Belkin’s Senior Director of E-commerce tested AI chatbots for customer service beyond basic order tracking, then deliberately pulled back to human agents for relationship-critical moments. Jyoti Malik explains why most omnichannel strategies fail (teams treat digital as a retail add-on instead of rethinking the entire operating model), shares her phased approach to channel expansion, and reveals the three-part assessment she uses before investing in first party data infrastructure. The practical takeaway: before chasing martech solutions or agentic commerce readiness, map your business outcomes two years forward and audit whether you can actually act on the data you collect. Jyoti’s team experiments with AI for content creation (a non-creative team member now generates banner assets in ChatGPT), but she’s cautious about where automation creates value versus where it damages customer relationships. Topics discussed: - Phased omnichannel expansion starting with shared business pain points and pilot programs - Why digital commerce as a ”retail bolt-on” operating model fails in mature organizations - Three-part first party data assessment before infrastructure investment: quality, quantity, and utility in your business context - Preventing martech tech debt by defining business needs before evaluating solutions - Testing AI chatbots beyond order status and why capabilities fall short for complex customer service - Agentic commerce readiness through data quality audits and friction reduction strategies - AI content tools for non-creative team members generating campaign assets - Decision framework for when to automate versus when to keep humans in customer experience