How To Create Concierge-Level Experiences In An AI-Fueled World

LeadershipLeadership StrategiesHow To Create Concierge-Level Experiences In An AI-Fueled WorldByShep Hyken,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, author & keynote speaker.Follow AuthorMay 17, 2026, 08:00am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Even when using AI, give customers a concierge-level experience.gettyIt doesn’t matter what business or industry you are in, B2B or B2C, customer service and customer experience (CX) are essential to surviving. Competitors will try to take your business. Often, they sell the same or similar products or solutions and use pricing strategies to lure customers away. So, the goal is to separate yourself from the competition. To de-commoditize your business, you must offer value, and that’s where CX comes in.Many business leaders believe AI can improve the customer experience. One of the mistakes they make is thinking it can handle most, if not all, of the customer experience. But it can’t! And, more importantly, it shouldn’t!Even if it could take care of most everything related to CX, there’s danger. Once you take the relationship out of the experience, and by that I mean the communication between customers and employees, you are a true commodity. There’s no relationship. There’s no differentiation. One of the ways companies choose to differentiate is through price, because everything else is the same.That brings us to insights from John Kim, CEO of Sendbird, who joined me on Amazing Business Radio to talk about AI and how it is impacting CX, both positively and negatively, and how you can give customers a concierge-level experience.Tools like AI and CRM Are Built to Manage Transactions, Not Understand CustomersAccording to Kim, much of the tension in customer service today is that most of the solutions are designed around the transaction, not the customer. Ki...