Forrester Says AI Stress-Tests CX Strategy
AI forces companies to clarify customer experience strategies, exposing gaps in decision-making. Forrester reports that AI changes the equation for CX leadership.
Original reporting · forrester.com
Original: “Why AI Is About To Stress-Test Your CX Strategy”
Read “Why AI Is About To Stress-Test Your CX Strategy” at Forrester →
How this was written. ABM Fuel wrote this article with a language model from Forrester’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from Forrester’s report
- AI forces companies to clarify customer experience strategies, exposing gaps in decision-making.
- Companies must distinguish between values, ambitions, and executable strategy to prepare for an agentic future.
- Forrester recommends making customer strategy executable before scaling AI, by defining customer value and specifying acceptable trade-offs.
- AI can be used as a catalyst to improve strategy itself, by tightening decision-making, governance, and accountability.
- The deployment of AI will expose gaps in customer strategy that have been hidden by employee judgment.
Companies have written ambitious customer experience (CX) strategies, but these statements often lack robust guidance for consistent decision-making, according to Forrester. Employees have historically compensated for this limitation by using their judgment to navigate ambiguity and fill strategic gaps.
However, the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) changes this equation, as AI agents do not instinctively understand trade-offs and require explicit instructions. This means that companies must distinguish between values, ambitions, and executable strategy to prepare for an agentic future.
Forrester reported that unleashing an AI agent to serve customers based on a current CX strategy would quickly expose uncomfortable realities. The agent would need clear answers to questions such as what delight means in practice, which customers should receive priority service, and when customer value should outweigh margin protection.
To address this issue, Forrester recommends making customer strategy executable before scaling AI. This involves defining what customer value means, specifying acceptable trade-offs, and quantifying success using measurable metrics. Companies must also document escalation thresholds and exception conditions, and translate principles into decision rules.
Forrester suggests using AI as a catalyst to improve strategy itself, by treating agent deployment as an opportunity to tighten decision-making, governance, and accountability. This includes mapping critical customer decisions, aligning incentives, and instrumenting decision points with measurable feedback loops.
The deployment of AI will expose gaps in customer strategy that have been hidden by employee judgment, according to Forrester. The company has explored this tension in its new report, The AI Chief Customer Officer, and offers a CX strategy template to stress-test current strategies.
As companies move forward with AI, they must prioritize removing ambiguity and adding intelligence to their CX strategies. This will require a focus on operational decisions, governance, and accountability, as well as a willingness to continuously refine rules based on observed outcomes.
Questions and answers
What happens when an AI agent is unleashed to serve customers based on a current CX strategy?
The agent's questions would quickly expose uncomfortable realities, such as what delight means in practice and which customers should receive priority service.
How can companies prepare for an agentic future?
Companies must focus on removing ambiguity and adding intelligence to their CX strategies, by defining customer value and specifying acceptable trade-offs.
What is the role of AI in improving customer experience strategy?
AI can be used as a catalyst to improve strategy itself, by treating agent deployment as an opportunity to tighten decision-making, governance, and accountability.
