In this episode, we sit down with Jess Leitch, Executive Strategy Director at Frog, to explore the seismic shifts redefining how humans interact with technology — and what that means for brands, designers, and everyday users. From the collapse of the traditional interface to the rise of agentic AI, Jess walks us through a future that’s already underway, where experiences are increasingly ambient, autonomous, and deeply personal.

We talk about the concept of zero UI — the idea that screens and clicks are giving way to invisible systems that anticipate our needs. We unpack what happens when brands are no longer in control of their own channels, when LLMs become the new interface, and when intimacy with machines becomes not just possible, but expected. This isn't speculation. It's happening now — and it’s upending everything from marketing strategies to design fundamentals.

Jess challenges us to reconsider what trust looks like in a world where decisions are made by machines on our behalf. And she shares why designers and strategists must think not just about usability, but about dignity, emotional resonance, and long-term impact. If your business, brand, or career depends on how people engage with technology, this conversation is a wake-up call.

Welcome to Futurescape — where the next interface isn’t an interface at all.

Listen to the full episode now on Customerland. And if you’re building the future, start with the people who will live in it.

What happens when the shiny exterior of customer experience meets the messy reality of operational execution? In this eye-opening conversation, we speak with FD Giambattista, a veteran CX operations expert who has spent 25 years implementing customer service solutions for major corporations.

FD takes us behind the curtain to reveal what actually makes customer experience work—or fail. While technology providers focus on capabilities and features, FD deals with the operational realities: systems held together with "bailing wire and duct tape," agents navigating through 14 different applications to handle a single interaction, and the delicate balance between cost, quality, and speed.

The most surprising revelation? Despite all our focus on technology, the most common breakdowns occur in people and processes. FD shares his practical approach to uncovering these issues, starting with candid conversations with frontline employees: "You get them in a room without any of their management and just say 'tell me.' Once one person talks, everybody else chimes in."

We explore the "cost-quality-speed paradox"—the uncomfortable truth that organizations can only optimize for two of these three factors. This framework helps set executive expectations from the outset and forces critical prioritization discussions that many organizations avoid.

FD also emphasizes the direct connection between employee retention and customer experience quality. Companies with lower turnover deliver better experiences because their employees thoroughly understand the products and services they support.

Whether you're leading CX transformations or implementing customer-focused technology, this conversation offers invaluable perspective on what it takes to create truly seamless experiences. Join us for this honest look at the operational side of customer experience—where simplicity should reign but complexity often dominates.

Customerland is a podcast about Customers. How to get more of them. How to keep them. What makes them tick. We talk to the experts, the technologies and occasionally, actual people – you know, customers – to find out what they’re all about.

So if you’re a CX pro, a loyalty marketer, a brand owner, an agency planner … if you’re a CRM & personalization geek, if you’re a customer service / CSAT / NPS nerd – you finally have a home.

From static images to personalized experiences that greet you by name, digital signage has undergone a remarkable transformation. BrightSign's Vice President of Sales for the Americas, Misty Chalk, takes us deep into how this technology is revolutionizing customer connections across every industry.

The conversation reveals how BrightSign's purpose-built media players—those "purple boxes" behind screens everywhere—have become the backbone of sophisticated digital signage solutions. Chalk explains their unique ecosystem approach, where they've opened their APIs to over 170 content management software partners, creating a collaborative environment that delivers consistent, seamless experiences for end users. The newly established Bright Alliance program formalizes these partnerships, ensuring quality standards and simplifying what can be an overwhelming landscape for customers.

What's particularly fascinating is the evolution of retail media networks (RMNs) over the past four years. Accelerated by the pandemic, these networks have transformed from experimental initiatives to essential revenue streams that retailers "cannot afford not to do." BrightSign's technology serves as the crucial bridge connecting in-store displays, websites, apps, and streaming services—creating a cohesive experience that reaches consumers wherever they are.

Hyper-personalization emerges as the dominant trend shaping the future of digital signage. When a hotel room screen welcomes you by name or an end-cap display shows content relevant to your interests, that emotional connection drives brand loyalty. With a staggering 78% of marketers already using AI for content creation in 2024, the technology is rapidly advancing to deliver increasingly personalized experiences at scale.

Ready to transform how your brand connects with customers? Discover how digital signage can create the emotional engagement that drives loyalty across all touchpoints in today's omnichannel world.

Customerland is a podcast about Customers. How to get more of them. How to keep them. What makes them tick. We talk to the experts, the technologies and occasionally, actual people – you know, customers – to find out what they’re all about.

So if you’re a CX pro, a loyalty marketer, a brand owner, an agency planner … if you’re a CRM & personalization geek, if you’re a customer service / CSAT / NPS nerd – you finally have a home.

AI-powered decisioning is transforming how retail media networks operate, and Hightouch stands at the forefront of this revolution with a freshly announced $80 million funding round at a $1.2 billion valuation.

In this conversation with Ian Maier, Ad Tech and AI Lead at Hightouch, we explore how composable CDPs are dramatically reducing implementation timelines for retailers launching media networks. Unlike traditional CDPs that require months of data migration, Hightouch's solution sits atop existing data infrastructure, allowing enterprise retailers to activate their first-party data across channels in a matter of weeks rather than months.

Maier shares a compelling case study of wearable technology company Whoop, which replaced scheduled email blasts with AI-driven decisioning and saw a 10% incremental lift in cross-sells. Beyond performance improvements, their marketing team now spends less time on operational tasks and more on high-value creative work – a double benefit that showcases AI's true promise in marketing.

The retail media landscape faces significant fragmentation challenges with over 200 networks now operating. This proliferation creates difficult choices for advertisers who must decide where to invest their budgets. Maier explains that success for retail media networks increasingly depends on making the buying process frictionless while demonstrating true incrementality – proving their platforms drive sales that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Looking ahead, Hightouch is developing solutions that allow retail media networks to create holdout groups across channels, enabling true incrementality testing that advertisers can access through intuitive dashboards. This capability addresses one of the industry's most pressing needs, as evidenced by Maier's observation that "9 out of 10 folks at NRF said the word incrementality at least once" during presentations.

For brands navigating the complex retail media ecosystem and retailers looking to maximize their media revenue, understanding these technological advancements isn't just advantageous – it's essential for staying competitive as the space continues its explosive growth.

Customerland is a podcast about Customers. How to get more of them. How to keep them. What makes them tick. We talk to the experts, the technologies and occasionally, actual people – you know, customers – to find out what they’re all about.

So if you’re a CX pro, a loyalty marketer, a brand owner, an agency planner … if you’re a CRM & personalization geek, if you’re a customer service / CSAT / NPS nerd – you finally have a home.

What happens when you tell a software engineer his CMS platform will shut down in six months, leaving major clients like Adidas and Reebok stranded? You get Storyblock - perhaps the most thoughtful reinvention of content management in decades.

Dominik Angerer, CEO and co-founder of Storyblok, takes us on a journey through the broken world of traditional CMS platforms and reveals how his team is building something fundamentally different. The problem isn't just technical – it's the entire approach to content creation and management that's failed marketing teams everywhere.

Most CMS platforms function as what Dominic calls "content graveyards" – places where content is published and forgotten after being created elsewhere in Google Docs or Word. This disjointed workflow creates endless inefficiencies, from formatting inconsistencies to the inability to properly reuse content across channels.

Storyblok's "Joyful Headless" approach combines developer-friendly API architecture with tools specifically designed for marketers' needs. Their Ideation Room brings unstructured content creation directly into the CMS environment, while forthcoming features will use AI to help refresh stale content and visualize how content connects across your digital ecosystem.

The results speak for themselves – the National Retail Federation reduced development time by 70% using Storyblok's approach. Unlike competitors who have expanded beyond content management into e-commerce and other functionalities, Storyblock maintains laser focus on solving the content lifecycle challenges: ideation, creation, publishing, and reuse.

Ready to liberate your content from the graveyard and transform how your team creates? Discover why Storyblok's focused approach might just be the solution you've been searching for.

The gap between AI hype and real-world implementation is creating both challenges and opportunities for retailers worldwide. Talkdesk executives Ed Durbin and Michael Klein pull back the curtain on what's actually happening in retail AI adoption, sharing candid insights from their conversations with retail leaders at NRF and beyond.

"We've spent millions on AI and we're still trying to get it to work," one retail vice president confessed to Ed during a recent conversation. This admission captures the frustration many retailers face as they attempt to transform customer experience with artificial intelligence while managing legacy systems, limited budgets, and talent shortages. Despite these challenges, consumer expectations continue to rise dramatically, with Talkdesk research showing 70% of consumers plan to use AI for shopping in 2025.

The conversation explores how retailers can move beyond viewing AI as merely the "shiny new toy" to building a solid foundation for customer experience transformation. The Talkdesk team distinguishes between three waves of retail AI development: predictive/interpretative AI (which has existed for a decade), generative AI (2024's focus), and agentic AI (emerging in 2025). They explain why purpose-built retail solutions offer advantages over generic platforms that simply "put a spin on existing technology."

Perhaps most valuable is their discussion of the evolving skill requirements for AI implementation. As AI becomes more capable of understanding natural language, the conversation suggests we may see less need for specialized "prompt engineers" and more emphasis on business professionals who understand desired outcomes. This democratization of AI could significantly impact how retailers approach technology adoption and talent development in the coming years.

Whether you're a retail leader navigating AI implementation challenges or simply interested in how artificial intelligence is reshaping consumer expectations, this conversation offers practical insights based on real-world retail experience rather than theoretical possibilities. Join us to discover how customer experience technology is finally evolving from cost center to profit driver through strategic AI implementation.

The hidden science behind retail success isn't found in flashy technology or complicated loyalty programs – it's in the power of engaged store associates. This conversation with Nikki Baird, VP of Strategy and Product at Aptos, reveals groundbreaking research showing that when employees reach "peak immersion" during customer interactions, sales naturally increase.

Retailers have become addicted to digital metrics, treating them like donuts that provide a quick sugar rush of data, while neglecting the apple-like sustenance of in-store metrics that require more effort to digest but provide better nourishment. This misplaced focus leads to investments in technologies that work around store associates rather than empowering them.

Nikki challenges conventional thinking about loyalty programs, explaining that true customer devotion stems from consistency paired with unexpected moments of delight – elements best delivered through human connections. When customers choose physical stores over online shopping, they're implicitly seeking the option of human assistance, even if they don't actively engage with associates during every visit.

The most revealing insight comes from a perfume kiosk case study where technology designed to work independently of associates ultimately failed because it didn't consider their crucial role in the customer journey. The message is clear: successful retail experiences must serve all stakeholders – executives, customers, and especially frontline staff.

Have you been overlooking your most valuable retail asset? Listen now to discover why your competitive advantage isn't found in technology alone, but in the humans who bring your brand to life. Share your thoughts on how you're empowering your associates to create exceptional experiences!

Customerland is a podcast about Customers. How to get more of them. How to keep them. What makes them tick. We talk to the experts, the technologies and occasionally, actual people – you know, customers – to find out what they’re all about.

So if you’re a CX pro, a loyalty marketer, a brand owner, an agency planner … if you’re a CRM & personalization geek, if you’re a customer service / CSAT / NPS nerd – you finally have a home.

Ever wondered what technology investments actually make retail employees happier—not just more productive? Katie Riddle, Global Retail Strategy Lead at Verizon Business, reveals that while 98% of grocery retailers struggle with staffing challenges, the solution goes beyond efficiency tools.

"It's not just about making employees more efficient," Katie explains. "It's about providing a better experience that makes them want to stay." Through her unique position overseeing retail strategy at Verizon, Katie has a panoramic view of how leading retailers are using technology to transform both customer and employee experiences. From appointment-setting systems that help associates prepare for customer needs, to self-service kiosks that free staff for meaningful interactions, the right technology investments create environments where employees feel knowledgeable, empowered, and trusted.

The conversation takes us through retail's digital transformation journey—from pandemic-driven quick fixes to today's sophisticated integration of mobile technology with in-store experiences. By 2026, 42% of retailers plan to implement mobile apps with in-store features, more than doubling current adoption. These technologies enable what industry insiders call the "fidgetal" experience—a seamless blend of physical and digital interactions that enhances shopping journeys through real-time personalization.

Perhaps most fascinating is Katie's perspective on AI applications in retail. While artificial intelligence has been quietly optimizing inventory for years, generative AI is revolutionizing content creation and marketing, while "agentic AI" promises to transform operations and customer service. As Katie notes, "Your imagination is the limit to what it can do." This isn't just another overhyped technology—it's exceeding expectations and reshaping retail from the stockroom to the sales floor.

Want to understand the future of retail technology and its impact on both customers and employees? This conversation provides a masterclass in retail innovation from someone who bridges strategy, technology, and real-world implementation.

Customerland is a podcast about Customers. How to get more of them. How to keep them. What makes them tick. We talk to the experts, the technologies and occasionally, actual people – you know, customers – to find out what they’re all about.

So if you’re a CX pro, a loyalty marketer, a brand owner, an agency planner … if you’re a CRM & personalization geek, if you’re a customer service / CSAT / NPS nerd – you finally have a home.