Closing the CX Gap: What Business Leaders Get Wrong—and How to Fix It
August 28, 2025
When it comes to customer experience (CX), perception matters—but reality matters more. Our latest Five9 Business Leaders CX Report uncovered a clear truth: while leaders often understand their customers, critical gaps still exist between what customers say they want and what businesses think they want. And those gaps can make or break loyalty, revenue, and brand reputation.
In a recent webinar, former Five9 Chief Marketing Officer Niki Hall and industry analyst Blair Pleasant broke down six of the biggest disconnects between leaders and customers, shared the latest AI in contact centers adoption insights, and offered a clear path forward for closing the CX gap.
1. Accuracy Beats Speed for Customers
Business leaders believe customers value speed above all else—but customers told us otherwise.
Top customer priority: Getting an accurate answer or resolution.
Followed by: Short hold times, then fast responses.
“It’s great being able to compare what consumers say with what business leaders think,” said Blair Pleasant, president and principal analyst at COMMfusion, LLC, and cofounder of BCStrategies. “Leaders do understand consumer needs for the most part—but there are some important gaps.”
The takeaway? Integrating AI in contact centers should focus first on accuracy and context before shaving seconds off handle time. Accuracy builds trust; speed without accuracy breaks it.
2. The Self-Service Reality Check
Leaders overestimate how much customers want self-service.
52% of leaders say it’s a top priority for customers.
Only 33% of customers agree.
“While customers want to use self-service for basic issues, sometimes it doesn’t work as well as they expect,” Pleasant said. “That friction and delay can turn into frustration very quickly.”
Customers are willing to use self-service—until it fails. That’s when they expect a seamless, informed handoff to a human agent.
3. Voice Still Rules (Even for Gen Z)
Despite the push toward digital, voice remains the top channel of choice across all generations.
The reason: conversations solve complex problems faster.
“As much as companies push digital engagement,” Pleasant said, “many customers still want to talk to somebody. They want that human voice. And part of it is because digital isn’t always done right.”
Today, “voice” isn’t just human—it can start with an AI agent that understands context, resolves simple issues, and passes full interaction history to a human agent when needed.
4. Urgency Changes Everything
When the issue is urgent, 79% of customers change their channel preference—most opting for voice.
“When an issue is urgent, I want to pick up the phone—not wait in a chat queue wondering if the agent is still there,” Pleasant said.
Businesses that provide channel of choice and instant context sharing across those channels earn higher trust and faster resolution rates.
5. Agents Are Doing More Than Ever
As AI handles more simple interactions, agents are left with complex, high-stakes issues—often across multiple channels. That requires:
Emotional intelligence and patience under pressure.
Unified agent desktops to avoid screen-switching chaos.
Real-time AI Assist for accurate, faster resolutions.
“AI and self-service are handling more of the basic interactions,” Pleasant said. “So agents are left with the complex issues that take more time and require more emotional intelligence.”
This is where improving agent productivity isn’t just about speed—it’s about equipping agents to deliver more value in every interaction.
6. AI: From Trend to Table Stakes
Our survey found 81% of business leaders are using AI in their contact centers—mostly for self-service and agent assist. But barriers remain:
#1 challenge: Lack of internal resources.
#2 challenge: Perceived risk.
Five9 helps organizations close that readiness gap with the AI Blueprint—a step-by-step approach to safe, effective AI adoption. From pilot to scale, we focus on governance, integration, and measurable results.
Building Trust in AI
Consumer trust in AI-provided information lags far behind leader confidence. The fix:
Root AI in your own knowledge base—not the open internet.
Use retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) for accuracy.
Communicate openly about how customer data is used and secured.
“Whenever a business asks how to get started with AI in the contact center, the first thing I say is to make sure you have your knowledge base in order,” Pleasant said.
Real-World Proof: Exact Sciences
Exact Sciences, makers of Cologuard, used AI Agents to automate UPS test-kit pickup scheduling.
3x faster scheduling for patients.
45% containment for carrier pickup calls.
500 agents freed up to focus on more complex support needs.
The Path Forward: Small Moves, Big Wins
From the webinar, here are five ways to close your CX gaps now:
Close the perception gap – Design with data, not assumptions.
Use the right AI – Purpose-built for CX, not generic tools.
Champion agents – Equip them with tools, context, and training.
Make voice matter – Keep conversations at the heart of service.
Measure smarter – Use AI-powered analytics to continuously optimize.
When measuring customer experience, don’t just track satisfaction—connect insights to business outcomes.
The New CX Starts Here
The New CX blends AI innovation, the Intelligent CX Platform, and trusted expertise to create connected, effortless, and hyper-personalized experiences. The winners in CX will be those who close the perception gaps, build trust in AI, and empower both customers and agents to do more—with less friction.
Watch the Full Webinar
Want the complete discussion with all the insights, data, and examples? Watch the full webinar replay here and see exactly how leading brands are closing the CX gap with AI-powered, human-centered strategies.
Download the Five9 Business Leaders CX Report to explore all six gaps, dive into AI adoption trends, and see more real-world examples of The New CX in action.
