Silicon and Soul: The CX Balancing Act of 2025

The CX leaders who stand out will be the ones who blend sharp tech with strong values and a human touch.

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Welcome to the DCX weekly roundup of customer experience insights!

AI is everywhere, and for CX leaders, it’s opening up some big questions. Not just about what’s possible—but about what really matters.

This week’s stories highlight a clear shift: efficiency isn’t enough.

Customers want connection, trust, and experiences that feel personal, not robotic.

From apps that all look the same, to AI fraud already outsmarting systems, to super-apps changing how customers find you—there’s a lot at stake.

Lets dig in.

-Mark

This week’s must-read links:

• Why CX Leaders Need Both Silicon and Soul
• Banking Apps Are Fine. And That’s the Problem.
• Forrester: CX Is Stuck—and Slipping
• AI Fraud Isn’t Coming—It’s Already Here
• The AI Super-App Layer Is Already Taking Over
• Design AI in Layers, Not Silos

Why CX Leaders Need Both Silicon and Soul

In this standout piece by Cornelia C. Walther, Ph.D., the message is clear: the real opportunity with AI isn’t more efficiency—it’s more humanity. If we do it right, AI can help leaders get back to what actually makes work meaningful: purpose, connection, and people who feel like they matter.

Why it matters: Most orgs are great at chasing KPIs and quarterly gains. But in the process, they’ve sidelined the human stuff—trust, empathy, creativity. Walther argues it’s time to bring that back, and AI might be the tool that helps us do it.

• Prosocial AI is a new way to think about tech: not replacing people, but boosting their judgment, agency, and collaboration.
• The future isn’t human vs. machine—it’s Hybrid Intelligence, where each plays to their strengths.
• Great CX (and leadership) will come from double literacy: emotional smarts and algorithm know-how.
• The key question: Are you using AI to reinforce your values—or just automate your inbox?

Try this: Rewire your CX strategy to prioritize both human agency and AI capability. Use automation to free your people for what only they can do: listen, connect, and lead with meaning.

🔗 Learn more→ Source

Banking Apps Are Fine. And That’s the Problem.

J.D. Power’s latest rankings are in: most bank and credit card apps are faster, cleaner, and technically better than ever. But ask a customer to tell them apart? Good luck.

Why it matters: Everyone’s nailed the basics—login is smooth, security’s tighter, and designs look modern. But nobody’s standing out, and that’s a growing problem as customer expectations outpace innovation.

• Satisfaction scores are up, but only slightly. Think “polite nod,” not wild applause.
• Multifactor authentication actually helps now—it's smoother and makes people feel safer.
• Virtual assistants? Mostly a letdown. Too limited, too robotic, and nowhere near the AI smarts customers expect.
• The real issue: These apps all follow the same playbook. No bold moves, no personalization, no surprise-and-delight.

Try this: Stop chasing parity and start chasing wow. Use AI to actually know your customer, not just serve them. The ones who break the mold now will own the relationship later.

🔗 Read the article → J.D. Power

Forrester: CX Is Stuck—and Slipping

Forrester’s 2025 Global CX Index just dropped—and the results aren’t pretty. Across 13 countries and 469 brands, only 6% improved, while 21% declined. The rest? Flatlined.

Why it matters: CX is in a global rut. The gap between brand intention and customer reality is widening—and it’s costing loyalty, growth, and share of wallet.

• In North America, CX hit an all-time low: 25% of brands declined for the second year in a row.
• Effectiveness, ease, and emotion all trended downward in most US industries.
• Europe saw small gains in banking, but 90% of brand scores held steady.
• Asia Pacific was hit hardest: 37% of brands lost ground.
• Only one elite brand (US National Park Service) saw a statistically significant CX score jump.

Try this: Stop assuming incremental tech upgrades will move the needle. Refocus on employee experience, emotional connection, and clear customer value—or prepare for more red ink.

🔗 Read the article → Forrester

AI Fraud Isn’t Coming—It’s Already Here

In this punchy wake-up call, Joe Procopio argues that we’re looking at AI fraud all wrong. The real threat isn’t a deepfake conning your mom—it’s AI learning to exploit the very systems we trust, bypassing humans altogether.

Why it matters: CX and tech leaders keep chasing frictionless, one-click experiences—but those same conveniences are the weak spots AI-powered scammers are already probing.

• Today’s AI isn’t just tricking people—it’s learning how to trick systems: password resets, identity checks, bank flows.
• The rise of “agentic AI” means bots could soon defraud your systems with no humans in the loop.
• We’re overly focused on consumer education, while back-end defenses remain soft and outdated.
• Procopio compares this to the ‘automatic seatbelt’ era—regulation will come, and probably clumsily, unless we act first.

Try this: Audit your CX systems for security gaps where speed has replaced verification. Build in smart friction—before the regulators force dumb friction.

🔗 Read the article → Medium

The AI Super-App Layer Is Already Taking Over

Zoe Scaman’s field notes from the heart of Silicon Valley read like dispatches from the near future. Her takeaway? LLMs aren’t just tools anymore—they’re becoming the interface, the identity layer, and the middleman between you and your customer.

Why it matters: The customer no longer comes to you. They go to their AI assistant—and it decides if you’re worth showing up at all.

• ChatGPT, Meta AI, Perplexity and Gemini are racing to become the default layer for search, discovery, and transactions.
• Loyalty is shifting upstream—to the super-apps mediating experience, not the brands inside them.
• LLMs may soon act as identity brokers, remembering preferences, context, and behaviors across brands.
• Agentic commerce is on the rise: bots buying from bots, skipping your site altogether.
• If your products aren’t machine-readable or semantically indexed, they won’t exist in these systems.

Try this: Rebuild your digital playbook for a world where AI is the entry point—not your website. Make sure your data, offers, and experience architecture are designed for machines and humans.

🔗 Read the article → Source

Design AI in Layers, Not Silos

AI isn’t just a tool—it’s a lens for rethinking how the customer journey is mapped, designed, and improved. Jehad Affoneh, Chief Design Officer at Toast, offers a practical framework for layering AI into CX in a way that actually works, starting with five distinct views of the customer journey.

Why it matters: Most CX teams leap straight into AI with bots or LLM pilots—but skip the foundational work that actually makes those tools transformative. Affoneh’s “layered” journey mapping makes sure AI doesn’t just exist in your experience—it elevates it.

• Start with the customer’s end-to-end journey—but don’t stop there.
• Map internal team workflows too. CX is a cross-functional output.
• Highlight admin tasks ripe for AI: repetitive, time-consuming, low-value.
• Audit communications inside the customer’s ecosystem (and yours).
• Imagine the journey from scratch in an AI-native world.

Try this: Before building that next AI prototype, revisit your journey maps. Do they include internal operations? Do they identify where AI would actually reduce friction or increase value? If not, start there.

🔗 Read the article → Source

Thank you!

I hope you found value in this week’s links. See you next Sunday!

If this edition sparked ideas, share it with a colleague or team member. Let’s grow the DCX community together!

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👋 Please Reach Out

I created this newsletter to help customer-obsessed pros like you deliver exceptional experiences and tackle challenges head-on. But honestly? The best part is connecting with awesome, like-minded people—just like you! 😊

Here’s how you can get involved:

• Got feedback? Tell me what’s working, what’s not, or what you’d love to see next.
• Stuck on something? Hit me up whether it’s a CX challenge, strategy question, or team issue—I’m here to help.
• Just want to say hi? Seriously, don’t be shy. I’d love to connect, share ideas, or even swap success stories.

Your input keeps this newsletter fresh and valuable. Let’s start a conversation—email me, DM me, or comment anytime. I can’t wait to hear from you!

— Mark

www.marklevy.co

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