This was an important reminder for me. Conversational AI is not synonymous with a text-based chatbot. Speaking is also a conversational interface, whether it happens through an established phone network or a newer service.

Video

Video adds another mode through platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, and WhatsApp video calls. It allows communication to include what people can show, not only what they can say or type.
Beerud described all these channels as surfaces: places where an experience is presented. That word becomes especially useful when we separate the intelligence behind an interaction from the format through which a customer accesses it.

This broader perspective also connects with our discussion on conversational commerce with Sonakshi Nathani, where the role of AI chatbots extends beyond support into commerce.

3. The Brain-and-Surfaces Framework

The clearest explanation in our conversation was Beerud’s analogy of an AI agent as the brain of the experience. The channels are the different surfaces through which that experience takes shape.

“You build an AI agent. It’s the brain of the experience.”

Beerud Sheth

To make this practical, I would organise his explanation into three layers. This is my synthesis of his analogy, rather than a named framework he presented.

One brain → multiple surfaces → one recognisable brand relationship.

The key is that consistency does not require identical presentation. A WhatsApp interaction should not necessarily look or feel like a voice call. Text, speech, and video each have their own characteristics.

Beerud used a very human comparison. I can speak to someone in person, call them, or send them a text. The format changes, but the person remains the same.

That is the expectation he sees customers bringing to brands. They want to reach the brand, their preferred salesperson, or their relationship manager in whichever format suits them.

My takeaway is that the channel should change the expression of the experience, not make the customer feel they are dealing with an entirely different entity. That is a more demanding goal than simply launching separate interfaces.

4. Ambient Devices Could Change the Interface Again

Just as marketers become comfortable with today’s channel mix, new interaction surfaces are emerging. Beerud pointed to smart glasses and other AI hardware as examples.

His larger observation was about ambient interaction: communication that may become less dependent on carrying a screen, using a keyboard, or clicking through an interface.
When people communicate with each other, they usually talk. Sometimes they show something. They do not need a menu system to begin the exchange.

Beerud sees an opportunity for technology to move closer to that pattern. It is a direction of travel, not a claim that screens have already become unnecessary.

For marketers, the implication is significant. If we define the customer experience entirely around a particular screen, we may struggle when the preferred interface changes. If we define the experience around conversation, new hardware can become another surface for delivering it.

The durable idea is the interaction, not necessarily the device. That was the principle I found most useful. We cannot confidently predict every future surface, but we can think more carefully about what the brand should be capable of doing across them.

5. Could Conversation Become the Primary Brand Interface?

Beerud’s boldest prediction was that conversational AI experiences could become the primary way consumers interact with brands, ahead of websites, apps, and even offline stores.

This is his forecast, not a description of a transition that every brand has already completed. He acknowledged that stores and malls remain popular and that customers still call contact centres.

But those familiar behaviours should not make us dismiss what could come next.

“They happen slowly and then suddenly.”

Beerud Sheth, on major shifts in customer interaction

He drew a parallel with the arrival of the web. Businesses could point to store traffic and incoming calls as reasons they did not need a digital strategy. Then digital expectations changed, and that position became difficult to defend.

I did not hear this as an instruction to abandon existing channels. I heard it as a warning against treating their current popularity as proof that customer behaviour will remain unchanged.

A brand can continue serving customers through established touchpoints while building the capabilities needed for a different future. The danger is assuming that preparation can wait until the shift is obvious.

6. A Practical Framework for Marketing Leaders

Beerud’s recommendation was clear: invest in the conversational AI experience and treat it as a first-class way of interacting with customers. Not a minor addition. Not simply a chatbot placed beside the main experience.

I would translate that recommendation into four questions for a leadership team:

1. Define the experience: What should customers be able to communicate to the brand, and what should the brand be able to do in response?

2. Choose relevant surfaces: Which messaging, voice, and video channels matter for the customers and markets you serve?

3. Connect intelligence and expression: How can the underlying experience remain recognisable while adapting to each surface?

4. Plan for migration: Which interactions currently handled through websites, apps, stores, or contact centres could move into conversation?

This is a planning framework I take from his argument, not a deployment checklist he prescribed. Its value is in preventing the technology discussion from starting and ending with platform selection.

It also fits the wider question explored in our Omnichannel Guide: how brands build the operating systems behind connected customer experiences.

My Final Learning: Build for the Conversation

I began with a familiar question about omnichannel. Beerud gave me a different way to think about the answer.

Messaging, voice, video, and future devices may all become surfaces for engaging with the same brand. The AI agent is the brain behind that experience. The customer chooses how to communicate.

The next interface may not ask customers to learn how a brand’s system works. It may allow them to express what they need.

That possibility deserves serious strategic attention today, even while existing channels continue to matter. For me, that is the masterclass: prepare for the shift by building the experience, not merely adding another channel.

I am Saurabh Agrawal and we come with a new episode on Dilse omni talks every fortnight and cover different aspect of omnichannel with amazing speakers.