This is the sixth year that I’ve compiled a set of customer experience-related predictions for the coming year.

For each article, I gather together a set of predictions that have been sent to me over the preceding month. Last year, I received 263 different predictions from 140 different people.

This year, 208 different leaders in the service and experience space submitted 396 different predictions, which represents a nearly 50% growth in both the number of people who have participated in the process and the number of predictions they have submitted compared to last year’s predictions.

I then conduct an anonymized review of the predictions, select the ones that stand out and make the most sense in the current context, arrange them into themes, and add a bit of commentary.

I’m over the moon that so many people have taken the time to send me their predictions. And, it’s no small undertaking to whittle them down into what are, I hope, a coherent and useful set of themes and predictions. That being said, I always find the whole process incredibly rewarding and a great learning experience.

Before we get into the predictions, I’d like to thank all of the people who sent me their predictions.

But I’d also like to apologize to those whose predictions I haven’t been able to include. All I can say is that competition to be included gets more and more intense every year.

So, without further ado, here goes with 2025’s predictions:

1. With more uncertainty on the horizon, economic conditions will remain tough for many consumers. Leading brands will respond by helping them manage their budgets and make smarter purchasing decisions.

Chris Cubba, CRO at Snipp, predicts:

“As economic conditions remain tough for the average consumer, we anticipate a significant surge in the adoption of brand-funded cashback offers. These can be either short-term campaign/UPC specific offers or ones embedded natively through a brand’s evergreen/loyalty platforms. To support the uptick in cashback programs, receipt scan technology usage will increase. The result of this will be a simplified, consumer-friendly experience that simultaneously provides brands with rich first & zero party insights on changing consumer behaviors. Ultimately, this will enable brands to make smarter use of their marketing dollars and empower consumers to make more informed purchasing decisions.”

Jessica Sunderland, Director, Amazon Business Unit Lead at Kepler, concurs and adds:

“With the high likelihood of heavy tariffs on imports* taking effect in 2025, the consumer base should expect to see price inflation to match. Inflation leads consumers to buy smart rather than buy by impulse. With consumers being more price conscious and analyzing purchases to ensure they are making the right decisions, artificial intelligence (AI) will come into play heavily as it caters the shopping experience to a consumer’s needs. Amazon has begun leaning into AI on their consumer platforms, making AI generated shopping lists based on a consumers purchase history and aggregating key insights from reviews to make a consumer’s decision easier. Amazon’s Rufus was just announced this year and is constantly being iterated on, using generative AI to enable consumers to ask specific questions and be given direct responses. As the tech learns more, this could be a play for the price conscious consumer to ask “what is the best deal on cordless vacuums today?” or “when is the best time to buy a TV on Amazon?” to help guide their purchase decisions.”

Editors note: This comment applies to the U.S.

Meanwhile, Angie Westbrock, CEO at Standard AI, highlights what is likely to happen in the offline retail space when she predicts:

“As inflation continues and economic uncertainty rises, we will see a decrease in consumer spending on non-essential services like food delivery in 2025. Consumers will turn to cost-saving alternatives such as home cooking or in-store pickup options. We will see grocery stores adjust to capitalize on this shift by promoting more ready-to-eat options as well as continuing to invest in in-store shopping technology for personalization and convenience.”

Comment: Many consumers have faced a tough time economically over the last few years, and this situation looks set to persist, with many commentators talking about slow growth and a potential recession in 2025. In previous years, many brands have used tactics like skimpflation and shrinkflation to protect their margins at a cost to consumers and their experience. Therefore, it is heartening to see brands lean into consumer concerns, realise that they are more discerning about who they buy from when things are tight and are increasingly focusing on helping them get the most out of their budgets. Here’s hoping that these tactics are adopted widely.

2. Generative AI is fundamentally changing how consumers discover and purchase products as well as how they find information and get answers to their questions.

Jen Jones, Chief Marketing Officer at commercetools, predicts:

“What’s particularly noteworthy is the shifts we’re seeing in how consumers discover and purchase products. The traditional search engine-driven journey is being bypassed, as more consumers are turning to marketplaces and platforms like Amazon and TikTok for personalised recommendations and trend-driven insights. With Amazon being the go-to platform for convenient eCommerce and Gen Z increasingly using social media as their primary discovery tool, this shift was inevitable. Amazon now accounts for 37.6% of e-commerce sales — the largest share in the industry.”

Meanwhile, Tifenn Dano Kwan, Chief Marketing Officer at Amplitude, predicts:

“2025 will mark the rise of the answer economy. Traditional search engines will no longer be the default way people get information or the answers to their questions. As consumers get used to the instant gratification of asking AI anything and getting an immediate response, using a search engine to look something up, scrolling through potential results, and clicking on pages of information to learn more will be a thing of the past. Already, 60% of Google searches in the US and EU result in zero clicks, as many people don’t want to click endlessly to find what they’re looking for. For marketers, this will mean shifting focus from search engine optimization to a generative engine optimization model, demonstrating how fast you can provide answers without expecting consumers to search through mountains of content.”

Finally, Adrien Menard, CEO & Co-Founder at Botify, highlights the some of the challenges brands will face in this new environment when he predicts:

“Brand visibility is undergoing a complete transformation. In 2025, we’ll see consumer behavior shift from predominantly Google-first searches to emerging players like Perplexity and ChatGPT Search alongside existing players with new GenAI capabilities like Bing’s Copilot. By the end of next year, expect to see three out of ten visits come from outside of Google, with the volume accelerating to even higher numbers in the next five years. To accommodate this new reality and thrive in the GenAI search environment, CX leaders must develop governance strategies to manage AI bots’ role in driving brand visibility. Then, brands can focus on how often search engines visit their site and how fast their pages load, helping them reach consumers where they are – regardless of where they search.”

Comment: For the longest time, traditional search engines have dominated how consumers find and research products and services. Generative AI and other platforms are fundamentally changing this landscape. This will pose significant challenges for brands in terms of how they show up, help and are found in this new environment.

3. Changes in the search environment and saturation in other digital channels will see a resurgence in organic brand marketing.

Gregory Kennedy, VP of Marketing at Alembic, predicts:

“In 2025, brand marketing will be the growth lever that matters most. Why? Because algorithms have perfected the art of optimizing for every last click and conversion. Performance marketing has become a well-oiled machine that excels at capturing intent—but this fierce competition has driven costs up and now brands scramble to compete. With every performance dollar fighting for a shrinking pool of intent-based leads, it’s getting harder to stand out and generate incremental growth. Building a strong, memorable brand will be back in vogue as the way to create new demand and capture attention before consumers are even in a buying mindset.”

Justin Crowe, Founder & CEO at Parting Stone, adds:

“I believe we are at a stage where businesses are heavily leveraging generative AI, leveling the playing field between small brands with limited budgets and large corporations with vast resources for branding, copywriting, marketing strategy, and communication optimization. While this presents an incredible opportunity for small businesses, I foresee a wave of saturation in ads that share the same ‘AI flavor’—polished visuals, compelling copy, and expected yet highly effective strategies. In this landscape, it will be crucial for companies to stand out by embracing highly creative, radical, and unconventional marketing approaches. Those who successfully break free from the predictable ‘AI flavor’ will have a profound impact, as customers increasingly crave authenticity and originality amidst the growing sameness.”

Meanwhile, Chaitenya Razdan, Founder and CEO at Care+Wear, builds on the above and predicts:

“As digital marketing channels grow more saturated, expensive, and subject to algorithmic changes, brands will shift focus back to organic marketing to reduce reliance on paid channels. Authentic, grassroots community-building strategies—such as user-generated content, influencer partnerships, and SEO-driven content—will make a resurgence. This organic approach will help brands de-risk bad data or inaccurate targeting issues that come with bloated digital budgets, providing a more stable, authentic path to customer acquisition and engagement.”

Comment: In the face of changes in the search environment, increasingly saturated and expensive digital channels as well as a potential tsunami of bland AI content that will make it hard for brands to stand out in a sea of sameness, it’s not surprising to countenance a resurgence in organic brand marketing. Personally, I’m excited to see how brand marketers will embrace this challenge and what they will come up with.

4. After the hype and excitement of 2024, the application of generative AI in the service and experience space will face some challenges in the coming year.

Martin Taylor, Co-Founder and Deputy CEO at Content Guru, predicts:

“2025 could be a tough year for generative AI. After a lot of hype, it is likely to drop into the ‘trough of disillusionment’ in the coming year, and might already be there. Gartner predicts at least 30% of generative AI projects will be abandoned after proof of concept by the end of next year, due to poor data quality, inadequate risk controls, escalating costs, and unclear business value. However, concurrently, it will start to prove its worth within the contact center. In the coming year, we expect AI to shift from being perceived as a high-risk investment to a necessary tool for delivering personalized, efficient interactions at scale.”

Craig Crisler, CEO at SupportNinja, goes further and predicts:

“50% of AI projects will fail to scale in 2025. Here’s why: companies underestimate complexity and overhype the quick wins. The potential opportunity is enormous – for businesses that use these failures to pivot and rethink their approach. The winners will be the companies that bring in expert partners who can blend human intelligence with AI to create a scalable, resilient CX model.”

Meanwhile, Eoin Hinchy, Founder & CEO at Tines.io, adds:

“In 2025, it will no longer be enough to just “adopt AI”—companies will need hard ROI metrics to prove its value. We’re now a couple of years into the generative AI boom, and I think it’s fair to say that the technology hasn’t yet lived up to its hype. CIOs and CTOs will demand concrete metrics before approving new AI investments. Going forward, companies are going to need hard ROI to justify spending on AI tools. Metrics like “80% of code now touches AI” or “50% of customer queries are resolved by AI” are going to be essential. It’s no longer enough to just demo an AI solution and assume it will add value. We need quantifiable outcomes. And the companies that can show hard data on cost savings or productivity gains are the ones that will actually see AI succeed in their business.”

Comment: There is no doubt about the transformative potential of generative AI, particularly in the service and experience space. However, with economic conditions remaining tight, new AI projects and investments are likely to face increased scrutiny in the coming year. That does not mean that we will automatically see a waning of demand. Rather, we are likely to see the mood switch from excitement to focused pragmatism.

5. Education and capacity building will help organizations ensure that their AI investments deliver value.

Suzanne Steele, VP and MD, UKI, Middle East and Africa at Adobe, predicts:

“2024 has been the year that companies have taken AI out of the playground and into production as they build on successful pilot projects and establish new ways of working that automates previously time-consuming tasks deliver huge productivity gains. In the field of customer experience and service, AI is a transformative force that can help brands scale their content creation to deliver true personalisation for their customers, as well as interrogate the vast amount of customer data they have to develop new and enhanced services.

Coming into 2025, organisations will need to turn their attentions to enablement and education, ensuring everyone across the business – from users to leadership and advisory boards – understands not just how AI and generative AI should be used to boost productivity and enhance the customer experience, but also where the guardrails are to ensure responsible and appropriate use. Those companies that put a focus on AI governance and education will be well positioned to deliver greater personalisation, higher productivity and enhanced service to customers at scale.”

Mario Ciabarra, CEO and Founder at Quantum Metric, concurs and adds:

“If we are going to see AI become a foundational technology, then investments in staff training will need to grow. Unlike other technologies, GenAI is unique in that you can give it the same input multiple times and receive different outputs. The way GenAI processes data is different and it requires skilled human assistance to navigate the nuances of its response, along with specific training in prompt engineering. Every member of an organization will need AI training and many can expect to see that in 2025 with 62% of digital organizations planning to make greater investments here. Organizations that exclude training to only specific roles or teams will struggle when it comes to AI adoption, scalability and ROI.”

Meanwhile, Eric Williamson, Chief Marketing Officer at CallMiner, builds on that and predicts:

“The adoption of AI is already revolutionizing how customer experience (CX) teams operate. Yet, not all implementations are driving the value that organizations expect. Our research indicates that many contact center and CX leaders struggle to identify which AI technology best meets their business needs (37%), and more than a quarter (27%) don’t know how to measure the ROI of their AI investments.

To combat these challenges, we’ve started to see organizations form AI councils or hire chief AI officers – aimed at guiding procurement, implementation and full enterprise adoption. I expect these initiatives and hires to proliferate in 2025. On the one hand, educated adoption decisions can help ensure that your AI investments are delivering the value you expect, whether that’s improving CX, driving operational efficiency, supporting contact center agents, or other goals. On the other hand, having an unnecessary number of decision makers involved can slow or even halt procurement processes, causing organizations to fall behind the AI curve. Organizations must find the balance between agility and responsible AI adoption if they’re going to remain competitive.”

Comment: After a couple of years of pilots and experimentation, organizations are starting to realize that to get the most out of generative AI requires a new set of skills and capabilities. Moreover, generative AI-powered software is unlike other traditional enterprise software and requires additional internal resources to operate, manage and develop it in order to get the best out of it. Dedicating these additional resources and developing the right set of skills and capabilities across organizations will be crucial to successful implementations and future developments.

6. Meanwhile, many organizations will move away from generic generative AI tools and gravitate towards more specialized solutions that are better able to address their specific objectives.

Barry Cooper, President, CX Division at NICE, predicts:

“In 2025, we will see more businesses choose or switch to trusted AI providers, built on a heritage of experience and owned rich data, in order to realise immediate business value from AI. Companies will move away from generic AI tools that lack the foundational industry-specific data and proper guardrails required to deliver accurate, relevant and appropriate results. Instead, they’ll gravitate toward AI providers with proven expertise in the CX domain that deliver a single, unified AI-powered platform able to automate every interaction and drive next-gen customer experience.”

Birago Jones, CEO at Pienso, concurs and predicts:

“Next year, enterprises will shift their approach to purchasing AI solutions for CX departments—moving away from large, proprietary and expensive AI ‘copilots’ towards smaller, more efficient and customizable solutions. The increasing cost of AI deployments and limited ROI on existing AI investments has driven this shift. Smaller, customized AI solutions let enterprises address targeted challenges in their CX departments, without the overhead of massive, one-size-fits-all models. Smaller models can also easily adapt to changing business needs and integrate into existing CX workflows.”

Assaf Baciu, Co-Founder and President at Persado, adds:

“In recent months, we’ve seen the release of several AI agents from the big players – but these generalized “all-purpose” agents don’t serve the unique business, use case, or industry needs of enterprises and brands. In 2025, expect a rise in purpose-built AI agents, designed to address specific objectives. Companies will increasingly adopt these tools for a range of use cases, for example to enhance the customer experience, optimize operations, or manage risk assessment.

One of the biggest use cases for purpose-built AI agents will be ensuring compliance. As organizations grapple with increasingly stringent regulations, AI solutions that are specifically designed to optimize compliance across many processes (such as brand and content) will be vital.”

Comment: This prediction is an echo from one of last year’s predictions that suggested that we are likely to see brands gravitate to specialized providers to address specific issues. As the gloss fades from some of the generic solutions in the service and experience marketplace and as organizations take a more focused and pragmatic approach view, this trend is likely to gather momentum over the course of 2025.

7. In pursuit of being able to deliver a personalized and engaging experience, brands will shift their focus towards first and zero-party data.

Tara DeZao, Director, product marketing, adtech & martech at Pega, predicts:

“Despite the decision to keep third-party cookies intact, in 2025, we’re finally going to see a sustained shift away from this model toward first-party and contextual data instead. Why? Because first party data is the only way to accurately understand and predict customer needs. True, third-party cookies are in limbo, but even if they weren’t, those data lack the richness and the signals needed to provide truly personalized experiences. AI-powered CX will very soon be table stakes; gen AI is being rapidly adopted by marketers globally, but it’s not as simple as plugging your existing data directly into your gen AI. As we head into the new year, brands need to understand that messy, unchecked data will give you messy, unchecked results that can alienate, frustrate, or even offend customers when it underpins customer engagement.”

Michelle Hoffman, VP of Customer Experience at Snipp, agrees and adds:

“With businesses continuing to collect and analyze vast amounts of data and uncertainty surrounding the future of third-party cookies, brands and marketers will shift their focus toward first- and zero-party data. This will enable brands and marketers to build more direct relationships with consumers to deliver hyper-personalized experiences and offer tailored products, services, and recommendations. Through this approach, we will see businesses enhancing customer satisfaction and fostering stronger brand loyalty.”

Comment: Brands weaning themselves off third-party cookies has been a long time coming. However, in the face of the challenges they are facing due to the changes taking place across digital channels and in the search environment, as highlighted above, we are likely to see brands finally make a concerted shift away from a reliance on third-party cookies to first and zero-party data. Hopefully, this will help brands start to deliver against some of the personalization promises that they have long been making.

8. Brands will realise that the key to unlocking the potential of AI and delivering a stand-out customer experience lies in clean data.

Cathy Mauzaize, President – EMEA at ServiceNow, predicts:

“AI is the data, and data makes the AI.

As more companies experiment with generative AI, many find their projects fail due to unclean or inaccurate data. This is the constant challenge: without good quality data, AI projects cannot succeed. Proof of concepts often fall short because they aren’t based on real data and lack the time needed for proper training of the AI. The best planned AI initiatives are shifting from proof-of-concept to proof-of-value, focusing on solving real problems – and these are set to become more than just buzzwords in 2025. Instead of merely demonstrating feasibility, projects should start with a concrete challenge and use real data to address it.”

Ivan Ostojić, Chief Business Officer at Infobip, adds:

“In 2025, real-time analysis of customer interactions will provide insights to optimize support and marketing efforts, improve knowledge bases, and streamline agent workflows. Last year, we saw businesses and brands consider the importance of data for building Gen AI processes. However, many firms just threw the data into Gen AI and wanted the model to digest it and understand it for them. However, increasingly businesses are realizing that the LLM is still a machine-learning model. So, the focus will be on the growing importance of first-party data, particularly considering precision and privacy issues. Companies are realizing that despite advancements in AI, clean, well-structured data pipelines remain essential for compelling customer experiences.”

Guy Marion, Chief Marketing Officer at Chargebee, goes further and predicts:

“As we look toward 2025, customer experience will continue to be a key differentiator for businesses. In 2024, nearly half of companies reported they planned to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) for operational improvements. The success of these initiatives hinges on one critical factor: clean, reliable data.

In a time when personalized experiences are essential, “dirty data” can undermine efforts. For businesses relying on recurring revenue, having accurate insights into customer interactions and preferences is crucial. It’s essential to ensure that your systems—like CRM and ERP—are well-structured and capable of supporting your AI ambitions. Clean data enables AI systems to deliver hyper-personalized experiences, allowing companies to recommend products and services tailored to individual needs.

In 2025, we can expect several shifts driven by clean data:

– Proactive Engagement: Organizations will anticipate customer needs, proactively offering support and information, which increases loyalty and satisfaction.

– Informed Decision Making: High-quality data will empower businesses to make agile, informed decisions that directly impact customer satisfaction.

– Streamlined Operations: Clean data will reduce inefficiencies and errors, leading to faster service delivery and improved customer experiences.

– Sustainable Growth: Companies prioritizing data quality will leverage AI more effectively, creating a competitive advantage and fostering long-term growth.

The importance of clean data is clear. Investing in a solid data foundation today is essential for unlocking AI’s potential and driving exceptional customer experiences in 2025. Don’t wait—start prioritizing data quality now to ensure your business thrives.”

Comment: Getting your data house in order was one of the key messages in last year’s predictions. Building on that, this year’s prediction about clean data shows that there is still work to be done. However, there is no escaping this requirement. Garbage In, Garbage Out, as the old computer engineer adage goes.

9. Building and maintaining a foundation of trust with customers will be at the heart of leading brand strategies.

Zig Serafin, CEO at Qualtrics, predicts:

“In 2025, the customer experience landscape will shift dramatically. Consumer expectations are high, and there’s no patience for poor experiences – especially in essential services like banking and utilities. A single negative interaction can prompt customers to cut spending, seek alternatives, which risks stunting growth.

But it’s not just about offering more; it’s about building trust. Consumers prioritise accurate information over mere speed or convenience. They demand that companies fulfil their basic commitments and deliver on promises. Trust has emerged as the cornerstone of customer loyalty.

Organisations must return to basics: clear communication, setting realistic expectations, and consistent delivery. Trust isn’t granted – it’s earned through every interaction and every commitment honoured. In this environment, meeting heightened expectations isn’t sufficient; you must exceed them while maintaining unwavering reliability.

Those who neglect these basics risk being left behind in 2025 as consumers gravitate toward brands they can rely on. Looking ahead, the real differentiator won’t be the latest technology or the flashiest marketing – it will be the ability to build genuine trust.”

Simon Tindal, CTO at Smart Communications, adds another dimension when he predicts:

“In an era marked by increasing data breaches and privacy concerns, cultivating trust has never been more critical. Customers are becoming more discerning, demanding transparency and accountability from businesses. In fact, less than half of consumers (47%) agree that GenAI has the potential to improve the communications they receive, and two-thirds (66%) are concerned about its security or have expressed ethical concerns (63%).

To foster trust, organisations must prioritise data security, ethical data practices, and open communication with customers. There needs to be a level of transparency around the use of customers’ data in order to build a foundation of trust between the customer and the provider. By demonstrating commitment to these principles, businesses can build lasting relationships and earn customer loyalty.”

Katie Bianchi, Chief Customer Officer at Palo Alto Networks, concurs and adds:

“AI has the potential to enhance customer trust through personalization, efficiency, and predictive insights, but the risks of data privacy, bias, and loss of transparency are challenges. To build and maintain customer trust in an AI-powered world, organizations need to prioritize transparent, ethical AI practices, ensure data security, and strike the right balance between automation and human interaction. Organizations that clearly communicate how their AI and automation solutions work, why customers should trust its output, and how data is handled will be able to earn and maintain trust in this AI-enhanced future.

By leveraging AI to provide faster support, accelerate time to value, deliver personalized services, and offer real-time insights, organizations can help customers unlock greater value. Prioritizing ethical AI practices and combining automation with human expertise will not only enhance customer trust but also foster deeper, long-lasting relationships. Organizations that strike this balance will stand out as trusted partners in an AI-driven world.”

Comment: Back in 2018, Forrester published some research that introduced the idea of the ‘privacy versus personalization’ paradox, where their research found that 75% of consumers expect a personalised experience, but 49% have privacy and data protection concerns. Since then, and especially in the last couple of years, we have seen an explosion in the capabilities of technology and software. This is only exacerbating those concerns in the minds of consumers with many sources suggesting that their default position seems to be one of mistrust. Brands would do well to not only recognize this but to do something about it if they want to build long-term trusting and loyal relationships with their customers.

10. Contact centers will emerge as real-time data and insight goldmines

Marcel Barrera, Chief of Strategy & Operations at serviceMob, predicts:

“Service and support functions, traditionally seen as cost centers, will emerge as strategic growth engines. Enterprises will dismantle operational silos, aligning service with sales, marketing, and product to create seamless customer journeys. Organizations will realize that service data is no longer just operational—it’s the foundation for predictive customer insights, churn prevention, and cross-sell opportunities. Leaders who elevate service from a reactive to a proactive function will unlock new revenue streams and improve customer lifetime value.”

Suvi Lindfors, Strategic Business Development at Netigate AB, founder at Lumoa, adds:

“It’s a reality that customer care teams spend more time with customers than almost any other department. Traditionally, customer care has been considered a cost center, with most call centers focused on efficiency—reducing cost per contact and the number of interactions. But this tide is turning. Support contact analytics now quantify contact reasons at a granular level, making this data accessible to product, marketing, delivery, and other teams for actionable insights.

For instance, analytics can create alerts for issues such as login problems, notifying the responsible team when contact volumes exceed a specific threshold for a given topic. Data-driven decision-making based on contact reasons transforms a company into a customer-centric organization in no time. In this new paradigm, every contact is seen as valuable. Agents engage with customers to truly understand their needs—not just to meet KPIs—because they trust that each interaction is an asset to the company, not a cost.”

Michael Wallace, AWS Solutions Architecture Leader for Customer Experience at Amazon, goes further and predicts:

“By 2025, AI analytics will transform contact center leaders into the corporate world’s crystal ball gazers. They’ll tap into a goldmine of customer insights, turning every conversation into actionable intelligence. From spotting emerging trends to fine-tuning product development and sharpening marketing strategies, these AI-empowered CX leaders will drive business growth from the frontlines of customer interaction. It’s not just about solving today’s problems—it’s about predicting and shaping tomorrow’s opportunities.”

Comment: Organizations, helped by advances in analytics software, are waking up to the fact that contact centers spend more time talking to customers than any other part of the business. As such, they are sitting on a goldmine of real-time data. This realisation has been a long time coming and, for leading and progressive brands, will see their contact centers play an increasingly important and integral part in their organization’s data-driven decision-making going forward.

11. This will be facilitated by a cultural shift that sees brands taking a more connected, collaborative and whole-organization approach to customer experience.

Dan O’Connell, CEO at Front, predicts:

“This year, there will be less of a focus on how customer support leaders can find their way into C-suite conversations, and instead will focus on how the C-suite can seek out insights from their customer support leads. Customer service teams, and specifically customer service leadership, will play a much more central role in your business’s success in 2025. Leaders should be looking to their customer service team for insights from everything from product fixes to predicting customer churn. Customer service sits on a wealth of insights and a mostly untapped dataset. Figuring out how to turn this valuable conversational data into actionable insights for the organization can and will positively impact strategic decisions across all departments.”

Chris Morrissey, Head of Zoom Contact Center at Zoom, goes further and predicts:

“An AI-first total experience that focuses on connecting agents with the broader organization will differentiate and elevate CX.

In 2025, the customer experience (CX) will be defined by a more connected, collaborative approach across the entire organization. CX will no longer be just the responsibility of the contact center — it will be a company-wide effort, with every department playing a crucial role in shaping and delivering seamless, efficient experiences.

AI will continue to automate more issues, and businesses must recognize that when customers do need to engage with a brand, they require quick, personalized, and accurate answers. To address this pain point, organizations will need to unite their teams, both inside and outside the contact center. This, in combination with AI, will play a pivotal role in breaking down silos, allowing agents to quickly and accurately resolve customer inquiries by connecting them with subject-matter experts from across the organization. This could include billing, product, or field teams. This collaborative, interconnected approach will enable faster problem-solving so customers get the answers they need in real-time, no matter how they engage with the brand.

However, while AI will be an important tool, it won’t be the sole differentiator. The true key to elevating CX lies in creating an environment where shared accountability and collaboration are embedded throughout the entire organization. This approach not only addresses customer needs but also helps agents feel more connected to the broader company. By fostering a sense of value and boosting morale among agents, organizations can deliver better experiences. As customer expectations continue to rise, the need for businesses to evolve into organization-wide CX teams will be critical in delivering a ‘Total Experience’—one that is seamless, personalized, and above all, responsive to customer needs.

By the end of 2025, businesses that embrace this shift will be the ones leading the way in delivering not just great service but also exceptional experiences that truly set them apart. They will successfully balance the efficiency of AI with the human touch so that when customers need to engage with a brand, they receive quick, accurate, and empathetic responses from well-supported and motivated agents.”

Comment: In February 2022, Accenture published a research report called End-to-Endless Customer Service. The report found that, at the time, only one in five companies surveyed viewed the contact center or customer service as a value center. In addition, those who do so experience more than triple the revenue growth of companies still managing service as a cost center. The report goes on to say that making this move takes more than just investing more in the contact center. It requires a “mindset shift around customer service – from treating it as a problem-solving function and a cost center to viewing it as value creation function responsible for delivering memorable customer experiences.” However, mindset shifts are hard and can often take time and lots of effort. Here’s hoping that we are truly starting to see a shift take place towards a more connected, collaborative and whole-organization approach to customer experience.

12. Voice, as a customer engagement channel, will see a surge in popularity

Maik Hummel, Principal AI Evangelist at Parloa, predicts:

“Voice as a customer engagement channel will make a big comeback: The pendulum is swinging back in the direction of phone calls/voice as a dominant customer engagement channel. Even younger consumers, who have been more likely to opt for chat or self-service portals, will be turning to voice in greater numbers.”

Matt Edic, Chief eXperience Officer at IntelePeer, adds:

“Conversational AI and voice-activated services will continue to evolve, becoming more natural and sophisticated. Businesses will integrate these solutions across channels, enabling seamless, human-like interactions that let customers access services hands-free or chat on the go.”

Meanwhile, Xuchen Yao, CEO at Seasalt.ai, predicts:

“Voice AI will emerge as a mainstream solution for managing customer interactions during busy periods and outside of regular business hours. This technology will seamlessly integrate with existing omnichannel communication strategies, providing consistent experiences across both chat and voice interfaces.

Advanced natural language processing capabilities will enable Voice AI systems to handle complex queries and engage in more natural, human-like conversations. By 2025, we can expect Voice AI to manage up to 30% of calls in some contact centers, significantly reducing the workload on human agents. This shift will not only improve response times but also enhance the overall customer experience by providing 24/7 availability and consistent service quality.”

Shailesh Nalawadi, Head of Product at Sendbird, builds on this and predicts:

“Voice interaction will be a standard feature in mobile apps, enhancing convenience and flexibility in customer communication.

Voice interaction will become a common feature in mobile apps, allowing customers to engage with brands through natural, hands-free communication. This shift will be driven by advancements in voice models, which offer a more convenient and flexible alternative to text-based interactions. As businesses aim to enhance user experiences, they will integrate voice capabilities into their apps, making it easier for customers to perform tasks, ask questions, and receive support without needing to type. Before fully integrating these capabilities, companies will need to take a gradual approach, testing voice interaction features in certain scenarios to ensure they meet user expectations. The move toward multimodal communication — combining voice, text and chatbots — will improve accessibility and create more seamless, intuitive customer interactions.”

Comment: As part of my 2023 predictions piece, Colin Crawley, former CX Adviser at Freshworks in his prediction said “Voice memos are one of the most popular ways Gen Z communicates, with a third saying they prefer it over text messages. Gen Z makes up nearly 40% of the U.S. consumer base, so its key businesses jump on the voice memo bandwagon to meet the needs of this demographic.” Consumers, and especially Gen Z consumers, have been using voice, in the form of notes, as a means of communicating and finding out information (search) for years. The advancement in voice AI models is allowing brands to catch up, reply in kind in real-time and offer more sophisticated voice options that are better aligned with consumer behaviour, particularly that of Gen Zers.

13. Despite the challenges generative AI faced in 2024, AI technology will continue its rapid evolution, with leading brands embracing new tools like agentic automation, Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) and composite AI in the coming year.

Anand Janefalkar, co-CEO at UJET, predicts:

“While Large Language Models (LLMs) dominate the current AI landscape, their role in delivering customer experiences (CX) is often limited to enabling human-like text or voice conversations. However, customer’s usage of technology to communicate goes far beyond just voice conversations. People use photos, videos, and other context-rich data—often through their smartphones—to communicate with their friends and family.

Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) will uplevel consumer interactions with the brands they shop at. By incorporating contextual details like photos of damaged items, IoT error codes, GPS data, or app session metadata, LQMs can make interactions more dynamic and personalized. For example, instead of a lengthy back-and-forth about a technical issue, a customer would simply upload a photo, enabling the system to understand the problem and troubleshoot faster and more accurately. This shift will help bring CX into the 21st century, making interactions seamless, intuitive, and more aligned with how we communicate today.”

Katherine Kostereva, CEO at Creatio, adds:

“In 2025, AI will move beyond the fragmented, experimental phase that defined its rapid growth in 2023. Instead, we’ll see a shift toward unified AI stacks—platforms that seamlessly combine machine learning, generative AI, and agentic automation into one cohesive system. This approach will replace the patchwork of specialized tools with smooth, end-to-end automation that feels fully connected.

With unified AI, companies won’t just be reacting to customer needs but anticipating them, meeting customers not just where they are but where they’re going. Imagine a world where every interaction feels effortless, where businesses are so in tune that customers feel genuinely understood and valued. Unified AI stacks will elevate customer experiences, creating intuitive, predictive, and truly satisfying interactions that build lasting relationships.”

Meanwhile, Abby Kearns, Chief Technology Officer at Alembic, predicts:

“Composite AI will help extend the AI revolution beyond 2025: “Composite AI, or combining multiple AI techniques, will emerge as the next step in extending the AI revolution. Because Large Language Models (LLMs) are starting to hit natural performance ceilings when used in isolation, technologists will turn to Composite AI architectures that use LLMs as the orchestrating layer, seamlessly integrating them with specialized AI components like knowledge graphs, symbolic reasoning engines, and traditional machine learning models. This hybrid approach will help overcome LLM limitations such as hallucinations, outdated knowledge, and inability to perform complex calculations or real-time analysis.”

Comment: The number of new AI applications and techniques that are emerging on a weekly and monthly basis is sometimes mind-boggling. However, that pace is not set to let up. I attended Pega’s customer event in June this year, and according to their AI experts at a roundtable at the event, we are currently only scratching the surface of the number of techniques that are potentially available to us or will become available to us in the coming years. In fact, it was posited that we are only using 3-4% of the possible tools and techniques that potentially are in the AI toolbox. Here’s hoping that the lessons from previous years can be learned to prevent the recurrence of familiar problems and that a quicker path to value and better outcomes can be quickly realized.

14. Despite rising calls for the regulation of AI, global alignment in 2025 will remain elusive.

TJ Leonard, CEO at Storyblocks, predicts:

“The AI industry reaches a critical juncture in 2025. While we’ve seen promising steps toward self-regulation, history — and especially tech history — teaches us one thing: Self-governance alone is insufficient. We need adaptive, balanced regulations that keep pace with rapidly advancing AI capabilities.

However, the current policy landscape is dominated by tech giants, sidelining smaller players and risking anti-competitive outcomes. As we approach this pivotal year, the industry must foster a more inclusive dialogue, bringing diverse voices — from startups to creators and artists — into the conversation.

In the coming years, we’ll see a shift toward more comprehensive, flexible regulatory frameworks. These will need to strike a delicate balance between encouraging innovation and ensuring responsible development. As a result, companies will increasingly seek ethical data licensing partnerships and prioritize transparent, accountable AI models.”

Nikola Mrkšić, Co-founder and CEO at PolyAI, adds:

“Because of the prominence and popularity of AI-powered tools, the race for regulation has begun, though the finish line remains elusive. The EU has put forth a comprehensive AI act, but that won’t begin to take effect for a while still. However, meaningful global AI regulation faces a crucial geopolitical reality: without alignment between the U.S. and China, arguably the world’s current AI superpowers, any regulatory framework will struggle to gain traction. And, despite the many impressive strides that have been made in AI technology recently, this tech is still in its infancy. Regulating it too early could potentially hamper competitiveness and kill innovation before it has the chance to bloom. We’re likely to see a period of regulatory uncertainty in the coming year, but one thing is clear: effective AI governance will require not just technical expertise, but adept diplomatic maneuvering between global powers.”

Comment: There is increasing agreement that some form of global AI regulation would be welcome. However, current geopolitical realities mean that global alignment and agreement on what sort of regulation is required and how it will be enforced is, as things stand, a distant prospect. In the meantime, regional efforts will try and plug the gap, but until they are in place, consumers will have to rely on organizations to govern and regulate themselves. How transparently they do this will play a key part in how, as mentioned earlier, they are able to build trust with their customers.

15. And, finally, customer experience in the B2B space is primed to take some big steps forward.

Ken Tantsura, Senior Vice-President, Head of Innovations at Customertimes, predicts:

“CX will become a cornerstone for the industries that traditionally don`t rely on it.

One of the industries that surprisingly started to rely on CX is manufacturing. Servitization, the strategy where businesses shift from solely selling products to offering a blend of products and value-added services to meet customer needs, has become quite a trend recently, as it helps producers build long-term relationships with the clients, build better customer experience, and raise loyalty to manufacturers.

Take, for instance, Rolls-Royce’s “Power by the Hour” model for aircraft engines. Instead of selling engines outright or charging separately for maintenance, Rolls-Royce offers a service where airlines pay based on the engine’s operational hours. This model includes comprehensive maintenance, repair, and spare parts, ensuring optimal performance and reliability. By monetizing its engine health data, Rolls-Royce provides predictive maintenance for aircraft engines, generating over $5 billion annually and comprising over half of its Civil Aerospace revenue.

Adding a continuous customer experience component in the manufacturing business model through leveraging servitization could generate $1 trillion in additional revenues for global manufacturers by 2030, according to McKinsey.”

Thomas Lah, Executive Director at TSIA, adds:

“B2B companies have always driven a majority of their revenues through a direct sales force or a partner ecosystem with sales representatives close to the customer. B2C companies have proven significant revenues can be driven through digital channels. B2B companies, under pressure to maintain or improve profitability, will begin to lean into digital channels such as product led growth (customer buys through the product) and digital sales agents.”

Comment: For too long, too many B2B firms have dragged their heels when it comes to investing in customer experience. That seems set to change given that according to recent Forrester research, Millenials and Gen Zers, who are largely digitally native, now represent more than 71% of B2B buyers. For these customers, as well as others, this change will not come soon enough.

 

That’s it for predictions from me this year.

Thank you to everyone who sent me predictions to consider.

If yours didn’t make it, I apologize. But I did have a long list to whittle down.

However, of the fifteen themes that have emerged, I think there are some decent bets in there.

Let’s see what happens.

 

 

This article was originally published on Forbes.com.

Image credit: Photo by Chase Clark on Unsplash