Contact Center Pipeline November 2026 | Page 34

ANNA CONVERY

WHAT DEVELOPMENTS, ISSUES, AND TRENDS IN CX THAT YOU HAVE HEARD FROM CONTACT CENTERS OVER THE PAST 12 MONTHS WILL LIKE- LY CONTINUE INTO THE NEXT 12 MONTHS? DID THESE CHANGE FROM YOUR EXPECTATIONS?

ANNA CONVERY( AC): The story of the last 12 months is that expectations moved faster than operations. In Verint’ s“ The State of Customer Experience 2026 report”:

• 42 % of consumer respondents stated their service expectations rose over the prior year, up from 19 % in 2024.

• 51 % now say businesses fall short when they actually need help, the first time in five years of running this study we ' ve seen a majority say this.

The unexpected part of this data was the cause. Businesses adopted AI at unprecedented speed, yet customers remained frustrated because most deployments stopped short of solving problems end-to-end. The data is clear that simply deploying AI is not a solution to better CX.

Over the next 12 months, I ' d expect much harder questions about whether the AI initiatives are providing outcomes.

We also found that channel preference has settled around 70 %/ 30 % digital to phone, which indicates that consumers have not leaned into digital fully and abandoned the phone channel completely. I don’ t expect that split to change into 2027.

DANA SHALEV

DANA SHALEV( DS): Over the past 12 months, the conversation around AI in the contact center has shifted from experimentation to accountability. 18 months ago, corporate boards were asking their organizations to do something with AI.

This year, the boards are asking what those investments cost and what they returned, and many pilots haven ' t survived that second question.

We expect that scrutiny to define the next 12 months as well. Here’ s why:

First, headcount decisions are running ahead of the evidence. More than 80 % of organizations expect to reduce agent headcount within 18 months, Gartner projects, also that half of companies that are cutting support staff because of AI will rehire those roles by 2027.

Second, the economics also require a more measured approach. Gartner ' s January 2026 analysis projects generative AI cost per resolution passing $ 3 by 2030, potentially exceeding the cost of an offshore human agent.

Not every interaction needs a reasoning model. Matching the right technology to each interaction is where the economics are won.

We ' re also seeing the formation of a hybrid workforce of human and AI agents. Employees increasingly see AI as a path to mastery, not replacement.

A NiCE survey highlights this trend with 84 % wanting AI to reduce complexity and workload. As a result, leading organizations will start treating AI agents as a workforce, governed by the same focus as human agents on productivity, quality, resolution, and compliance.

ERIC WILLIAMSON

ERIC WILLIAMSON( EW): Over the past 12 months, automation has been the dominant trend across CX and contact center organizations.

More teams are looking for ways to automate customer interactions, reduce manual work, and create more efficient customer journeys, which isn’ t surprising at all. It aligns with where most of the industry expected CX to go as AI adoption accelerated.

What I think is evolving is the level of scrutiny around automation. The past year was largely about moving quickly and proving what was possible, but the next 12 months will be more about refinement.

Organizations will need to determine whether their automation initiatives are actually improving customer outcomes, reducing friction, and meeting customer expectations.

-- DANA SHALEV

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