Episode Overview

Podcast: The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®
Episode: #777: Cisco's Chang Chang on How AI is Fundamentally Reshaping the Contact Center
Air Date: December 1, 2025
Host: Greg Kihlström
Guest: Chang Chiang, Senior Director, Product Cloud CX Solutions at Cisco's WebEx Customer Experience Solutions

This episode explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming contact centers from cost centers into profit and loyalty drivers. Greg and Chang discuss tangible examples of AI in action, the evolving role of human agents, best practices for successful AI integration, and the coming era of “always on” engagement fuelled by personalization and agentic AI.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The State of AI in Contact Centers (02:13-04:00)

• Tangible AI Impact:
  • AI is reducing routine inquiries, cutting call volume, and shortening wait times.
  • AI assistants support human agents by providing real-time summaries, context, and knowledge suggestions.
• Customer Examples:
  • One customer using Cisco's WebEx AI Agent saw a 66% reduction in incoming calls, dramatically lowering operational costs.
  • Another reported a 90% reduction in work processing times, shrinking turnarounds from 24-48 hours to just a few hours.
• Quote:
  • “We’re seeing AI already handling routine inquiries, reducing call volume for human agents, and shortening wait times for customers.” (Chang Chiang, 02:32)

2. How AI Elevates Customer Experience (04:00-06:09)

• Instant, Always Available Support:
  • AI enables 24/7 support via any channel, no time zone barriers.
  • Brings personalization to customer interactions—AI starts to “know you better than you know yourself.”
• Proactive and Emotional Responsiveness:
  • AI can recognize sentiment and adjust its response style in real time.
  • Examples include step-by-step breakdowns of complex questions and live translation for multilingual support.
• Quote:
  • “AI will start to know me better than I know me… Brands can pull end customers in, providing recommendations they may not realize they wanted at first.” (Chang Chiang, 04:24)
  • “What’s surprising is the real-time adjustment to sentiment and emotion.” (Chang Chiang, 05:19)

3. The Evolving Role of Human Agents (06:09-08:39)

• Not Replacing, But Elevating Agents:
  • Human roles shift from transactional duties to trusted advisors handling complex, emotionally nuanced cases.
  • Companies are looking to get more mileage out of current agent resources, extending live support from 9-5 to 24/7.
• Essential New Skills:
  • Emotional intelligence (EQ) and empathy become paramount.
  • Agents need “AI fluency”—skills in working alongside AI and curating information for it.
• Quote:
  • “We’re not talking about reducing or replacing human agents. Their role is being elevated—more relationship management, more complex problem solving.” (Chang Chiang, 06:53)

4. Best Practices for AI Integration in Contact Centers (08:39-11:53)

• Strategic Approach:
  • Start with the desired customer experience and design seamless end-to-end handoffs.
  • Replace, don’t simply replicate, existing processes; use AI’s potential to rethink the journey.
• Tangible Steps:
  • Establish a cross-functional AI committee including frontline agents.
  • Conduct internal testing with stakeholder buy-in.
  • Iterate in agile cycles and implement phased rollouts.
• Pitfalls & Reminders:
  • Don’t underestimate change management.
  • Secure full buy-in from stakeholders.
  • Define clear outcomes/objectives.
  • Prioritize data quality—“AI is only as good as the data that’s feeding it.”
• Quote:
  • “Don’t underestimate the change management process… The most important thing: don’t forget about the data.” (Chang Chiang, 11:13)

5. “Always On” Customer Engagement & Omnichannel Experience (13:12-15:42)

• Definition:
  • seamless, round-the-clock engagement across any channel, with context always preserved.
  • Comparable to conversations with friends—switching channels, retaining context, anticipating needs.
• How AI Enables This:
  • Real-time contextual data via Cisco’s Journey Data Service empowers AI to personalize interactions.
• Quote:
  • “It’s like working with someone that you know and that knows you very well.” (Chang Chiang, 14:54)

6. Personalization at Scale & Privacy (15:42-17:15)

• Personalization’s Role:
  • The “magic moment” is when a brand anticipates and resolves customer needs before they even reach out.
  • Delivers proactive, tailored experiences at scale.
• Privacy Considerations:
  • Must balance personalization with consumer data privacy and trust.
• Quote:
  • “The moment a brand knows who you are, why you reached out, or even better—resolves your issue before you even needed it—that’s true personalization.” (Chang Chiang, 16:34)

7. Agentic AI: Autonomous and Multi-Agent Ecosystems (17:15-20:31)

• Agentic AI Defined:
  • AI that reasons, plans, and acts with autonomy, handling more complex tasks and decisions.
  • Future potential: Multi-agent ecosystems—AI agents from different brands communicating to solve cross-company issues for customers.
• Benefits:
  • Frees humans for higher-value work, handles unpleasant or tedious tasks.
  • Can drive new levels of efficiency and customer convenience.
• Risks:
  • Loss of control—AI mistakes at scale.
  • Necessity of strong guardrails, monitoring, and security (a central priority at Cisco).
• Quote:
  • “I’m excited by agentic AI because it’ll free up humans to do more higher value work… What’s even more exciting is the notion of the multi-agent ecosystem.” (Chang Chiang, 18:24)
  • “Mistakes made by AI agents can happen at large scale… Guardrails and security are paramount.” (Chang Chiang, 19:50)

8. Looking Ahead: The Future of Customer Service (20:31-22:18)

• Opportunities:
  • Hyper-personalized, proactive, perfectly-timed interactions.
  • Each brand interaction improves upon the last.
  • Potentially, an end to “bad customer experiences.”
• Challenges:
  • Rapid technology evolution.
  • Maintaining trust, data privacy, control, and human connection.
• Quote:
  • “Hopefully the days of bad customer experiences will no longer be a thing.” (Chang Chiang, 22:13)

9. Personal Agility as a Leader (22:18-22:48)

• Chang’s Approach:
  • Uses Agile practices in his personal workflow—a Kanban board for daily tasks, prioritization, and adaptability.
• Quote:
  • “I actually have a Kanban board set up... moving between columns and reprioritizing the cards.” (Chang Chiang, 22:33)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “AI will start to know me better than I know me.” (Chang Chiang, 04:24)
• “We’re not talking about reducing or replacing human agents. Their role is being elevated—more relationship management, more complex problem solving.” (Chang Chiang, 06:53)
• “Don’t underestimate the change management process… The most important thing: don’t forget about the data.” (Chang Chiang, 11:13)
• “It’s like working with someone that you know and that knows you very well.” (Chang Chiang, 14:54)
• “Mistakes made by AI agents can happen at large scale… Guardrails and security are paramount.” (Chang Chiang, 19:50)
• "Hopefully the days of bad customer experiences will no longer be a thing." (Chang Chiang, 22:13)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:13 – AI’s efficiency gains in contact centers
• 04:00 – How AI enhances customer experience and loyalty
• 06:09 – Human roles and skillsets in the AI-powered center
• 08:39 – AI integration best practices and lessons
• 13:12 – “Always on” omnichannel engagement explained
• 15:42 – Personalization at scale & privacy implications
• 17:15 – Rise of agentic AI, multi-agent collaboration, and risks
• 20:31 – The vision for the future: opportunities & challenges
• 22:18 – Staying agile as a leader (Kanban in practice)

Summary

Greg and Chang deliver an engaging, forward-looking conversation that demystifies AI’s impact on the contact center. Listeners will come away with both visionary perspectives and practical frameworks—from organizing human/AI collaboration and best practices in rollout, to the transformative promise of agentic AI and the critical importance of data, privacy, and empathy in delivering tomorrow’s customer experiences.