We're All Techies Now—But an Effective CX Strategy Extends Beyond Tech

I just read McKinsey's latest piece on digital skill building, and while I nodded along with most of it, something felt incomplete. Yes, we absolutely need everyone in the organization to get tech-fluent. The days of leaving AI and cloud architecture to the IT team are over. But here's what I keep thinking about—we're not just going through digital transformation anymore. We're in what I'm calling the Cambrian Era of Computing, and that changes everything for those of us in Customer Experience.

This Isn't Just Digital—It's an Evolutionary Leap

Remember learning about the Cambrian explosion in biology? Half a billion years ago, life on Earth went from simple to incredibly complex almost overnight. That's exactly what's happening in computing right now. I'm not just talking about better software or faster processors. Generative AI is beginning to reason with context. Interfaces are trending toward natural—voice, gestures, even attempting to capture emotions. The line between human and machine intelligence is blurring in ways that would have been science fiction just five years ago.

For many organizations, the entire infrastructure— tech stacks, workflows, even how they think about service delivery—was built for a completely different era. We're trying to serve customers who expect real-time, contextualized, emotionally intelligent experiences using systems designed for yesterday's pace.

What This Actually Means for Us as CX Leaders

McKinsey talks about becoming "tech-fluent," but I think we need to go further. We need to become AI-native. Here's what that looks like in practice:

We're moving from training programs to learning ecosystems. This is not about adding more LMS modules. We need to think about embedded AI coaches, co-pilot simulations, and micro-certifications in things like prompt design and agent-AI collaboration. Learning that evolves with the work itself.

We're shifting from process optimization to experience orchestration. Automation isn't about shaving seconds off handle time anymore. It's about orchestrating intelligent, responsive customer journeys. That means you need to partner closely with AI teams to shape models that actually reflect our brand values and emotional nuance.

We're redesigning from hierarchies to human-machine teams. Your next service team might include a customer support rep, a conversation designer, and an LLM prompt engineer. Success requires rethinking not just roles, but culture itself.

We're evolving from dashboards to real-time loops. Backward-looking reports won't cut it when you can track sentiment, intent, and friction signals in real time. The ability to adapt in the moment—not in next week's review—becomes the differentiator.

Here's What You Need to Do About It

If you're leading a service organization right now, here are the three moves that will actually make a difference:

Start with your intelligence audit. Take a hard look at what AI tools are embedded in your CX stack today. Are they evolving with customer needs or running the same static playbooks from two years ago? Most organizations discover they have AI scattered across different systems with no strategic coherence. Get visibility into what you actually have before you invest in what's next.

Pilot one AI-human co-bot team. Pick a specific service use case—maybe tier-one support or order resolution—and pair your frontline agents with prompt engineers and analysts. Give them real problems to solve together and measure everything. This isn't about replacing people; it's about amplifying human capability with intelligent systems. You'll learn more in three months of real pilots than in a year of vendor demos.

Reframe your success metrics now. CSAT and average handle time are table stakes. You need to start tracking how AI impacts resolution quality, agent empowerment, and customer emotional experience. If you're not measuring the human-AI collaboration effectiveness, you're flying blind. The organizations that figure out these new metrics first will have a massive advantage.

The key is starting small but thinking systemically. Each of these actions builds on the others, and together they position you to lead in the Cambrian era rather than just react to it.

The Bottom Line

McKinsey is absolutely right—we're all techies now. But in this Cambrian Era of Computing, being tech-savvy isn't enough. We need to be evolutionary leaders, co-designing the next generation of intelligent, human-centered service. The future of CX won't be built by digital adoption. It'll be shaped by intelligent co-creation. And that starts with how we think about this moment—not as another transformation to manage, but as an evolutionary leap to lead.

What do you think? Are you seeing this same shift in your organization?