AI, data governance and customer trust in Switzerland
Why ethics and governance now define customer service performance
Customer trust depends as much on ethics and governance as it does on technology.
On the 26th of March, StratEdge joined the French-speaking Swiss customer service community for a webinar on a key topic: the use of data and AI in customer service, with a focus on optimisation, transparency and compliance.
The event was hosted by Grégoire Perrin, Vice-President of callnet.ch, alongside three experts in data, AI and compliance:
- Caroline Perriard, co-founder of StratEdge
- Jean Meneveau, Director of Data & AI at Colombus Consulting
- Stéphane Ronteix, President of Teleactis
Throughout the webinar, they provided an overview of market trends, accompanied by concrete use cases.
Customer service in Switzerland: fragmented maturity, shared challenges
Jean Meneveau presented benchmark findings from a study conducted by Colombus Consulting. He noted that companies in French-speaking Switzerland operate at very different levels of maturity.
Whilst some organisations have developed fully-fledged omnichannel ecosystems - voicebots, social media, messaging platforms - others remain focused on more traditional channels such as telephone and email.
In short, practices vary.
But regardless of how diversified customer engagement channels are, the speakers emphasised one critical point: it is not the number of channels that creates value.
What matters is how the channels are coordinated - using reliable, centralised data.
AI in contact centres: from automation to augmentation
The second part of the webinar focused on practical use cases for AI in contact centres with examples on how AI can be deployed across the entire customer journey:
- Before the interaction → qualifying and routing requests (natural language IVR, voicebots)
- During the interaction → conversational agents assisting advisors or handling self-service queries
- After the interaction → automatic summaries, verbatim analysis and intelligent dashboards
A particularly striking case study illustrated this transformation. A bank in French-speaking Switzerland successfully scaled an outbound calling operation through data-driven management — improving reachability, conversion rates and operational efficiency.
Compliance and regulation: a non-negotiable foundation
The third part of the webinar, moderated by Caroline Perriard, highlighted the importance of the legal and regulatory framework governing AI and data usage.
Key regulations discussed included:
- FADP
- GDPR
- Cyber Act
- NIS2
The key principles to bear in mind are:
- avoiding poorly compartmentalised databases
- controlling access to AI tools
- ensuring transparency in data usage
- understanding sector-specific obligations (health, finance, public services)
The strategic takeaway: trust is the real differentiator
All speakers converged on one conclusion:
Customer trust depends as much on ethics and governance as it does on technology.
Now more than ever, data is becoming a strategic lever for customer service - provided it is used in a controlled, transparent and responsible manner.
For executives and board members, the implication is clear: questions around data governance, AI usage and compliance must be addressed now, at leadership level.
Watch the webinar
💡Full webinar available here.
Article by Caroline Perriard.