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InterviewCX AI31m · 09:01 GMT · 4 min read
Why CX Needs to Go Back to Basics in the Age of AI
As customers deploy their own AI agents, EY’s Laurence Buchanan shares why CX leaders must return to basics: trust, empathy, and a distinctive value proposition. He explains why cost-led AI can backfire and what that means for customer loyalty and lifetime value.
Every week brings another product launch, another pilot, and another promise that AI will fix the customer experience. For many CX teams, keeping up has become the strategy.
But the pace of change is hitting customers as well as companies. If both sides feel overwhelmed, the organizations that win may be the ones that stop chasing tools and start with the customer.
Laurence Buchanan, Global Leader at EY Studio+, tells CX Today why the answer to rising customer expectations may be to slow down and take CX back to basics. He also warns that customers are about to bring their own AI agents into the conversation.
What Does Going Back to Basics Mean for CX?
Buchanan describes customer expectations as rising “like hyperinflation,” and says that has pushed many companies into a reactive cycle of jumping from pilot to pilot. His answer is to pause and work backward from the customer:
“Back to basics is actually just saying let’s pause for a moment and let’s put the customer at the heart of our business and work backwards.”
He sees it as a philosophy, not a project. If a business understands its customers’ wants and needs, he argues, it stands a better chance of building differentiated products and experiences, and of aligning the organization behind them.
What Separates CX Winners From the Rest?
According to Buchanan, the leaders are not necessarily the ones implementing technology fastest. He points to three habits: building deep empathy with customers, using technology to create differentiation, and what he calls relentless execution.
He also cites EY’s Future Consumer Study, which found that 65% of consumers feel digitally overwhelmed and 79% want technology only if it makes their lives simpler and more convenient.
On execution, he says there is no shortcut:
“Behind every brilliant customer experience is a supply chain that needs aligning, is people, skills and culture that needs aligning, is a whole ecosystem of different providers that needs aligning.”
Why Has Trust Become the Currency of CX?
Buchanan says consumer trust in organizations is at an all-time low. In the same study, he notes that about two-thirds of customers said their skepticism had increased and that they now trust independent experts more than corporate brands.
That makes trust both fragile and essential. A broken promise, a misuse of data, or a poor support call can undo years of reputation, and in a world where AI plays a bigger part in the customer journey. Buchanan describes trust like this:
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