Happy Friday! ‘This week in CX’ brings you the latest roundup of industry news.
This week, we’ve been exploring the world of customer experiences, from new ideas and collaborations to what pushes customers to switch brands and what’s the latest media trend.
We’re also discussing new updates from Vodafone, Genesys, and more!
Key news
- What’s old is new again. In 2025, legacy brands must do more than revisit their golden days. They need to innovate by fusing their past success with today’s trends. Companies are capturing both nostalgic customers and fresh audiences by elevating timeless classics to reach new, younger consumers eager to experience the highlights of past generations.
- Parental leave policies in the technology sector show wide disparities. While companies like Google and Vodafone have implemented equal leave for all parents, and organisations such as Snap and Arm provide substantial paternity leave at four months and two months respectively, many tech firms still maintain minimal policies that barely exceed the two-week statutory requirement. Some firms once renowned for their parental leave are scaling back: Netflix’s policy of unlimited time off for a child’s first year has been scrapped, at least in practice.
- The number of sick days that is being taken up is growing across Europe, with a rise in mental health and stress-related problems as well as people working until later in life thought to be among the reasons. German employers spent a record €77bn (£64bn) on employee sick leave last year, twice as much as in 2010, Bloomberg reports. In the UK, the costs of long-term absences due to illness are currently £33bn (€40bn) and could rise to £66bn by 2030, estimates Zurich Insurance. What’s even worse for productivity than calling in sick, however, was showing up to work despite feeling unwell, according to OECD research cited by Bloomberg.
CXM news stories
Here’s the full news stories that CXM have reported on in the past week. Learn all about the latest employee experience news for 2025, what makes customers run to competitors and why are podcasts so popular!
Genesys says empathetic AI concierges are in now
Although AI technology is evolving rapidly, it’s understandable for consumers to struggle to see a future where the level of automation described above is possible. Especially when today’s chat and voice bots often leave consumers frustrated and disappointed due to their limitations in scope and in understanding natural language.
However, despite not always meeting customer expectations, these AI-powered virtual concierges have laid the foundation for future more effective, valuable, and robust customer experiences.
As we transition from empathic virtual agents, we’ll reach a point where AI can anticipate a customer’s needs and automate most conversations, evolving into personal virtual concierges. These powerful personal virtual concierges will be able to navigate even the most complex customer requests and provide highly personalised, empathetic, human-like support.
The shift will positively impact the overall customer experience by reducing wait times and enabling asynchronous support. At the same time, it will boost employee efficiency and productivity, as time will be freed while the number of conversations hitting an organisation will continue to increase.
Instead of enduring long wait times on hold or leaving a chat open, uncertain when a response will come, customers can trust that their virtual concierge is working on resolving the issue in the background and will report back once it’s resolved. You can read the full story here.
Salesforce launches UK AI Readiness Index Showing the UK is Ready to Lead the Third Wave of AI Innovation
Salesforce recently announced findings of the Salesforce UK AI Readiness Index, highlighting that the UK is well-placed to be a world leader of the third wave of AI innovation: agentic AI. At the same time, UK businesses are reporting that they are realising productivity benefits of AI agents with Salesforce.
The report highlights the UK’s above-G7 average performance in AI adoption, while identifying key opportunities for improvement, including SME support, fostering partnerships and upskilling talent.
Salesforce has led customers through AI’s evolution — predictive, generative and now agents. At the forefront of this transformation is Salesforce’s Agentforce, which is enabling businesses to deploy agents to act autonomously, delivering real-time, actionable results.
The UK’s readiness score is 65.5 against the G7 average of 61.2, putting clear daylight between the UK and other advanced economies. Both government and business readiness scores are also higher than the respective G7 averages.
The UK’s AI readiness is a testament to the combined efforts of government, businesses, and academia. Sustaining leadership requires a continued focus on collaboration, skills development, and innovation. At Salesforce we are ready and we will continue to play our part.
By 2025, autonomous agents will define how AI delivers business value at scale, helping UK businesses realise significant gains in productivity and efficiency. The UK must continue to invest in this potential to remain a global leader in the AI-powered economy.