Since 2021, Execs In The Know’s Leading with Impact program has focused on raising awareness surrounding mental health. Our aim is to continue working to break past the stigma often associated with mental health issues and address these issues head-on. Our actions, no matter how big or small, can provide hope to those who are struggling. We’re working alongside organizations to help companies and individuals move down a stigma-free path, where those affected by mental health challenges can seek support without fear of judgment.

That context becomes especially visible in the day-to-day reality of work, where experience is shaped not only by what is measured, but also by what is felt beneath those measures.

Behind the Metrics

In the rhythm of a typical workday, especially in customer-focused environments, much of the attention is directed outward toward performance metrics, service levels, and the consistency of the experience being delivered. Dashboards update in real time, targets are tracked, measured, and optimized, and every interaction is an opportunity to reinforce trust, solve a problem, or strengthen a relationship.

Behind those measures, however, are individuals navigating competing priorities, constant interaction, and the expectation to remain responsive, steady, and engaged. The pace can be dynamic, at times unpredictable, and often shaped by variables outside anyone’s control. And within that pace, there is an ongoing balance between output and capacity, between responsiveness and recovery.

Mental health, in this context, is rarely a single moment or a clearly defined event. It is cumulative. It reflects how work is structured, how communication flows, and how individuals move through their day. It is influenced by the volume of interactions, the complexity of customer needs, and the degree of autonomy individuals have in managing both.

It also shows up in ways that are not always immediately visible. In the tone of a conversation, the patience within a customer interaction, and in the ability to remain present through complexity, to listen fully, and to respond with clarity. Over time, these small moments shape the overall experience for both employees and the customers they serve.

A Different Kind of Visibility for Leaders

For leaders, this creates a different kind of visibility. Not one rooted solely in outputs, but in patterns. How teams are pacing themselves across a week or a quarter. How often can they reset between periods of intensity? How consistently they are supported in maintaining both performance and well-being over time.

These patterns are not always captured in traditional reporting, yet they influence many of the outcomes organizations care most about: engagement, retention, service quality, and consistency. They also indicate how sustainable those outcomes are over longer periods.

Where Employee and Customer Experience Meet

Across many organizations, there is a growing awareness of these dynamics. Conversations around flexibility, workload, and support systems have become more integrated into how teams operate. In some cases, this includes more deliberate approaches to scheduling and staffing. In others, it shows up in how leaders communicate expectations, set priorities, and create space for focus.

Rather than existing in isolation, employee experience and customer experience are increasingly understood as interconnected parts of the same ecosystem. The conditions in which employees work (how supported they feel, how clearly they understand expectations, or how manageable their workload is) can influence how consistently they deliver for customers. The relationship is not always explicit, but it is observable.

How It Shows Up in the Work

When employees have the space to focus, recover, and feel supported in their roles, it often carries over into how they engage with each other and with customers. Interactions may feel more measured. Problem-solving can become more collaborative. Consistency, which is central to many customer experience strategies, becomes easier to sustain.

At the same time, the absence of that support can also surface in subtle ways. A slight delay in response, shorter interaction, or a missed opportunity to fully resolve a concern. These are not necessarily indicators of intent or capability, but reflections of the broader environment in which work is taking place.

Moments like May offer an opportunity to notice these connections more clearly. Not as a departure from day-to-day operations, but as a lens through which to view them. A way to reflect on how systems, expectations, and support structures are aligning with the realities of the people within them. It is a chance to observe what is working well and where there may be opportunities to adjust.

Small Shifts, Meaningful Impact

In practice, this reflection can take many forms. For some organizations, it may involve revisiting how workloads are distributed across teams or how demand peaks are managed. For others, it may include examining how communication flows, whether priorities are clear, whether feedback is timely, and whether individuals have the information they need to do their work effectively.

It may also include a closer look at how time is experienced throughout the day. The spacing between meetings, the ability to focus without interruption, or the presence of natural pauses allows individuals to reset before moving into the next task or interaction. These elements, while operational, contribute to the overall work experience. Over time, they shape how sustainable the experience feels and how consistently individuals can bring their full attention to their work.

For customer-facing teams, this is particularly relevant. The nature of the work often requires continuous engagement: listening, responding, solving, and adapting in real time. It is work that draws not only on technical knowledge, but also on emotional awareness and communication skills.

Sustaining that level of engagement over time is influenced by more than training or process. It is shaped by the environment in which the work takes place: the clarity of expectations, the availability of support, and the extent to which individuals can recharge between interactions.

An Ongoing Perspective

As organizations continue to evolve their approaches to both employee and customer experience, there is an increasing opportunity to consider these elements together. To view them not as separate initiatives, but as interconnected aspects of how value is created and sustained.

This perspective does not require a single model or a defined endpoint. Instead, it is an ongoing process of observation and adjustment. A willingness to look at how work is experienced in practice and how that experience aligns with the outcomes organizations are aiming to achieve. Within that process, awareness plays a central role.

So as May unfolds, the opportunity is not limited to acknowledgment. It is an opportunity to notice and observe how teams are operating, how individuals are engaging, and how the conditions of work are supporting, or at times challenging, the ability to sustain performance over time. It is also an opportunity to remain curious and to explore where small adjustments might create meaningful shifts. To consider how clarity, capacity, and support are experienced across different roles and teams.

Not as a one-time focus, but as part of an ongoing approach to building environments where both people and performance can be sustained. Because at the center of every interaction, every metric, and every outcome are individuals, bringing their attention, their energy, and their perspective to the work in front of them.

And in that sense, Mental Health Awareness Month serves less as a standalone initiative and more as a moment of clarity, a reminder of the conditions that support sustained performance, thoughtful engagement, and the kind of customer experiences that feel both effective and human over time.

Take Action

Since 1949, Mental Health Awareness Month has been a driving force in addressing the challenges faced by millions of Americans living with mental health conditions, and this year, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is calling on everyone to take action, raise their voice, and help change the conversation around mental health.

Whether you share your personal journey, raise awareness on social media using #MyMentalHealth, or simply show up for someone in need, every action helps break stigma and build a more supportive world. If you or someone you know is struggling, the NAMI HelpLine offers free, nationwide peer support — available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET — by calling 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), texting “HelpLine” to 62640, or visiting nami.org.

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

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

The DEI Performance Gap Is Widening

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

The Frontline is Not a Support Function

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

Brand Spotlight: How Grubhub Maintains Service Reliability at Global Scale

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

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

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

KIA Spotlight: Balancing AI and Human Connection at Carrier Enterprise

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

The Growing Impact of Women in CX Leadership

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

When AI Improves Metrics but Not Outcomes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Performance metrics may look stable — service levels met, occupancy steady, costs controlled — yet something feels structurally off.

AI pilots launch but stall. Digital volumes increase, but accountability blurs. Customer expectations rise faster than internal capability.

For decades, the traditional contact center operating model delivered exactly what it was designed to deliver: efficiency, predictability, and cost control.

It worked — until it didn’t.

Customers began carrying expectations from every interaction they have — across industries, across platforms — into every new experience. The standard is no longer set by direct competitors. It is set by the most seamless interaction they had yesterday.

Today’s CX environment is structurally different. Customers move fluidly across channels. AI is embedded into workflows. Regulatory scrutiny has intensified. Data from every interaction is strategically valuable.

Yet many organizations are still operating on a structure built for queue management — not experience orchestration.

The issue isn’t effort.

It’s architecture.

Traditional contact center operating models were engineered for a different era.

And that architecture is beginning to fracture under modern CX demands.

The Model We Built — and Why It Worked

For years, the contact center was optimized around a clear set of assumptions:

• Voice was the dominant channel
• Demand patterns were forecastable
• Workforce management drove precision
• Performance was measured by speed and cost
• Technology cycles were relatively stable

It made sense for an environment defined by concentrated voice demand, slower technology cycles, and clearer functional boundaries.

It was structured. It was disciplined. It delivered measurable efficiency.

But it was built around queues, not journeys. That distinction now matters.

The Emerging CX Operating Model

The future operating model will require evolving tools. AI will advance, automation will expand, and digital ecosystems will grow more complex. But technology alone will not determine success.

The differentiator will be how organizations redesign accountability, governance, and workforce structure to integrate those capabilities. Structural alignment will determine whether those investments create lasting value.

If structural alignment is the differentiator, redesign cannot be abstract. It requires deliberate structural shifts.

Across industries, four are becoming clear:

1. Unified Experience Ownership
2. Embedded AI Governance
3. Workforce Redesign — Not Just Upskilling
4. Real-Time Data Integration

Together, these shifts represent more than incremental improvement. They signal a structural redesign of how CX organizations must operate to compete.

The Bottom Line

Traditional contact center structures are not flawed. They were optimized for a less complex era.

They worked — until they didn’t.

The question now is not whether the model was effective. It is whether it still fits.

The future of CX will not be won by those who install better tools.

It will be won by those who redesign how the organization works.

Guest blog post written by John Sorenson

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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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Marriott International’s Frid Edmond on Leading Transformational Change in Hospitality

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

This is anticipatory customer experience (CX).

And while the concept isn’t new, a powerful combination of predictive analytics, agentic artificial intelligence (AI), and disciplined governance is turning it from an aspiration into a competitive advantage.

Predictive Signals Are Becoming the New Starting Point

For years, CX teams focused on reacting well and resolving issues quickly, smoothing over friction, and optimizing the moments after something goes wrong. But predictive analytics has changed what’s possible. By analyzing patterns, signals, and customer behavior, organizations can now forecast:

• Likelihood to contact
• Churn or risk behaviors
• Sentiment shifts
• Next-best actions or offers

These insights are no longer interesting; they’re actionable. And when paired with agentic AI, they unlock anticipatory experiences that quietly remove effort from the customer’s day.

Examples include:

• A bank alerts a customer about a low balance before a fee hits.
• A healthcare provider sends check-in links hours before an appointment.
• An airline offers rebooking options before a connection is missed.

These moments aren’t flashy. But they build trust in ways reactive service never will.

Agentic AI Is Accelerating the Shift From Insight to Action

AI used to be assistive, including supporting agents, summarizing interactions, or helping customers self-serve. Today, agentic AI is elevating the model.

These systems can analyze data, recognize patterns, initiate tasks, and orchestrate workflows with little to no human intervention. That means brands can:

• Fix issues before customers notice
• Trigger resolution workflows automatically
• Deliver proactive communication at scale
• Reduce escalations and customer frustration

But here’s the nuance: the technology works only when leaders set guardrails around where AI belongs, where it doesn’t, and how human oversight ensures fairness, accuracy, and sanity checks. Without governance, predictive and agentic systems risk becoming chaotic rather than customer-centric.

When Done Well, Anticipatory CX Elevates the Human Experience

An overlooked benefit of anticipatory CX is the impact on frontline work. When AI handles the repetitive, predictable, or preventable moments (status updates, reminders, verifications), agents can focus on complex issues that truly require empathy and judgment.

The result?

• Better employee engagement
• Faster resolutions
• Lower operational costs
• More authentic interactions
• Higher customer trust

Anticipatory CX doesn’t replace humans. It makes space for them to be at their best.

Building an Anticipatory CX Playbook

The organizations that are getting this right aren’t simply deploying technology. They’re redesigning operating models, rewriting workflows, establishing experimentation labs, and ensuring human-in-the-loop (HITL) governance that keeps AI aligned with brand values.

Anticipatory CX is becoming the hallmark of mature, customer-centric organizations. And as technology accelerates, brands that don’t build these capabilities will fall behind those that do.

Read the full magazine article inside the latest issue of CX Insight to explore how forward-thinking organizations are moving from reactive to anticipatory CX, and what it takes to build your own playbook.

The post Why the Future of Customer Experience Happens Before the Customer Ever Asks appeared first on Execs In The Know.

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.

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