CX Today

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.”

If you think you understand what customers expect in 2026… this conversation might surprise you.
In this episode, Rob Wilkinson sits down with customer service and experience expert Shep Hyken to unpack insights from his State of Customer Service and CX 2026 report - and some of the findings challenge long-held assumptions about what actually drives loyalty.
They explore what customers say matters most right now, including why product quality can outweigh service, why convenience often beats friendliness, and why rudeness or apathy is a fast track to churn. They also tackle channel preferences: despite the continued push toward self-service, many customers still want to speak to a human on the phone when the issue is serious.
The conversation also explores a channel reality many teams can’t ignore. Even with the push toward automation and self-service, a significant share of customers still want to pick up the phone when the problem is serious.
With AI dominating the CX agenda, Hyken keeps the focus where it belongs: how customers perceive change, not just how organisations want to operate.
If you lead CX, contact centre operations, or digital service strategy, this interview is a grounded reset on what will actually move the needle in 2026.

Simon Leyland on $50k MDF, agentic AI in the contact center, and why “bold and fast” is the only strategy that makes sense in 2026. 

In this discussion, Associate Editor Rhys Fisher sits down with Simon Leyland, CEO and Co-Founder of CloudInteract – one of the UK's leading Advanced AWS Partners, built entirely around Amazon Connect. 

With AWS putting up to $75k in Marketing Development Funds on the table for Connect implementations and new Agentic AI specialization categories, there's never been a more urgent moment to ask: is the traditional contact center industry running out of time? 

Simon doesn't hold back. 

In this candid conversation, Simon argues that the contact center industry is at the same inflection point newspapers hit in 2010 – and that the companies failing to move now will find themselves playing catch-up against competitors running AI agents around the clock. 

Key Takeaways Include:

🔴 Why AWS is still being overlooked: even by large enterprises already spending millions with AWS on core infrastructure, Amazon Connect isn't on the radar. Simon explains the organizational disconnect driving that blind spot. 

🔴 The 60-70% figure, explained: CloudInteract analyzed thousands of real calls and consistently found 60-70% are simple interactions. Simon breaks down what it takes to get from the industry's current ~10% automation rate to that ceiling. 

🔴 Agentic AI vs. bots: technologically similar, but the stakes are entirely different when there's a customer on the end of the line in real time. Simon unpacks the guardrails, data requirements, and human change management piece that makes or breaks a deployment. 

For more Customer Experience tech news visit https://www.cxtoday.com

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

Rhys Fisher, Associate Editor at CX Today, sits down with Kevin McGachy, Head of Solutions at Sabio, to cut through the AI noise that's plaguing contact centers.
If you're tired of flashy AI demos that promise the world but deliver generic chatbots, this conversation is your reality check.
Kevin breaks down the costly mistakes organizations make when racing to deploy AI, why voice is still king despite the digital self-service push, and how outcome-based strategies can protect you from vendor lock-in and wasted investment.
This isn't another AI hype session; it's a practical roadmap for CX leaders who need results, not regrets.
In this frank discussion, McGachy exposes the pressure-driven mistakes that are costing organizations time, money, and competitive advantage:
• The ROI Trap: Why building business cases solely around cost reduction creates friction and misses the real value of AI – like addressing high attrition through “zero human impact” automation that doesn't eliminate jobs
• Technology-Agnostic Design: How to avoid vendor lock-in by designing systems that can swap between LLMs (Gemini, GPT, etc.) based on performance and cost, rather than betting everything on today's ‘winning’ model
• Voice's Staying Power: Why customers still prefer voice for urgent or emotional issues – and how modern conversational AI creates fluid, human-like experiences that adapt in real-time versus rigid IVR decision trees
• Outcome-Based Pricing: Sabio's approach to only charging clients when AI successfully resolves customer interactions, eliminating the risk of paying for underwhelming results