What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned working in CX?

That things are never static. One might have a leadership position in an industry but that can evaporate quickly. History is filled with beloved brands that thought they understood their customer, the market shifted and they shifted too late. The lesson is you can never be comfortable, you need to always be changing to deliver customer experience through their lens.

What’s the No. 1 challenge facing CX teams right now? And how should they navigate it?

The top challenge facing CX teams is how to effectively use AI and deliver the perfect mix of human and machine interaction. There’s no question AI will reshape AI, but it can’t do everything. The right amount of AI is driven by the customer, but understanding when to use and when not to is more than science right now. CX teams are struggling with it.

Which is your favorite CX event to attend and why?

Enterprise Connect remains my favorite and I’m glad it’s trying to reinvent itself. While there are many vendor events, it remains the most accessible industry event. CCW could be a better show but the people that run that event do not value external media or analysts; this is a huge mistake on their part.

What’s your big prediction for the future of CX?

I predict that within three years consumers will prefer interacting with an agentic agent over a person. I’m sure a number of people will disagree with me but the same thing happened with things like online banking. At one time, the thought of using a computer to conduct bank transactions scared most people but over time the speed and ease of use won out. The same thing will happen with agentic AI.

How will you keep contributing to the CX community?

My favorite way is to tell lessons learned through customer stories. This is the best way to understand what’s possible. Vendor marketing is fine and can paint a vision but innovation through the customer lens is what will move the needle in CX.