CX Lessons for the Win from the Spitfire

We got a chance to host Brad Cleveland, one of the premier voices in customer strategy and management, on the CX-WISE podcast recently, and the conversation spanned customer experience (CX), AI and more.

Turns out Cleveland is an aviation enthusiast and has flown the Supermarine Spitfire.

If you’ve ever read about the Spitfire, you probably know it as a legendary WWII aircraft. But once you look deeper, you’ll see something even more powerful than the plane itself — the culture behind this icon.

The teams that built and flew the Spitfire thrived on feedback.

Pilots, mechanics, engineers — everyone was encouraged to speak up. If something was working, they said it. If something was broken, they spoke louder. Even if the feedback seemed repetitive, it was welcomed. There were no silos, no egos — just a shared obsession with constant improvement.

And that mindset is exactly what you need to cultivate in your contact center today.

From fuselage to wingtip: Mapping feedback across the org

There’s a good chance that the people who’re closest to the customer — the agents, analysts — see things leadership can’t.

Let’s suppose agents weren’t able to meet a compliance requirement during certain types of calls at an insurance company. It was important, and everyone knew it — managers flagged it, quality teams reinforced it, supervisors added reminders.

But it kept getting missed.

Then a new agent, still finding their bearings, offered a simple suggestion:

"What if there was a pop-up when this issue came up? Something that reminds us of the problem and won’t let us move forward until we click it?"

No tech background. No social clout. Yet they came up with a great idea based on firsthand experience.

The product team builds it, and soon after compliance reaches 100%!

What does this tell us? Creating space for frontline innovation is important. Focus on removing roadblocks — processes, approvals or habits that slow people down or silence smart ideas.

Your agents aren’t just service reps. They’re sensors. They’re your radar. When you empower them to speak up, test ideas and shape tools, you get more than better performance. You get a more resilient, responsive and human-centered operation.

So, next time you think about agility, think like a Spitfire squadron: tight feedback loops, total trust in your crew and a commitment to improvement every single day.

From feedback to future: Where AI enters the CX cockpit

Once you build a culture where feedback flows and frontline ideas take flight, something interesting starts to happen: you become future-ready.

And in CX, the future is showing up fast, with AI leading the charge. But it’s easy to get caught up in the headlines — generative AI replacing jobs, automating everything, eliminating human touchpoints. But if you're in the trenches of customer experience, you know better. What you’re actually seeing is this:

AI isn't here to replace your people. It’s here to elevate them.

Think about what your team handles every day — repetitive tasks, digging through systems for answers, drafting the same email for the 10th time.

Now imagine AI stepping in to:

• Draft responses
• Summarize past interactions
• Pull up the right product or policy info instantly
• Even guide agents in real time based on customer tone or intent

You’re not removing the human — you’re freeing them up to actually be human. To listen. To connect. To problem-solve creatively.

And that’s just the start.

In industries like retail, AI is already creating deeply personalized customer experiences — letting customers “try on” clothes virtually, position furniture in their homes or get curated product suggestions that actually feel relevant. That same level of personalization is coming for support too.

Here’s the trap some CX leaders fall into: they assume AI will shrink workload. But it’s actually unlocking new kinds of work.

• More complex inquiries from smarter, more informed customers
• New digital touchpoints to manage
• A growing expectation for real-time, high-context, high-empathy support
• And a bigger strategic role for your contact center as the first line of trust in this AI-powered world

If you’re overwhelmed, don’t be. You’ve been here before. When the internet arrived, teams stepped up. When smartphones changed everything, you adapted again.

AI is just another milestone in tech evolution. And once again, you have a chance to innovate and improve your CX.

Learn how to transform your agents into "super agents" by watching the video below.

The contact center’s role in CX is evolving — buckle in

The contact center has always been the heartbeat of CX. But going forward, your role is going to become even more critical — not just in resolving issues, but in forecasting what’s coming next.

This isn’t just about staffing models or queue volumes anymore. Forecasting is now a strategic function. It’s about asking — and answering — the big questions:

• What will our workload look like six months from now?
• How are customer needs evolving?
• Are our segments shifting?
• Where will we need to show up differently?

You can’t afford to treat forecasting like a back-office task. It needs to move front and center, not just in your team, but across the entire organization.

You also need to rethink what you measure. It’s not just about how many tickets your team closes or how fast they do it. The real questions are:

• Are we solving the problems that actually matter?
• Are we improving outcomes, not just clearing tasks?
• And — just as importantly — how are our team members feeling?

Employee experience isn’t a nice-to-have anymore — it’s a leading indicator of how future-ready your operation is. If your agents feel empowered, supported and heard, they’ll be more equipped to handle complexity, change and the emotional side of service.

The bottom line? The contact center of tomorrow isn’t just a service hub but a strategic place where customer signals are interpreted, where new issues are anticipated and where your brand either keeps or loses trust.

Data: The black box of the contact center

As your contact center takes on a more strategic role in shaping CX, there’s one asset you can’t afford to overlook: your data.

You’re sitting on a goldmine of insights — call transcripts, chat logs, sentiment analysis, customer behaviors, agent performance, workflow bottlenecks. But here’s the catch: more data doesn’t always mean more clarity.

You’ve probably seen it yourself. Dashboards full of numbers. Weekly reports that get skimmed at best. People nodding in meetings but not really doing anything with what’s being presented.

So, what do you do?

It starts with focus. Instead of trying to look at everything, ask:

• What signals actually matter?
• Which social media metrics tie directly to customer outcomes?
• What are we learning about emerging needs or friction points?

Use AI and analytics tools to surface the trends, not just the stats. Look for those actionable insights — the little patterns that tell you what’s changing in customer expectations, agent behavior or service gaps.

But more importantly: act on it.

Data isn’t just for reporting. It’s a springboard for cross-functional action. Build a rhythm where you regularly bring together CX, ops, digital and product teams to:

• Share what you’re learning
• Identify one or two improvements worth chasing
• Make the changes
• Then celebrate the impact

When your team sees that data leads to real results — and real recognition — you create a culture where everyone keeps “their antennas up.” They start spotting opportunities. Sharing insights. Thinking bigger.

Because when you treat data not as a task, but as “a team sport,” that’s when the contact center becomes a true engine of transformation.

Learn how a unified platform like Sprinklr helps break data silos in your organization:

Leadership: The co-pilot your contact center needs

You’ve got the data. You’ve got the insights. You’re rallying your team members to turn those insights into action.

But here’s the truth: you and your team can’t do it alone.

The contact center might sit downstream in the org chart, but in reality you’re connected by dotted lines to nearly every department — IT, ops, marketing, product, compliance. And if you want to drive real, lasting change, you need the executive partnership’s buy-in.

So, if you’re in the C-suite reading this, here’s one of the most powerful things you can do:

Spend time with the team.

Sit with a few agents. Listen to live calls. Watch them navigate three systems at once just to answer one customer question.

Organizations like Vanguard did this at the highest levels — founder John Bogle would personally handle calls. He didn’t do it for show. He did it to understand. And once you see it firsthand, you’ll notice:

• Friction in the tech stack
• Gaps in interdepartmental workflows
• Repetitive pain points that could be solved upstream

That kind of visibility changes how you prioritize investment, resourcing and even product design.

There’s no "us vs. them" in a high-performing CX org. The contact center isn’t a silo. It’s your frontline intelligence team, spotting what’s broken, what’s trending and what customers are really asking for.

We’re not here to assign blame. We’re here to say:

"Here’s what we’re hearing. Here’s how we can improve this process, this tool, this experience — together."

So, if you want your CX to keep pace with rising expectations, emerging AI tools and growing complexity, start by treating your contact center like the strategic asset it is — not just a cost center, but a catalyst for smarter decisions across the business.

CX framework is to a contact center what an engine is to an aircraft

All of this — AI, data, forecasting, C-suite alignment — can feel overwhelming.

There are countless ideas floating around CX today: "delight the customer," "make it effortless," "be everywhere." But when you're in the trenches, you're often left wondering: how do we actually do that?

That’s exactly the question that inspired Cleveland to write the book, “Leading the Customer Experience: How to Chart a Course and Deliver Outstanding Results.”

It wasn’t written just to add more ideas to the pile. It was created to give readers a clear, actionable framework — a step-by-step way to bring all those principles to life, no matter what industry you’re in or how complex your customer’s journey might be. Because at the end of the day, memorable CX isn’t about buzzwords or abstract ideals. It’s about bringing structure to chaos, so you and your team can consistently deliver the kind of service that earns a glowing Google review and long-term customer loyalty and trust.

Would you like to get your hands on Cleveland's book?

Listen to Brad Cleveland's podcast and post your biggest takeaway from the session on your social media with the hashtag #CXWISE. Be sure to tag Sprinklr and we’ll send you a free copy of the book.