Why Customer Service Experience Is Getting Worse (and How Leaders Can Fix It)

In this interview, he explains why service is slipping despite heavy investment, where AI helps (and where it doesn’t), and the practical steps leaders can take to rebuild CSX from the frontline up.

Alex Mead delivers a timely reality check: despite all the investment in journey mapping, NPS and “CX programmes,” the day-to-day service experience is getting worse. In this interview, he argues that “customer experience” has become a catch‑all that too often blurs brand and marketing with the operational discipline that really shapes loyalty: customer service experience (CSX).

Mead also challenges the “silver bullet” mindset around AI. GenAI can absolutely raise the bar, he says, but only when organisations have a clear CSX vision, strong foundations (data, knowledge and processes), and leaders who genuinely walk in the shoes of customers and employees. He makes the case for empowering frontline teams, modernising contact centre knowledge in real time, and bringing back practical, accountable service leadership to cut through what he calls the “tide of CX nonsense.”

If you want a grounded view on what’s broken in CX (and what to fix first) this is one to watch.