*** MEDIA ALERT ***
DMG Consulting Releases 2026 CX AI Playbook: Strategic Outlook and Investment Priorities
CX modernization with AI and automation emerges as the overarching theme shaping goals, investment priorities, and concerns for enterprises in 2026
Who: DMG Consulting LLC, a leading provider of contact center, back-office, and real-time analytics market research and consulting services
What: Releases 2026 CX AI Playbook: Strategic Outlook and Investment Priorities
When: Today, 17 February 2026
Where: Available on the DMG Consulting website
Background:
DMG Consulting LLC today released its 2026 CX AI Playbook: Strategic Outlook and Investment Priorities, based on their annual global survey of enterprise, contact center, CX, and IT executives conducted in November and December 2025. The study outlines the strategic goals and investment priorities shaping the new year, with particular focus on how AI and automation are redefining customer and employee experience (CX and EX) initiatives across industries.
DMG’s 2026 survey shows that organizations have made AI the strategic core of CX transformation, with top goals centered on contact center modernization, operational efficiency, improved reporting and analytics, expanded self‑service, and enhanced data quality. Companies aim to achieve these outcomes by investing in AI infrastructure and orchestration, analytics, and other enabling CX technologies, while also building the foundational orchestration, data, and integration layers needed to make AI sustainable, measurable, and capable of delivering business value that justifies continued investment.
These priorities are driving planned 2026 spending in analytics and business intelligence (BI), AI infrastructure and orchestration platforms, and core contact center applications including automated quality management (AQM), digital customer service, workforce management (WFM), workflow, knowledge management (KM), and contact center as a service (CCaaS). Survey respondents also identified key objectives—reducing costs, accelerating insights, personalizing experiences, elevating employee well‑being, and strengthening governance—alongside challenges such as ROI measurement, skill gaps, transparency, ethics, and data quality. Together, these findings underscore that balancing efficiency, personalization, and responsible AI adoption will define enterprises’ path forward in 2026.
The survey also shows that enterprises are ready to move beyond pilots and into large‑scale AI deployments, marking a significant acceleration in CX transformation. Despite ongoing concerns regarding costs, data quality, and operational readiness, organizations are building the governance and operating frameworks required to support sustainable AI adoption. “DMG expects 2026 to be a strong year for CX AI applications as organizations prioritize the platforms and operating systems that will allow modern contact centers to deliver experiences that are both more efficient and more personalized,” said Donna Fluss, President of DMG Consulting LLC. “The key threshold for widespread AI adoption in CX organizations will be its ability to deliver measurable, sustained benefits and ROI that justify continued investments.”
The 2026 CX AI Playbook: Strategic Outlook and Investment Priorities study makes it clear that while improving CX has been the top strategic directive for enterprises for more than a decade, companies are now shifting their focus to the tactics required to deliver on this mandate now that they have the AI tools to do so. For enterprises, the study findings offer a benchmark to guide planning and technology investment decisions. For vendors, the results highlight the capabilities, applications, and messaging most likely to resonate with enterprise buyers and capture mindshare in 2026.
To access your copy of the Report, visit dmgconsult.com, or contact Deborah Navarra at deborah.navarra@dmgconsult.com or 516-628-1098.
###