At the ET Edge CIO&Leader Annual Conference, industry leaders explored how AI is closing the gap between fragmented customer touchpoints and building trust in the moments that matter most, from personalised service to disaster-time claims.
In a panel discussion chaired by Harish Bhat, Former Brand Custodian, Tata Sons & Bestselling Author, with Saurabh Lakhanpal, Account Director at Genesys; Dr Shakti Goel, Chief Architect & Data Scientist at Yatra Online; and Dipu KV, Senior President at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, bringing perspectives from technology, travel, and insurance.
Fragmentation, not failure, drives customers away
The discussion opened with a shared conviction from Lakhanpal, who noted that customers rarely leave because a single touchpoint fails — instead, they leave when their journey feels fragmented. He pointed to the everyday frustration of repeating information while moving from a chatbot to a phone call to an email. The barrier, he argued, isn’t a shortage of technology; most organisations already run capable CRM and data platforms. The real problem is that these systems don’t talk to each other, leaving customer experience stitched together rather than seamless. AI’s role is to orchestrate the full end to end — deciding where to automate, where to keep a human in the loop, and continuously learning from every interaction to close these gaps.
From reacting to anticipating
Dr Goel shifted the conversation to what connected data makes possible beyond fixing friction, observing that the true power of AI lies in its ability to move beyond transactions and understand intent. She described a shift from personalisation based on past purchases to AI that anticipates needs before customers voice them, combining behavioural patterns, contextual signals, and cohort intelligence. Examples ranged from predicting travel preferences for a route a customer has never flown, to recognising individual comfort preferences like a quiet hotel room, to tailoring options for corporate clients using generative AI.
Where trust is truly tested
Dipu KV grounded the discussion in the insurance sector, where he said the moment of truth is the claims process. Speed, empathy, and responsiveness, he said, are the real currency of trust — never more visible than during large-scale disruptions such as the Jammu & Kashmir floods, where timely claims settlement made a tangible difference in customers’ recovery. Technology and AI, in his framing, are accelerants that let organisations respond faster and show up for customers when it counts most.
The common thread
Across personalisation, journey orchestration, and crisis response, the panel converged on one idea: technology’s value in customer experience isn’t about deploying more of it, but about connecting what already exists — data, channels, and moments into a single, intuitive, trust-building journey.