CX News
 

Keep Call Centers in America Act

There’s a bipartisan effort to keep customer service agent roles stateside: The Keep Call Centers in America Act aims to curb offshoring and automation in customer service by withholding federal benefits from companies that relocate call center jobs overseas, with exemptions for businesses with fewer than 50 employees.

With 150,000 U.S. call center jobs projected to disappear by 2033, this bill aims to enforce transparency, prioritize U.S.-based support in federal contracts, and ensure customers are informed when AI is used. It’s backed by the Communications Workers of America and seeks stronger job protections and better customer experience nationwide.

 

Atlassian cuts customer service jobs, claims it’s not due to AI

 

Atlassian recently cut 150 customer support roles (out of its 12,000 global employees), claiming it was due to enhancements in the customer experience that reduced the need for headcount rather than AI. However, the same day, the co-founder and board member gave a talk saying it was time to move on “from jobs of the past” and the organization reported that AI is even helping software developers save 10 hours a week - but they were still overloaded due to organizational inefficiencies.

We all know that AI is just like other technological innovations that have handled manual or repetitive tasks and shifted the nature of jobs. The key for customer experience leaders is to take those efficiency gains from AI and not settle by just reducing a few headcount. Sportswear company Absolutely Ridiculous shifted all but one team member away from managing support tickets and elevated their former customer service agents’ roles to other functions that would grow the business. That sort of thinking will keep around valuable institutional knowledge, and it’s what will separate the brands in the AI race.

 

CX making an impact on earnings

 

Like I reported last week with T-Mobile, many brands are pointing to enhancements in the customer experience as the reason for their success in Q2 2025 earnings calls. Here are some other brands with the same theme:

✈️ JetBlue boosts customer satisfaction, says financial gains will follow

 

🍗 Wingstop plans loyalty program pilot in Q4 2025

 

🛋️ Wayfair’s curated product program boosts customer satisfaction

 

📱 Verizon cited that customer engagement with offerings fueled a 6.9% year-over-year increase in Consumer revenue

 

 

AI News

 

  1. Tariff-hit brands cut back on customer service reps and turn to AI chatbots to cut costs - will it work for them or will they revert course and hire humans again, like Klarna?

 

  1. PolyAI: ‘hold times are for the old times’ and claims callers never realize they are speaking to a voice AI agent

     

  2. OpenAI takes on Meta by launching free and customisable AI models - offering downloadable models to advance research

     

  3. US agency approves OpenAI, Google, Anthropic for federal AI vendor list - encouraging use of AI in the federal government 

The latest at Kustomer

Image says Kustomer raises $30M Series B. Norwest, Battery, Redpoint, Boldstart

Some big news from Kustomer: we’ve just closed a $30M Series B round to lead the next era of customer experience, one powered by AI, built for real outcomes, and shaped by you.

This raise lets us double down on the AI innovation we’ve built into our platform, deepen orchestration for complex support workflows, and make strategic investments in customer success and global scale.

To our customers and the broader CX community: thank you. Your belief in what we’re building helped make this possible.

Check out our blog to learn more about the funding round and our plans for what’s ahead.