Building the Future-Ready Contact Center

Across two dynamic days of CX Network’s All Access: Future Ready Contact Center APAC 2025, leaders from across Asia-Pacific explored how artificial intelligence (AI), data, and automation are reshaping the contact center without losing the human touch. 

From banks and universities to logistics firms and global insurers, one theme ran through every conversation: the future-ready contact center is not just about technology, but about human agents being empowered and aided by technology.

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Setting the stage for contact center transformation

The event opened with a lively panel moderated by producer Georgina Wilczek and featuring Patricia Mulles, founder, M&O Consulting and director & global head of partnerships for She Loves Data; and Matt Condie, senior product manager - member support and operations at Flybuys in Australia. 

Mulles defined a future-ready contact center as one grounded in robust, clean data that powers AI-driven personalization, moving from one-size-fits-all service to a concierge-style model. Condie shared how Flybuys’ recent service center re-platforming has enabled smarter routing and agent assistance while preserving empathy in every customer interaction. 

Both urged organizations to start small, demonstrate ROI through efficiency gains, and invest only where technology solves real business problems; data readiness and a “humans-in-the-loop” mindset are essential foundations for sustainable innovation.

Catch up with the session on CX Network+, here. 

Re-architecting the contact centre for scale

From strategy to infrastructure, the second session dug deeper into the technology backbone of transformation. 

Guru Vishwanath of AWS showcased how Amazon Connect enables cloud-native, AI-enabled scalability across the region. Kalpana Jha of Manulife shared how the insurer unified 11 Asian markets on the AWS cloud with Tecnomic Systems as a partner, transforming fragmented systems into an agile, customer-first network. 

Jay Kumar from Technomic outlined a structured modernization framework (migration, optimization, then innovation) which is anchored by measurable KPIs. The speakers all agreed that cloud journeys succeed when they blend people, process, and platform, phasing migration carefully and keeping trust at the heart of change.

Catch up with the session on CX Network+, here. 

Redefining workforce agility with AI

Practical innovation was the focus for Francis Simon, WFM senior solutions engineer, South Asia and Middle East at NICE, and Jorg Both, head of business systems at Northline in Australia, who demonstrated how automation and AI can elevate workforce management (WFM). 

Both described how Northline has replaced outdated systems with the NiCE CXone platform, reducing agent training time from weeks to days and integrating service and sales teams through automation features like auto-summaries and ERP synchronization. Simon expanded on how AI-powered forecasting and scheduling optimize performance while freeing leaders to focus on strategy and engagement. 

Their shared philosophy, “augment, don’t replace”, also echoed the sentiment that AI should extend human capability, not diminish it.

Catch up with the session on CX Network+, here. 

Keeping the customer constant amid change

Finally, at the close of day one, a discussion with Tina Morrell, head of CX at Westpac, reminded viewers that while tools evolve, the fundamentals of customer experience remain constant. 

Similarly to other presenters across the day, Morrell also felt that the key lies in using AI, analytics and cloud-based systems to adapt how organizations listen and respond, and deepen empathy, rather than automate it away. 

Her practical guidance for CX leaders is to start with small, high-impact wins, align technology to organizational goals, and invest in strong listening programs that turn feedback into foresight.

Catch up with the session on CX Network+, here. 

Day Two: Trust and inclusion in the digital age

At the start of Day Two, Lolitta Suffian, senior vice president of customer experience at Bank Simpanan Nasiona (BSN) Malaysia, offered an inspiring view of transformation grounded in inclusion. 

Serving nine million Malaysians, BSN’s strategy centers on simplicity, accessibility, and proactive service. Suffian explained how AI and RPA now streamline routine CX tasks so that contact center agents can focus on emotionally charged interactions, turning “ticket takers” into “problem solvers.” 

Suffian's principle of “human on top” ensures automation never replaces empathy. Her parting words were particularly appropriate: “Trust isn’t built by perfect systems, it’s built by how you handle the imperfect moments.”

Catch up with the session on CX Network+, here. 

The front-office automation revolution

Drawing on two decades in CX, Cameron Adams, senior manager, CRM & Industry Workflows at ServiceNow then illustrated conversational AI’s ability to perform astonishingly lifelike interactions. 

However, he also warned, “just because we can automate something doesn’t mean we should”. 

Distinguishing between transactional automation and relational interactions that require human presence, he introduced ServiceNow’s “three legs of the stool” framework: complete customer context, enterprise knowledge, and workflow orchestration.

Through varied end-user case studies, Adams demonstrated how responsible automation can resolve issues in seconds while strengthening trust. He advised to keep people in the loop where empathy or wellbeing are at stake, and use AI to simplify, not supplant, human connection.

Catch up with the session on CX Network+, here. 

Understanding AI’s real-world impact in customer service

In a Genesys-hosted panel led by Sian Jenkins, with Nicole Brown of Cancer Council NSW and Phaneendra Avatapalli of Monash University, saw Brown recount how Cancer Council’s “Voice of the Client” initiative exposed the need to develop a faster, more compassionate style of customer service, which Genesys Cloud’s unified voice, email, and social channels, AI-driven summarization and routing had been able to solve, freeing agents to focus on emotional connection.

Avatapalli also described how Monash University’s callback bot and Zoom-based verification have cut wait times by 90 hours a month and improved efficiency by 70 seconds per call. Both leaders underscored that successful digital transformation depends on transparency, training, and a “human-in-the-loop” philosophy that keeps empathy at the core of innovation.

Catch up with the session on CX Network+, here. 

Reimagining loyalty through AI-led transformation

The conference closed with an energizing fireside chat with Deirdre Boyle, chief member experience and chief customer officer at Flybuys Australia.

Boyle shared how Flybuys, serving 10 million members across 21 brands, has redefined loyalty to mean “helping Australians get more of what they value beyond the checkout.” Central to this has been replatforming Flybuys to Amazon Connect and consolidating four systems in seven months to create a unified, data-driven support ecosystem.

AI now underpins Flybuys’ “agent-assist” tools and analytics, helping staff deliver faster, more personalised service. Boyle's advice to anyone looking to do similar to start with the problem, not the technology, elevate the contact center as a source of insight, and move fast, but make space to learn.

Across every session, a unifying narrative emerged: the contact center of the future is data-driven, cloud-enabled, and human-led.

As Mulles put it, success starts with clean data and, as Suffian reminded us, it’s sustained by trust. As Boyle went on to demonstrate, it’s powered by people with purpose.

Technology’s true role is to empower empathy at scale, and the organizations that thrive will be those that harness AI wholeheartedly and without fear to empower their agents – certainly not to replace human connection, but to make it stronger than ever.

Catch up with the session on CX Network+, here. 

Quick links

• How the big brands are revolutionizing CX design and journey management
• Human-led AI in CX for the APAC region
• 4 things to know about the real-world use of AI and automation in CX