TLDR: Cisco has unveiled its latest customer experience (CX) predictions, emphasizing the transformative role of AI, hyper-personalization, and proactive engagement. A recent global research report indicates that agentic AI is expected to handle 68% of all customer service and support interactions with technology vendors by 2028, with 56% anticipated within the next 12 months.
Cisco is charting a new course for customer experience (CX), with artificial intelligence (AI) at its core, according to recent announcements and a global research report. The company’s vision centers on leveraging AI, particularly generative and agentic AI, to deliver proactive, predictive, and highly personalized services throughout the entire customer lifecycle. This strategic shift aims to move beyond traditional reactive support to anticipate and address customer needs before they arise.
Key insights from Cisco’s research, which surveyed nearly 8,000 business and technical decision-makers across 30 countries, highlight the rapid adoption of agentic AI in customer interactions. The report, titled ‘The Race to an Agentic Future: How Agentic AI Will Transform Customer Experience,’ predicts that a significant 68% of all customer service and support interactions with technology vendors will be handled by agentic AI by 2028. Even more strikingly, over half (56%) of these interactions are expected to be managed by agentic AI within the next 12 months, underscoring the accelerated pace of this transformation.
Cisco describes agentic AI as ‘the most transformative technology to impact customer experience in decades.’ The research reveals that 93% of respondents believe agentic AI will enable more personalized, proactive, and predictive services. Furthermore, 88% are confident that an AI-led CX approach will help their organizations achieve broader objectives, such as enhancing IT environment efficiency, resilience, and security, and accelerating strategic IT projects.
Despite the rapid rise of AI, the importance of human connection remains paramount. The survey found that 89% of customers emphasize the need to combine human interaction with AI efficiency to optimize experiences. This suggests that AI is seen as an augmentation tool, empowering human agents to work smarter and deliver better customer outcomes, rather than a complete replacement.
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Cisco’s CX strategy involves digitizing decades of historical knowledge, standardizing workflows, and developing AI-powered tools, including intelligent agents, delivered through unified platforms. This integrated AI approach aims to provide a more connected and intelligent customer journey, from initial planning and deployment to ongoing operations and renewals. By leveraging cross-domain data, AI-driven insights can help customers understand deviations, proactively identify potential issues like security vulnerabilities, and receive predictive recommendations across all phases. This represents a fundamental shift from reactive ‘break-fix’ models to proactive and predictive prevention, offering significantly more value to customers.
