The Art of Connection: Why Tandem Care is a Mindset, Not Just a Metric

What is this post about? We explore how Robert Henri’s famous quote on art also applies to modern Customer Experience (CX).

The Core Concept: "Tandem Care" is the collaboration between Human agents and AI. It is not about replacing people but empowering them.

The Insight: 69% of consumers believe AI and humans must work together. 

The Solution: Avaya Infinity creates the "wonderful state" where great service becomes inevitable by unifying context, memory, and orchestration.

The State of Inevitability

Robert Henri, the celebrated leader of the Ashcan School, was more than a painter. He was a philosopher of expression. He once gave his students a piece of advice that transcends the canvas and speaks directly to the heart of modern business interaction. He said:

"The object is not to make art, but to be in the wonderful state which makes art inevitable."

In the world of Customer Experience (CX), we often obsess over the "art" itself. We look at the final metrics: the Net Promoter Score, the resolution time, and the survey result. We treat these as objects. But Henri teaches us that these outcomes are just byproducts. The true objective is to build an environment—a mindset and a technical ecosystem—where an exceptional connection between a brand and a customer becomes inevitable.

At Avaya, we call this state Tandem Care.

It is a mindset that rejects the binary choice of "Human vs. AI." Instead, it embraces a future where intelligent systems and empathetic people work in perfect synchronization. And just as Henri’s students needed the right studio environment to create, today’s enterprises need the right platform to make connections inevitable. That platform is Avaya Infinity.

What is Tandem Care?

Tandem Care is the realization that AI and human agents are not competitors. They are partners. The understanding is that technology should handle the complexity of data so that humans can handle the complexity of emotion.

Recent research from the Avaya Connected Consumer Research Series confirms that this is exactly what consumers demand.

• Consumers want partnership, not replacement. A striking 69% of consumers say it is extremely or very important that AI and human agents work together.
• The goal is augmentation. The sentiment is clear: consumers want technology to empower people, not replace them.

When we view CX through this lens, the "wonderful state" Henri described is one in which the agent never has to hunt for information, and the customer never has to repeat themselves. The service is not forced. It flows.

The Canvas and The Brush: Knowing When to Use AI

To reach a state of inevitability, you must know which tool to use. In art, you use broad strokes for the background and fine brushes for the details. In Tandem Care, we use AI for speed and humans for significance.

The data shows that consumers have already drawn these lines for us:

The Routine (The Broad Stroke): For everyday tasks, consumers are increasingly open to AI. In healthcare, AI is the top choice for receiving reminders and follow-ups, with 37% preferring AI over 32% preferring a human. Nearly half of consumers are open to AI for scheduling appointments (46%) and prescription refills (48%). More broadly, 56% of all consumers say they are satisfied when an automated assistant resolves their issue—even without ever speaking to a human.

The Critical (The Fine Detail): When the stakes are high, the human element is non-negotiable. For discussing symptoms or a diagnosis, 80% of consumers insist on a human. For mental health support, the number is equally firm at 80%. And for serious financial matters like fraud or claims, 86% of consumers always or usually demand human interaction.

Tandem Care is the mindset of respecting these boundaries. It uses Avaya Infinity to route routine requests to the bot intelligently and critical requests to the human, ensuring trust is never broken.

Creating the "State" with Avaya Infinity

Robert Henri believed that the "state" was internal, but in business, that state must be architectural. You cannot expect an agent to be "artistic" (empathetic and effective) if they are fighting their tools.

Avaya Infinity is the Connection Platform designed to create this state of inevitability through three core pillars:

1. Contextual Continuity (The Memory)

You cannot have a relationship without memory. If a customer has to repeat their story, the "state" is broken. Avaya Infinity provides a persistent context layer that travels with the customer.

• The Need: 96% of consumers say it is important to switch channels without repeating information.
• The Solution: If a customer starts on chat and moves to voice, Avaya Infinity transfers the full context, intent, and sentiment. This allows the agent to pick up the brush exactly where the AI left off.

2. Real-Time Orchestration (The Flow)

In a Tandem Care model, the AI acts as a co-pilot. It does not just sit in the background. It actively whispers in the agent's ear.

• The Need: Consumers demand substance over style — 39% rank accuracy as the single most important attribute of service, followed by speed at 24%. Together, getting it right and getting it fast matter more than politeness, access to a human, or channel choice.
• The Solution: Avaya Infinity equips human agents with real-time insights and next-best actions. It surfaces the right answer instantly, allowing the agent to focus on how they deliver the message rather than what the message is.

3. Emotional Intelligence (The Vibe)

The "wonderful state" Henri spoke of is an emotional one. It is about feeling. A rigid script destroys feeling.

• The Need: 92% of consumers say it is important that support experiences feel tailored to them. And this isn't hypothetical, as 69% say they always or usually notice when experiences feel personalized, meaning the effort (or lack of it) rarely goes undetected.
• The Solution: Infinity uses sentiment detection to identify when a customer is frustrated or when a situation is escalating. It acts as an emotional barometer, guiding the Tandem Care team to adjust their tone or intervene before a customer silently abandons the brand.

Conclusion: Making Excellence Inevitable

Robert Henri taught us that the masterpiece is a result of the process. In the Experience Economy, the "masterpiece" is a loyal customer.

We know that 76% of consumers have chosen one brand over another solely based on the quality of service. We also know that 74% have abandoned a brand silently because of a single bad experience.

The stakes are high, but the path forward is clear. By adopting a Tandem Care mindset—leveraging the best of Human empathy and AI intelligence—we stop trying to "manufacture" good service. Instead, we use Avaya Infinity to build the infrastructure where connection, accuracy, and loyalty are inevitable results of the interaction.

That is the art of experience.

 

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is Tandem Care?

Tandem Care is a customer service philosophy and operational model where Human agents and Artificial Intelligence work in collaboration. The AI handles data, routine tasks, and real-time guidance, empowering the human to focus on empathy, complex problem-solving, and emotional connection.

Does Avaya Infinity replace human agents with AI? 

No. Avaya Infinity is built on the belief that humans are essential. The data shows that 83% of consumers still find it very or extremely important to speak with a human agent when issues arise. Infinity uses AI to augment these agents, not replace them.

How does Avaya Infinity handle data privacy? 

Trust is the foundation of loyalty. 87% of consumers say trust in data protection is essential. Avaya Infinity includes enterprise-grade security and compliance features, ensuring that while experiences are personalized, customer data remains protected and governed.

Can AI really understand customer emotion?

AI in Avaya Infinity utilizes sentiment analysis to detect frustration, urgency, and stress signals. While the AI "detects" the emotion, it routes the interaction to a human agent who can "understand" and resolve it with genuine empathy.

Why is "Context" so important in Tandem Care? 

Context is what prevents customers from having to repeat themselves. Since 70% of consumers have abandoned an interaction due to difficulty switching channels, maintaining context across chats, calls, and apps is critical for retaining customers.

Does Tandem Care apply to the public sector?

Absolutely. 51% of consumers say it is extremely or very important that government agencies (from the DMV to Social Security) use modern technology, including AI, to improve customer service. Citizens expect the same seamless, human-centered experiences from public institutions that they demand from private brands. Tandem Care gives government agencies a framework to modernize without losing the human touch.