Sachin Bhatia on the Future of AI-Human CX: Why Unified Memory, Orchestration, and Data Sovereignty Will Define the Middle East’s Next Digital Leap

Enterprises across the Middle East are entering a decisive new phase of customer experience transformation. AI is no longer confined to isolated pilots or experimental deployments. It is becoming core digital infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, Exotel has introduced Harmony, its agentic AI-led customer experience orchestration platform, designed to unify voice, messaging, AI agents, analytics, and human interactions into a single, context-aware system.

The launch comes as the regional conversational AI market accelerates toward an estimated USD 2.3 billion by 2031, driven by national digital transformation agendas such as the UAE National AI Strategy 2031 and Saudi Vision 2030.

In a recent industry conversation, Sachin Bhatia, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Exotel, outlined how unified memory layers, AI-human orchestration, and sovereign infrastructure are redefining enterprise CX strategies across the region.

From AI Experiments to AI Infrastructure

According to Bhatia, the next wave of customer experience will not be defined by automation alone but by how effectively organisations combine AI efficiency with human judgment, empathy, and governance.

Fragmented CX architectures built on disconnected tools and point solutions are rapidly giving way to unified platforms built around:

• Real-time customer memory

• AI-human orchestration

• Continuous supervision and governance

“The top-down push, from government and boardrooms, is driving adoption beyond experimentation,” Bhatia explains. “But the key is managing consumer behaviour. When someone is anxious or frustrated, they should be able to speak to a human. When it is transactional, bring in the machine.”

While the UAE has historically led rapid digital adoption, AI in customer interactions requires trust-building. Early experiments in some markets have shown that consumers want reassurance, not just automation, especially in emotionally charged situations.

The CX Platform of 2030: Memory at the Core

As billions of AI agents begin managing customer interactions globally, Bhatia believes the defining feature of next-generation CX platforms will be memory.

Customers should never have to repeat themselves.

If an AI agent has already collected context, the human joining the conversation should not restart the dialogue. Instead of asking “How can I help you?”, the agent should begin with contextual understanding.

“I see you were trying to block your card. Let me help you.”

This central memory layer spans channels including voice, WhatsApp, chat, and email, ensuring customers feel recognised rather than re-identified.

Harmony was designed around this principle. It provides a unified, cross-channel memory and orchestration layer that eliminates fragmented customer journeys.

AI Agents and Humans: A Complementary Future

The early AI debate framed the future as either augmentation or replacement. In CX, the reality is a blend.

• Repetitive and transactional tasks are handled by AI agents

• Emotional, judgment-based situations are handled by humans

“Humans will do what only humans can do, take judgment calls, soothe customers when emotion is involved, and handle anxiety,” Bhatia says.

For example:

• Blocking a lost card can be fully automated

• Discussing financial hardship or loan distress requires a human

In this model, contact centre agents evolve into what Bhatia calls the “last line of defense,” handling high-impact, high-accountability conversations where empathy and discretion matter most.

Scripted conversations, he predicts, will disappear. The role becomes less mechanical and more perceptive.

Predictive CX: Listening Instead of Surveying

Traditional customer experience measurement relies heavily on surveys, yet most customers rarely complete them.

Bhatia argues that real conversational data is the most accurate CX signal.

“If you listen, you do not need to ask.”

As real-time memory layers mature, platforms will evolve into predictive systems capable of resolving issues before customers even explain them.

Examples include:

• “I see your flight is delayed. Let me help.”

• “I notice your luggage was reported missing. Here is the update.”

The predictive layer will be built not from assumptions, but from real conversation patterns and contextual data.

Governance, Sovereignty, and Trust

As AI becomes embedded into national digital ecosystems, data sovereignty and regulatory compliance are becoming non-negotiable, particularly in heavily regulated sectors such as banking, insurance, and government.

Exotel has invested in local infrastructure across the UAE and Saudi Arabia to ensure enterprises can retain full control over consumer data.

“Governments want sovereignty and governance of data to remain with the owner,” Bhatia notes. “Anyone designing for these enterprises must be ready to invest in sovereignty platforms. Trust depends on it.”

In this model, CX platforms move beyond customer service tools and become part of national digital infrastructure.

Automation With Human-in-the-Loop Supervision

Harmony enables up to 60 percent automation, with some deployments reaching nearly 70 percent containment in transactional use cases. However, Bhatia stresses that automation must be governed.

Enterprises should prioritise:

• Real-time observability

• Cross-channel supervision

• AI quality monitoring

• Human intervention triggers

“If AI promises something incorrect, you must catch it. AI is representing your company.”

Governance cannot be quarterly. It must operate in near real time.

Industry Impact: The Shift to Outcome-Based CX

The evolution of AI-human orchestration will reshape not just enterprises, but the broader contact centre and BPO ecosystem.

Seat-based models will give way to outcome-based delivery priced by resolution or business impact. AI supervisors, AI-augmented agents, and high-accountability human specialists will become standard.

Customer experience, Bhatia concludes, will become the ultimate differentiator.

“When products look the same, experience becomes the advantage.”