CX Today

Martyn Redstone, an AI regulation consultant guiding organisations on the EU AI Act, and Steve Blood, VP of Market Intelligence at Five9 focused on contact centre AI. They unpack where CX teams misread the law. They debate transparency, high-risk contact centre use cases, legacy vs cloud compliance, and how governance must shift to customer-facing outcomes.

Gautam Vasudev, SVP leading Agentforce Contact Center at Salesforce, explains the new CRM-native approach to AI plus human service. He discusses where AI shines (high-volume, low-risk queries) and when humans must step in for complex, high-stakes cases. He also covers changing frontline roles, governance for AI agents, and the key metrics teams should watch.

Rémi Guinier, Head of AI Product at Diabolocom, specialises in AI for contact centres with a focus on quality monitoring and model calibration. He explains why generic models fail in noisy real-world calls. He outlines Shapeable AI that supervisors can configure. He covers auto-calibration using golden datasets and the three signs of a successful AI project.

In this discussion, host Rhys Fisher, Associate Editor at CX Today, sits down with Liz Miller, VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, for a reaction to one of the biggest leadership stories in enterprise tech.Shantanu Narayen’s decision to step down as Adobe CEO after 18 years sent shockwaves through the market, and for anyone running customer experience operations on Adobe’s stack, the implications go well beyond a stock price dip.Liz explains why this is a “fast moving train” story, not a recovery story, and what that means for the next leader.Brand Concierge and the contact center opportunity: Liz spotlights Adobe’s self-service bot solution as a genuinely surprising move into discovery-led CX, and why it matters for contact center leaders specifically.What the next CEO must do in 90 days: It’s not about rebuilding. It’s about articulating a vision fast, leaning into ecosystem partnerships with AWS and Nvidia, and proving you can be “the conductor of one of the fastest moving trains in technology.”

Shep Hyken, customer service and experience expert, author and keynote speaker. He discusses surprising 2026 trends: product quality often matters more than service. Convenience now frequently trumps friendliness. Rudeness or apathy drives churn fast. Many customers still prefer phone support for serious issues. The conversation centers on how customers actually perceive AI and change.

Simon Leyland, CEO and Co-Founder of CloudInteract, a UK AWS partner focused on Amazon Connect and agentic AI. He discusses why contact centres face a newspaper-like inflection point, how 60–70% of calls are simple and ripe for automation, and what’s required to scale AI deflection including data, platforms, and change management.

A recent Gartner report suggests that by 2030, generative AI could cost more per customer interaction than a live human agent. What does that mean for small and midsize businesses?In this episode of CX Today, Francesca Roche speaks with Nathan Strum, CEO of Abbey Connect, about how SMBs should rethink automation budgets, customer journeys, and long term growth strategies. Instead of focusing only on cost reduction, Nathan outlines a rebalancing approach that starts with human systems and works backward to apply AI where it adds value.For more Customer Experience tech news visit https://www.cxtoday.com

Kevin McGachy, Head of Solutions at Sabio who implements conversational AI for contact centres, offers a reality check on AI rushes. He tackles costly deployment mistakes and argues for outcome-based strategies. He defends the enduring power of voice and urges technology-agnostic, future-proof designs. Practical and direct, the conversation cuts through hype to focus on real results.

Raj De Datta, CEO and co-founder of Bloomreach and builder of the AI-native Lumi AI commerce platform. He discusses why bolting AI onto old workflows often fails. He outlines three models of agentic commerce from research-led agents to agent-driven purchasing. He highlights AI-native personalization, conversational discoverability, and where CX teams should invest next.

Brad Anderson, President of Product Engineering and Security at Qualtrics, applies AI to customer experience, security, and product engineering. He contrasts pragmatic AI that fixes real problems with academic “science projects.” He discusses using AI to detect digital frustration, agentic tools that close feedback loops in real time, and radical transparency after breaches to rebuild trust.