The day was full, at times even dense, but in a good way. Each session offered something participants could take home and apply immediately. And thanks to the organisers and the many volunteers, everything from registration to closing ran smoothly. For those who couldn’t attend, the recordings are available and genuinely worth watching.

Machines as Customers

Don Scheibenreif, VP, Distinguished Analyst, Global Enterprise Executive Research, Gartner

Don Scheibenreif opened the day with a perspective that quietly shifts the entire understanding of customer experience. Machines are becoming customers. Not as a hypothetical future, but as a present and growing economic force. Machines already research, compare, negotiate and purchase.

Don delivered this calmly and clearly, without hype. His message was simple. Companies that design only for human pathways will soon be invisible to the systems that drive discovery. It was a powerful reality check and set the foundation for the rest of the day.

Responsibility is the Basis of Innovation

Susanna Mäkelä, Legal Advisor, Laissa

Susanna Mäkelä continued with a practical walkthrough of the EU AI Act. Legal sessions often drain energy, but this one did the opposite. Susanna explained that regulation, when properly understood, drives better governance, transparency, and accountability. And rather than slowing companies down, these foundations actually enable innovation to scale.

Susanna’s strongest point was that responsibility accelerates progress. It creates clarity, reduces risks and enables teams to build systems that others can trust. Many in the room appreciated how actionable, concrete and calming this session was.

Agentic Commerce Is Already Here

Joonas Loueranta, Senior Director, AI & Agentic Commerce, Nexi Group

Joonas Loueranta followed by bringing the concept of agentic commerce into focus. Where Don described machines as customers, Joonas explained how this plays out in real commercial systems today.

Agents are already discovering products, comparing options, adjusting payment flows and handling micro-decisions that humans used to make. Commerce is shifting from human-driven journeys to machine-orchestrated interactions. And this transformation is spreading through established industries, not just tech companies. Joonas made it clear: this is not the future. It is already here.

What It Takes to Become AI-Native

Teemu Linna, Chief Information Officer, Sitra & Ambassador, Agentics Finland

Next, Teemu Linna shared lessons from Sitra’s transformation into an AI-native organisation. His session was refreshingly honest. Becoming AI-native is not a technology challenge. It is an organisational one. Structure, ownership, governance and culture determine success far more than tools do.

Teemu highlighted where resistance appears, what slows progress and what accelerates it. Many attendees recognised these challenges from their own organisations and appreciated the clarity he brought to what can otherwise feel like a vague concept.

AI & CX – Finnish Leadership in Action

Panelists:
• Pia Aaltonen-Forsell, CFO, Finnair
• Hanna Kivelä, Managing Director, Fujitsu Finland
• Juhani Mykkänen, AI Communicator & Advisor, tech entrepreneur (ex-Wolt) and podcast host, Helsingin Sanomat
• Sari Nevanlinna, Chief Strategy Officer, Veikkaus
• Teemu Vidgrén, General Manager, Microsoft Finland

Moderator:
• Sirte Pihlaja, CEO, Shirute & Head of Team, CXPA Finland

The panel discussion highlighted how Finnish organisations are approaching AI and CX at the leadership level. The most striking part of the discussion was how aligned the leaders were on one theme. Structure, clarity and responsible foundations matter more than rushing into experimentation.

The panelists shared real experiences across aviation, technology, gaming, strategy and large-scale operations. This was one of the strongest segments of the day because it made clear that the AI shift is not theoretical. It is happening inside major Finnish companies right now.

The panel was one of the strongest segments of the day because it made clear that the AI shift is not theoretical, but happening now in Finnish organisations.

Closing the CX Gap

Sirpa Toljander, CX Director, Dagmar
Miikka Rahikainen, Martech Director, Dagmar

Sirpa Toljander and Miikka Rahikainen from Dagmar followed with a session on CX gap analysis and journey optimisation. They explained how to understand the real gaps between customer expectations and experiences, and how AI amplifies both the risks and the opportunities in those gaps.

Their session was filled with practical frameworks that teams can use immediately, which grounded the morning’s bigger themes into everyday CX work.

Leadership in Complexity

Mark Hayton, Head of Leadership Development, Compensation & Rewards, Wolt

Mark Hayton delivered one of the more personal reflections of the day with his session on Finnish leadership as an antidote to chaos. He explained why Finland’s culture of trust, clarity, low hierarchy and straightforward communication creates an advantage in the AI-era transformation.

Instead of being overwhelmed by complexity, Finnish leaders tend to build stability and direction through honesty and realism. His talk connected leadership traits to fast-moving AI environments in a way that many found relatable and refreshing.

Elevating CX With AI

Mari Eklund, VP, Communication Solutions, Corporate Business, DNA

Mari Eklund demonstrated how AI can elevate CX when integrated into communication systems and workflows. She showed how AI reduces friction, strengthens interactions and supports employees, especially in environments where clarity and immediacy matter.

Her session was concrete and actionable, showing how CX improvements can be made without overhauling entire systems.

Supercharge your CX: AI Agents, SEO, GEO and AIO In Action

Kieran Gilmurray, CEO, Author, AI Strategist, Kieran Gilmurray & Co

Kieran Gilmurray’s session continued with an energetic walk-through of SEO, GEO and AIO working together in CX and marketing. He tied technical concepts to real examples of AI agents, showing how they amplify discoverability, automate customer engagement and strengthen results at scale. It helped the audience see the connection between search, content and agent-based customer experiences.

Machines Are Customers Too

Katja Forbes, Executive Director & Head, Client Experience, Insights and Development, Corporate and Institutional Banking, Standard Chartered Bank

Katja Forbes closed the Day 1 program with a powerful reminder that tied the entire day together, demonstrating how paying attention to machine customers can turn disruption into a competitive advantage.

She brought the theme of machines as customers back into focus, drawing on her work and newly released book. She picked up the idea introduced by Don earlier in the day and showed how it plays out when large organisations, complex ecosystems and high-stakes client relationships are involved.

Her focus was not on technology for its own sake, but on what changes when non-human actors begin to participate in discovery, evaluation, and decision-making. She highlighted how relationship models, service design, and measurement all need to adapt when some of the most important interactions are mediated or initiated by systems rather than people. Her examples made it clear that machines as customers are not just a consumer or e-commerce phenomenon. It is a structural shift that also touches the most traditional corners of business.

Closing of the Day

Sirte Pihlaja, CEO, Shirute and Head of Team, CXPA Finland

Sirte Pihlaja closed the day by bringing everything back to the core idea that had quietly connected all sessions. AI has value only when it improves human value. She tied together the themes from strategy, regulation, leadership, CX practice and global perspectives, and reminded everyone that the goal is not to chase AI for its own sake, but to build better experiences and better organisations. It was a grounded, human closing that fit the spirit of the whole day.

To round off the evening, the best teams were given prizes for their activity and efforts during the day, in several categories.

What the Day Really Showed

Across all talks, one truth was consistent. The world is moving fast, but speed alone has no value. AI matters only when it improves human value. Day 1 delivered clarity, structure, and examples rather than hype. People left inspired, better informed and relieved to hear a narrative that finally connected strategy to practical reality.

Thanks to CXPA Finland, Shirute and the event partners, the day was organised seamlessly. Volunteers helped everywhere, making participation simple and stress-free. If you missed it, the full set of recordings is available to purchase (until Dec 31st) and is worth watching for anyone interested in where customer experience is heading.

AI is reshaping how organisations operate and how customers behave. But the Masterclass made it clear that the real winners in this new era will be those who combine AI with human understanding, responsible design and long-term direction. That is the real message from Day 1 in Helsinki, and it is a message the industry needs to take seriously.

What Comes Next

In the next CX Masterclass follow-up post, we share the full summary of Day 2, focusing on the AI Hands-On Masterclasses and the practical tools that showed how AI can be applied in real work. We will also publish individual posts that dive deeper into each of the main topics and key findings from the Masterclass. These will explore the insights from the speakers, the frameworks they shared and the patterns that emerged across both days.

If you found the overview useful, I recommend following the upcoming articles as well. The quality and depth of the content delivered at this event were exceptional, and the themes are important enough that they are worth revisiting more than once. Each topic opens a new angle on how AI can meaningfully improve customer experience, leadership and everyday work, and the next articles will break those ideas down in a way that helps make them actionable.

Stay tuned…

Valto Loikkanen is the Co-founder of Digiole and Prifina. Both companies were our partners co-hosting this event.