Business Leaders Urge Organisations to Harness AI to Transform Customer Experience and Drive Business Excellence in Kenya

Business and public sector leaders have called on organisations to move beyond simply adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) and instead harness the technology to improve customer experience, strengthen service delivery and drive business excellence.

Speaking at the ICX Kenya 2026 CEO Breakfast Forum held at Capital Club Nairobi under the theme “Leading for ROX: Reimagining Customer Value in the Age of AI,” the leaders emphasised the need for organisations to place customers and citizens at the centre of their digital transformation strategies.

Principal Secretary, State Department for ICT and the Digital Economy, Eng. John Tanui, CBS, noted that the success of AI and digital transformation should ultimately be measured by the value created for citizens and customers.

“Kenya is positioning itself to be a digital hub, not only for Africa, but for the world. This requires us to be intentional about developing the infrastructure, architecture and systems that will make digital transformation meaningful and sustainable. At the centre of this transformation must be the customer experience. Our responsibility is not simply to establish connectivity, but to understand how citizens experience the services we provide, listen to their feedback and measure the impact of our interventions,” said PS Tanui.

He added that as Kenya continues to build its digital economy, organisations must strengthen their ability to use emerging technologies responsibly while ensuring that innovation contributes to improved service delivery and economic growth.

Also speaking at the forum, Chief Executive Officer of the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), Geoffrey Monari, said organisations must use AI to understand customer needs better and deliver more responsive services.

“AI should not remove the human connection from customer experience; it should strengthen it. When we use technology to better understand our customers, respond to their needs faster, and make services easier to access, we create experiences that build trust. The future of service delivery is about combining the power of technology with a genuine understanding of the people we serve,” said Mr Monari.

The discussions at the forum focused on the growing intersection between Artificial Intelligence, Experience Management and business excellence, with leaders examining how organisations can use technology to improve efficiency while responding to increasingly sophisticated customer expectations.

ICX Kenya Chairman and Managing Director, New KCC, Joseph Choge, said customer experience must be treated as a strategic priority as organisations navigate the rapid changes brought about by AI.

“Across both the public and private sectors, we are entering a period where experience will increasingly determine how organisations compete and how citizens and customers choose where to place their trust. AI gives us powerful new tools, but the organisations that will create lasting value are those that use these tools to understand people better, solve real problems and deliver experiences that are meaningful, consistent and human-centred,” concluded Mr Choge.

The ICX CEO Breakfast Forum is an annual platform that brings together business leaders to move beyond conversation to practical solutions that improve organisational performance and create sustainable customer value.

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