How should CX leaders respond when the next customer is not a person, but a connected device acting on someone’s behalf?
In this CX Today interview, Rhys Fisher speaks with Charles Miscampbell, Innovation Center Director of Digital Customers at Content Guru, about the growing role of machine customers in customer experience. As connected devices continue to spread across homes, businesses, and public infrastructure, Charles argues that organizations need to think beyond traditional service models and start treating device-generated data as a meaningful part of the customer relationship.
Charles explains that the idea is not entirely new. Industries such as aviation and automotive have used remote monitoring for years. What has changed is the scale of adoption and the accessibility of connected technologies across both consumer and enterprise environments. That shift is creating new opportunities for organizations to detect issues earlier, automate service responses, and reduce the effort customers need to make to get help.
One practical example comes from utilities. Charles points to smart meters that can provide outage information directly to power distributors, helping customers confirm the issue is already known and access updates through self-service instead of contacting an agent. He also shares how connected experiences in other settings, including travel, can add visibility, convenience, and even a degree of gamification.
A key theme throughout the discussion is that the value of machine customers does not sit in device volume alone. The real opportunity comes from using data well. Charles outlines how AI can help organizations turn device signals into actionable service insights, including more sophisticated automation and faster resolution paths.
For CX leaders, his advice is clear: stay open-minded, find the connected data already sitting in your environment, and explore how it can improve outcomes for customers. He urges teams to move quickly, collaborate across functions, and avoid locking themselves into overly bespoke technology choices. For organizations willing to rethink what a customer interaction looks like, the machine customer era may already be here.
