Kobie's Customer Care & AI Revolution Led by Eir Welch

As a trusted partner for more than 35 years, Kobie delivers market-leading, end-to-end loyalty solutions designed to enable customer experiences for the world's most successful brands. With our robust technology platform, Kobie Alchemy® Loyalty Cloud, Kobie is consistently named an industry leader by Forrester with a mission to grow enterprise value through loyalty for clients.

Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 1,250 characters):

Eir Welch is the architect of Kobie's Customer Care (KCC) digital transformation and the leader who restored trust in AI by proving that safe, governed innovation can elevate both people and performance. As Senior Director of Customer Success, she oversees Customer Success, QA/Training, and digital enablement across nine loyalty programs, integrating people, process, and technology into a unified operating model.

When Eir stepped into her role, the contact center operated on five-year legacy systems, siloed workflows, inconsistent coaching, and no unified view of quality or compliance. She rebuilt the foundation. Eir established a three-year digital vision for KCC, defining how automation, AI copilots, knowledge retrieval, and closed-loop quality would embed into every workflow, coaching cycle, and customer interaction.

Her signature achievement is the deployment of the KCC Loyalty Coach-one of the first fully governed AI copilots in a loyalty contact center-implemented across nine programs in just 30 days, with version control, audit trails, and rollback safeguards.

Eir's leadership style blends disciplined innovation with empathy. She equips agents with tools that increase confidence and accuracy, while ensuring clients receive transparent, auditable performance. Her work exemplifies what modern digital transformation leadership should be: strategic, human-centered, and measurable.

Outline the nominee's achievements since July 1, 2023 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 1,500 characters):

Since July 2023, Eir has transformed the KCC from a fragmented, manual operation into one of the first fully governed, AI-enabled service ecosystems in loyalty.

She inherited siloed teams, disconnected tools, inconsistent coaching, and manual QA. Eir rebuilt the operating model by defining Tier 1/Tier 2 ownership, creating governance pathways, and establishing a three-year digital vision for safe, scalable automation.

In April 2025, she launched the KCC Loyalty Coach-an enterprise AI copilot providing real-time policy guidance, fraud controls, eligibility logic, and TCPA/DNC safeguards. She deployed it across nine clients and 80 agents in 30 days, far exceeding typical timelines. All updates are governed, versioned, logged, and auditable.

She also implemented Automated Quality Management to assess nearly 100% of calls, linking AI signal detection to QA forms, coaching, and micro-trainings. Auto-Fails dropped 48% YTD; QA scores improved +2.76 pp YOY.

In a major banking rewards program (21-day pre/post, YOY normalized), results included:

• Positive sentiment +16%
• FCR +0.5 pp (KCC maintains 96% Tier-1 FCR)
• AHT +9% during early adoption
• Post-call spend +17.9% vs. +3.9% baseline (4.6× lift)

Eir has built a transparent, data-driven, human-centered culture where agents say the AI "feels like a coach," and clients gain real-time visibility into decisions, compliance, and outcomes.

Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 1,500 characters):

Eir's impact stands out because she delivered what most regulated contact centers struggle to achieve: higher quality, stronger sentiment, tighter compliance, and measurable financial lift-while deploying AI at unprecedented speed and safety.

She built one of the only AI governance frameworks in loyalty customer service, including approval workflows, version control, audit trails, and rollback safeguards. Every AI decision, compliance cue, and knowledge pathway is fully traceable and defensible-rare discipline in the CX industry.

Her 30-day, nine-client AI copilot rollout is among the fastest and safest documented in a regulated contact center, pairing rapid execution with enterprise-grade risk controls.

Unlike typical deployments, Eir integrated AQM, copilots, coaching, and VOC insights into a closed-loop performance engine. Quality improved +2.76 pp, Auto-Fails dropped 48%, and sentiment rose +16%-a combination seldom achieved together.

Her human-centered design approach ensures agents say the AI "feels like a coach, not a monitor," boosting confidence, accuracy, and sustained Tier-1 FCR of 96%, with CSAT consistently at 92-95%. Eir's transformation shifted KCC from reactive service to an intelligence-driven operating system that strengthens loyalty outcomes and client trust. She proved that meaningful digital transformation isn't about technology-it's about leaders who blend tech, governance, and human judgment into measurable business impact.

Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 1,500 characters):

The attached deck provides evidence of the nominee's digital transformation achievements:

• Slides 13-18: Measurable KPI improvements, including +16% sentiment, 48% reduction in Auto-Fails, and +2.76 pp QA gains.
• Slides 2-4: AI copilot governance model, version controls, and scaling approach across nine clients.
• Slides 11-12: Automated Quality Management (AQM) workflow, coaching loops, and compliance insights.
• Attached video: Demonstration of the AI copilot (KCC Loyalty Coach) delivering real-time guidance, fraud guardrails, and compliance prompts.
• Published Article: Loyalty360 feature authored by the nominee on the role of feedback, AI, and experience design in loyalty programs. ("Customer Feedback Fuels Loyalty Program Success - Expert Advice for Brands")

Together, these materials show a transparent, auditable, and measurable digital transformation-one that integrates AI, quality, and human-centered design to elevate customer experience, operational safety, and business performance.