APAC’s hidden CX crisis on the frontline

How long can organisations afford to overlook the warning signs from their own frontline?

Asia Pacific (APAC) is home to over 340 million frontline employees—from nurses to store associates—who serve as the first and often most influential touchpoint between brands and their customers. 

Despite their central role in shaping everyday customer experiences (CX), many frontline employees feel overlooked, under-equipped, and alienated. 

In fact, a recent report reveals that nearly one in three employees in APAC feel disconnected from their organisation. This isn’t just an HR issue—employee experience (EX) can directly influence the quality of customer interactions. Yet many organisations still treat EX and CX as separate agendas, managed in siloes by different teams. 

The real question is: how long can organisations afford to overlook the warning signs from their own frontline?

Broken EX Leads to CX risk
According to the same report, 57% of frontline staff feel disconnected due to ineffective communication from company leadership. This is compounded by the fact that over a third report never having been recognised for their contributions.

Combined with long shifts, increasingly discerning customers and constant operational pressure, burnout is becoming common—and disengagement follows quickly. 

This has a direct impact on CX. When employees are disengaged, they are less willing and able to deliver the empathy, nuance, and adaptability customers expect when handling complex or emotional issues. That human touch is particularly important in APAC, where younger, digital-first consumers represent a significant part of the market. 

A separate study found that 77% of artificial intelligence (AI) natives—consumers aged 18-24 who have grown up with early exposure to AI—still want the option to escalate to a human agent even when chatbots are available. It is clear that human connection still matters, even in today’s AI-first era. 

At the same time, customer tolerance is shrinking. Just one or two negative service experiences can prompt customers to switch brands, making every frontline interaction a potential dealbreaker. For organisations, this much is clear: frontline EX is a business priority that directly shapes CX, customer retention, and the overall profit line.

Empowering the frontline
To strengthen frontline performance, organisations must rethink how they enable employees, starting with fit-for-purpose communication and collaboration tools. This is a critical first step  as 80% of frontline employees currently feel that their company’s technology does not effectively help them in performing their roles.

Consider a call centre agent who fields multiple customer enquiries a day. Before each interaction, they often have to piece together customer information across multiple platforms, switching between CRM systems, knowledge bases, and chat platforms.

This constant toggling slows them down and increases cognitive load, especially when they are tasked to retrieve accurate information or make quick decisions under pressure. When workflows are fragmented, even experienced agents struggle to keep pace with fast-moving customer expectations. What they need are ways to streamline information flow, reduce context-switching and ensure that every shift begins with full clarity.

This is where AI can act as a true force multiplier. By generating concise summaries of key discussions, pending tasks, and shift handover notes, this sets up the team to begin with the information they need to operate confidently.

These summaries can help minimise errors, strengthen accountability, and reduce the administrative burden often placed on the frontline teams. It can also give incoming teams and managers a clear snapshot of what has been completed and what requires immediate attention, allowing frontline employees to focus on higher-value interactions.

The bottom line is that frontline employees must not be left behind, especially when it comes to technology that can boost productivity. Their desk-based peers already benefit from the widespread integration of AI into their daily workflows, and frontline workers deserve that same edge.

When applied with intent, AI has the power to elevate the frontline, equipping employees with more confidence, context and capability to deliver more meaningful and impactful experiences for customers.

But AI alone cannot be the differentiator. Lasting advantage comes from recognising that EX and CX are not siloed priorities but fundamentally intertwined. By aligning people and technology around frontline needs, companies can unlock frontline excellence as a competitive advantage, strengthening employee loyalty, earning deeper customer trust, and supporting long-term business growth in one of the world's most dynamic regions.