Why Customer Experience Will Always Be Human-Focused: A CX Day Reflection

Celebrate CX Day by reflecting on the incredible evolution of customer experience and the resilience of its change agents in a rapidly shifting, AI-fueled business landscape. Discover how human-led strategy and anticipatory insights will drive the future of CX, as shared by CX industry expert Jeannie Walters.

Let’s face it, recent years have been uniquely challenging for customer experience change agents across industries.

The business landscape is significantly different now than it was even five years ago. Every organization has undergone an incredible transformation — fueled by rapidly advancing AI and life-changing shifts brought about by the pandemic — and competition feels fiercer than ever.

As more teams use AI to unlock never-before-seen efficiencies and capitalize on every opportunity, one thing remains critical to success: Customer experience.

Intentional CX has always been what sets organizations apart. Human-focused strategies have also proven vital for navigating the natural ebb and flow of economic uncertainties. Even with AI, organizations need human empathy and intuition (from change agents like you!) to know where to focus and show up best for customers.

It feels like teams have been racing, but we should all take a moment to stop, reflect, and celebrate how far we’ve come. You’ve displayed remarkable resilience and grit. Your work truly makes a difference in the world, and I hope you take pride in your accomplishments!

As we celebrate CX Day, one of my favorite global celebrations of everything CX change agents do, let’s reflect on how far customer experience has come and the lessons we’ve learned, and consider what the future may bring us.

The Evolution of CX: New Channels and Higher Expectations

CX wasn’t a formalized concept until the 1990s, but customer experience has been happening since the dawn of customers. The difference today is that customers have practically endless options for where to shop for every need.

Social media and digital channels, in particular, brought customers closer to brands than ever before. Direct contact at scale redefined how customers share opinions, seek support, and advocate for the brands they love, opening up entirely new possibilities for understanding customer needs.

Access to (and demand for) online services also fast-tracked some groundbreaking business model shifts:

• Remember when Amazon was just an online bookstore? Its experience was so convenient that customers wanted more and more from the site. We can now even access mental health services and therapy on Amazon!
• Netflix was once a physical disc rental service. It’s now a streaming powerhouse and major entertainment studio (what better way to deliver on customer expectations than producing movies and shows yourself?).
• Former President Biden issued an executive order on CX to “rebuild trust in government.” That was serious validation of CX as integral to building trust and loyalty, even for cities and our nation.

Each of these transformations was built on small steps that redefined customer choice and convenience. As organizations started to deliver more fulfilling experiences, customers developed higher standards. This has fueled ongoing innovation, competition, and major breakthroughs — earning CX its rightful place at the leadership table as a key business function.

Data Underpins Great CX (and AI)

Data access has been particularly influential in advancing CX. Surveys, customer support transcripts, and website browsing behaviors all indicate what customers want — but this is a lot of information to sift through manually.

Organizations like Medallia have been pivotal in giving CX change agents intuitive platforms to quickly analyze customer feedback and turn disconnected data into actionable steps. We also owe credit to pioneers like Fred Reichheld, who created the net promoter score (NPS) concept, for defining key metrics that are now staples for measuring and monitoring CX growth.

(I had the pleasure to join Fred on stage at Medallia Experience ‘25 with Shep Hyken to discuss the next generation of CX — watch the replay if you haven’t!)

Personalization at Scale: The Future of CX

Let’s look ahead to the next 25 years of CX. There’s a lot to be excited about…and maybe a little nervous.

Given ongoing economic uncertainty and global turmoil, many customers are questioning the brands they support more than ever. While convenience might continue to be a purchase driver, more customers will opt for less convenience to align their dollars with their values (which includes how brands treat employees). Convenience will be less of a differentiator as AI creates more efficiencies for both brands and customers. That means customer experience must be personal and emotionally connect with customers.

CX will remain a key differentiator for brands, and brand storytelling will become more important across customer touchpoints and interactions.

AI will also redefine what’s possible for our industry and how we can deliver truly 1:1 experiences across every touchpoint. With agentic AI handling traditionally time-intensive and mundane tasks, the future of CX is:

• AI-powered, but human-led. AI systems will quickly surface key insights and orchestrate activities instantaneously, but humans will always be essential for governance and to verify outputs and recommendations.
• Anticipatory and predictive. Teams will move from reacting to proactively shaping customer journeys and meeting needs before they’re expressed. Data intelligence will become even more powerful for understanding signals of what customers want at every step of their unique journey.
• An undeniable business driver. We already know that intentional CX is essential for attracting customers and preserving their loyalty. As even more organizations use AI to orchestrate complex, omnichannel experiences, CX will be even more influential in helping organizations stand out and drive measurable, long-term loyalty and customer lifetime value.

There is some understandable uncertainty as we chart forward, making this transition especially delicate in some areas. AI is creating both anxiety and reassurance; we’re still learning where AI is most effective today, and some teams are realizing that AI isn’t quite yet effective for more complex tasks.

Celebrating CX Change Agents Every Day

We’ve come so far as a discipline, and advanced tools will help you craft even more consistent, personalized journeys than ever before. But here’s the thing: Tools and measurement strategies are enablers, but leadership and innately human skills will always be essential. You are what makes CX so great, not AI.

Organizations that automate CX entirely will likely realize that deep customer understanding comes from humans. Machines give us the power to accomplish more with rich insights, but empathy and understanding are traits that machines will never replace.

Strategy first. Humans always.

Cheers to every CX change agent making a difference in their organization. As you prepare for the next era, what’s something you can do today to make a difference for your customers?

As you reflect on your progress this CX Day, prepare for the next era by learning from the best. Register now for our webinar that dives into the ins and outs of CIBC’s award-winning CX playbook, with insights for all industries.