Upskilling, Contact Centers and AI's Role in CX with Antrea Dowd of HCA Healthcare, Shmuel Saklad of B&H Photo Video and Dale Sturgill of Memorial Hermann Health System
Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business - CIO & IT Leader Interviews, Digital Transformation, Digital InnovationShow Notes
Antrea Dowd of HCA Healthcare, Shmuel Saklad of B&H Photo Video, and Dale Sturgill of Memorial Hermann Health System join David Wright live from CCW in Las Vegas to explore how AI is reshaping contact centers, workforce development and the patient experience. Antrea explains how HCA is bridging the healthcare workforce gap by upskilling employees and using AI to move patients through their journey more efficiently. Shmuel challenges CX leaders to pay attention to the managers now responsible for leading mixed human-and-AI workforces, and argues that translating metrics into business language is what separates practitioners from leaders. Dale reveals that the 55-and-older demographic has been the most enthusiastic adopter of new contact center technology at Memorial Hermann, upending common assumptions about digital resistance.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
00:00 Introduction. 03:36 Antrea Dowd's role at HCA sits at the crossroads of workforce development, operations and patient-centered care, turning students into employees and upskilling current staff to close healthcare workforce gaps. 08:10 In healthcare, resistance to AI is rooted in fear of replacement rather than a genuine capability gap — leaders who communicate AI as a collaborator, not a competitor, change the dynamic on the floor. 11:16 Automating student placement and rotation scheduling would free HCA teams to focus on the higher-value work of curriculum design and programme rollout. 14:46 Shmuel Saklad built a 12-year career at B&H Photo Video starting as a phone agent, working up through a contact center that serves corporations, governments and educational institutions at B2B scale. 19:28 The conversation about AI in contact centers focuses on agents — but the managers responsible for leading mixed human-and-AI workforces are adapting too, and that shift is not getting enough attention. 20:17 Translating contact center metrics into executive language — framing CSAT in terms of lost revenue rather than scores — is what allows CX practitioners to influence decisions in rooms that matter. 25:00 Designing AI solutions for diverse audiences requires intentional human-centred design: age, geography and culture all shape how customers want to communicate. 30:14 Dale Sturgill has spent 30 years in contact centers and is now leading Memorial Hermann Health System's strategic shift toward AI, digital innovation and improved patient and consumer experience. 33:00 The 55-and-older demographic has been the most engaged adopter of new contact center automation at Memorial Hermann, challenging assumptions about which customers resist self-service technology. 35:26 Memorial Hermann's new CIO is conducting a deep-dive review of technology across contact centers, hospitals and pharmacy to identify the highest-impact AI initiatives. 38:23 A naturally bilingual voice talent at Memorial Hermann is being augmented with AI to scale English and Spanish voice capabilities across the contact center.
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RESOURCES MENTIONED
CCW Las Vegas 2026 https://www.cxtoday.com/events/ccw-las-vegas/
HCA Healthcare Website https://www.hcahealthcare.com/
B&H Photo Video Website https://www.bhphotovideo.com/
Memorial Hermann Health System Website https://memorialhermann.org/
Purpose. Presence. People. - Antrea’s podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/purpose-presence-people/id1864633571
ElevenLabs https://elevenlabs.io/
#DisruptiveInnovation #Innovation #DisruptiveTech
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