Michiel Kouijzer

Product Manager - Digital Experience Essent

Michiel Kouijzer has spent over ten years at Essent, the Netherlands' largest energy supplier, most of it building things that didn't exist yet. Contact centre platforms, personalisation infrastructure, digital journeys at scale. He now leads digital experience product management, UX research & digital strategy. The question he keeps coming back to: how do you build digital experiences that change behaviour, not just measure it?

Summit Day Two - Wednesday, 7th October 2026 [CET]

10:05 Fireside Chat: The Experience Orchestration Layer: How Agentic AI Puts Customers Back in Control

Putting customers first in the age of agentic AI requires more than adding automation. In this fireside chat, Genesys and Essent explore how experience orchestration connects data, journeys, AI and people to create more seamless customer experiences. Hear how Essent transformed its CX technology to build a more flexible foundation, how AI is being applied today, and what organisations need to consider as they prepare for the next generation of agentic AI.

Learning Objectives

Explain how experience orchestration differs from simply adding AI or automation to existing customer service technology
Identify the technology, data and journey foundations that can support effective AI-powered customer experiences
Describe how organisations can evolve from CX modernisation and AI-assisted experiences toward more advanced agentic AI use cases

Key Takeaways

Understand the role of experience orchestration in an agentic AI strategy – and how connecting data, journeys, AI and people can keep customer needs at the centre
Learn how modernising Essent's CX environment created greater control over customer journeys while improving experiences for customers and employees
Explore the foundations for the next stage of AI-powered CX

12:05 Presentation: 50% Lower Costs, 36% Happier Agents: Behind-the-Scenes of a 12-Week Service Transformation

Reducing costs is often seen as a trade-off against customer and employee experience. It doesn't have to be. In this session, Michiel shares how Essent rebuilt its contact centre technology in 12 weeks: replacing legacy systems with a simpler, more agile operating model, cutting technology costs by 50% while agent satisfaction went up 36%. He walks through what it actually took to move that fast, and what it set up for AI-enabled service down the line.

Learning Objectives

How simplifying technology can pay off fast, in both operational efficiency and frontline experience
The decisions that made a 12-week contact centre transformation possible without disrupting service
What it takes to build AI-ready foundations without a multi-year rebuild

Key Takeaways

How to cut technology costs and improve customer and employee outcomes in weeks, not years
What simplifying contact centre operations quickly looks like in practice, and where the risks are
How to build a customer service operation that's ready for what comes next, without over-engineering it now

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Michiel.

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