By Adam Mills
AI Editor
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Customers may never know where a company is piloting AI, but they notice when an automated system cannot solve a problem, forgets what they have already explained or makes it difficult to reach an actual person.
*Newsweek’*s upcoming webinar, “Humanizing AI: Personalization, Engagement and the Customer Experience,” will bring together four business and technology leaders to discuss how companies can make customer interactions more responsive, relevant and useful while preserving trust, transparency and human judgment. Presented by Cognizant, the live discussion is scheduled for Thursday, July 30, at 2 p.m. Eastern.
Read More on AI
Gabriel Snyder, Newsweek’s executive editor, enterprise, will moderate a panel featuring Nick Mehta, entrepreneur in residence at Bessemer Venture Partners and former CEO of Gainsight; Arun Chandra, chief operating officer at NiCE; Jon Hyman, co-founder and chief technology officer at Braze; and Adrian McDermott, chief technology officer at Zendesk.
Ahead of the webinar, Mehta told Newsweek that many current deployments have landed in an “uncanny valley” between AI agents and human support. Automated systems may handle straightforward requests quickly, but customers often have to repeat themselves when a representative takes over.
“How can we stitch it together in a way that doesn’t make it feel worse?” Mehta said.
Chandra told Newsweek that companies need to design the handoff before they deploy automation.
“The path to get to a human should be completely frictionless and instantaneous,” Chandra said.
A warm transfer, he noted, should give the representative a clear account of what has already happened so the conversation can continue instead of restarting. AI can remain involved behind the scenes by surfacing context and possible responses for the employee.
Chandra also expects AI to change how customer service teams divide work between automated systems and employees, raising questions about how roles and skills will evolve.
Newsweek
Hyman broadened the issue beyond service and support, pointing to AI’s growing role in marketing and digital engagement as companies look for ways to tailor customer communications.
“We should do things that we think are going to strengthen the bonds between the brand and the consumer and not something that we think is going to put up a wall between them,” Hyman told Newsweek.
Achieving that kind of relevance depends on information moving across teams, systems and channels. Fragmented data can keep a company from recognizing a customer across channels or coordinating how it communicates. Faster content production also means little unless leaders can connect it to engagement, retention or revenue.
McDermott challenged the assumption that customers will always view automated support as second-rate. Customers judge the experience by whether it resolves their issue without unnecessary waiting, repetition or transfers.
“Time is quality in service,” McDermott told Newsweek.
He said AI can make accurate support available across languages and channels at any hour, while giving employees more time for complex interactions and stronger customer relationships.
Evaluating outcomes may require tying customer satisfaction and effort to business results instead of treating ticket volume and response times as sufficient.
The July 30 conversation will give business and technology leaders a practical view of the choices behind customer-facing AI, from data and handoffs to measurement and the role of employees.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines