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

The Execs In The Know Expert Network

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The post Evolving CX Operating Model: Why Traditional Contact Center Structures Are Breaking Down 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.

Join Us at CRS Scottsdale

Experience powerful mainstage keynotes, candid leadership conversations, and practical CX insights from the leaders shaping the industry. Registration opens soon!

More Leadership Insights from the CX Community

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Personalization at Sea: How Princess Cruises Is Elevating the Guest Experience

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.

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

Customer experience is at a true inflection point. Customer and associate expectations continue to rise, and technology is accelerating faster than ever. And CX leaders everywhere are navigating a critical question: How do we scale efficiency without sacrificing empathy?

A People-Led, Tech-Powered Approach

Meghan’s keynote sits squarely at that intersection. With oversight of a vast, complex customer engagement ecosystem, she brings a rare blend of operational rigor and people-first leadership to the conversation, exactly what today’s evolving CX landscape demands.

In her session, Meghan will explore how Walmart is evolving its support model through a people-led, tech-powered approach that uses innovation to enhance, not replace, human connection. She’ll unpack how CX leaders can thoughtfully adopt new tools and capabilities while staying grounded in what matters most: trust, clarity, and care at every customer touchpoint.

Attendees can expect a real-world perspective on what it takes to modernize service operations at scale while keeping empathy at the center of the experience. Her keynote will dive into the real tension many leaders feel daily: the push for speed and efficiency versus the pull toward deeper, more human engagement.

As automation, AI, and self-service continue to reshape the customer and associate journeys, Meghan will offer insight into how leaders can design service experiences that are not only faster and smarter but also more meaningful. The result is a model of care that delivers operational excellence without losing the heart of the experience.

CX Without Compromise

CRS Amelia Island brings together senior CX leaders from across industries to share what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next. This year’s theme, CX Without Compromise: Setting the Standard for a New Era of Care, reflects a collective commitment to raising the bar on how organizations show up for their customers and their teams. Meghan’s perspective perfectly embodies that charge, connecting high-performance service strategy with purpose-driven leadership.

We’ll gather February 25–27, 2026, at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, for three days of immersive learning, candid peer conversations, and forward-looking insight from some of the most respected leaders in customer experience. Meghan joins a growing lineup of featured speakers who are actively shaping the future of CX across global organizations.

We’re offering $100 off Early Bird registration with promo code Jolly100, valid now through December 31. If you’re ready to explore how CX leaders are redefining care through the balance of innovation and humanity, CRS Amelia Island is where those conversations come to life.

You can learn more and register here.

We look forward to welcoming you to Amelia Island as we continue to set the standard together for customers, teams, and the future of customer experience.

The post How Walmart Is Redefining the Future of Care appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Brett Charobee has spent over two decades leading CRM, loyalty, personalization, and MarTech initiatives for consumer-driven brands, including Subway, CVS, Fanatics, and StockX. He has focused on turning fragmented customer data into experiences that feel personal, relevant, and trustworthy at scale.

Most recently, as Vice President of Global Personalization & Guest Affinity at Subway, he led enterprise CRM and loyalty transformation across more than 20 markets, unifying data, channels, and technology into a single operating system for customer engagement, driving measurable gains in acquisition, retention, and lifetime value.

In this Q&A Spotlight, Brett unpacks the moments that shaped his conviction that CRM is not a tech stack, it’s an experience strategy. From uncovering hidden customer intent in purchase behavior to closing the long-standing gap between marketing and customer service data, he explains how empathy scales only when information flows freely across the organization. His experience reveals what happens when CRM becomes connective tissue rather than a channel, where emotional context informs decisions, loyalty becomes predictable, and customer experience is designed with intention instead of assumption.

Execs In The Know (EITK): Every CX leader has a moment where customer behavior, data, or an interaction exposes something bigger. What was that early moment for you that shifted how you viewed the customer relationship? 

Brett Charobee: Early in my career, I was trained in databases, structured query language (SQL), and systems design, but I didn’t yet understand how technology translated to human experience. That changed when I joined ProFlowers. I was a customer myself, so I finally understood how data could improve something deeply personal like buying flowers for an anniversary, a birthday, or a holiday.

That’s when it clicked: customer data wasn’t just operational, it was emotional. Occasions, urgency, and intent mattered as much as transaction history. From that point forward, I stopped thinking in terms of campaigns and started thinking in terms of people.

CRM wasn’t about managing customers. It was about understanding them and using that understanding to drive better business decisions.

EITK: Looking back, what was the first role or project that made you realize, “This is CX, and this is where I want to build my career”? 

Brett: At ProFlowers, we were running broad email campaigns featuring red roses, but as I queried our campaign conversion data, I noticed that a meaningful share of customers were clicking and buying plants instead. We dug into the data and realized something bigger: we weren’t a one-size-fits-all company. We were serving multiple, invisible customer missions.

That insight led to the launch of ProPlants.com.

That was my “aha” moment: data wasn’t just describing behavior, it was revealing untapped businesses and customer needs inside the company, with real revenue and growth implications. I realized CX wasn’t a support function; it was a growth engine.

Promoting a product and driving a purchase are not the same thing. When teams focus only on incremental orders as a KPI, they often miss the more important signal — what customers actually buy when they convert. Product-level analysis reveals hidden patterns in intent and behavior, unlocking more precise segmentation and more relevant contact strategies.

EITK: You’ve led CRM, loyalty, and personalization at brands like Subway, StockX, Fanatics, CVS, and more. When you look back, what were the key moments that shaped how you think about customer experience today?

Brett: Across industries, the same pattern emerged: Data tells the truth unless you ask the wrong question. At Fanatics, we believed women primarily purchased youth apparel for their children. A senior female leader interrupted and simply said:

“I buy youth apparel because it fits me better than women’s sizing.”

Two others immediately agreed. That moment reframed everything: Data without human context creates false confidence, and false confidence leads to poor strategic decisions at scale. Context without data creates gut-driven risk.  True CX lives at the intersection. This is why I’m a firm believer in anchoring customer intelligence with three foundational data pillars (Transactional, Demographic, and Qualitative) before layering in more advanced signals.

EITK: Many leaders still treat CRM and CX as separate motions. When did it first “click” for you that CRM could actually be the engine of modern CX rather than just a marketing channel? 

Brett: When customer service teams started driving outcomes without marketing knowing it. At one company, we discovered customers were redeeming promotions that CRM and Marketing hadn’t sent. The root cause?  Customer service agents were issuing appeasement offers, but the data never flowed back to marketing.

Meanwhile, CRM and marketing teams unknowingly kept sending promotions and messaging to customers who were frustrated. Both teams were working in silos and were talking to the same customers. This resulted in customer confusion and frustration, and ultimately led to a decline in our retention rates.

So, we built a two-way data bridge:

• CRM data to customer service.
• Customer service data back to CRM.

That’s when CRM stopped being a channel and became the connective tissue that aligns experience, revenue, and enterprise decision-making.

EITK: At Fanatics, you had hundreds of customer attributes, but they weren’t connected to the service experience. What did it take, organizationally and technically, to finally close that data loop between CRM and customer service?

Brett: We had an executive whose order was delayed, and they’d contacted customer service about it. The package was delayed by three days due to a major storm in the region. The customer service team knew of the issue, but marketing didn’t. The CRM team continued to message the executive:

“How was your order?”

“Buy again.”

This was a horrible experience for a customer who hadn’t received their product.  This experience became the enterprise-level catalyst — highlighting how disconnected systems silently erode trust, loyalty, and lifetime value.

Technically, it required:

• Shared identifiers
• Data normalization
• Real-time syncing

Organizationally, it required:

• Executive alignment and prioritization

Once leaders felt the pain personally, alignment followed quickly, centralizing customer attributes and integrating them across all customer-facing channels.

EITK: Once you connected marketing data with customer service data, what did you see in the numbers that surprised you most about new versus loyal customers? 

Brett: New customers were the most fragile and, therefore, the most economically important to protect. They churned at dramatically higher rates after customer service interactions, not because they were harder to please, but because they had no emotional reserve bank. Loyal customers assume a bad experience is an exception. New customers assume it’s the norm.

So, we redesigned our customer service strategy:

• Dedicated agents for new customers
• Personalized scripts for certain customer segments
• CRM-based appeasement journeys

We stopped treating all customers equally and started treating them correctly, which materially improved early-life retention and long-term loyalty.

EITK: You built tailored routing and playbooks for new customers calling into customer service, then mirrored that with nurturing and win-back journeys in CRM. How did that approach change retention and brand trust in practice?

Brett: The retention rates for new customers who contacted customer service increased by 25% in the first year of implementation, and our net promoter scores (NPS) started to increase. This initial improvement really shone a light on the fact that we were sitting on all this rich customer data, and that if we could centralize, normalize, and integrate it across our channels, we could dramatically improve the user experience.

EITK: You’ve said that “customer service data is emotional data.” How do you explain that idea to executives who still see service interactions primarily as cost or operations, not as a core part of the data strategy? 

Brett: Because it records moments where trust is tested — moments that often determine whether a customer stays, leaves, or expands their relationship. Unfortunately, most companies treat service data as operational telemetry:

• Tickets
• Resolutions
• Average hold time (AHT)

But in reality, service data answers far more powerful questions:

• When are customers anxious?
• Where is trust breaking?
• What moments create churn risk?
• What triggers loyalty?

Customer service data is customer truth at the most human level. And CRM without emotional context is incomplete intelligence.

EITK: When you stepped into your role at Subway, leading personalization and guest affinity, what was the state of the organization, and what mandate were you given around loyalty, CRM, and the MarTech stack? As you look ahead, which emerging MarTech platforms or analytics approaches feel most promising, and which give you pause?

Brett: Like many brands, CRM was treated as a broadcast channel. The mandate was bold: “We don’t have millions of SKUs like Amazon. Prove personalization could drive measurable guest engagement, frequency, and revenue in a QSR environment.” We didn’t start with technology, which is where I see many companies fail.  They think plugging in a new email service provider (ESP) or customer data platform (CDP) will solve the problem.

We started with the customer.

I built a customer data mart with hundreds of attributes, then integrated CRM systems (ESP, CDP, etc.), and rapidly moved the team from:

• Batch-and-blast → behavioral segmentation

The return on investment (ROI) followed quickly.

Technology doesn’t create personalization: Leadership and data discipline do.

EITK: When you look across your career, what through-line connects the wins you’ve had in loyalty growth, retention, and revenue impact, even across very different brands and industries? 

Data is the only neutral referee inside an organization.

• When opinions clash, we test.
• When strategies stall, we test.
• When egos surface, we test.

This is why I prioritize building a test-and-learn methodology and process. CRM maturity isn’t about software; it’s about intellectual honesty and the ability to rapidly optimize your strategy for growth and incrementality.

EITK: What’s the mindset shift you want readers to make before reading Parts 2 and 3 of this blog series?  

Brett: Stop treating CRM as infrastructure.  Start treating it as a strategy and the nervous system of your customer experience. CRM is not a delivery system. It’s a decision system — one that informs revenue growth, retention strategy, and enterprise prioritization.

If you want personalization and artificial intelligence (AI) to work, the foundation must come first:

• Centralize your customer data into a single source of truth.
• Choose one meaningful customer problem to solve.
• Design a disciplined test-and-learn plan.
• Execute with focus and velocity.

CX doesn’t scale from tools. It scales from clarity, alignment, and leadership intent.

Closing the data loop between CRM and customer service is not a technology project; it’s a leadership decision.

When customer service data becomes part of your intelligence system (not just your operations dashboard), personalization becomes responsive, retention becomes predictable, and experience becomes intentional.

CX transformation doesn’t start with tools. It begins with truth.

In Part 2 of this series, we’ll move from foundation to execution and unpack how winning CRM teams scale personalization across channels and turn insight into action. Stay tuned.

About Brett Charobee

Brett Charobee is a senior marketing executive and customer growth leader specializing in CRM, loyalty, personalization, MarTech, and omni-channel strategy for consumer-driven brands. Over the past two decades, he has built and scaled customer-centric growth engines for global organizations, including Subway, CVS, Fanatics, and StockX. Most recently as VP of Global Personalization & Guest Affinity at Subway, Brett led enterprise CRM, loyalty, and MarTech transformation across 20+ markets and hundreds of millions of customers, unifying data, channels, and technology into a single operating system for customer engagement that drove meaningful gains in revenue, acquisition, retention, and lifetime value.

As a Chief Customer Officer–caliber leader, Brett is known for integrating customer experience, data, and commercialization into a single strategy. He transforms fragmented marketing, product, and data teams into integrated growth organizations—evolving CRM from a channel function into a predictive, AI-enabled revenue engine. His work centers on building omni-channel experiences that feel personal at scale while delivering measurable business impact. A frequent speaker and advisor on personalization, loyalty, and customer experience, Brett helps brands move from reactive marketing to customer-led growth.

The post Laying the Groundwork for Scalable CX: Q&A with a Former Subway Executive 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.

At Execs In The Know, we believe leadership starts with service. It’s about showing up for others, leading with integrity, and creating a culture built on trust and purpose. This Veterans Day, we’re proud to highlight two members of our leadership team who embody those values every day: President Chad McDaniel and Vice President of Sales Scott Moberly, both veterans who continue to lead through the lessons their military service instilled.  

Their reflections on teamwork, resilience, and mission-driven leadership remind us that the principles forged in service extend far beyond the call of duty. They shape how we show up for our teams, our customers, and our communities. From understanding the power of trust to staying calm under pressure and always keeping purpose at the center, their experiences are a powerful reminder that leadership, at its core, is about people. 

In the conversation below, Chad and Scott share what Veterans Day means to them, the parallels between military and business leadership, and how their service continues to shape the way they lead today, with empathy, accountability, and a deep sense of responsibility to those they serve. 

Execs In The Know (EITK): How have your military experiences shaped the way you lead, build teams, or make decisions in business? 

Chad McDaniel: My time in the military taught me that leadership isn’t about titles; it’s about trust. You quickly learn that the success of the mission depends on how well you empower those around you and how clearly you communicate the ‘why’ behind every decision. I try to build environments where people feel part of something bigger than themselves and know their role matters. 

EITK: Veterans Day is about honoring service and sacrifice. Looking back, what does this day mean to you personally now as a business leader? 

Scott Moberly: Veterans Day is a powerful reminder of the service and sacrifice that so many have made to protect our freedoms. Personally, as a business leader, it reinforces the values I strive to embody every day — commitment, resilience, and putting something larger than myself above personal interest.  

It’s a moment to reflect on the courage and dedication of those who serve, and it inspires me to lead with integrity, support my team, and create an environment where everyone feels valued. Beyond honoring veterans, it challenges me to think about how my decisions and actions can contribute positively to the communities and people I’m privileged to work with. 

EITK: What parallels do you see between serving in the military and leading in customer experience, especially around teamwork, accountability, and mission focus? 

Chad: Success depends on teamwork, accountability, and a shared sense of goals. In the military, you learn that every role, no matter how small it might seem, contributes to the larger outcome. It’s the same in CX. Every interaction, every decision, and every team member has an impact on the customer. 

When everyone understands the purpose behind what we do — to serve, to improve, to create better outcomes for customers — the team will rally around it. 

Scott: There’s a strong connection between military service and customer experience leadership— both are grounded in teamwork, accountability, and mission focus. In the military, success depends on every individual understanding their role, taking ownership of their responsibilities, and working seamlessly with the team to accomplish the mission. Similarly, in CX leadership, achieving exceptional customer outcomes requires aligning teams across functions, ensuring everyone is accountable for their part, and keeping the overall customer experience mission front and center. 

Both environments demand clear communication, trust in your team, and the ability to adapt under pressure. The discipline, focus, and sense of shared purpose I learned in the military directly inform the way I approach CX leadership, ensuring that everyone is moving in the same direction and that we are all committed to delivering value to our customers. 

EITK: For leaders across the CX industry, what’s one thing you think they could learn from veterans about resilience or service? 

Chad: Again, in the military, you learn to stay calm under pressure, to adapt when plans fall apart, and to keep moving forward with purpose. 

In customer experience, that same mindset applies. Our environment in CX is constantly evolving, driven by new technology, shifting expectations, and economic pressures. Resilience is about serving others even when it’s difficult, staying focused on the goal. Veterans understand that service means showing up, even when the outcome isn’t guaranteed, and that’s a powerful lesson for any CX leader.  

Scott: One thing leaders across the CX industry could learn from veterans is the importance of resilience grounded in service. In the military, resilience isn’t just about enduring challenges; it’s about staying focused on the mission and supporting those around you, even in difficult circumstances. That mindset translates directly to CX leadership: staying committed to delivering exceptional experiences, adapting through uncertainty, and putting the needs of customers and your team at the forefront. Veterans understand that true strength comes from combining personal perseverance with a sense of purpose and service, and that lesson is invaluable for anyone leading in customer experience. 

EITK: What lessons or habits from your time in the military still influence the way you approach challenges or change in your work today? 

Scott: My time in the military instilled habits and lessons that continue to shape how I approach challenges today. Discipline, adaptability, and a focus on mission-first thinking are central, whether it’s navigating a complex business challenge or leading a team through change. The military also reinforced the importance of preparation and resilience: no matter how uncertain the circumstances, having a plan, staying calm under pressure, and leaning on your team makes all the difference. Ultimately, it taught me that leadership is about service, supporting those around you so that together, you can overcome obstacles and achieve results. 

EITK: In CX, we talk a lot about serving others and earning trust. How does that align with the values you learned through military service? 

Chad: In the military, you learn that trust isn’t given by rank or title; it’s earned through consistency, integrity, and showing up for your team, day after day. 

That same principle applies in CX. Whether it’s your customers or your employees, people trust leaders and brands that lead with authenticity, follow through on commitments, and put others first. Service, to me, has never been about self; it’s about ensuring others have what they need to succeed.  

EITK: Can you share a story or moment from your military service that’s stayed with you and continues to guide your leadership style? 

Scott: When I first joined the military after college and completed my initial training, I reported to my first duty station in Southern Germany as a second lieutenant. Meeting my boss for the first time, he shared some advice that’s stuck with me ever since and that I’ve passed on to others as well.  

He said, “Lieutenant, you’re bound to make mistakes, and that’s okay — just make sure you don’t make them twice.” 

Chad: One of the most meaningful lessons I learned in the military was watching how leaders put their teams first. 

In my work today, I try to live by that same principle. Whether it’s customers, partners, or my team, I believe leadership means creating an environment where others can succeed. It’s about service, not status. 

Thank You

This Veterans Day, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to Chad, Scott, and all military veterans across our CX community. Your service, leadership, and unwavering commitment to others inspire us daily and strengthen the very values that define our community: courage, connection, and service. 

The post Veterans Day Reflections: Leadership, Service, and the Spirit of CX appeared first on Execs In The Know.