NICE's Nigel Lindsay-Smith: Why Personal AI Agents Will Change Customer Experience

With CX Day taking place on 6 October 2026, attention is turning to how artificial intelligence is changing customer expectations and what customer service could look like as automation becomes more capable.

One emerging shift is the rise of personal AI agents that can act on behalf of customers. Rather than simply helping people find information, these agents could increasingly initiate and manage interactions with businesses, changing the frequency and nature of customer requests.

For enterprises, that creates both an opportunity and a challenge. As the effort required to contact a business falls, organisations may need to prepare for a significant increase in the volume of interactions they receive.

In the commentary below, Nigel Lindsay-Smith, Managing Director ANZ at NICE, explores why enterprises need to prepare for this shift and establish a controlled, authenticated entry point capable of handling both human and AI-driven requests.

Expert Commentary

Comment from Nigel Lindsay-Smith, Managing Director ANZ, NICE, on CX Day:

"CX Day is a good moment to look at what's next: personal AI agents that make asking for help effortless. There's plenty to like here, as long as enterprises are ready.

"Until now, every call, chat or email has cost the customer something: patience, time away from their kids and, all too often, a 40-minute wait on hold. Personal AI agents remove that cost. An agent doesn't get bored on hold, doesn't mind retrying, and can hunt down a better offer whilst it waits.

"When the cost of asking drops to near zero, people ask a lot more. That's a big opportunity for the enterprises ready to answer.

"Australia doesn't have Meta Muse yet, and that gives retailers, banks and healthcare providers a real head start. Build the front door now: one controlled entry point that authenticates the person behind every agent and routes every request, human or AI, to the right place.

"The enterprises that answer well at any volume will be the ones to define the next generation of great customer service."

The changing economics of customer interaction

The emergence of personal AI agents could change more than how customers communicate with businesses. It could alter the economics of customer engagement itself.

When an AI agent can wait, retry, compare options and continue an interaction without requiring the customer to remain involved, the friction traditionally associated with contacting a business is reduced.

That creates the potential for customers to initiate more interactions, placing new demands on the systems responsible for handling those requests.

Preparing for AI-driven customer interactions

For enterprises, the challenge is therefore not simply adopting AI within customer service. Organisations may also need to prepare for AI agents arriving at their existing customer-facing infrastructure.

This creates a requirement for businesses to understand who is behind an interaction, authenticate the request and determine how it should be handled.

Nigel's commentary highlights the idea of a single controlled entry point capable of managing both human and AI-driven requests.

Building the next generation of CX

The shift toward agent-driven customer interactions could make scalability an increasingly important part of customer experience strategy.

As AI reduces the effort involved in asking for support, information or assistance, organisations will need to consider how their customer service infrastructure responds when interaction volumes increase.

For enterprises that can combine authentication, intelligent routing and scalable service capabilities, the transition could create an opportunity to redefine what responsive customer experience looks like.

About Nigel Lindsay-Smith

Nigel Lindsay-Smith is Managing Director ANZ at NICE, where he focuses on customer experience and technology across the Australia and New Zealand market.

About NICE

NICE is a customer experience technology company providing solutions across customer engagement, analytics, artificial intelligence and automation.

Source and Credits

Nigel Lindsay-Smith, Managing Director ANZ, NICE. Commentary provided for CX Day 2026 coverage.