Happy Friday! ‘This week in CX’ brings you the latest roundup of industry news.
This week, we’ve explored how deepfakes are emerging as a new security threat in call centres, why Gen Z and Millennials demand seamless in-app payments, and what the latest travel trends reveal about shifting consumer preferences in 2025.
We’re also discussing new updates from the Financial Times, Burberry, Forrester, and more.
Key news
- French company Alstom wants to capitalise on the growing demand for train travel by offering services between London and mainland Europe, the Financial Times reports. The world’s second-largest trainmaker wants to run double-decker trains that would boost capacity and lower fares on journeys between the UK and continental Europe, though it could still take “some years” to get approval. More firms are looking to break Eurostar’s monopoly on the Channel Tunnel route, including Virgin Group and Italy’s FS Group. Last week, the UK and Swiss governments shared plans for a direct train link to connect the countries.
- Burberry has reported a £66m (€78m) pre-tax loss, a steep fall from last year’s £383m profit, citing luxury market challenges and a faltering brand overhaul. The company plans to cut up to 1,700 jobs worldwide by 2027 – nearly one-fifth of its global workforce – as part of a £60m cost-saving strategy. Most redundancies will be at head offices, particularly in London. Additionally, 150 roles will be lost at its Castleford raincoat factory in Yorkshire ahead of planned investment later this year. Despite the losses, Burberry shares rose more than 11% on Wednesday.
- The 78th Cannes Film Festival is stirring controversy with its updated red carpet dress code, which bans nudity in all festival venues. Also prohibited are “voluminous outfits”, particularly those featuring long trains. In recent years, skin-baring “naked dresses” have become attention-getters on the red carpet, with some pushing the boundaries of transparency for maximum impact. But the festival’s attempt to refocus attention on the films may have backfired, with images of the most daring past looks circulating widely. Reports suggest some attendees have likely broken the new rules in the festival’s early days.
CXM news stories
Here’s the full news stories that CXM have reported on in the past week. Learn all about the latest news in contact centre security, the future of digital payments, and global travel plans in 2025.
AI moves from experimentation to acceleration, says Forrester
As AI evolves from generative to agentic capabilities, automation has become increasingly intelligent and adaptive. According to Forrester’s latest report, The Top 10 Emerging Technologies in 2025, the experimental phase of AI is ending. By the close of 2025, businesses will no longer be testing AI—they’ll be racing to keep up.
In a climate of ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, making strategic technology investments is becoming a critical driver of resilience, growth, and competitive advantage.
“As AI becomes ubiquitous, business and technology leaders should prioritise investments that will deliver the greatest impact for their organisations in terms of driving business growth, innovation, and competitive advantage,” said Sharyn Leaver, chief research officer at Forrester. Despite global uncertainty, AI’s rapid acceleration will continue. Enterprises that strategically balance AI innovation with risk mitigation will be the ones that successfully thrive and achieve sustainable growth.”
The report organises emerging technologies into short, mid, and long-term value horizons, helping decision-makers plan based on impact timelines. In the short term—within the next two years—technologies like IoT security and synthetic data stand out. As connected devices proliferate, IoT security will play a vital role in protecting critical systems and data. Meanwhile, synthetic data, which enables privacy-safe AI model training, is gaining traction across regulated industries such as healthcare, finance, and government.
Looking to the mid-term (two to five years), agentic AI emerges as a powerful automation tool that adapts to specific business processes with greater autonomy. Although early use cases are promising, scalability and reliability remain challenges. Generative AI for visual content also features prominently, offering new ways to create lifelike images, videos, and experiences, especially in sectors like retail and marketing, where personalisation is key.
On the long-term horizon, humanoid robots make their debut on the list. These lifelike machines, powered by advanced AI and sensors, are becoming more viable due to declining hardware costs. However, integration and development barriers mean they’re still years away from mainstream use.