TALKING POINT
HOW AGENTIC AI WILL DRIVE THE NEXT EVOLUTION OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA
As customer expectations continue to rise, organisations are under increasing pressure to deliver fast, personalised and seamless experiences across every touchpoint. Lauren Potgieter, Country Manager at Infobip, explains how Agentic AI is transforming customer engagement by enabling real-time, context-aware interactions that combine automation with human empathy.
South African customers now expect problems to be solved before they even complain – on WhatsApp, in app, or over the phone – often in minutes, not days. Yet many businesses are still struggling to meet these expectations. After two decades of rapid communication evolution, from SMS to omnichannel and conversational AI, customer expectations have surged far beyond what traditional automation can deliver. Consumers now expect interactions that are instant, personal and deeply contextual, yet most legacy systems are still stuck in a slower, simpler era.
Agentic Artificial Intelligence( AI) is the breakthrough that closes this gap, enabling technology to reason, decide, and act with autonomy while preserving brand intent, regulatory compliance and human level empathy at scale. At Infobip, we see this shift first hand as South African brands start using AI driven orchestration to connect channels, data and decision making in real time.
In simple terms, agentic AI does not just automate tasks; it understands context, determines the best next step, and then acts on it. These agents operate on a central orchestration layer – essentially an AI‘ control centre’ – that connects channels, data, and business rules, giving them a full view of the customer before deciding what to do next.
Instead of each bot or system acting alone, the orchestration layer routes tasks to the right AI agent or human, co-ordinates their actions, and ensures every step aligns with brand, compliance and business goals.
Traditional chatbots and rule based automation can only follow predefined flows; for instance,‘ If X happens, do Y’. Agentic AI moves beyond that limitation by making informed decisions rather than merely executing instructions.
In daily life, most people will not even think of this as‘ AI’ but simply feel that the Customer Experience( CX) is getting better. For example, banks will flag suspicious activity faster and more helpfully, mobile providers will warn about outages before
AI should enhance, not replace, human capability.
Lauren Potgieter, Country Manager at Infobip
complaints arise, and online stores will stop sending irrelevant offers and start anticipating real needs. The result is less frustration, fewer repeated steps and customer communication that finally feels timely, relevant and human.
Concerns that this kind of AI will take over human jobs are largely unfounded. Agentic AI is not about replacing people but about automating repetitive, low value tasks so humans can focus on conversations that require empathy, judgement and real problem solving. In the realm of CX, AI manages routine tasks and workflows, allowing people to focus on escalations and building trust.
Organisations are already investing equally in both AI and human roles. In South Africa, an effective CX model combines AI for speed and scale with human empathy and accountability. AI should enhance, not replace, human capability. •
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