The mood at CCW Europe Summit 2025 was unmistakable: Customer experience (CX) is entering a new era defined not only by efficiency, but by empathy, intelligence, and trust.
Across two days of panels, case studies and candid discussions, leaders from brands such as TUI, Santander, Octopus Energy, Thomas Cook, and Lidl shared how they are redefining CX in a world where artificial intelligence (AI) and human connection must coexist. The result was a narrative of balance between innovation and pragmatism, automation and authenticity.
Here are the five key themes that emerged from this year's event.
1. AI with purpose: The power of human and machine
AI was a major topic within the agenda, but the most thoughtful voices emphasized purpose over hype.
“AI is not an end of its own. You always have to see it in combination with human beings,” said Dominik Eberlein, VP of data science at SIXT. Across sessions, speakers agreed that the picture lies in using AI to elevate humans, not eliminate them.
Parisa Tayyebi, former global SVP, head of digital product and CX at E.O.N Drive, noted that customer satisfaction depends on context: “If AI can solve my issue, I’m happy. If it can’t, that’s when I really need to speak to a human.” The challenge for CX leaders is not automation alone, but fluid orchestration - building teams that can switch between digital and human support seamlessly and in real time. Organizations succeeding with AI are those designing it around people, not process.
2. The rise of agentic AI and the data imperative
This year’s buzzword was agentic AI, systems capable of autonomous decision making, adapting in real time to customer needs.
At TUI, this technology is already embedded within the Amazon Connect platform. By analyzing every customer contact for patterns and opportunities to automate, TUI has reduced average handling time by 25 percent and cut cost per customer by 10 percent. “If you take out the non-value added part of processes, you have a cost advantage and you delight your customers,” said Seigfried Schallenmueller, head of digital innovation at Amazon Web Services.
Lidl demonstrated similar progress with “Optimus,” an in-house AI model trained on thousands of real customer messages. After three development stages, it achieved 92 percent accuracy in classifying queries - up from 70 percent. “If you don’t know what category of food the customer is talking about, you can’t automate the process,” Fabian Quast, product owner at Lidl, explained.
However, all agreed that data quality determines success. As Jarrod Davis, product marketing manager at NiCE Cognigy said, “Imagine hiring a new agent and not training them. That’s what you do to AI when you don’t feed it the right data.”
3. Transformation is human: Change management matters
Technology alone doesn’t deliver transformation. Instead, people do. That was the key takeaway from Santander, Octopus Energy, and Thomas Cook, all of whom underscored the importance of communication, culture, and trust.
Tom Snodgrass, chief operations officer in the Financial Support Center of Excellence at Santander, described the anxiety that accompanies system change: “Moving from 10-year-old code to a cloud SaaS environment is huge. The only way to mitigate anxiety is through transparency and early involvement.” The bank involved frontline staff in user testing before customers ever saw the new system - an investment that paid off in higher NPS and team morale.
Meanwhile, Octopus Energy offered one of the summit’s most powerful examples of people-first CX. The company has hired social workers to support vulnerable customers in debt - not for ROI, but simply because, as Katie Orme, head of service social worker at Octopus Energy said, “it’s the right thing to do.”These stories reminded attendees that empathy isn’t a soft metric. Rather, it’s a business strategy.
4. Omnichannel reimagined: From multi-touchpoint to a seamless experience
Audi’s omnichannel transformation showed how CX design is evolving from multichannel to seamless. Customers can now reach support via Instagram, phone, or video call - all routed through a single, AI-augmented service hub.
While the benefits are clear, so are the challenges. Implementing omnichannel infrastructure demands IT alignment, cost justification and patient education across departments. Johannes Brott, head of customer service, who led Audi’s rollout, shared that “success only came when teams understood not just the technology, but the possibilities it unlocked.”
5. The evolution of CX metrics
How should success in CX be measured in this new era? Questions surrounding CX metrics sparked lively debate.
Andy Postma, head of performance, online marketing & CRM at Dutch State Lottery, expressed frustration with the industry’s reliance on NPS: “I hate NPS. It’s too emotional and siloed. I want to know how satisfied you are with the company overall.”
Others argued for balance - combining sentiment-based metrics with operational outcomes. What’s clear is that CX is being redefined as a value creator, not just a cost center. As Postma noted “without customer service, you wouldn’t even know frustration exists.”
TUI’s strategy - “Create time to delight customers” - perfectly captured the new ROI equation: eliminating inefficiencies to enable meaningful conversations that increase both satisfaction and sales.
The defining message from CCW Europe 2025 is that CX is no longer about choosing between human or machine. Instead, it’s about designing a partnership between the two. As AI becomes more agentic and data becomes more abundant, the winning brands will be those that stay grounded in empathy, empowerment, and ethical use of technology.
In short: the future of CX is human, powered by AI.