December 2-3, 2025 l Free CX Network Webinar Series
Day One
10:00 am - 10:30 am
EST
CX by 2030: The future of human and digital experiences
Jorie Sax -
Head of Innovation lab & Advisory Board Member,
United Airlines & CX Network
As we look ahead to 2030, the focus of customer experience will shift away from how an interaction is delivered and toward how well it meets customer expectations. Personalization, speed and consistency will matter far more than the channel, the interface or whether it was delivered by human or machine. Customers won’t care who – or what – handled their request; they will care only that it was seamless and relevant.
However, customers do – and are likely to continue to – care about their data. CX Network research found that 38 percent of CX practitioners agreed that customer awareness of how AI uses their data was a key variable impacting planning in 2025. Brands that communicate the value of data sharing, such as more AI-driven seamless experiences and more relevant offerings, are likely to have the upper hand.
In this session, Jorie Sax, head of Innovation Lab at United Airlines, and CX Network board member, will explore what all this means for CX leaders preparing for a more connected, AI-driven world. From industries like airlines that must serve the general population to those with niche customer profiles, the challenge will be the same: Building experiences that are universally designed yet feel individually tailored. We’ll also explore how companies can navigate data challenges, and how dynamic handoffs between humans and AI will finally begin to deliver on the promise of seamless collaboration.
Attendees will learn:
- Why personalization, speed and consistency will become the defining measures of CX success by 2030.
- How industries with broad versus narrow customer bases can prepare for increasingly blended, connected experiences.
- The data challenges that brands will have to face to stay ahead of the curve and deliver superior experiences.
10:30 am - 11:00 am
EST
AI agents and the changing face of the contact center
Contact centers are facing a ground-shift. CX Network’s own research found that AI for backend operations was the top focus for practitioners in 2025, and this trend is looking likely to continue. AI agents are increasingly shown to be capable of handling complex tasks autonomously, with huge potential to revolutionize contact centers. This technology can seamlessly integrate with internal ecosystems and provide customers with efficient support without human oversight. In addition, AI agents can proactively reach out to customers, solving issues before they even arise. The transition to using more AI will need careful change management, but, ultimately, human agents can then focus on what they do best: Empathy and connection.
In this session, we will look at the potential of AI agents in contact centers and the impact this will have on contact center leaders who will need to employ careful change management. We’ll explore strategies for implementing AI agents seamlessly into contact center workflows, while keeping sight of where humans add the most value.
Attendees will learn:
- How AI agents can autonomously manage complex customer interactions and backend processes.
- Practical strategies for integrating AI into existing contact center ecosystems with minimal disruption.
- Where human agents create the most value and how to design a blended model of human empathy and AI efficiency.
11:00 am - 11:30 am
EST
Mastering hyper-personalization with AI and data
Personalization has long been at the forefront of CX strategy. The future will not only demand more than simply inserting a customer’s name into an email, but will see segments shrink smaller, becoming segments of one – good news, considering McKinsey research found that 71 percent of consumers expect personalized interactions. AI, customer data platforms, and orchestration tools are constantly maturing, and brands can now anticipate trends and needs, and adapt in real time, providing hyper-relevant recommendations and product offerings. However, with CX Network research finding that 39 percent of CX practitioners agree that customers refuse to share their personal data, there is a clear disconnect, posing a challenge to those seeking to implement hyper-personalization. The challenge lies not only in accessing the right data, but in unifying it across systems and applying the right tools to deliver value at scale.
In this session, we will explore how next-generation personalization will reshape the way brands interact with customers. From hyper-personalized journey orchestration to the ethical use of behavioral and contextual data, we’ll discuss the technologies, strategies and safeguards required to go beyond surface-level personalization and deliver meaningful, trust-based experiences.
Attendees will learn:
- The tools and platforms enabling advanced personalization from CDPs and AI-driven analytics to journey orchestration engines.
- How to unify and activate data across silos while respecting compliance and ethical boundaries.
- Strategies for moving from “personalized marketing” to fully personalized customer journeys that adapt in real time.
11:30 am - 12:00 pm
EST
What do your customers really think? Social listening and the future of customer insights
Traditional customer feedback methods such as surveys, NPS and focus groups only capture a fraction of what customers truly feel. Increasingly, the richest insights lie in what customers are saying when they don’t know they’re being asked. The social listening market is expected to almost double by 2030, and for good reason. Social listening tools, powered by AI and advanced analytics, are opening a new window into customer sentiment and expectations. By tracking conversations across social platforms and reviews, organizations can access unfiltered feedback to spot trends early, anticipate busy and down times and respond proactively.
The future of customer insights will depend on combining social listening with traditional customer research (such as surveys) and journey analytics to create a more detailed view of CX and illuminate the path to improvement. This session will explore how leading organizations are evolving their customer insight strategies to move toward predictive, always-on customer intelligence.
Attendees will learn:
• How social listening is transforming customer research and what makes it different from traditional VoC.
• Practical examples of how to use social listening data to inform CX design and brand strategy.
• Why the future of CX insights lies in blending AI-powered listening with ethnographic research, surveys and behavioral analytics.
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
EST
Where is AI really taking the future of CX?
Hitesh Patel -
Global Digital Director,
IHG Hotels & Resorts
Previously, software was expected to do what it says on the tin. Businesses would invest in current and evolving functionality, providing bug fixes which tended to move at a relatively slow pace across software applications. Consequently, businesses would buy applications, plug them in, build processes and people around them and let them run, with an awareness that, in many cases, ROI could take years.
That is not the case in the current AI landscape, which is constantly evolving at breakneck speed. Compute has seen a huge uplift and, as LLMs advance in reasoning, and the techniques to connect to them evolve, the design of the data corpus driving outcomes continues to be refined. To keep up, companies must adopt an innovation first, agile mindset, continuously adapting to technological changes, business models, employee roles and CX strategies. As autonomous agents and generative AI move rapidly from pilot to full roll-out, organizations are reconsidering how they serve customers and even what CX actually is in an AI-driven future.
In this session, futurist and AI leader, Hitesh Patel, will share his personal forward-looking view of how AI will continue to reshape CX. We’ll delve into key use cases such as AI agents that can disrupt contact centre delivery, the rise of avatar-driven services in technology and smarter customer interactions based on behavioral data, exploring the opportunities and ethical implications. We will discuss how business leaders can position CX functions to be adaptive, allowed to test, fail fast and ultimately strike the balance between AI efficiency and human empathy.
Attendees will learn:
- The mindset and organizational changes business leaders need to thrive in an AI-enabled future
- How AI will continue to transform the role of customer service.
- Ethical and strategic questions around data use, empathy and automation in customer interactions.
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm
EST
Emotion AI: The next frontier in personalization and customer insights
Marc Fernandez -
Cheif Strategy & Operations Officer,
Neurologyca
Customer journeys have long been mapped through data points such as transactions, clicks, and conversion rates. But numbers alone can miss the “why” behind customer behavior. The next leap forward may come from AI systems that can interpret not just emotion, but the broader human context such as how people feel, think, and respond within specific situations, enabling organizations to design journeys that are more empathetic and adaptive.
In this session, Marc Fernandez, Chief Strategy Officer at Neurologyca, will explore how Human + Context AI expands on traditional Emotion AI by combining subtle human signals such as facial expression, vocal tone, and attention patterns with contextual data to reveal the meaning behind behavior. Adding this layer of understanding to conventional analytics can change the way brands interpret intent, personalize experiences, and build trust.
Drawing from Neurologyca’s research, we’ll look at how sectors from telemedicine to entertainment and retail are applying human-aware systems to identify friction, measure engagement, and prove ROI in ways that conventional CX data cannot.
For leaders, the opportunity is to move beyond “what customers do” and start uncovering “how customers feel and why” at scale, and with privacy and ethics at the core.
Attendees will learn:
- Why emotions and context are critical for designing the next generation of customer experiences.
- How Human + Context AI complements existing CX data to create a richer, more meaningful understanding of behavior.
- The ethical guardrails and design principles needed to ensure trust as emotional and contextual data become part of CX strategy.
1:00 pm - 1:30 pm
EST
Virtual roundtable: A look to 2030 – How will AI shape the future of CX?
AI is already reshaping customer experience, but what will this look like by 2030? With AI agents in the contact center, hyper-personalization powered by deep sentiment and predictive analytics and avatar-driven support, the future of CX will be increasingly defined by how organizations design and deploy AI. As customer expectations for speed, personalization and convenience increase, leaders must consider how AI will coexist with human touchpoints. Change management, both internal and external, will be critical to ensuring smooth transitions and successful technology deployments.
This interactive roundtable will bring together CX leaders and series attendees to share predictions and strategies for building AI-enabled experiences that keep customers at the center.
What we will discuss:
- The evolution of AI agents and their role in reshaping human and machine collaboration in CX.
- How AI will enable deeper personalization, proactive engagement and predictive service by 2030 and what this means for teams and customers.
- The cultural and ethical shifts needed to embed AI responsibly into CX strategies.
