CX at the Speed of AI: What to Expect in 2026
December 2025
Customer experience (CX) technology is evolving at an extraordinary pace, with so much more on the way. 2025 has been filled with rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), with generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and Agentic AI leading the charge across enterprise operations and organizational workflows. These technologies are no longer just headline hype; they are reshaping how businesses operate, employees work, and customers interact. Enabled by AI, self-service, knowledge management, customer relationship management, and many other CX solutions and platforms are gaining momentum and driving the transformation toward intelligent, proactive, and adaptive real-time contact centers. Enterprise and CX leaders are facing the dynamic challenge of harnessing these breakthroughs while maintaining governance, trust, and human connection.
2026 promises even greater innovation as companies and individuals leverage AI and realize major benefits that were unimaginable as recently as two years ago. Below are technology trends that are going to help revolutionize CX and should be on the roadmap for all organizations dedicated to delivering an outstanding and scalable customer experience, cost-effectively.
1. Integrate an AI orchestration layer to function as the central conductor (brain) for all CX activities – Given the technical and operational complexity and sophistication of contact centers, this control hub provides the intelligence to optimize the performance of all systems, workflows, and routing to deliver a truly differentiated CX on an ongoing basis.
2. Establish conversational AI (CAI) as a foundational layer – Conversational AI should be established as a foundational capability for customer engagement throughout the enterprise, serving as the functional component that powers self-service, bots, agent assist, and analytics. No longer just a front-end interface, CAI is becoming the architectural layer that connects intent, action, and insight to drive outcomes.
3. Leverage knowledge management (KM) to empower employees, customers, and strengthen data integrity – KM has a symbiotic relationship with AI as an enabler and primary, accurate, and trustworthy source of enterprise information. Knowledge management should be established as a core technology component in the AI technology stack.
4. Transform customer-facing self‑service capabilities – Combine the power and intelligence of GenAI and agentic AI in a CAI framework to deliver smarter, more intuitive experiences, driving higher adoption as customers increasingly trust these powerful systems to resolve increasingly complex inquiries and transactions — reducing friction, accelerating resolution, and freeing agents/employees for higher-value work.
5. Invest in agent/employee assist/augmentation tools – These applications empower and engage agents to deliver an accurate and personalized experience at scale, altering servicing dynamics for customers and employees. The CAI-enabled applications are rendering established contact center tools and processes, including quality management, automated quality management, coaching, and surveying obsolete – replacing after-the-fact reactive feedback, reviews, with in-the-moment guidance, compliance checks, decision support, and proactive help.
6. Adopt adaptive real-time intelligent routing – utilize predictive AI technologies together with the AI orchestration layer to determine and route each interaction to the most appropriate agent (human or bot) to generate the ultimate experience for both customers and agents.
7. Implement next‑gen workforce management systems and policies – Enabled by AI, workforce management has entered a new and welcome phase, with next-generation platforms that actively engage employees in all scheduling activities and swaps. These greatly enhanced systems balance service-level adherence and performance with agent engagement and wellbeing, creating more adaptive and responsive operations.
8. Invest in customer journey orchestration – Customer journey orchestration will finally come into focus as omnichannel data, analytics, and AI converge to provide a unified view of the end-to-end experience. This convergence enables organizations to design, simulate, and optimize journeys holistically — moving from fragmented handling and isolated touchpoint fixes to proactive and personalized customer interactions across the entire lifecycle.
9. Analytics everywhere, with new metrics – Generate and apply actionable analytics at every layer and touchpoint in the CX experience. Retire or deprioritize traditional and outdated productivity-centered key performance indicators (KPIs), such as average talk time (ATT) or average handle time (AHT), and replace them with new metrics that capture customer trust, relationship quality, and agent empowerment. (Natural language querying empowers users to uncover insights conversationally, bridging analytics and accessibility.)
10. Prioritize security and trust as CX imperatives – Security and governance are inseparable aspects of CX and need to be core considerations in all automated and live interactions. Protecting customer information will be recognized not only as an IT responsibility but as a key pillar of customer trust and brand integrity.
The CX world is evolving at the velocity of AI, unlocking a level of personalized service that was previously unachievable. Despite rapid advances in automation and AI, human agents will remain indispensable for their empathy, ability to handle complex problem‑solving, decision-making, and relationship‑building, with technology augmenting their capabilities. AI and automation are essential for speed and scale, but a great CX doesn’t happen without people.
DMG Consulting appreciates and thanks you for being part of our community. We wish you and your loved ones a New Year of health, happiness, peace, and success – here’s to a great 2026!