The 2026 CX Roadmap: What’s Really Next for Contact Centers

December 9 | 11 AM ET / 4 PM GMT

2026 is set to be one of the most disruptive years yet for the contact center industry, as AI and other trends redefine how customer interactions are managed, measured, and improved. The choices leaders make now will determine whether their organizations keep pace or fall behind.

Join our upcoming webinar, The 2026 CX Roadmap: What’s Really Next for Contact Centers, as our expert panel unpacks the contact center trends currently reshaping the industry, and how to prepare your organization for what’s ahead.

You will learn:

CX Myths, Debunked: What many are getting wrong when it comes to emerging tech, customer expectations, and the new dynamics frontline teams face
What’s Actually Working Today: Where CX leaders are seeing real results now with ROI and AI investments
What’s Really Next: Discover the tools, data, and strategies top-performing contact centers are investing in to lead the next era of CX

The 2026 CX Roadmap: What’s Really Next for Contact Centers

December 9 | 11 AM ET / 4 PM GMT

You will learn:

CX Myths, Debunked: What many are getting wrong when it comes to emerging tech, customer expectations, and the new dynamics frontline teams face
What’s Actually Working Today: Where CX leaders are seeing real results now with ROI and AI investments
What’s Really Next: Discover the tools, data, and strategies top-performing contact centers are investing in to lead the next era of CX

Speakers

Rick Zayas

SVP of Technology, COPC

Paula Kennedy Garcia

Chief Client Officer, UK and Ireland, Capita

Ian Chappell

Director of Consulting, Centrical

The 2026 CX Roadmap: What’s Really Next for Contact Centers

About Centrical

“CX leaders should stop isolating contact centers from other departments. Customer experience is increasingly cross-functional. In 2025, integrating CX insights across the organization will be critical to delivering seamless and cohesive experiences.”

“Knowledge Management: It is not exactly underrated but it will be bigger than what it is in 2025. Vendors are likely to boost R&D investment in knowledge management for contact centers in 2025.”

“Human-centered AI, where AI is used not just to automate and drop money to the bottom line, but used to service up insights to support team members and delight customers. I see generative AI with conversational context and tonal analysis as pretty critical here.”

“The myth that technology/AI is a quickly implemented CX superpower. Companies will realize that we can’t harness a lot of these gains without quality data that is clean and well-organized.”

“By 2025 the buzzword omnichannel may be on its’ last leg.  Customers want their issues resolved quickly and accurately and they would prefer not to need to contact us in multiple channels that we can see at one time.”

“For 2025, the main trend I’m watching is ‘AI agents’—bots powered by AI that are becoming more autonomous. Unlike basic responses, these AI agents can handle end-to-end customer interactions, reducing the need for human intervention. Expect significant developments from vendors.”

“Stop talking about AI. It’s like talking about the internet being a thing. It’s here. The better focus is start thinking about how AI enhances the lives of your team. So stop talking about AI and start doing something about it.”

“AI and CX will drive hyper-personalization, using consumer data to segment customers, deliver key messages, and provide fast, accurate responses. Technologies like chatbots and predictive analytics will close the gap between brands and consumers.”

One myth that will be debunked in 2025?: “Customers are on the edge of their seat waiting to hear what you have to say. We need to learn about what’s important to customers by asking more questions.”