Technology conferences often follow a familiar arc. Product launches. Customer stories. A few bold predictions. But atTwilio Signal 2025, something more ambitious was underway: a reframing of what “customer engagement” means in the age of artificial intelligence. Hold on tight; this is a big one.

This SAP Connect 2025 Customer CX Keynote features leaders from Boeing, Wela, and Migros, and explored how to create loyalty-led growth through superior customer experiences, and for anyone using SAP and wanting deeper customer engagement, this is a must-see keynote!

COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT:  Executive will lead all customer-facing teams for award-winning job management software provider

GUEST OPINION:  In this article, Richard Lundgren from Calabrio discussed how the modern contact centre is enhanced by AI, but also requires an element of human focus. 

 GUEST RESEARCH:  New research fromSOTI shows that instore shopping expectations have shifted, with speed and support now top priorities for Australian consumers. According to the study, 85% of shoppers say that the speed at which they can access a store, locate their item and complete payment is critical to a positive experience. A further 83% say that receiving help quickly from retail staff when they need it significantly impacts how they feel about their visit.

COMPANY NEWS:  Revenue Lifecycle Management Leader Received the Highest Scores for Usability, Customer Experience, Product Experience, Capability and TCO/ROI Out of 18 Vendors

COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT:  Manhattan Associates (NASDAQ: MANH) has announced its latest round of product enhancements, rolling out significant new capabilities acrossManhattan Active Omni, with updates designed to elevate customer experiences and speed of use.

GUEST RESEARCH:  Using AI to improve customer experience will deliver over $2 trillion AUD in business value, but only 7% of Aussie execs want to lead the way. Aussie organisations lag global peers in making customer experience a critical priority

We have all been there. Tried to cancel a reservation last minute. Received an online order and realised an item is missing so you jump onto a live chat. Maybe you have an item you need to return but it’s been a week. What’s the stores return policy? Where do I ship the item too? It is often the same script, repeated with varying levels of success. What we remember though isn’t the process or really how long it took. We are more concerned with asking ourselves the simple question, did they resolve my query today. More so, these interactions we want to have with businesses are usually done at a time that suits us. Life is tough enough, so when it comes time to do some administrative work, we want that to be seamless and on our terms.

COMPANY NEWS: Rapid Circle has worked with Village Roadshow Group to improve cross-site coordination and enhance stakeholder responsiveness with a modern Microsoft Teams Phone solution, designed and delivered to improve productivity and customer experience.

• Great Southern Bank has reduced customer wait times to just 30 seconds for 80% of calls, demonstrating a significant improvement in operational efficiency, response and service quality.
• The cloud based NICECXone system has empowered Great Southern Bank’s contact centre agents to resolve customer inquiries more effectively, contributing to higher customer satisfaction and streamlined operations.
• Optus and NICE’s partnership with Great Southern Bank showcase a commitment to leveraging advanced technology for real-world impact, supporting customers during times of financial distress and enhancing overall service reliability.

COMPANY NEWS: Following its successful implementation in two of Great Southern Bank’s national hubs, Optus, one of Australia’s leading telecommunication providers and Australia’s largest contact centre service provider is rolling out the contact centre of the future experience across further bank locations. To fulfil this project Optus, selected NICE, a global leader in AI-powered self-service and agent-assisted customer experience (CX) software for contact centres to overhaul the bank’s contact centre operations and deliver a more positive customer and employee experience.

This award underscores Medallia’s commitment to delivering seamless customer experiences at every touchpoint across Officeworks’ operations

COMPANY NEWS: Medallia, the global leader in customer and employee experience, has been named "Partner of the Year – Customer Experience" by Officeworks as part of their yearly internal event for suppliers, Partner Meeting, held recently.

Telecommunications company Vocus Group, has selected Gentrack to implement a modern billing system and customer experience product suite.

Customer experiences and information discovery have evolved since the creation of the first search engine and simple keyword search. As modern computing gets faster, user expectations continue to accelerate. Speed, relevance, and customised experiences are now the baseline of customer expectations. An impressive75% of customers say they’ll likely spend more on a business that gives them great service.

New digital experience practice will harness AI for enhanced customer engagement and business innovation

COMPANY NEWS: Cognizant announced the launch of Cognizant Moment™, the next evolution of the company's digital experience practice area, designed to help clients leverage the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to reimagine customer experience and engineer innovative strategies aimed at driving growth.

When it comes to customer experience, NICE says "almost" isn't good enough. That's why it's pivoted to make a platform that solidly puts customers at the heart of all it does.

Well-known global messaging platform Burst SMS is now Kudosity, reflecting the brand's curiosity about its customer's customers, which in turn leads to insights to innovation to value - to kudos. Hence, Kudosity.

J.P. Morgan Payments integrates with BillingPlatform to provide its Treasury Services and Trade Finance businesses with flexible cloud-based billing to streamline operational processing.

COMPANY NEWS:BillingPlatform, the enterprise revenue lifecycle management platform for today’s innovative business models, has announced a strategic partnership with J.P. Morgan Payments to support the billing needs across its business units.

GUEST OPINION: Causal AI is improving the accuracy and efficacy of automated decisions and responses by making them more contextually-driven.

GUEST ARTICLE : In today's competitive retail landscape, customer experience (CX) plays a pivotal role in driving sales and fostering brand loyalty. Experiential content has emerged as a powerful tool to create immersive and engaging customer interactions. So how can retail, ecommerce and online brands leverage CGI and 3D render technology to deliver market-leading customer experiences, both online and in physical stores?