Customer engagement and experience (CX) are in the midst of one more big shift due to recent technology and changing customer behaviors. So businesses are turning to AI to personalize interactions, boost satisfaction and improve efficiency—all while driving revenue. Two recent reports provide essential insights into today’s CX landscape, investment trends and AI’s growing role.
CX is now not nearly keeping customers comfortable—it’s a key driver of business results and the C-suite knows it. According to Nextiva’s 2025 CX Landscape report, 89% of CX decision-makers say their execs understand CX’s impact on profit margins. Most leaders now see CX as a revenue driver (79%) fairly than a price center (21%).
No surprise, this has made it easier to get CX investments OK’d — 67% of respondents say it’s less of a battle than five years ago. Furthermore, nearly all firms (94%) have seen ROI on their major CX investments.
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However, there’s a difference between getting ROI and getting the ROI you wish. According to The Future of Customer Engagement from Apply Digital, only 5% of senior execs said personalization engines were delivering sufficient ROI. Only 15% said this about rewards and loyalty programs. Nearly the identical numbers said this about those methods and customer lifetime value.
Yikes.
Even so, 47% of respondents in the Apply Digital report proceed to see loyalty and rewards programs as a robust tool for repeat business.
AI’s expanding role in customer engagement
AI’s importance in CX is an accepted fact. Ninety-three percent of senior leaders in The Future of Customer Engagement Report say AI is a key a part of their current strategy. Key doesn’t mean up and running, though. The 2025 CX Landscape Report found 24% of companies are only getting began with AI and 31% are actually actively implementing it.
As all the time, one major challenge is data. The 2025 CX Landscape Report found that 86% of firms struggle with customer data being spread across different systems. Other hurdles include customer resistance to vary, lack of internal expertise and budget constraints. The Future of Customer Engagement Report found that customer resistance was the most important challenge (90%), with other aspects like budget limitations and data collection difficulties also rating high.
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However, practice with AI pays off. The more experience and investment firms put into AI, the greater the returns. According to The 2025 CX Landscape Report, 84% of mature AI adopters say they’re getting high value from their investment.
Balancing AI and the human touch
While AI can enhance customer engagement, it really works best when paired with human interaction. A powerful handoff between AI and human agents is essential — 98% of respondents in the 2025 CX Landscape Report agree. However, many CX leaders are still determining the way to make that transition seamless. One major roadblock? Employee resistance — 36% of firms report pushback when implementing AI-human handoffs.
To overcome this, businesses must innovate how AI and employees work together. Features like supervisory monitoring and real-time agent support can improve workflows. When employees feel empowered by AI, they’re more satisfied — 51% of firms which have made major AI investments say their employees are extremely comfortable with the outcomes.
Methodologies
Nextiva’s 2025 CX Landscape report is based on a web based survey of greater than 1,000 CX leaders with decision-making responsibility at firms with greater than 100 employees in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The full report might be found here.
Apply Digital’s Future of Customer Engagement report is based on a survey of 500 senior leaders at U.S. and Canadian firms with greater than $500 million in annual revenue. The report might be found here.
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