Deflection Is Dead: Why Customer Engagement Is the New Goal

This episode is sponsored by Amazon Web Services.

For many organizations, AI has been focused on resolving customer requests as quickly as possible. But what if that’s the wrong goal?

In this week’s episode of The Modern Customer, recorded live at Customer Contact Week in Las Vegas, I spoke with Pasquale DeMaio, VP of Amazon Connect Customer, about why AI is changing customer experience by helping companies move beyond customer deflection to creating experiences customers want to come back to.

Instead of asking customers to explain what happened, AI can begin with context, take action on a customer’s behalf, and create more natural interactions. The goal isn’t simply faster service—it’s a different way of thinking about customer engagement.

We also discuss why organizations should combine agentic AI with deterministic workflows, why AI should be additive and help people do their jobs better, and why Pasquale believes the future of customer service is engagement—not deflection.

Pasquale also shares his prediction for the next three years: just as businesses no longer think of themselves as “internet companies,” AI will become embedded in everyday work—supporting customers, supervisors, and human agents as an everyday teammate.

Top Highlights

• Why customer engagement—not customer deflection—will shape the future of customer service.
• The shift from answering questions to understanding customer context.
• How agentic AI and deterministic workflows work together.
• Why AI should be additive and help people do their jobs better.
• Why AI will become an everyday teammate for customers, agents, and supervisors.

If you’re rethinking the role AI should play in customer experience, I think you’ll enjoy this conversation. Watch the full conversation with Pasquale DeMaio on this week’s episode of The Modern Customer podcast.

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