Verizon’s CXO on Rebuilding Customer Experience With an Employee-First Strategy
Release Date: 07/15/2025
Airline Customer Satisfaction Improving, ACSI Data Show
The Modern Customer Podcast
Airline customer satisfaction increased 3% year over year. That's one of the strongest gains across the travel sector, according to new research from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). This week on The Modern Customer Podcast, Forrest Morgeson, Director of Research Emeritus at ACSI, shares what's driving those gains and how airlines are improving across multiple customer touchpoints—from mobile apps and reservations to in-flight internet and access to information throughout the travel journey. 🎧 Listen to the conversation and explore the latest . Blake Morgan was...
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Future-Proof: Transform Your Business with AI or Get Left Behind
The Modern Customer Podcast
Companies are embracing AI faster than ever before, and many leaders are realizing that successful transformation depends just as much on people and culture as it does on technology. This week on The Modern Customer Podcast, Dr. Michael Housman, AI builder, founder of AI-ccelerator, and author of Future-Proof: Transform Your Business with AI or Get Left Behind, shares practical ways companies can use AI to accelerate innovation, improve customer experience, and prepare for the future of work. We also discuss why successful AI adoption depends as much on leadership, employee buy-in, and culture...
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Experience Is Everything: The CX Strategy Gap Behind AI Adoption
The Modern Customer Podcast
Many organizations are moving faster on AI than they are on strategy, alignment, and operational execution—and customers feel the difference. This week on The Modern Customer Podcast, customer experience expert, author of the USA Today bestselling book , and Experience Investigators Founder explains why AI alone will not improve customer experience. Drawing from her book Experience Is Everything, she explains how leaders can align mindset, business goals, employee empowerment, and operational discipline to create stronger customer experiences and measurable business outcomes. 🎧 Listen to...
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American Express on AI-Powered Personalization at Scale
The Modern Customer Podcast
American Express is using AI-powered personalization to help frontline teams deliver faster, more relevant support while preserving the human connection behind premium service. This week on The Modern Customer Podcast, , EVP and Head of Global Support Enablement and Control, Global Servicing at , shares how his team is scaling AI and GenAI across servicing, travel, chat, and digital experiences while balancing personalization, trust, compliance, and customer expectations. A thoughtful conversation on how leading brands are using AI to reduce friction, strengthen customer relationships, and...
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Build a Brand Like Trader Joe’s: Why Human Interaction Still Drives Customer Loyalty
The Modern Customer Podcast
Retail is moving toward more automation, and for customers, the experience is increasingly defined by how those systems perform. At Trader Joe’s, the experience is shaped differently. It builds loyalty through in-store interaction and human connection. This week on The Modern Customer Podcast, Mark Gardiner, author of Build a Brand Like Trader Joe’s, shares insights from his experience working inside the company and what it reveals about delivering customer experience through people. 🎧 Watch the full episode to see where human interaction still creates value and how it can drive...
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United Airlines’ Chief Customer Officer on Scaling CX Through Operations
The Modern Customer Podcast
In this episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, David Kinzelman, Chief Customer Officer at United Airlines—the world’s largest airline, known for its extensive international network, operational scale, and continued investment in digital innovation and customer experience—shares how the company scales CX through operations. At United, CX isn’t a layer on top of the business—it’s built into how the system runs. From putting the customer at the center of operational metrics to continuously eliminating friction across the journey, decisions are made with customer impact in mind. David...
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CVS Health on Where AI Is Delivering Value in Healthcare
The Modern Customer Podcast
At CVS Health, AI is helping teams better understand and engage consumers—through stronger data and analytics. In this episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, Josh Weiner, Senior Vice President of Consumer Engagement & Analytics at CVS Health, breaks down what it actually takes to make AI work in healthcare. From predicting customer intent in the contact center to enabling more personalized and connected care, this conversation explores how AI is being applied in real-world environments. The key takeaway: AI creates value when it’s applied across the full customer journey—not just as...
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What Makes AI Customer Support Work at Scale
The Modern Customer Podcast
AI can handle millions of customer conversations—but only when the right data, workflows, and systems are in place. Most companies underestimate what it actually takes to make that work. In this episode, , Founder & CEO, breaks down why AI in customer support isn’t plug-and-play—and what’s required to make it accurate and reliable at scale. We get into the foundation behind it: how organizations structure data, define workflows, and use continuous feedback to improve performance over time. If you’re thinking about AI in customer support, this is a more grounded look at...
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Inside KeyBank’s Approach to Customer Experience and AI
The Modern Customer Podcast
AI is often deployed to improve efficiency—but its impact depends on how work is structured and delivered. In this episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, , EVP and CIO of Intelligent Automation, Contact Center, and Investment Operations at , shares how one of the largest U.S. financial services companies is applying AI to improve customer experience. At KeyBank, AI sits alongside a strong focus on service culture, shaping how customer experience is delivered. The approach starts with integration—bringing together data, product, technology, and operations so customer behavior, product...
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The Transformation Economy: Why Customer Outcomes Matter More Than Ever
The Modern Customer Podcast
Customer experience is shifting from memorable interactions to driving customer outcomes. That’s the shift behind the Transformation Economy, and it’s changing how companies create value for customers. This week on The Modern Customer Podcast, , co-author of The Experience Economy and author of the new book The Transformation Economy, explores the next evolution of customer value—from experiences to transformation. 🎧 Listen to the full episode to explore the shift from experiences to outcomes. Blake Morgan was called “The Queen of CX” by Meta. She is a customer experience...
info_outlineVerizon’s customer experience transformation started with a clear priority: listen to employees, study the data, and rebuild from the inside out.
On this episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, I’m joined by Brian Higgins, Chief Customer Experience Officer for Verizon Consumer.
With more than two decades at Verizon, Brian has led everything from network operations to product and marketing. Today he’s leading Project 624, the company’s largest customer experience transformation yet.
In this episode, we cover:
✔️ Why Verizon focused AI on employee pain points first
✔️ How they analyzed the root causes of churn and sales drop-off
✔️ The strategy behind opening 400+ new retail stores
✔️ Why they created a Customer Champion team to resolve long-tail service issues
✔️ How data, EX, and AI fuel continuous CX transformation
This episode is packed with takeaways for CX leaders navigating AI, change management, and complexity at scale.
Brian’s approach is smart, grounded, and refreshingly tactical.
🎧 Tune in now and share it with your team!
Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of three books on customer experience. Her new book is called The 8 Laws of Customer-Focused Leadership: The New Rules for Building A Business Around Today’s Customer.
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