Customer expectations, customer experience (CX) technology and the experiences consumers have across a variety of industries are continually evolving. This can leave CX leaders wondering if they’re on the right course. Two ways to be sure are understanding consumer preferences and knowing what other CX leaders are prioritizing.

The fourth edition of “The State of Customer Experience” report, which is based on a global survey of 5,157 consumers and 1,181 CX leaders, helps to shed light on those preferences and priorities. This article shares some key takeaways and guidance from the survey of CX leaders. Read the full report for more insights, including findings from our consumer survey.

This year’s report highlights several key trends that CX organizations need to watch:

  • Artificial intelligence (AI) in CX continues to gain ground: 64% of consumers in our survey believe that AI will improve the quality and speed of customer service over the next two to three years. And 42% of CX leaders in our survey said that increasing the use of AI to improve experiences is a top priority. This focus is reflected by the roughly one-third (33%) of CX budgets that leaders expect will go to AI-powered technologies in the next year. Two-thirds of CX leaders believe AI will drive all proactive customer service within three years.
  • Consumers want seamless, personalized omnichannel experiences: 97% of consumers surveyed say it’s important to switch channels without losing context, yet only 16% of CX leaders surveyed say their organizations offer multiple channels with completely integrated technology and data to enable this.
  • Cloud adoption needs to accelerate: Only about one-third of CX organizations have fully migrated to cloud platforms according to our survey, which is a major roadblock to deploying AI and improving efficiency. Just over half (56%) of CX leaders surveyed plan to move to cloud-based CX technology in the next two years.
  • The connection between CX and business success is undeniable: 82% of consumers surveyed globally believe a company is only as good as its service. And 30% of consumers surveyed have stopped doing business with a company in the past year due to poor service.

However, the report uncovers a clear gap between expectations and reality, with only 11% of consumers surveyed saying the service they receive is consistently excellent. Let’s look at some of the areas where CX leaders are focusing.

CX Leaders Cite Challenges Around Pace, Technology — but Are Prioritizing Solutions

CX leaders surveyed cite keeping pace with customers’ rising expectations as their greatest challenge, followed closely by keeping pace with rapidly evolving technology for customer and employee experiences.

Looking at the top challenges reveals a few themes — CX leaders are grappling with ensuring they have the right staff and that employees are equipped to provide great service. They’re concerned about the impact of legacy technology on their ability to improve customer and employee experiences.

Managing the increasing volumes of data needed to understand the customer journey across channels and enable advanced AI is also a challenge. And they have an eye on the regulatory landscape and the need to ensure compliance.

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Strategic priorities for these CX leaders in the next one to two years revolve around solving a few challenges, including:

  • Increasing customer understanding and personalization (cited by 43% of CX leaders in our survey).
  • Increasing the use of AI to improve the customer experience (42%).
  • Enhancing data capabilities for real-time insights, analytics and reporting (38%).

Organizations are also addressing the employee experience (EX); 37% of CX leaders surveyed cite improving EX through new and existing technology as a top strategic priority.

CX Leaders and Consumers Value Different Aspects of Interactions

CX leaders say the most valuable attribute in a customer interaction is customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction also tops the list of metrics that these leaders are tracking, followed by new customer acquisitions and customer retention. While an overall focus on customer satisfaction can only be seen as a positive, it

In our survey, consumers said that first-contact resolution is the most important aspect of an interaction — but CX leaders rank it ninth. A fast response was the second-most-valued attribute in an interaction according to consumers, and CX leaders ranked it fourth.

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What CX leaders value in a customer service interaction and perceived effectiveness

Only 32% of CX leaders surveyed are tracking first-contact resolution, which may help to explain why leaders prioritize it much lower than consumers. Aligning CX metrics more closely with what consumers say is important and with what drives business value can help organizations ensure they’re delivering on the right aspects of experiences.

The Omnichannel and Personalization Gaps

If they were guaranteed personalized experiences, just over half of consumers in our survey said they’d be willing to pay more, and 77% of consumers said they’d likely recommend a brand to a friend. Yet less than half (42%) of CX leaders in our survey said the service experiences they offer are extremely personalized.

Consumers are regularly interacting in multiple channels. And they place high value on being able to seamlessly switch between channels and have the context of the interaction move with them. In fact, in our survey, 97% of consumers said they believe this is important, alongside 86% of CX leaders.

But as mentioned earlier, there’s work to be done. Only 16% of CX leaders surveyed say that their organizations have fully integrated technology and data across channels.

Internal issues cited by CX leaders we surveyed that are inhibiting seamless customer journeys include siloed departments with separate customer engagement solutions, competing departmental priorities, and a lack of consolidated or shared data.

This means that many companies still operate in silos, frustrating customers with disjointed interactions. It also means that consumers must sometimes provide the same information multiple times when moving from one channel to another, which roughly 20% of consumers surveyed say is frustrating.

The good news is that CX leaders are optimistic about the future of omnichannel, with 72% of those surveyed believing that, in the next three years, customers won’t need to repeat themselves. To achieve that, CX leaders should invest in platforms that integrate data from all customer touchpoints and ensure that context is passed along as customers move from channel to channel.

AI and Cloud Adoption: The Future of CX

CX organizations are bullish on AI. So are consumers, with 62% of consumers surveyed for “The State of Customer Experience” saying they believe AI will improve an organization’s ability to provide more personalized customer service. And 64% of consumers believe that AI will improve the quality and speed of customer service over the next two to three years.

The second-highest strategic CX priority in the next one to two years, according to CX leaders in our survey, is increasing the use of AI (42%). Leaders are so bullish on AI that most expect their organization to allocate 33% of their CX-related budget to AI-powered technologies in the next 12 months. Other AI-related priorities include enhancing data capabilities (cited by 38% of CX leaders) and reducing data silos (23%).

One hindrance standing in the way of more robust adoption of AI is the CX technology many organizations use. Only about one-third of CX organizations have fully migrated to cloud platforms, according to our survey. Without the right cloud-based CX platform, companies risk falling behind competitors who leverage AI to personalize experiences, assist agents, and increase self-service.

Staying Ahead in the Experience Economy

CX leaders who want to successfully pilot their organizations into the future should follow a few key pieces of guidance.

Deliver personalized, omnichannel experiences: Consumers are comfortable interacting in multiple channels, but they want context to flow from channel to channel. They also want the ability to reach a human when that’s their preference. CX organizations should invest in platforms that integrate multiple channels and connect to other systems of record, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM), to build a full view of the customer’s journey.

Adopt AI across the customer journey: From hyperpersonalization to virtual agents to agent copilots, AI can increase efficiency and open up new ways to delight customers. And with almost two-thirds of consumers surveyed believing AI will improve the quality and speed of customer service over the next two to three years, organizations that ethically and transparently adopt AI will likely find a receptive base of consumers.

Embrace cloud-based platforms: The cloud offers multiple benefits, including scalability, continuous innovation and access to the most sophisticated AI tools. But many organizations have yet to move their CX platforms fully to the cloud. Moving to the cloud will allow those organizations to level the playing field, provide exceptional experiences and set them up to gain a competitive advantage.

To learn more about how consumers and CX leaders globally view customer experience and to gain insights to help you level up, download “The State of Customer Experience” report today.

Methodology: Genesys worked with an independent research firm to survey 5,157 consumers and 1,181 CX decision-makers in more than 16 countries. The survey was conducted in September and October of 2024. Among the business respondents, the industries represented were airlines, automotive, banking, government, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, media and entertainment, professional services, retail, travel and hospitality, technology, telecommunications, and utilities.