Case Study: Public Storage

Public Storage is a nationwide self-storage leader, founded in 1972 and serving approximately two million customers across more than 4,000 facilities. Public Storage has long differentiated itself through innovation, continually looking for new ways to improve the customer experience while operating at scale. As customer expectations evolved and AI emerged as a strategic priority across the enterprise, the organization saw an opportunity to transform its customer care model and redefine how customers engage with the brand. Three key business drivers guided the initiative: maintaining industry leadership through customer-first innovation, evolving and scaling the customer care model to support future growth, and elevating the care center to align with broader enterprise AI initiatives. Together, these objectives established a clear vision for a more intelligent, automated, and personalized customer experience.

To bring this vision to life, Public Storage partnered with NiCE for a phased deployment of CXone, beginning with knowledge management through CXone Expert and expanding to Workforce Management, Quality Management, Interaction Analytics, Performance Management, Feedback Management, and AutoSummary. This modern platform foundation unified customer interactions, workforce operations, knowledge, and insights, creating the data, workflows, and operational maturity needed to successfully adopt AI at scale.

As the platform was optimized, AI moved from concept to practical application. Public Storage deployed Copilot AutoSummary and generative AI-powered knowledge search, enabling agents to work more efficiently while improving the speed and consistency of service. With a strong CXone foundation now in place, Public Storage is preparing for the next evolution of AI for CX through Cognigy, extending intelligent automation directly to customers and creating more seamless, personalized experiences across the customer journey.

01 BEFORE

Elevating the care center model

By early 2024, Public Storage had reached a pivotal moment in its customer care evolution. Across the organization, AI and digital innovation were important enablers of growth, efficiency, and customer experience. As customer expectations continued to shift toward seamless, on-demand experiences available anytime and anywhere, Public Storage recognized an opportunity to further elevate the role of customer care within its broader transformation strategy.

The systems and processes supporting the operation had successfully enabled years of growth and service excellence. However, Public Storage understood that the next generation of customer engagement would be defined by connected experiences, real-time intelligence, and AI-powered interactions. The company took a proactive and strategic approach, investing in a modern platform.

At the same time, Public Storage recognized that every customer interaction represented an opportunity to better understand customer needs, preferences, and behaviors. With millions of conversations taking place across voice and digital channels each year, the customer care organization possessed a rich source of customer intelligence capable of informing not only service delivery, but broader business decisions as well.

The vision was to transform those insights into real-time intelligence, enabling the organization to continuously optimize experiences and drive more personalized customer engagement. Under the leadership of Dilhara Kaluarachchi, Vice President of the Customer Care Center, Public Storage established a clear customer care vision: empower customers with connected, frictionless support anytime and anywhere, while leveraging technology, data, and AI to create experiences that differentiate the brand.

This vision became the guiding principle for the company’s transformation journey, shaping both its technology strategy and its approach to finding a partner with the same customer obsession and focus.

02 OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE

Establish your vision first, then choose a partner

Public Storage was not shopping for a vendor; the company was choosing a partner with the same customer obsession and the same commitment to customers. The criteria were specific. The partner needed deep customer experience expertise, a credible AI roadmap, and an integrated end-to-end suite that could carry the customer care operation forward on a single platform. NiCE met all three, and Public Storage chose to bring its customer care future onto one foundation: CXone.

03 NiCE SOLUTION

Foundation first. AI to follow.

In April 2024, Public Storage began the first phase of its CXone transformation by establishing a unified knowledge foundation through NiCE CXone Expert. What had previously existed as separate customer and agent knowledge repositories was consolidated into a single source of truth, ensuring consistent information and experiences across help.publicstorage.com and the contact center. While knowledge management may seem foundational, Public Storage recognized it as a critical prerequisite for AI. Trusted, centralized knowledge would become the backbone for every future automation and AI-driven experience.

With the foundation in place, Public Storage expanded the platform to include Workforce Management, Quality Management, Interaction Analytics, Performance Management, and Feedback Management. Rather than implementing standalone technologies, the organization focused on building an interconnected customer experience ecosystem where each capability strengthened the next. Interaction Analytics uncovered customer trends and emerging opportunities. Quality Management helped translate insights into coaching and continuous improvement. Workforce Management aligned resources to demand patterns. Performance Management provided visibility across the organization, while Feedback Management ensured the customer perspective remained at the center of decision-making.

As the platform matured, Public Storage began introducing AI in targeted, high-value use cases. Copilot AutoSummary was deployed to automatically capture interaction details and make customer context immediately available across the organization. Generative AI-powered knowledge search enabled faster, more intuitive access to information for customers. By approaching AI as an extension of a unified platform strategy rather than a standalone initiative, Public Storage was able to accelerate innovation while ensuring every new capability was grounded in a strong operational foundation.

“This was never about selecting a vendor. It was about choosing a strategic partner with the same customer obsession and focus to grow with us.”

Dilhara Kaluarachchi

Vice President of the Customer Care Center
Public Storage

04 RESULTS

Established a platform foundation to accelerate and improve customer experiences

By establishing a unified CXone platform foundation, Public Storage transformed customer care into an AI-enabled, intelligence-driven operation capable of delivering more connected customer experiences, empowering employees, and supporting scalable growth.

Today, Interaction Analytics surfaces customer trends, friction points, and emerging opportunities in near real time, enabling teams to take action quickly and continuously improve the customer experience. These insights have contributed to an 8% increase in CSAT among new hires through more effective onboarding, coaching, and performance management. Public Storage also achieved a 16% increase in survey participation by deploying post-call voice surveys, providing greater visibility into customer sentiment and operational performance.

Within CXone Expert, generative AI-powered knowledge search has achieved 85% accuracy and continues to improve, helping customers find answers faster and more efficiently. For customers seeking immediate support, faster access to trusted information translates directly into a better experience.

The impact extends well beyond the contact center. CXone data and insights now contribute to a broader customer 360 strategy, enabling teams across the organization to better understand customer needs, identify opportunities for improvement, and drive meaningful change. The Care Center has evolved into a connected, data-driven ecosystem that increases efficiency, strengthens decision-making, and creates a foundation for ongoing AI innovation.

05 FUTURE

From unified platform to agentic operation

Building on the foundation established through CXone, Public Storage is preparing for the next evolution of AI for CX, beginning with a reimagined customer experience designed to resolve customer needs through intelligent, conversational engagement.

Because AI is being deployed on top of a unified platform, the same knowledge, customer context, operational data, and business processes that support agents and power experiences are also available to AI Agents. The result aims for a connected experience where customers receive consistent, personalized support across channels, with seamless transitions to human agents.

Each phase of the journey has strengthened the next. By first establishing a unified platform foundation and then layering operational intelligence, automation, and AI, Public Storage has created an environment where innovation compounds over time. The result is a scalable customer experience ecosystem designed to continuously evolve alongside customer expectations and the rapidly advancing capabilities of AI.