data integrity, and human-in-the-loop (HITL) oversight.

How Quince Turned Customer Support Data into Predictive Insights

This real-world case study from Quince reveals how the brand replaced manual reporting with an AI-powered, self-service VoC model, unlocking faster decision-making across the business. A standout story for leaders looking to democratize insights at scale.

Brand Spotlight: Fanatics

Fanatics’ Vice President of Global Fan Experience, Maureen Barnett, offers a vivid look into how emotional connection becomes a competitive advantage. From turning service centers into “experience hubs” to redefining frontline roles, Fanatics shows how passion can transform loyalty.

Leading in 2026: Reclaiming Connection in an Age of Intelligent Isolation

One of the most striking pieces in the issue, this article explores the rising phenomenon of executive isolation and why connection has become a strategic imperative for CX leaders navigating AI acceleration, higher stakes, and shrinking reflective space.

KIA Spotlight: CHEP U.S.

James Glover, VP of CX & Quality at CHEP U.S., shares how predictive insights, circularity, and harmonized data foundations are reshaping supply chains with smarter, more resilient customer experiences.

The New Human Touch: Re-Earning Trust in the Age of AI

As AI becomes embedded across customer-facing interactions, from chat and voice to personalization engines, recommendations, and automated decisioning, customers are no longer evaluating technology in isolation. They are evaluating the brand judgment behind it.

Read and Download the January 2026 Issue

The new year brings both challenges and opportunities, and this issue offers the clarity CX leaders need to navigate them with confidence. The future of CX is anticipatory. And it’s still deeply, unmistakably human.

Read and download the magazine.

Want to contribute to a future issue? Visit our Get Involved page.

The post Introducing the January 2026 Issue of CX Insight: The Anticipation Era Has Arrived appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Contact centers are balancing rising customer expectations for speed, accuracy, and personalization against increasing complexity and cost pressure. AI is helping organizations meet those demands at scale. At the same time, the human elements of experience, including trust, understanding, and emotional connection, continue to shape how customers judge interactions and how brands earn loyalty. The result is a new CX equation: one where technology accelerates what’s possible, and empathy still defines what truly resonates.

Rather than viewing empathy and automation as opposing forces, many CX leaders are exploring how both can coexist within modern service ecosystems.

Empathy Has Always Been Part of CX

Customer experience has always involved an emotional dimension. Regardless of industry, customers typically arrive with some combination of urgency, uncertainty, frustration, or expectation. How those emotions are acknowledged often shapes whether an interaction is remembered as positive or negative, even when the outcome is identical.

Historically, this emotional work was carried out almost entirely by frontline teams. Agents listened, interpreted tone, adjusted their approach, and made decisions in real time, all without extensive automation support. Today, that dynamic is shifting. AI systems can now:

• Detect sentiment in voice and text interactions
• Adjust conversational responses dynamically
• Predict escalation risk
• Surface relevant history to agents in real time
• Automate post-interaction summaries and follow-ups

These capabilities create new possibilities for how empathy is delivered, supported, and measured within CX operations. What once depended solely on individual skill now often involves a partnership between human judgment and machine intelligence.

Artificial Empathy: Simulation, Support, or Substitute?

One of the most visible developments in this space is “artificial empathy,” AI systems designed to recognize emotional cues and respond with language that signals understanding, concern, or reassurance. In live chat and virtual assistance environments, empathetic phrasing has been shown to reduce customer friction, de-escalate tension, and improve conversational flow.

From an operational perspective, this capability can:

• Improve containment rates without sacrificing tone
• Create more consistent service language across interactions
• Reduce the emotional burden on agents for routine inquiries
• Enable 24/7 responsiveness at scale

At the same time, artificial empathy remains a simulation. AI does not experience emotion; it identifies patterns associated with emotional expression and generates responses based on training data and probabilities. For many routine or low-stakes interactions, this distinction may be irrelevant to outcomes. Customers often prioritize speed, clarity, and resolution above all else.

For other interactions like those involving financial hardship, health concerns, account recovery, or emotionally charged disputes, the presence of a human remains vital to many customers. In these moments, empathy is not simply linguistic; it’s expressed through judgment, discretion, and shared understanding of context that current systems cannot fully replicate.

As a result, organizations are increasingly designing hybrid models in which artificial and human empathy coexist.

Human-Centered CX in an Automated Environment

As automation handles an increasing share of routine interactions, the nature of human-agent work is changing. Contacts that reach live agents today tend to be:

• More complex
• More emotionally charged
• More policy-driven
• More likely to involve exceptions or escalations

This concentration effect has significant implications for workforce design, training, and support. Human-centered CX in an AI-enabled contact center often focuses on:

1. Agent Enablement

AI is increasingly used to support agents with real-time guidance, next-best-action prompts, compliance monitoring, and automated documentation. The goal is not to replace empathy, but to remove the friction that prevents agents from focusing on the customer.

2. Cognitive and Emotional Load Management

With higher-complexity interactions becoming the norm, agent well-being, recovery time, and emotional resilience become operational concerns.

3. Skills Evolution

The value of human agents is shifting from information recall to interpretation, judgment, negotiation, and relationship management. These are skills that remain difficult to automate at scale.

In this environment, empathy becomes less about repeated soft phrases and more about situational awareness, discretion, and trust-building in moments that truly matter.

Empathy as a Design and Operating Principle

Many CX leaders now approach empathy not only as a frontline behavior but as a system-level design principle. This shift influences how AI is implemented across the service ecosystem.

Organizations taking a human-centered design approach often focus on:

• Journey orchestration: Defining when automation is optimal and when human engagement should be prioritized
• Escalation design: Building intentional handoffs between virtual and live agents
• Context preservation: Ensuring customers do not repeat themselves across channels
• Transparency: Clearly signaling when customers are interacting with AI versus a human

From a governance standpoint, this also affects how success is measured. In addition to operational key performance indicators (KPIs), many organizations assess:

• Repeat contact rates
• Escalation patterns
• Sentiment trend shifts
• Customer trust indicators
• Brand perception following automation changes

Empathy, in this sense, becomes embedded in both experience architecture and performance strategy.

Transparency and Trust in AI-Driven CX

As virtual agents become more conversational and emotionally responsive, questions about transparency have become more critical. Customers increasingly encounter AI systems that resemble human interaction in tone and pacing. While this can improve usability, it also introduces new considerations for trust.

Many organizations are now establishing principles around:

• Clearly identifying AI-powered interactions
• Explaining handoff paths to human support
• Defining guardrails for emotionally sensitive use cases
• Ensuring customers retain access to live assistance when needed

These practices are not uniform across industries, but they reflect a broader recognition that transparency itself is a component of respectful, human-centered experience design.

Organizational Alignment Matters as Much as Technology

Technology alone does not determine whether a customer experience feels empathetic. Organizational incentives, policies, and performance metrics play a defining role.

In environments where speed, cost containment, and deflection dominate success measures, even well-designed AI systems may inadvertently deprioritize emotional quality. Conversely, organizations that align automation strategy with customer trust objectives often approach AI deployment differently, using automation to absorb transactional strain while reserving emotionally complex interactions for human teams.

This alignment extends across:

• Workforce planning
• Agent training
• Vendor selection
• Experience design
• Leadership priorities

Empathy in modern CX extends beyond how conversations sound to how decisions are structured behind the scenes.

Blended Experience Models

What’s emerging across many contact center environments is neither a fully automated future nor a return to human-only service models. Instead, CX leaders are building blended experience ecosystems in which:

• AI manages scale, speed, and consistency
• Humans manage judgment, nuance, and emotional complexity
• Data flows unify the experience across channels
• Design decisions shape where empathy is delivered artificially, humanly, or in combination

This blended model acknowledges both the practical advantages of automation and the enduring importance of human connection in moments of friction, vulnerability, and decision-making.

Empathy in the Next Chapter of CX

As AI becomes deeply woven into customer experience operations, empathy is not disappearing; it is being redistributed across digital and human touchpoints. The question for CX leaders is no longer whether empathy matters in an automated environment, but how it is defined, supported, and delivered at scale. The answers will differ by industry, customer base, and risk profile. Some organizations will lean heavily into virtual engagement. Others will preserve high-touch human service as a brand differentiator. Most will continue refining hybrid approaches as technologies and customer expectations evolve.

What remains consistent is this: trust, understanding, and emotional resonance still shape how customers evaluate their experiences. In an ecosystem increasingly powered by algorithms and automation, how those human elements are designed into the system will continue to influence loyalty, reputation, and long-term value.

Continue the Conversation at Customer Response Summit (CRS)

The questions surrounding AI, empathy, and the future of human-centered customer experience don’t have simple answers, and they’re best explored together.

Join CX leaders, practitioners, and technology innovators at CRS, February 25–27, 2025, at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island. Through mainstage keynotes and panels, case studies, and peer-led breakout discussions, CRS offers a space to examine how empathy, automation, and performance intersect in today’s contact centers. We invite you to be part of the dialogue shaping what comes next.

Learn more and register today.

The post The New Architecture of Empathy in Customer Experience appeared first on Execs In The Know.

A recent Execs In The Know research report, CX Without Silos: Bridging Front- and Back-Office Operations to Elevate CX, developed in partnership with NiCE, exposes just how crucial these behind-the-scenes operations are to overall satisfaction, loyalty, and growth. The report’s findings reveal a disconnect that many organizations face: back-office excellence is recognized but rarely invested in.

The Disconnect Behind “Good” Performance

Despite 63% of CX leaders rating their back-office performance as good or very good, nearly half report low investment in these operations. Even more striking, only 20% believe their C-Suite fully understands the back office’s impact on CX. This lack of visibility not only limits operational efficiency but also diminishes the potential for meaningful collaboration between teams that directly influence customer experience outcomes.

Frontline agents are often held accountable for customer satisfaction scores, yet their success relies heavily on back-office performance. A delayed refund, an inaccurate invoice, or a fulfillment error — these are back-office issues that directly affect customer trust and perception. When these teams lack visibility, shared metrics, or a voice in CX strategy, the result is fragmented experiences and missed opportunities for improvement.

Turning Awareness Into Action

So, how can CX leaders bridge the gap? It starts with reframing the back office not as a cost center, but as a value driver. This means involving operational leaders early in CX initiatives, creating cross-functional governance councils, and introducing shared KPIs that connect operational health with customer outcomes, such as customer satisfaction (CSAT) and net promoter score (NPS).

Equally important is education, helping senior leaders see the correlation between operational efficiency and customer loyalty. When back-office teams understand their impact and are empowered to share insights, organizations see fewer handoff issues, faster resolutions, and greater alignment across the customer journey.

The AI Advantage

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also reshaping what’s possible. According to Gartner, by 2028, one-third of enterprise software will include agentic AI, automating up to 15% of day-to-day work decisions. For CX leaders, this represents a massive opportunity to connect departments, streamline workflows, and reduce manual effort, creating faster, more consistent customer experiences while empowering employees.

When implemented strategically, AI doesn’t replace the human element of CX; it amplifies it. It helps translate complex operational data into actionable insights that leaders can use to make better decisions, faster.

The Future of CX Collaboration

Ultimately, the path forward is about breaking silos and elevating visibility. Back-office teams are the unsung heroes of CX, and when their expertise is woven into strategy, organizations unlock new levels of innovation and customer satisfaction.

To dive deeper into these findings and explore actionable insights from CX leaders, read the full feature article in the latest issue of CX Insight magazine.

The post How Back-Office Excellence Shapes the Customer Experience appeared first on Execs In The Know.

That’s why this issue of CX Insight is all about clarity: how to lead with it, design for it, and sustain it in an age defined by distraction.

The October issue brings together a powerful lineup of leaders and ideas that challenge how we think about focus, artificial intelligence (AI), and the invisible systems that power the customer experience (CX). Whether you’re recalibrating your 2026 roadmap or simply trying to cut through the noise of daily demands, this issue offers a fresh perspective on what it means to lead with intention.

Leading with Clarity in the Age of Distraction

Our cover story features former NFL quarterback Travis Brown, who has turned the art of focus into a leadership framework. In a world of nonstop notifications and dashboards, Brown argues that clarity isn’t a luxury; it’s a discipline.

He challenges leaders to ask: What am I willing to mute so my team can hear what matters? Am I designing systems that simplify or complicate my people’s work?

Brown’s philosophy, “married to the mission, but only dating the methods,” is one every CX leader can appreciate. It’s a reminder that while technology and tools will continue to change, the clarity of purpose behind them should not.

Beyond Resolution: How AI Is Redefining CX

The AI conversation is shifting from hype to impact. In this contributed article by Sierra, you’ll see how brands like Chime are reframing automation as a brand builder.

AI agents are becoming ambassadors of a company’s voice, tone, and values. They’re not just resolving tickets; they’re shaping the customer’s perception of trust and care.

Here’s the question this article leaves us with: Are we measuring the right things? As AI takes on more of the front line, customer satisfaction (CSAT) for AI interactions can’t remain an afterthought. Leaders must evolve how they measure success, beyond speed and resolution, to capture emotional resonance, trust, and consistency.

Brand Spotlight: GoodLeap

Few brands embody operational excellence with as much heart as GoodLeap. COO and Execs In The Know advisory board member Paul Brandt opens up about how he leads with empathy, precision, and purpose, proving that operational excellence is the foundation of extraordinary CX.

He reminds us that, “Being operationally excellent is the foundation for a phenomenal customer experience. You can’t deliver delight if you don’t deliver the basics.”

From pioneering AI-powered internal tools to keeping humanity at the center of innovation, GoodLeap’s story demonstrates that simplicity, when done well, is a competitive advantage.

The Hidden Power of the Back Office

Every CX leader knows that the customer experience doesn’t stop at the contact center. This article explores the unseen world behind the scenes, where billing accuracy, claims processing, and order fulfillment quietly define the customer journey.

The findings are clear: silos between the front and back offices not only slow progress but also block visibility into the very metrics that matter most. As Michael Kors puts it, even luxury brands depend on operational precision: “Every touchpoint, from claim submission to resolution, must reflect the same level of care that defines the brand.”

AI Can’t Fix Bad Knowledge

ProcedureFlow’s contributed article delivers a timely reminder: no AI initiative can succeed without knowledge governance.

AI can accelerate efficiency, but it can also amplify inconsistency if the data beneath it is flawed.

This article explores how knowledge management, content accuracy, and compliance form the foundation of every successful AI strategy. The message is both practical and urgent: AI is only as intelligent as the systems that feed it.

Are You Measuring CSAT for AI?

AI is now the “first face” of many customer interactions, but are you measuring how well it performs?

This feature challenges leaders to rethink what customer satisfaction looks like when bots, not humans, deliver care. Because if AI is part of your brand’s frontline, it’s also part of your brand’s reputation.

KIA Spotlight: Crate & Barrel

We close the issue with an interview with Kate Showalter and a look inside Crate & Barrel, where collaboration and design come together to create meaningful customer connections.

The story underscores that great CX doesn’t just happen at the point of sale; it’s built in every conversation, every process, every touchpoint.

Crate & Barrel’s approach is a beautiful reminder that design thinking and human empathy can turn transactions into relationships.

What’s Next: Leading with Clarity as a Competitive Advantage

As 2026 approaches, CX leaders face a defining question: Will you be reactive or intentional? The most successful brands are choosing signal over noise and designing for clarity, measuring what matters, and aligning technology with empathy.

This issue is packed with ideas to help you do exactly that. From redefining AI metrics to building high-EQ teams, from simplifying frontline processes to empowering back-office collaboration, it’s a roadmap for leading with focus and foresight.

Read and download the October issue of CX Insight magazine today.

The post Announcing the Q4 Issue of CX Insight Magazine appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Peloton, once synonymous with “the Bike,” has evolved into something far bigger: an ecosystem of connected fitness products, premium content, and a global community of millions. But as Spring reminded the audience, growth doesn’t just test your business model; it tests your ability to support, empower, and elevate every single member along the way.

When Success Outpaces Structure

Rewind just a couple of years. Peloton was riding a wave of demand that few companies ever experience. However, with that success came turbulence: overstocked accessories, scattered middle-mile logistics, service and repair gaps, and a global support structure that was stretched too thin.

In Spring’s words, Peloton had “disproportionate capacity and inefficiently staffed global support.” In other words, the model that got them here wouldn’t get them there.

Building the Foundation for Member Excellence

What followed was a deliberate reset. In 2022, Peloton rebalanced its operations. In 2023, the team streamlined its BPO footprint, introduced Salesforce, and initiated a company-wide upskilling initiative. By 2024, they were operating with just two BPOs—98 percent of support now U.S.-based—while training “universal agents” capable of handling membership, order experience, and technical service with equal fluency.

That shift wasn’t about cost-cutting. It was about creating a foundation where every member’s touchpoint felt seamless and trusted.

Technology That Works for Humans

Spring emphasized that technology should never be a barrier between a member and their goal. It should clear the path. That’s why Peloton transitioned to AWS for its phone system, integrated Service Cloud Voice, and deployed Agent Assist to help frontline staff classify cases, recommend replies, and generate summaries.

The result: agents aren’t bogged down in process, they’re freed up to be human. And members get what they came for: support that is fast, personal, and aligned with their fitness journey.

From Contact Center to Concierge

One of the most compelling moments of Spring’s keynote was her description of two new programs redefining the member experience.

• Social Care: A team that proactively engages with members on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, meeting them where they already are.
• Human Concierge: A pilot program offering new members a dedicated guide during their first 90 days, ensuring they feel supported, celebrated, and connected

These aren’t just initiatives. They’re a philosophy that member support isn’t about handling problems; it’s about creating a sense of belonging.

Data as Culture, Not Just Metrics

Under Spring’s leadership, Peloton also began building a stronger data culture. Weekly performance visibility and clear metrics gave her teams not just numbers to chase, but stories to tell, including how their work translated into efficiency, loyalty, and long-term engagement.

Data-driven decision making wasn’t a line item in a presentation. It became a way of seeing, much like Peloton teaches its riders to measure cadence, resistance, and output.

The Leadership Question

Spring’s keynote left the room buzzing with a question: Are we as CX leaders designing support that solves issues, or are we designing support that elevates the entire customer journey?

Because Peloton’s story is more than a case study in operational turnaround, it’s proof that CX leaders can transform turbulence into trust, scale into service, and, most importantly, transactions into relationships.

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

The post Elevating the Ride at Peloton appeared first on Execs In The Know.

So here’s the question: How will you lead your organization into 2026 and beyond?

That’s the conversation at the heart of Customer Response Summit (CRS) San Diego, hosted by Execs In The Know. What began as a small gathering of passionate leaders has grown into a thriving community, one where CX leaders from the world’s leading brands come together to ignite ideas, exchange hard-earned insights, challenge the status quo, and collaborate on the future of customer experience.

This year, we celebrate 15 years of elevating CX through honest conversations, lasting connections, and bold thinking. And while we’re proud of the journey so far, we’re even more energized about what’s ahead. Join us as we collectively shape the future of CX: grounded in curiosity, courage, and connection.

Come discover why attendees are saying that if they could “attend only one conference a year, it would always be CRS.”

A Summit Built for Leaders by Leaders

CRS is about stepping into a room where the future of CX is being written. Every keynote, panel, case study, and breakout session is built for practitioners, designed to cut through the noise and focus on the challenges and opportunities you’re facing right now.

You’ll connect with brands leading the way in customer experience. They’re the peers making bold moves in real time, and they’re ready to share what’s working (and what isn’t).

Featured Speakers

The Summit’s keynote lineup features executives pushing boundaries inside their organizations and industries. Their candid stories of transformation, missteps, and breakthroughs will challenge you to rethink what’s possible in your own strategy.

• Kimberly Dorsett, Executive Vice President, Head of Truist Care Centers, Truist
• Travis Brown, Senior Director, Campus Teams, CCV
• Maureen Barnett, Vice President, Global Fan Experience, Fanatics
• Dawn Spring, Senior Vice President, Global Member Support, Peloton

You’ll also hear from leaders at:

• Southwest Airlines
• Chegg
• ClassPass
• The Home Depot
• Tripadvisor
• TD Bank
• Nestlé Purina
• State Farm
• The Black Tux
• Microsoft
• …and many more!

View the Speaker Lineup

What to Expect: Strategies, Stories, and Space to Think Bigger

CRS San Diego is designed to help you answer the questions that keep CX leaders up at night:

• How do we deploy AI responsibly without eroding customer trust?
• What new skills will the workforce of the future require, and how do we retrain at speed?
• How do we responsibly use customer data while navigating rising privacy regulations?
• How do we strike the right balance between automation and humanity?
• Where should we double down, and what’s safe to let go?
• What’s the next big disruptor we’re not seeing yet?

What’s In It for You

• A practitioner-built agenda. Every session is grounded in real-world challenges, whether that’s scaling global care, sharpening KPIs that matter, or navigating workforce transformation in an AI-driven world.
• Strategies you can use immediately. Case studies, frameworks, and templates that translate directly into your playbook.
• Stories from the front lines. Honest perspectives from brands navigating the same roadblocks you’re facing.
• High-signal networking. Just candid dialogue with senior leaders who understand the stakes and are generous with their insights.
• Hands-on working time. Breakouts and workshops designed to pressure-test ideas, identify opportunities, and leave with next steps you can bring back to your team.

Why Leaders Keep Coming Back to CRS

• Clarity on your roadmap. Walk away knowing where to focus for 2026.
• Faster execution. Borrow proven playbooks to reduce time-to-value on your initiatives.
• Better alignment. Bring back actionable insights that help rally cross-functional teams.
• A trusted network. Build relationships you can tap long after the conference.

As John Caldwell, Senior Director of Team Member Service Centers, put it: “There is no better place to meet peers in the industry and partners that can help you overcome the big problems we all are facing.”

The CRS Difference

For 15 years, Execs In The Know has built a community defined by authenticity, generosity, and shared purpose. Here, leaders drop the pretense. They share setbacks as openly as successes. They lean on each other for perspective, advice, and ideas. And they keep those conversations going well beyond the event itself.

Why Now

The pressure to deliver faster, more innovative, more human customer experiences isn’t slowing down. If anything, the expectations on CX leaders are intensifying. But the best breakthroughs don’t happen in isolation. They happen when leaders come together to wrestle with tough questions, swap unfiltered insights, and leave with renewed conviction.

That’s what CRS San Diego delivers: three days of real-world learning, honest connection, and strategic clarity.

You belong in the room. Let’s make it happen.

Plan Your Experience

• Preview the agenda
• See our featured speakers
• Browse FAQs
• Register Now

Hotel Room Block Deadline: Wednesday, August 27, 5 PM PT
Rooms at the InterContinental San Diego are limited—reserve yours now to stay steps from the action.

The post Shape Your CX Roadmap for 2026 and Beyond at Customer Response Summit San Diego, Sept. 17-19, 2025 appeared first on Execs In The Know.