Kustomer’s Humans of CX Awards Honors 30 Leaders, Elevating Human-Centric Customer Service with AI Integration

Kustomer redefines the future of customer experience by recognizing leaders from Everlane, Vuori, Fanatics, Justworks, Grafana, HexClad and more, who empower human agents with AI, establishing a new narrative for the intelligent customer experience market.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kustomer, the AI-native customer experience platform, today announced the winners of its inaugural Humans of CX Awards, recognizing 30 pioneering customer experience (CX) leaders whose teams are redefining the human's role within AI-powered service organizations. As AI automates more customer service tasks, honorees, including leaders from Everlane, Vuori, Fanatics, Grafana, and HexClad, show what's left for people to do: handle the complex, empathetic, and trust-based interactions that AI hands off to them.

What This Means for the Customer Experience (CX) Industry

Much of the industry conversation about AI in customer service focuses on cutting costs and human deflection, but the reality is that inquiries continue to reach human agents and they are getting more complex, not less. The Humans of CX Awards acknowledges that winning companies leverage AI to elevate their teams, not diminish them, fostering a human-centric approach to CX. This initiative underscores a significant market shift towards intelligent CX platforms that augment human capabilities rather than replace them entirely.

The Humans of CX Awards: Recognizing Human-Centric AI Adoption

The inaugural class of 30 honorees was selected from top CX leaders globally, based on how they use AI to support their human agents rather than replace them.

• Award Criteria: Honorees were nominated for using AI to elevate their teams, build trust, and make nuanced judgment calls.
• Key Insight: AI handles transactional volume, freeing human agents to focus on high-value interactions requiring empathy, critical thinking, and relationship building.
• Featured Leaders: Representatives from Everlane, Vuori, Fanatics, Grafana, Justworks, HexClad, and FabFitFun are among the honored recipients.
• Nomination Process: Nominations for the next class, to be recognized in December 2026, are now open with 25 spots available.

The Kustomer Advantage: Building for Human-Led CX

Kustomer’s product innovation aligns with the ethos of the Humans of CX Awards, empowering agents with cutting-edge tools to handle increasingly complex customer interactions. The launch of the new Kustomer experience is a testament to this commitment.

• Complete Redesign: A ground-up rebuild of the agent workspace designed for managing harder, more consequential conversations.
• Performance Optimization: Page load times reduced from 3 to 1 second, returning an estimated average of 15-30 minutes to every representative per shift.
• Reduced Cognitive Load: Keyboard shortcuts and button hovers that eliminate the micro-interruptions of multi-step menu click-throughs
• Personalization: New color themes, both light and dark. Three density modes. Font and size preferences. Layout choices that follow them across every device they sign in to.
• Accessibility: Screen reader support, keyboard navigation throughout, contrast that meets accessibility standards on every theme for a workspace that works for every rep on the team.
• Available To All: Now in Early Access, the new Kustomer experience will be offered to customers across all tiers.

Awards and Recognition

The Humans of CX Awards celebrates the people behind meaningful customer interactions, not just the technology automating around them. Nominations are open year-round, with winners selected each June and December. Submissions are evaluated on impact, leadership, empathy, and community contribution, looking for nominees who put customers first, build trust, lead with empathy, elevate their teams, drive innovation, and balance AI with humanity.

Quotes

Brad Birnbaum, CEO and Co-Founder of Kustomer, said: "Everyone else in this industry is selling AI as a human alternative. We're selling AI and humans working together, each doing what they do best. There are plenty of interactions AI can and should handle completely. But this year's Humans of CX honorees are proof that the companies winning on customer experience know where the line is, and they've armed their people to own what's on the other side of it. That's the belief this award is built on, and it's the same belief behind the New Kustomer Experience: a workspace rebuilt from the ground up so reps can move fast on what AI hands them, with less friction and without losing the judgment only a person can bring."

Robert Rupprecht, Head of Technical Support at Kustomer, commented on the new Kustomer experience, "The new agent experience marries speed with automation and a sleek look that helps my team build efficiencies while providing a great support experience to our clients. We are quicker to review conversations, and with the new layout and AI features like Summaries and Signals, the team has everything they need at their fingertips."

Jeremy Suriel, CTO and Co-Founder of Kustomer, said: "The Humans of CX Awards recognize people doing this work well anywhere. The New Kustomer Experience is us making sure our own customers have a workspace worthy of it, built so a rep's attention stays on the conversation, not the tool."

Learn More:

• Discover more about the Humans of CX Awards and nominate future leaders at kustomer.com/humans-of-cx-awards.
• Explore the innovative features of the new Kustomer experience here: kustomer.com/resources/blog/new-experience-for-reps/.

About Kustomer

Kustomer is the Intelligent Customer Experience Platform empowering brands to put customers at the center of every interaction. By unifying customer data, conversations, and AI-powered workflows into one seamless workspace, teams deliver service that delights, retains, and drives growth. With Kustomer, support becomes faster, smarter, and more personal.

To learn more about Kustomer, visit kustomer.com. Nominate a CX, CS, or support professional for the Humans of CX Awards at kustomer.com/humans-of-cx-awards.