Miranda Collard, the Chief Executive Officer of the Americas region including TP in Australia, the world’s leading digital business services companies operating in close to 100 countries, shares her insights on how AI is reshaping the way business engage with customers.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the customer experience in Australia at a remarkable pace. It is not another tech upgrade; it’s a structural reset of how business operates and redefining not just how organisations engage with customers, but the very roles required to deliver those experiences effectively.
Rather than just enhancing existing processes, AI enables entirely new ways of understanding and faster decision-making. It can predict market trends and consumer behaviour which is crucial in giving businesses the foresight to adjust their strategies and pricing.
AI is not diminishing the importance of human contribution in customer experience (CX) but elevating it. By automating routine tasks and providing deeper insights, AI enables people to focus on empathy, creativity, and complex problem-solving.
In a service economy, the basics still matter and the human element will always remain crucial, as it is not realistically possible to automate crucial, emotionally charged interactions.
We will still need people who are equipped to handle end customers with empathy and skill - whether it’s a bank assisting a distressed customer, an insurer handling a claim after a natural disaster, or a telecommunications provider dealing with a vulnerable client.
That’s where emotional intelligence (EI) and authentic connection are irreplaceable and will become the true competitive advantage, particularly in a market where customer expectations continue to rise.
For CX, no algorithm can compensate for a business that fails to answer the phone or resolve a complaint properly.
At the leadership level, uncertainty about emerging technology remains a major barrier.
An annual survey of C-suite executives indicated that 63 per cent of leaders rated new technologies as the number one concern, with digital transformation and optimisation ranking second at 53 per cent.
There are also technical barriers. Research from Dataiku shows 95 per cent of chief information officers now brief their boards on AI performance at least quarterly. Yet 85 per cent say explainability gaps and the difficulty of understanding how AI systems reach their conclusions have delayed or halted projects.
In sectors such as banking, telecommunications, insurance and technology, leaders will soon have to confront fundamental questions about how AI reshapes their business models, workforces and customer relationships.
Successful companies will be those that balance automation with human insight and investment in workforce capability.
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