I had to call into two different contact centres recently, both for something as simple as an online order, and one question refused to leave my mind.
When was the last time a senior leader actually used their own customer service? Not as an executive. Not as a VIP. As a regular customer, with no name-dropping, no shortcuts, no insider privileges. Because if they did, I suspect a few boardrooms would fall very quiet.
I’ve worked in contact centres for more than 25 years. I’ve seen the headsets, the scripts, the early CRM systems, the dashboards, the AI hype. But despite all that evolution, I’m still shocked by how poor the average experience remains.
And since we are being frank, it’s rarely the agents’ fault. Most are doing the best they can inside systems that were never designed for them. They’re trained to be efficient but not empowered to be effective. The real problem sits higher up: in leadership decisions, outdated processes and the endless optimism that one more piece of technology will finally make it all make sense.
Somewhere between the digital roadmaps, budget cycles and vendor pitches, too many organisations have lost touch with what it actually feels like to be a customer. The result? Clumsy processes, confusing hand-offs and contact options that make people feel like they’re interrupting rather than engaging.
Recent research backs it up. Calabrio’s 2025 study found that 61% of contact centre leaders believe interactions have become more difficult since implementing AI tools. Half admit their core processes haven’t been revisited in more than two years. So we’ve automated inefficiency and then wondered why customers still aren’t happy.
The obvious fact circles back to us that you can’t automate your way out of dysfunction.
If your customers have to jump through hoops to get help, if the onus is on them to figure out how your system works, then you’ve already failed the test. No AI, chatbot or workflow engine will fix what isn’t logical to begin with. Technology can enhance good design, but it will only magnify bad design.
And still, we keep trying to shortcut the customer journey as if empathy, structure and human understanding can be coded into a bot.
A good customer journey doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to make sense. It should flow, and when things go wrong – because they will – the recovery should feel effortless. That’s the part most organisations forget to design.
The “negative journey” is treated like an exception rather than a reality. But it’s often in those moments, when something breaks, that loyalty is actually built. The recovery defines the relationship far more than the sale ever will.
The irony is that the tools to fix this already exist. We finally have the data, automation and segmentation capabilities to personalise at scale to truly understand our customer base and meet them where they are. But we keep applying the technology without the thought.
Personalisation isn’t about greeting someone by name. It’s about recognising their intent and removing friction before they ask. It’s about knowing that behind every “ticket” is a person who simply wants things to work.
Customers don’t expect perfection. They expect logic. They expect that the brand knows who they are, what they’re trying to achieve and why they’re frustrated. That’s not revolutionary. That’s common sense and something our industry used to have in abundance.
So here’s my challenge: eat your own dog food.
Pick up the phone. Try to cancel your own product. Attempt to reset your password, track an order or fix a billing error. Do it without warning anyone you’re coming. Feel what it’s like to wait on hold, to repeat your details, to navigate the maze you’ve built.
Because when leaders experience their own service the way customers do, priorities change fast. Suddenly, metrics shift from handle time to satisfaction. Training stops being a tick-box exercise and becomes a strategy. Technology stops being a trophy and starts being a tool.
The best CX leaders are the ones who’ve been through their own system and still want to improve it. They don’t need dashboards to tell them what’s broken; they’ve lived it. They know that the agent isn’t unskilled but the system is unkind. And until more leaders walk that same path, no amount of technology will make us truly customer-centric.
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