AI-Powered Customer Experience: Top 5 Trends for 2025

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In 2024, technology vendors have heavily invested in AI Agents, recognising their potential to drive significant value. These tools leverage well-governed, small datasets to integrate seamlessly with applications like Workday, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Dayforce, enhancing processes and outcomes.

2025 is poised to be the year of AI Agent adoption. Designed to automate specific tasks within existing workflows, AI Agents will transform customer experiences, streamline operations, and boost efficiency. Unlike traditional AI deployments, they offer a gradual, non-disruptive approach, augmenting human capabilities without overhauling processes. As organisations adopt new software versions with embedded AI capabilities, 2025 will mark a pivotal shift in customer experience delivery.

Ecosystm analysts Audrey William, Melanie Disse, and Tim Sheedy present the top 5 trends shaping customer experience in 2025.

Click here to download ‘AI-Powered Customer Experience: Top 5 Trends for 2025’ as a PDF

1. AI Won’t Wow Many Customers in 2025

The data is in – the real focus of AI over the next few years will be on productivity and cost savings.

Senior management and boards of directors want to achieve more with less – so even when AI is being used to serve customers, it will be focused on reducing back-end and human costs.

There will be exceptions, such as the adoption of AI agents in contact centres. However, AI agents must match or exceed human performance to see broad adoption.

However, the primary focus in contact centres will be on reducing Average Handling Time (AHT), increasing call volume per agent, accelerating agent onboarding, and automating customer follow-ups.

2. Organisations Will Start Treating CX as a Team Sport

As CX programs mature, 2025 will highlight the need to break down not only data and technology siloes but also organisational and cultural barriers to achieve AI-powered CX and business success.

AI and GenAI have unlocked new sources of customer data, prompting leaders to reorganise and adopt a mindset shift about CX. This involves redefining CX as a collective effort, engaging the entire organisation in the journey.

Technologies and KPIs must be aligned to drive customer AND business needs, not purely driving success in siloed areas.

3. The First “AGI Agents” Will Emerge

AI Agents are set to explode in 2025, but even more disruptive developments in AI are on the horizon.

As conversational computing gains traction, fuelled by advances in GenAI and progress toward AGI, “Complex AI Agents” will emerge.

These “AGI Agents” will mimic certain human-like capabilities, though not fully replicating human cognition, earning their “Agent” designation.

The first use cases will likely be in software development, where these agents will act as intelligent platforms capable of transforming a described digital process or service into reality. They may include design, inbuilt testing, quality assurance, and the ability to learn from existing IP (e.g., “create an app with the same capabilities as X”).

4. Intelligent AI Bots Will Enhance Contact Centre Efficiency

The often-overlooked aspect of CX is the “operational side”, where Operations Managers face significant challenges in maintaining a real-time pulse on contact centre activities.

For most organisations, this remains a highly manual and reactive process. Intelligent workflow bots can revolutionise this by acting as gatekeepers, instantly identifying issues and triggering real-time corrective actions. These bots can even halt processes causing customer dissatisfaction, ensuring problems are addressed proactively.

Operational inefficiencies, such as back-office delays, unanswered emails, and slow issue containment, create constant headaches. Integrating bots into contact centre operations will significantly reduce time wasted on these inefficiencies, enhancing both employee and customer experiences.

5. Employee Experience Will Catch Up to CX Maturity

Employee experience (EX) has traditionally lagged behind CX in focus and technology investment. However, AI-powered technologies are now enabling organisations to apply CX use cases to EX efforts, using advanced data analysis, summaries, and recommendations.

AI and GenAI tools will enhance understanding of employee satisfaction and engagement while predicting churn and retention drivers.

HR teams and leaders will leverage these tools to optimise performance management and improve hiring and retention outcomes.

Additionally, organisations will begin to connect EX with financial performance, identifying key drivers of engagement and linking them to business success. This shift will position EX as a strategic priority, integral to achieving organisational goals.

Ecosystm Predicts 2024
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Elevating Customer Experiences: The Strategic Edge of Voice

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In today’s competitive business landscape, delivering exceptional customer experiences is crucial to winning new clients and fostering long-lasting customer loyalty. Research has shown that poor customer service can cost businesses around USD 75 billion in a year and that 1 in 3 customers is likely to abandon a brand after a single negative experience. Organisations excelling at personalised customer interactions across channels have a significant market edge. 

In a recent webinar with Shivram Chandrasekhar, Solutions Architect at Twilio, we delved into strategies for creating this edge. How can contact centres optimise interactions to boost cost efficiency and customer satisfaction? We discussed the pivotal role of voice in providing personalised customer experiences, the importance of balancing AI and human interaction for enhanced satisfaction, and the operational advantages of voice intelligence in streamlining operations and improving agent efficiency. 

The Voice Advantage 

Despite the rise of digital channels, voice interactions remain crucial for organisations seeking to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Voice calls offer nuanced insights and strategic advantages, allowing businesses to address issues effectively and proactively meet customer needs, fostering loyalty and driving growth. 

There are multiple reasons why voice will remain relevant including: 

  • In many countries it is mandatory in several industries such as Financial Services, Healthcare, & Government & Emergency Services.   
  • There are customers who simply favour it over other channels – the human touch is important to them. 
  • It proves to be the most effective when it comes to handling complex and recurrent issues, including facilitating effective negotiations and better sales closures; Digital and AI channels cannot do it alone yet. 
  • Analysing voice data reveals valuable patterns and customer sentiments, aiding in pinpointing areas for improvement. Unlike static metrics, voice data offers dynamic feedback, helping in proactive strategies and personalised opportunities. 

AI vs the Human Agent 

There has been a growing trend towards ‘agentless contact centres’, where businesses aim to pivot away from human agents – but there has also been increasing customer dissatisfaction with purely automated interactions. A balanced approach that empowers human agents with AI-driven insights and conversational AI can yield better results. In fact, the conversation should not be about one or the other, but rather about ​a combination of an ​AI + Human Agent.    

Where organisations rely on conversational AI, there must be a seamless transitioning between automated and live agent interactions, maintaining a cohesive customer experience. Ultimately, the goal should be to avoid disruptions to customer journeys and ensure a smooth, integrated approach to customer engagement across different channels.  

Exploring AI Opportunities in Voice Interactions  

Contact centres in Asia Pacific are looking to deploy AI capabilities to enhance both employee and customer experiences.    

In 2024, organisations will focus on these AI Use Cases

Using predictive AI algorithms on customer data helps organisations forecast market trends and optimise resource allocation. Additionally, AI-driven identity validation swiftly confirms customer identities, mitigating fraud risks. By automating transactional tasks, particularly FAQs, contact centre operations are streamlined, ensuring that critical calls receive prompt attention. AI-powered quality assurance processes provide insights into all voice calls, facilitating continuous improvement, while AI-driven IVR systems enhance the customer experience by simplifying menu navigation. 

Agent Assist solutions, integrated with GenAI, offer real-time insights before customer interactions, streamlining service delivery and saving valuable time. These solutions automate mundane tasks like call summaries, enabling agents to focus on high-value activities such as sales collaboration, proactive feedback management, and personalised outbound calls. 

Actionable Data  

Organisations possess a wealth of customer data from various touchpoints, including voice interactions.  Accessing real-time, accurate data is essential for effective customer and agent engagement. Advanced analytics techniques can uncover hidden patterns and correlations, informing product development, marketing strategies, and operational improvements. However, organisations often face challenges with data silos and lack of interconnected data, hindering omnichannel experiences.  

Integrating customer data with other organisational sources provides a holistic view of the customer journey, enabling personalised experiences and proactive problem-solving. A Customer Data Platform (CDP) breaks down data silos, providing insights to personalise interactions, address real-time issues, identify compliance gaps, and exceed customer expectations throughout their journeys. 

Considerations for AI Transformation in Contact Centres 

  • Prioritise the availability of live agents and voice channels within Conversational AI deployments to prevent potential issues and ensure immediate human assistance when needed.  
  • Listen extensively to call recordings to ensure AI solutions sound authentic and emulate human conversations to enhance user adoption.  
  • Start with data you can trust – the quality of data fed into AI systems significantly impacts their effectiveness.  
  • Test continually during the solution testing phase for seamless orchestration across all communication channels and to ensure the right guardrails to manage risks effectively.  
  • Above all, re-think every aspect of your CX strategy – the engagement channels, agent roles, and contact centres – through an AI lens.  
The Experience Economy
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Securing the CX Edge: 5 Strategies for Organisations in the Philippines

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The Philippines, renowned as a global contact centre hub, is experiencing heightened pressure on the global stage, leading to intensified competition within the country. Smaller BPOs are driving larger players to innovate, requiring a stronger focus on empowering customer experience (CX) teams, and enhancing employee experience (EX) in organisations in the Philippines.

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As the Philippines expands its global footprint, organisations must embrace progressive approaches to outpace rivals in the CX sector.

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These priorities can be achieved through a robust data strategy that empowers CX teams and contact centres to glean actionable insights.

Here are 5 ways organisations in the Philippines can achieve their CX objectives.

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Download ‘Securing the CX Edge: 5 Strategies for Organisations in the Philippines’ as a PDF.

#1 Modernise Voice and Omnichannel Orchestration

Ensuring that all channels are connected and integrated at the core is critical in delivering omnichannel experiences. Organisations must ensure that the conversation can be continued seamlessly irrespective of the channel the customer chooses, without losing the context.

Voice must be integrated within the omnichannel strategy. Even with the rise of digital and self-service, voice remains crucial, especially for understanding complex inquiries and providing an alternative when customers face persistent challenges on other channels.

Transition from a siloed view of channels to a unified and integrated approach.

Only 31% of organisations in the Philippines are looking to improve omnichannel experiences in 2024

#2 Empower CX Teams with Actionable Customer Data

An Intelligent Data Hub aggregates, integrates, and organises customer data across multiple data sources and channels and eliminates the siloed approach to collecting and analysing customer data.

Drive accurate and proactive conversations with your customers through a unified customer data platform.

  • Unifies user history across channels into a single customer view.
  • Enables the delivery of an omnichannel experience.
  • Identifies behavioural trends by understanding patterns to personalise interactions.
  • Spots real-time customer issues across channels.
  • Uncovers compliance gaps and missed sales opportunities from unstructured data.
  • Looks at customer journeys to proactively address their needs.
56% of organisations in the Philippines will focus on building a unified view of the customer data in 2024

#3 Transform CX & EX with AI/Automation

AI and automation should be the cornerstone of an organisation’s CX efforts to positively impact both customers and employees.

Key-areas of Ai/Automation applications in the Philippines

Evaluate all aspects of AI/automation to enhance both customer and employee experience.

  • Predictive AI algorithms analyse customer data to forecast trends and optimise resource allocation.
  • AI-driven identity validation reduces fraud risk.
  • Agent Assist Solutions offer real-time insights to agents, enhancing service delivery and efficiency.
  • GenAI integration automates post-call activities, allowing agents to focus on high-value tasks.

#4 Augment Existing Systems for Success

Many organisations face challenges in fully modernising legacy systems and reducing reliance on multiple tech providers.

CX transformation while managing multiple disparate systems will require a platform that integrates desired capabilities for holistic CX and EX experiences.

A unified platform streamlines application management, ensuring cohesion, unified KPIs, enhanced security, simplified maintenance, and single sign-on for agents. This approach offers consistent experiences across channels and early issue detection, eliminating the need to navigate multiple applications or projects.

Capabilities that a platform should have:

  • Programmable APIs to deliver messages across preferred social and messaging channels.
  • Modernisation of outdated IVRs with self-service automation.
  • Transformation of static mobile apps into engaging experience tools.
  • Fraud prevention across channels through immediate phone number verification APIs.
46% of organisations integrate products/services from multiple providers for their CX capabilities

#5 Focus on Proactive CX

In the new CX economy, organisations must meet customers on their terms, proactively engaging them before they initiate interactions. This requires a re-evaluation of all aspects of CX delivery.

  • Redefine the Contact Centre. Transforming it into an “Intelligent” Data Hub providing unified and connected experiences; leveraging intelligent APIs to proactively manage customer interactions seamlessly across journeys.
  • Reimagine the Agent’s Role. Empowering agents to be AI-powered brand ambassadors, with access to prior and real-time interactions, instant decision-making abilities, and data-led knowledge bases.
  • Redesign the Channel and Brand Experience. Ensuring consistent omnichannel experiences through unified and coherent data; using programmable APIs to personalise conversations and discern customer preferences for real-time or asynchronous messaging; integrating innovative technologies like video to enrich the channel experience.
The Experience Economy
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Future of the Experience Economy:​ Top 5 CX Trends in 2024​

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In recent years, organisations have had to swiftly transition to providing digital experiences due to limitations on physical interactions; competed fiercely based on the customer experiences offered; and invested significantly in the latest CX technologies. However, in 2024, organisations will pivot their competitive efforts towards product innovation rather than solely focusing on enhancing the CX. ​

Top 5 CX Trends in 2024​: Shifts in Business Priorities

This does not mean that organisations will not focus on CX – they will just be smarter about it! 

Ecosystm analysts Audrey William, Melanie Disse, and Tim Sheedy present the top 5 Customer Experience trends in 2024. 

Click here to download ‘Ecosystm Predicts: Top 5 CX Trends in 2024’ as a PDF.​

#1 Customer Experience is Due for a Reset

Organisations aiming to improve customer experience are seeing diminishing returns, moving away from the significant gains before and during the pandemic to incremental improvements. Many organisations experience stagnant or declining CX and NPS scores as they prioritise profit over customer growth and face a convergence of undifferentiated digital experiences. The evolving digital landscape has also heightened baseline customer expectations. ​

In 2024, CX programs will be focused and measurable – with greater involvement of Sales, Marketing, Brand, and Customer Service to ensure CX initiatives are unified across the entire customer journey. 

Organisations will reassess CX strategies, choosing impactful initiatives and aligning with brand values. This recalibration, unique to each organisation, may include reinvesting in human channels, improving digital experiences, or reimagining customer ecosystems. ​

Top 5 CX Trends in 2024​: Customer Experience is Due for a Reset

#2 Sentiment Analysis Will Fuel CX Improvement 

Organisations strive to design seamless customer journeys – yet they often miss the mark in crafting truly memorable experiences that forge emotional connections and turn customers into brand advocates. ​

Customers want on-demand information and service; failure to meet these expectations often leads to discontent and frustration. This is further heightened when organisations fail to recognise and respond to these emotions. ​

Sentiment analysis will shape CX improvements – and technological advancements such as in neural network, promise higher accuracy in sentiment analysis by detecting intricate relationships between emotions, phrases, and words. 

These models explore multiple permutations, delving deeper to interpret the meaning behind different sentiment clusters. ​

Top 5 CX Trends in 2024​: Sentiment Analysis Will Fuel CX Improvement

#3 AI Will Elevate VoC from Surveys to Experience Improvement  

In 2024, AI technologies will transform Voice of Customer (VoC) programs from measurement practices into the engine room of the experience improvement function. ​

The focus will move from measurement to action – backed by AI. AI is already playing a pivotal role in analysing vast volumes of data, including unstructured and unsolicited feedback. In 2024, VoC programs will shift gear to focus on driving a customer centric culture and business change. AI will augment insight interpretation, recommend actions, and predict customer behaviour, sentiment, and churn to elevate customer experiences (CX).  ​

Organisations that don’t embrace an AI-driven paradigm will get left behind as they fail to showcase and deliver ROI to the business.

Top 5 CX Trends in 2024​: AI Will Elevate VoC from Surveys to Experience Improvement

#4 Generative AI Platforms Will Replace Knowledge Management Tools

Most organisations have more customer knowledge management tools and platforms than they should. They exist in the contact centre, on the website, the mobile app, in-store, at branches, and within customer service. There are two challenges that this creates:​

  • Inconsistent knowledge. The information in the different knowledge bases is different and sometimes conflicting.​
  • Difficult to extract answers. The knowledge contained in these platforms is often in PDFs and long form documents.​

Generative AI tools will consolidate organisational knowledge, enhancing searchability.

Customers and contact centre agents will be able to get actual answers to questions and they will be consistent across touchpoints (assuming they are comprehensive, customer-journey and organisation-wide initiatives).​

Top 5 CX Trends in 2024​: Generative AI Platforms Will Replace Knowledge Management Tools

​#5 Experience Orchestration Will 
Accelerate

Despite the ongoing effort to streamline and simplify the CX, organisations often implement new technologies, such as conversational AI, digital and social channels, as independent projects. This fragmented approach, driven by the desire for quick wins using best-in-class point solutions results in a complex CX technology architecture. ​

With the proliferation of point solution vendors, it is becoming critical to eliminate the silos. The fragmentation hampers CX teams from achieving their goals, leading to increased costs, limited insights, a weak understanding of customer journeys, and inconsistent services. ​

Embracing CX unification through an orchestration platform enables organisations to enhance the CX rapidly, with reduced concerns about tech debt and legacy issues.

Top 5 CX Trends in 2024​: Experience Orchestration Will ​
Accelerate
Ecosystm Predicts 2024

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5 Strategies for CX Leaders

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In good times and in bad, a great customer experience (CX) differentiates your company from your competitors and creates happy customers who turn into brand advocates. While some organisations in Asia Pacific are just starting out on their CX journey, many have made deep investments. But in the fast-paced world of digital, physical and omnichannel experience improvement, if you stand still, you fall behind.

We interviewed CX leaders across the region, and here are the top 5 top actions that they are taking to stay ahead of the curve.

#1 Better Governance of Customer Data

Most businesses accelerate their CX journeys by collecting and analysing data. They copy data from one channel to another, share data across touchpoints, create data silos to better understand data, and attempt to create a single view of the customer. Without effective governance, every time create copies of customer data are created, moved, and shared with partners, it increases the attack surface of the business. And there is nothing worse than telling customers that their data was accessed, stolen or compromised – and that they need to get a new credit card, driver’s license or passport.

To govern customer data effectively, it is essential to collaborate with different stakeholders, such as legal, risk, IT, and CX leaders – data owners, consumers, and managers, analytics leaders, data owners, and data managers – in the strategy discussions.

#2 Creating Human Experiences

To create a human-centric experience, it is important to understand what humans want. However, given that each brand has different values, the expectations of customers may not always be consistent.

Much of the investment in CX by Asian companies over the past five years have been focused on making transactions easy and effective – but ultimately it is the emotional attachment which brings customers back repeatedly.  In creating human experiences, brands create a brand voice that is authentic, relatable, empathetic and is consistent across all channels.

Humanising the experience and brand requires:

  • Hyperpersonalisation of customer interactions. By efforts such as using names, understanding location requirements, remembering past purchases, and providing tailored recommendations based on their expectations, businesses can make customers feel valued and understood. Understanding the weather, knowing whether the customer’s favourite team won or lost on the weekend, mentioning an important birthday, etc. can all drive real, human experiences – with or without an actual human involved in the process!
  • Transparency. Honesty and transparency can go a long way in building trust with customers. Businesses should be open about their processes, pricing, and policies. Organisations should be transparent about mistakes and what they are doing to fix the problem.

#3 Building Co-creation Opportunities

Co-creation is a collaborative approach where organisations involve their customers in the development and improvement of products, services, and experiences. This process can foster innovation, enhance customer satisfaction, and contribute to long-term business success. Co-creation can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, drive innovation, enhance brand reputation, boost market relevance, and reduce risks and costs.

Strategies for co-creation include:

  • Creating open innovation platforms where customers can submit ideas, feedback, and suggestions
  • Organising workshops or focus groups that bring together customers, designers, and developers to brainstorm and generate new ideas
  • Running contests or crowdsourcing initiatives to engage customers in problem-solving and idea generation
  • Establishing feedback loops and engaging customers in the iterative development process
  • Partnering with customers or external stakeholders, such as suppliers or distributors, to co-create new products or services

#4 Collecting Data – But Telling Stories

Organisations use storytelling as a powerful CX tool to connect with their customers, convey their brand values, and build trust.

Here are some ways organisations share stories with their customers:

  • Brand storytelling. Creating narratives around their brand that showcase their mission, vision, and values
  • Customer testimonials and case studies. Sharing real-life experiences of satisfied customers to showcase the value of a product or service
  • Content marketing. Creating engaging content in the form of blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts, and more to educate, entertain, and inform their customers
  • Social media. Posting photos, videos, or updates that showcase the brand’s personality, to strengthen relationships with the audience
  • Packaging and in-store experiences. Creative packaging and well-designed in-store experiences to tell a brand story and create memorable customer interactions
  • Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Helping customers understand the values the organisation stands for and build trust

#5 Finally – Not Telling Just Positive Stories!

Many companies focus on telling the good stories: “Here’s what happens when you use our products”; “Our customers are super-successful” and; “Don’t just take it from us, listen to what our customers say.”

But memorable stories are created with contrast – like telling the story of what happened when someone didn’t use the product or service. Successful brands don’t want to just leave the audience with a vision of what could be possible, but also what will be likely if they don’t invest. Advertisers have understood this for years, but customers don’t just hear stories through advertisements – they hear it through social media, word of mouth, traditional media, and from sales and account executives.

The Experience Economy
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