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As analysts, we’re always asked for our year-end predictions, so I thought I would turn the tables around and ask the vendors for their predictions. Here are some of the key trends and predictions for 2026 from various business communication vendors.     8x8 – The platform becomes the value According to 8x8 CEO Sam Wilson, “The market finally stops treating business communications as a smorgasbord of disconnected products. UCaaS, CCaaS, and CPaaS served their purpose as labels, but customers are no longer interested in buying a category. They are buying platforms that unify the communication journey. The platform becomes the value. Applications become interchangeable.”   Cisco – Connected Intelligence is how things get done Cisco notes that perhaps the most overarching workplace trend in 2026 will be around what Cisco calls Connected Intelligence . It's a new model of collaboration that connects people to people, people to AI, and, increasingly, AI to AI. Aruna Ravichandran, SVP & CMO for AI, networking, and collaboration, notes: “By 2026, the workplace won't evolve through more apps or digital assistants, but through Connected Intelligence — where people, data, and digital workers [AI agents] work together side by side.Connected Intelligence removes the limits of geography and individual capacity. Knowledge and expertise move instantly to where they're needed. Digital workers surface insights in context, automate workflows quietly, and keep work moving forward — without interrupting human creativity or decision making.” According to Vinod Muthukrishnan, VP & GM of Webex customer experience, "In 2026, the rapid evolution of AI multi-agent collaboration and orchestration will enable a new level of automation and the creation of brand concierge agents. Agentic AI will make it possible for workforces to be reimagined for a new era where these AI agents work side by side with human agents to deliver true connected intelligence and elevated customer experiences." He predicts that by 2026, these technological advancements will significantly transform the role of human agents, leading organizations to adopt new staffing models."AI-powered workforce engagement tools will be utilized, such as quality management and AI routing, and innovations in areas such as real-time speech-to-speech translation. These innovations will enable organizations to fundamentally transform how they manage and optimize hybrid teams of AI and human agents, allowing them to work together seamlessly and deliver true connected intelligence."   Dialpad – Agentic AI multiples, not replaces Brian Peterson, CTO & Co-Founder, states, "I know this is a somewhat controversial take, but Agentic AI isn’t going to replace most of what businesses use. 90%+ of companies aren’t tech companies — they rely on their SaaS stack, and that stack is just going to get faster, easier, and more productive. AI doesn’t replace the tools or the expertise behind them; it multiplies both, which is why you’ll keep investing in the products you already run your business on."   Five9 – Battles and Consolidation Matt McGinnis, VP of Product, Industry, and Solutions Marketing  shares his 2026 predictions: 1.    AI Agents begin scaled deployments and start to show large ROI. 2.    Data becomes a big story to support hyper-personalization. 3.    Agentic managerial tools will begin significant trials and find impactful use cases. 4.    Battle between CX/CCaaS and CRM will heat up 5.    Industry consolidation and PE activity will increase involving startup AI entrants, CCaaS platforms, CRM platforms, Workforce services, and UCaaS   Mitel - Control and trust will redefine the user experience Eric Hanson, CMO predicts that the year 2026 will usher in a new era where users and organizations prioritize factors such as control, privacy, and security, while relegating convenience and user experience (UX) to the backseat. The age of AI and the increased threat surface of cybersecurity will require the introduction of a new UX frontier, one that requires greater safety, resiliency, and flexibility to meet the evolving global dynamics and the increased needs for multi cloud technology solutions and hybrid communications.  This shift will be felt at both the individual and organizational levels. As a new generation enters the workforce, we’ll see enterprises moving even further away from the “always on” mobile culture to champion more intentional, balanced connectivity. We can anticipate that this progression will reshape how people connect through technology, placing authenticity, trust, the protection of identity and intellectual property, and user choice at the center of preferred experiences. In response, enterprises will rethink how their technology ecosystems support connection, accelerating demand for delivering private-cloud and edge-based solutions across financial systems, communications, and AI. In 2026, success in enterprise communications will hinge on the ability to always being connected, safely, selectively, and with purpose.   And according to CTO Luiz Domingos, Chief Technology Officers will also become Chief Trust Officers. As AI becomes embedded in every process, product, and decision across the enterprise, trust is emerging as the defining measure of success. Simply building reliable systems is no longer enough; organizations must also earn confidence in how data is handled, automated decisions are made, and how technology aligns with shared values. The next generation of CTOs will act as Chief Trust Officers, striking a balance between innovation and integrity. They will champion transparency in AI models, establish clear governance frameworks, and ensure that ethical considerations guide every stage of design, deployment, and oversight. In an environment where AI adoption still faces a significant trust gap, confidence will become as important as delivering new capabilities.  Trust will become both a leadership mandate and a market differentiator. Organizations that succeed will treat responsible innovation not as a limitation but as a strategic advantage, proving that in the AI era, trust is the true currency of transformation. Bill Dunnion, CISO, predicts that offensive security becomes the standard for defense, as traditional defensive postures—firewalls, monitoring, and compliance checklists—are no longer sufficient against threats that move faster and learn continuously. Offensive security practices such as red teaming, threat hunting, and penetration testing will evolve from optional exercises to essential functions of risk management. Mature organizations will integrate continuous testing into their operations, utilizing real-world attack simulations to enhance defenses and quantify risk in business terms.    Nextiva – AI agent collaboration will usher in a new era of CX We predict that in 2026, AI-powered agents will be the force that finally collapses the traditional silos between the back office and the front office for businesses of all sizes. AI agents are quickly evolving from simple, customer-facing chatbots to embedded workers operating throughout the entire company, from finance and inventory to HR and service delivery. This ubiquitous presence means a customer-facing AI agent will be able to check an order status, initiate a refund, and adjust a delivery schedule in a single, seamless interaction, because the underlying AI has direct, real-time access to the back-office systems.   This widespread "AI agent collaboration" will lead to a new era of harmonious customer experiences. The customer will no longer feel the friction of a company's internal structure; they will simply experience the speed and satisfaction of a unified, intelligent organization.   NiCE - AI becomes the operating fabric of the experience, not an add-on or afterthought Scott Russell, CEO, notes that “AI-first is the defining shift of our time. Traditional operations cannot keep pace with the exponential consumer. The future belongs to enterprises that embrace a unified AI platform, one that learns, adapts, and compounds value with every interaction.” 2026 trends include: ·      AI-first becomes the dominant model for customer engagement ·      Human-centric AI redefines how brands earn trust at scale  ·      Agentic AI and LAMs displace the traditional agent desktop ·      End-to-end orchestration emerges as the core CX capability ·      Workflows become the new applications ·      AI agents collapse silos between front and back office ·      Systems of engagement replace systems of record ·      Connected intelligence fuels real-time insights for agentic systems ·      Experience memory compounds AI value across customer journeys ·      AI observability becomes mandatory for C-suite buy-in   RingCentral – Shift will come from making AI truly operational Kira Makagon, President and Chief Operating Officer, notes that “AI is everywhere, yet nowhere. In 2026, the real shift will come from making AI truly operational. That means integrated systems, governed data, and intelligence that can understand human context at scale.” Additional RingCentral predictions for how AI (and the organizations deploying it) will evolve in 2026:  Agentic AI becomes the new architecture of work. We’re entering a moment when autonomous, context-carrying agents (and Agentic Voice AI) become the connective tissue of modern business operations. AI strategy management shifts from scattered to truly governed. Companies are realizing that AI cannot be confined to a single department and must operate with clear, organization-wide rules. Human-AI teams become the new productivity engine CX becomes the proving ground for orchestrated AI agents. CX will be the proving ground for agentic AI because the stakes are high and the potential payoffs are tremendous: shorter wait times, fewer escalations, consistent responses, cleaner handoffs, and customer experiences that don’t differ by the channel used. When larger organizations adopt orchestrated systems (in which AI agents can pass context across workflows, applications, and teams), they’ll unlock efficiencies previously buried by their own complexity. 2026 is the year AI stops operating in silos. The advantage will shift to organizations that can effectively integrate AI as a cohesive system.   UJET – AI will prevent interactions from ever needing to happen Matt Clare, VP Product Marketing, states that, “As I think about what's next for CX, I can't help but think there's more in store for AI. We (the industry vendors) have spent almost a decade trying to solve for interaction optimization with AI - both with virtual agent and human-assist use cases. Now that customer adoption is skyrocketing, I can't help but think that there'll be a shift to optimizing for use cases outside of the interactions. For example, we've seen AI agent assist tools deliver great value, but then you go visit an enterprise contact center and customer service reps still have 10+ apps open on their desktop. And we're seeing all these great quality management and analytics capabilities powered by AI now, but contact center administrators are still manually building, testing, deploying, and optimizing their CX operations. The more I think about it, the more I feel like virtual agents, agent assist, and analytics are just the start for AI in the contact center. Lastly, I can't help but also be thinking that the industry has a lot more work to do preventing interactions from ever needing to happen, instead of optimizing for interactions. If I take off my technologist hat, my favorite companies are ALWAYS the ones I never have to talk to... so how do we use AI to drive more towards that as the new gold standard.”    Verint: Human and machine collaboration Jaime Meritt, Chief Product Officer at Verint, predicts three key industry-shaping trends: the evolution of contact centers into data hubs, better collaboration between humans and machines, and matured AI technologies. Contact Centers Evolve into Data Hubs : Forward-thinking organizations are treating contact centers as sources of customer insights that drive tangible business outcomes. By 2026, the strategic value of contact centers will be unmistakable. They will be data hubs that collect and organize information, then distribute it throughout the organization for better decision-making. Improved Human-Machine Collaboration : In 2026, the most successful contact centers will facilitate seamless transitions between bots and live agents. In such scenarios, customer interactions flow from a bot to a human and back again – with full context, without requiring repeated information. Agents will also utilize bots for mundane tasks, quicker information retrieval and even answering questions in an agentic manner.  This human-machine synergy will blend self-service with human-assisted workflows. This means automating routine requests and extending agent capacity to focus on complex issues that require emotional intelligence, creativity, problem-solving and critical thinking. Matured AI Models : By 2026, contact center AI will move beyond the experimental phase into a more mature, value-oriented approach. Brands today don’t need more tools; they need more results: measurable, reliable outcomes and high ROI from their technology investment. Technology vendors will be under increased pressure to deliver measurable results faster and with clear ways to track performance, value and business impact. Enterprises are also setting policies, guidelines and quality controls to ensure that AI solutions are not just effective, but also secure and compliant. As contact centers handle more sensitive information, enterprise-grade data security and access controls will be even more important to ensure compliance with stringent regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA and more. As a result, expect to see more advanced systems with granular access control and better integration between AI platforms and existing enterprise infrastructure. Wildix – Voice is back, but so are security concerns In 2026, voice returns not as nostalgia but as infrastructure. As voice reclaims its place at the center of service delivery, deepfake impersonation and synthetic voice fraud are systemic and no longer edge risks. In response, security will evolve from a feature into a philosophy. Trust evolves from compliance into competitive advantage. Wildix CEO Steve Osler provided several predictions and insights: AI Adoption Becomes a Competitive Requirement: AI will no longer be judged on conceptual brilliance or experimental promise but on what it delivers to the business. Businesses must begin planning AI adoption inside communications, not around it. For those not adopting AI, there is the risk of becoming less competitive than a direct competitor. Security Becomes a Board-Level Priority in Communications: AI-powered impersonation, voice spoofing, and the rise in real-time communication threats accompany the rise of voice AI. Companies will need to take better security measures given the new ways of using AI to impersonate users. Communication-Enabled Business Processes Surge: In 2026, the biggest shift will be automating the communication steps inside business processes, not just phone calls or chats. AI Will Replace Tasks, Not Entire Workforces: AI takes over repetitive, high-volume tasks but enhances human roles. Pricing Models Will Shift Toward Usage: Agentic AI consumes significant computing resources, requiring a model change. Steve predicts user licenses will eventually become free. Wildix Chief Commercial Officer Jason Uslan added several channel-related predictions: Managed Service providers (MSPs) will lead the redesign of communication experiences across the business. Successful MSPs will transform into consultants and understand their customers, their workflows, their employees. MSPs will need to verify where money is spent, what ROI is achieved, and whether workflows improve. Workflow expertise becomes the new differentiator, and partners that can map workflows, identify friction, and implement targeted automation will win. Channel ecosystems shift into consultative intelligence layers, helping businesses understand not just what to adopt, but why, where and how to use it responsibly and profitably. 2026 – Going from Hype to Business Outcomes COMMfusion expects that 2026 will be all about data, workflows, and orchestration, with a focus on managing the combined human and AI agent workforce. We’ll see an increasing number of Agentic AI trials and deployments, with many successful outcomes, but also many public failures, as some companies rush to deploy agentic AI without proper testing. Expect to see several high-profile security breaches that will make some companies hesitant to deploy agentic AI, as vendors rush to highlight their security capabilities. Real-world deployments will lag behind vendor hype, but businesses across multiple verticals will quickly move to take advantage of the potential cost savings and productivity enhancements that generative and agentic AI provides. The companies that deploy AI for the right use cases (particularly for specific vertical markets), while providing the necessary training and user adoption strategies, along with proper guardrails, security, and governance, will transform their operations with positive outcomes for both employees and customers. There will be ups and downs along the way, but make no mistake – 2026 sets the stage for when agentic AI changes everything.

As we wrap up the year, I thought it would be fun to hand out my own set of industry awards. Take these with a grain of salt—many are just for entertainment. Most reflect my experiences and insights from various analyst events and countless vendor interactions throughout the year. If you want to nominate a vendor for a category, drop it in the comments or send me a message.   Best Marketing Ingenuity – 8x8 CMO Bruno Bertini delivered a bold rebrand that literally breaks out of the box. The latest marketing campaign - “The Power of You”—complete with cinematic visuals and generative AI production—puts customers at center stage and highlights their achievements in a fresh, engaging way. Best Persistence – Avaya Despite skepticism from naysayers, Avaya continues to innovate. Its Infinity Platform provides a practical evolution path for existing customers, and the company added agentic AI and Model Context Protocol (MCP) support—proof that Avaya isn’t fading away anytime soon. Best Catch Up (or Most Improved Player) – Cisco Cisco is back in the CCaaS spotlight. After trailing the pack for a while, Cisco now offers a much more complete portfolio—agentic AI, new AI-powered quality management, industry-specific integrations, and a compelling “connected intelligence” vision where humans and AI collaborate seamlessly. And the results have been impressive – incredibly strong cloud contact center product orders highlighting the growth and momentum.. Best “We’re Back!” Reinvigorated Marketing (and AR) – Tie: Dialpad and UJET Dialpad  has reemerged after a relatively quiet period, refreshing its marketing and analyst relations and launching new agentic AI capabilities aimed at shaking up the market. Expect to see and hear a lot more from Dialpad in the coming months as the company sets its sights on leading customers to agentic AI. UJET  let Google take the sales and marketing reins early in their partnership, but is now back on the scene with renewed channel engagement and an energized sales organization. Best Hope for Humans and AI Working Together – Five9 Five9 flipped the script: instead of AI augmenting humans, it’s humans augmenting AI. By keeping people in the loop, Five9 envisions human and AI agents working hand in hand—not replacement, but enhancement. Best Dressed CEO – Five9 CEO Mike Burkland stole the show at the CX Summit in full Nashville cowboy style. 'Nuff said. Best Views of NYC at an Analyst Event – Global Relay Global Relay’s New York HQ wowed analysts with incredible views, as well as in-depth and interesting sessions on digital communications governance, archiving, compliance, and communications surveillance for collaborative messaging applications and front-office workers. Best Display of AI at the Sphere – Google Google opened Cloud Next 2025 with an AI-powered sneak peek of an enhanced “Wizard of Oz” at the Las Vegas Sphere. Using DeepMind’s capabilities and its latest LLMs, Google used AI-driven "outpainting" to extend scenes, enrich environments, and reimagine the film for the Sphere’s curved, immersive display. Best Ability to Say “I Told You So” – Mitel While the industry raced toward multitenant public cloud, Mitel held its ground, insisting that public cloud isn’t the answer for everyone. Many organizations continue to prefer hybrid, private cloud, or on-prem solutions—vindicating Mitel’s commitment to customer choice. Best “Come Together” Moment – NiCE NiCE’s acquisition of Cognigy was a masterstroke. Pair the leading CCaaS vendor with the leading conversational AI provider, and you get an impressive, forward-looking Customer Engagement Platform. The deal positions NiCE to innovate faster and gain momentum in the CX AI market. Best Job Filling Really Big Shoes – Scott Russell, CEO, NiCE Scott has a strong vision for the company, along with contagious energy. His focus on partnerships and openness should help NiCE expand to other areas beyond the contact center and continue strong growth and leadership.   Best at Minding the Gap – RingCentral RingCentral filled a valuable market gap with its Customer Engagement (CE) Bundle—combining calling, collaboration, and light contact center features. It’s ideal for the underserved market of companies that can’t afford to miss customer interactions but don’t need the complexity of a full contact center solution. Best “We’re Listening – and Then Some” – Sprinklr Sprinklr evolved from social listening origins into a full Unified Customer Experience Management (Unified-CXM) provider. Its AI-native platform spans Service, Social, Marketing, and Insights—and uniquely leverages social listening to enhance CX intelligence. Best Way to Stand Out in a Crowd – Talkdesk Talkdesk keeps doubling down on its vertical expertise, taking specialization a level deeper with sub-verticals (think healthcare providers vs. payers). This isn’t lip service—they’re restructuring go-to-market and sales around these industries and going genuinely deep. Best “We’re Still a UCaaS and CCaaS Player” – Vonage After being acquired by Ericsson, Vonage was primarily focused on its Network APIs and CPaaS business, making some people wonder about the future of its UCaaS and CCaaS offerings. Vonage put those doubts to rest, introducing new Voice AI Agents, expanding partnerships with Salesforce and ServiceNow, enhancing its VCC Intelligent Workspace with AI, and more, to engage customers and employees across all channels from anywhere with context.   Cutest Bots – Verint Verint’s ever-expanding bot family continues to grow—forecasting bots, wrap-up bots, knowledge bots, and many more. These automation tools streamline workflows and consistently deliver measurable results: lower labor costs, improved CX and EX, and higher revenues. Best Kept Secret (For Now) – Wildix Wildix is a well-established European vendor quietly gaining traction in North America. At its first analyst event, the company unveiled a strategic vision rooted in European values and a purpose-built, partner-led approach for SMB and mid-market customers. The secret is definitely getting out… Best Longest List of Applications – Zoho Zoho wins this by a landslide: 88 products (and counting), with more than 50 tightly integrated applications and the Zoho One bundle offering 45+ apps. They may have added another one while you were reading this. Best Pivot – Zoom Zoom pulled off a highly successful transformation from a video/meetings company to an AI-first platform for employee and customer experience. Zoom CX is growing at high double digits year over year, as customer counts are up 60%; while the number of Workvivo customers rose 70% in Q3. “And the Emmy Goes To” - Zoom Zoom earned an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Award for “Zoom for Broadcast,” used widely by broadcasters to streamline high-quality video and audio integrations. If you’d like to add new categories, suggest nominations, or disagree with any of these—let me know!

At its Analyst Summit in Savannah, GA, Talkdesk highlighted its new platform—and the market category it hopes to define: Customer Experience Automation (CXA). As organizations look to automate the entire customer journey, not just customer service interactions, Talkdesk sees CXA as the platform to orchestrate and optimize CX end-to-end, both before and after live interactions. Talkdesk positions CXA both as a new market category and as its multi-agent automation platform, designed to automate and scale service, sales, and support processes across the full customer lifecycle. CXA: The Evolution of AI Noting that we’re in the era of orchestrated automated CX, CEO & Founder Tiago Paiva explained that Talkdesk is positioning CXA as the next evolution of enterprise AI, enabling multi-agent orchestration. He explained that while CCaaS remains valuable, CXA is increasingly what resonates with customers. CXA brings together intelligent, autonomous AI agents—each with a defined role and shared context—to solve complex CX challenges across front- and back-office operations. Although the platform is entirely new, it supports the AI applications already offered on Talkdesk’s CCaaS platform. Importantly, customers don’t buy CXA as a product. They consume AI capabilities on a usage basis—paying only for what they use across Autopilot, Navigator, Agentic Workflows, and other AI-powered experiences built on the platform. CXA is the underlying engine; customers simply tap into it as they deploy and scale AI across their customer journeys. Talkdesk describes CXA as an automation platform built to learn, adapt, and improve through a continuous loop of discovery, build, orchestration, and measurement. At the core is the Talkdesk Data Cloud, which unifies and structures all customer interaction data and enterprise knowledge. This foundation enables accurate retrieval, reasoning, and decision-making for every AI agent. CXA combines this data layer with multi-agent orchestration—specialized autonomous agents working together with shared context—to automate complex workflows across front- and back-office operations. The orchestrator coordinates these agents, dynamically routing tasks, resolving dependencies, and ensuring accuracy through continuous access to real-time data and knowledge. This combination of high-quality, unified data and multi-agent intelligence is the primary source of CXA’s differentiation. It underpins applications such as Navigator, Copilot, Autopilot, and QM Assist, and brings intelligent, end-to-end workflows to industries including healthcare, financial services, retail, travel, and the public sector. As CTO Munil Shah explained, “We look at CXA as an automation platform—not just infusing the contact center with AI, but providing AI automation, integrations, triggers, workflows, and orchestration in one platform that’s purpose-built for CX and industry verticals.” CXA supports complex use cases that go beyond traditional CCaaS, such as automated scheduling, shopping cart recovery, hospital post-discharge workflows, outage management, and more. A major differentiator is CXA’s ability to run on top of Talkdesk CCaaS or as a standalone platform, working with third-party CCaaS, and even on-prem environments from Avaya, Cisco, and Genesys. A Deep Dive Into CXA To better understand CXA, I spoke with Pedro Andrade, VP of AI, who walked through how agentic AI powers the platform. He noted that these AI agents can reason, think, and act autonomously, and described the virtuous lifecycle at the heart of CXA: Discovery: Mining and understanding customer data; identifying what should be automated. Build: Using low-code/no-code tools to create workflows and test automations and agents. Orchestration: Deploying agents throughout the customer journey with multi-agent coordination. Measure: Evaluating automation performance and the impact of AI agents. This cycle repeats for every use case. Pedro also detailed how CXA applications attach AI agents to workflows so they can take action when needed. Industry Specialization Industry specialization remains one of Talkdesk’s strongest differentiators. The company focuses deeply on vertical and sub-vertical needs—such as healthcare payers and providers, credit unions, and casualty insurance—and delivers tight integrations with leading industry applications. I spoke with Rohit Madhavarapu, VP of Product Management for Industries, about Talkdesk’s approach, which centers on: Purpose-built vertical products Verticalized teams with real expertise Business process transformation aligned to industry needs Rohit emphasized that Talkdesk’s goal is to remove friction and create better experiences. Talkdesk also hires industry specialists (for example, Rohit came from Epic) to provide specific vertical expertise. He also explained how CXA enhances their industry strategy and helps customers apply automation effectively across their businesses. Go-To-Market Evolution As Talkdesk expands from CCaaS into CXA, the shift requires a different sales and GTM strategy. In my conversation with Jen McDonald, SVP of Americas, she explained how Talkdesk reshaped its sales team to ensure deep vertical and use case knowledge—especially as the company targets larger enterprises. Rather than selling features, the team now collaborates with customers to ideate on impactful workflows. She also highlighted the role of channel partners in identifying use cases and deploying multi-agent workflows in a matter of weeks. Key Messages From Talkdesk To discuss the key messages from the event, I spoke with CMO Neville Letzerich, who highlighted three key themes: CXA as both a new category and a core product Talkdesk’s industry specialization Enterprise scalability and reliability Neville emphasized that while Talkdesk is moving upmarket, CCaaS continues to play a foundational role by supporting human agents, while CXA powers the AI workforce. He also stressed that customers should begin with a few vertical use cases, realize value quickly, and expand from there.   Closing Thoughts Talkdesk clearly recognizes that CCaaS is becoming commoditized as Agentic AI takes over many functions traditionally handled by human agents. Rather than wait to be disrupted, the company is intentionally repositioning itself as a CX automation vendor. As Munil noted, “We saw AI as being transformative and wanted a separate product category that takes us beyond CCaaS.” Still, Talkdesk continues to invest in CCaaS—enhancing WFM, the agent desktop, routing, integrations, and more. The company made it clear that CCaaS is for human agents; CXA is for AI agents . Talkdesk’s deep industry focus strengthens its differentiation, influencing how it sells, who it targets, and how it delivers ROI. But the shift from CCaaS to CXA won’t be without challenges: repositioning takes time, some channel partners may resist change, and selling automation outcomes requires new motions and new buyers. Whether CXA becomes a widely recognized market category remains to be seen. Other companies—like Verint, Sierra, and NiCE—may join Talkdesk in defining the category, potentially leaving traditional CCaaS vendors behind if they don’t evolve. What stood out most at the summit was Talkdesk’s honesty about learning as they go. The CX AI landscape is still the Wild West—uncertain, fast-moving, and competitive. But based on what I saw and heard, Talkdesk is positioning itself to break free from its CCaaS roots and emerge as a major force in the new era of Customer Experience Automation.

Wildix held its first analyst summit in beautiful Venice—a fitting location, since the company was founded in Trentino, Italy, by brothers Steve and Dimitri Osler. While most unified communications vendors originated in the U.S. and later expanded to Europe, Wildix’s roots are firmly European, and now the company has set its sights on expanding across the U.S. market. The event’s theme—“Masks Come Off”—was appropriate. Wildix used the occasion to “unmask” itself, introducing the company to a broader audience, including analysts who may not have been familiar with it. Although many outside Europe may not know the Wildix name, the company has been in business for 20 years. Wildix focuses on unified communications for SMBs and midmarket organizations (50–5,000 employees) and sells exclusively through channel partners. As CMO Emiliano Tomasoni emphasized, Wildix isn’t trying to be everything to everyone. Instead, it has a clear focus on SMBs and specific verticals—such as retail and healthcare—where it can deliver measurable ROI. With 360 employees worldwide, Wildix isn’t aiming to be the biggest player or a niche boutique vendor—it’s focused on delivering value through communications that make a tangible difference. “ROI is the key when we speak to customers,” Tomasoni said. “ROI isn’t magic—it’s the common language among all departments: sales, IT, operations, marketing.” According to CEO Steve Osler, Wildix’s vision is to connect every aspect of communication into one seamless, intelligent experience—built for results, powered by trust, and designed for people. The company’s goal is to define the next chapter of communication with secure, reliable, and adaptive solutions that simply work. The company prides itself on being the only European UCaaS vendor combining AI-driven innovation with a 100% channel model, with ROI-first DNA. Wildix offers a unified solution providing global connectivity, telephony, UC, and “CC Lite” capabilities across voice, video, chat, SMS, fax, and Kite webchat—all optimized for remote and hybrid work. Embedded AI powers transcriptions, summaries, and virtual agents. Wildix supports private cloud, single-tenant, hybrid, and on-premises UC deployments—unlike most UCaaS and CCaaS vendors that offer only public multi-tenant cloud options. This flexibility gives customers greater control, security, and data privacy. The single-tenant architecture is also a big differentiator and provides significant benefits for companies looking for data sovereignty and security. Three Core Applications Wildix’s portfolio centers on three key applications: Collaboration 7 – The entry-level UCaaS application providing core capabilities such as calling, chat, and meetings for small teams. x-bees – Designed for sales and service teams, it includes CRM automation, AI assistance, integrated queues, dashboards, IVR, and omnichannel engagement across voice and digital channels (SMS, WhatsApp, live chat). Together, these deliver “contact center lite” functionality with AI woven throughout. x-hoppers – Targeted at retail and frontline environments, x-hoppers delivers AI-enabled headsets and push-to-talk capabilities for real-time team communications and guidance. These applications sit atop the Wildix Management System (WMS7), with an agentic AI layer integrated across all apps, as well as 500+ AI-enabled integrations. Wildix also manufactures its own plug-and-play hardware, including phones, DECT and Wi-Fi handsets, gateways, and push-to-talk headsets.   To learn more about Wildix’s applications, I spoke with Stewart Donner, Global Head of Engineering, who also discussed the key messages of the event.  Wilma - The Face of Wildix AI AI is embedded natively in the platform, with the “Wilma” agentic AI layer and AI assistant, available on all products. I spoke with co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer Dimitri Osler about Wildix’s AI strategy and approach. He explained that Wilma can draft emails, guide retail associates in real time, summarize meetings, transcribe meetings in real-time, etc. Wildix supports multiple LLMs, allowing customers to choose the model best suited to their needs. Dimitri also underscored the importance of localization and described how Wildix leverages AWS to provide consistent coverage worldwide.   Partner Model Wildix supports a 100% channel-driven model, selling exclusively through certified partners. These partners are a key differentiator, as they are trusted locally, able to deliver faster, and often outperform vendors that rely on direct sales. With over 1,000 partners globally, Wildix primarily works with MSPs, along with system integrators, VARs, telecom providers, and agencies. Partners maintain full control of the sales cycle—from billing to implementation—while Wildix provides support where technical expertise is needed. This close collaboration has resulted in an impressive 96% partner retention rate. To provide more insights about Wildix’s channel approach, I spoke with Jason Uslan, Chief Commercial Officer.   A standout example of Wildix’s partnership strategy is its work with RoboReception, a UK-based healthcare software provider offering an AI-powered call handling platform for dental practices. Aimed at reducing the number of missed patient calls and automating routine patient interactions, such as appointment bookings, cancellations, and FAQs, RoboReception improves dental practice efficiency and patient care. Dr. Grant McAree, Director of RoboReception, explained that early on in his dental practice, he realized that reception issues due to fragmented technology, staff shortages, and overburdened teams, created a healthcare bottleneck, noting that: One-third of new patient calls go unanswered 75% of voicemails are never returned 80% of patients who can’t reach someone don’t leave messages This leads to significant lost revenue opportunities. RoboReception solves this problem by using AI to answer calls and book appointments automatically—providing 24/7 service. It’s a true partnership: RoboReception designs the agentic workflows; Wildix channel partner Focus Group handles deployment and integration; and Wildix delivers secure, AI-powered communications with real-time data synchronization to ensure compliance. The results speak for themselves. Dr. McAree shared that the next step is to expand the platform beyond dental practices to general practitioners, legal services, and hospitality. I spoke with Dr. McAree about how RoboReception helps dental practices, and future plans for expansion.   Closing Thoughts Wildix’s first analyst event was a welcome opportunity to learn more about a company many of us weren’t as familiar with, and understand how it differentiates in the crowded unified communications market. Key differentiators include: SMB focus Architectural flexibility (cloud, hybrid, or on-prem) and a single-tenant cloud architecture for enhanced security, privacy, and data sovereignty Deep European DNA, addressing privacy, sovereignty, and language needs 100% channel sales model - no channel conflict Specialized horizontal applications for sales and front-line/retail workers, including software and hardware Hardware and software solutions, including AI, APIs, plug-and-play phones, DECT, WiFI handsets, gateways, and Push-to-Talk headsets Built-in “contact center lite” capabilities A people-first culture with a distributed workforce and work-life balance After speaking with several channel partners, it’s clear that Wildix is deeply committed to enabling their success—empowering partners to integrate with third-party applications and rapidly develop and deploy AI-enabled solutions and workflows to best support their customers. The company will have to overcome some hurdles in a crowded unified communications space that is dominated by big names such as Microsoft, Cisco, Zoom, and others. As Wildix accelerates its North American expansion, expect to see the company to gain visibility and traction. With its channel-centric strategy and SMB-first approach, Wildix may not remain a European secret for long.

On our latest BCStrategies podcast, we did a recap of the recent NiCE 2025 Analyst Summit, held in Vienna. This was NiCE's first analyst summit with their new leadership team, and there was a lot to take in on many fronts. Along with Nicolas de Kouchkovsky and Tom Brannen, Jon Arnold moderated the discussion, and we shared our top takeaways from the event.

On Halloween BCStrategies Experts   Kevin Kieller ,   Thomas Brannen ,   Charles Vondra ,   Martha Buyer ,   David Danto ,   Joseph Williams , and   Jon Arnold   got together to discuss what scares them related to the communication and collaboration industry. You can watch the entire podcast here or just read through the summary below. What scares Thomas Brannen: AI that just never gets good enough; or, AI that ends up being better than we expect and it obliterates the job market What scares Chuck Vondra: Potential outcomes for AI related to super intelligence and ethics Lack of clarity with respect to goverance and regulation for AI Pace of change What scares Martha Buyer: How expectation of customers around AI may not match what they are being sold Litigation related to AI is just starting! People are going to be harmed medically, financially, and in every way through misuse of AI What scares David Danto: How few people in leadership roles understand basic economics, specifically related to millions of layoffs that have occurred from very profitable companies The people being layed off are consumers and so the overall market is being reduced What scares Joseph Williams: Privacy and security implications especially related to deepfakes Operations risks attached to AI, for example while AI-powered transcription is generally good over reliance on this could cause problems Emotional reads by AI are not very good and don't control for cultural differences Potential compliance and eDiscovery issues The opportunity for call centers to use AI for predatory upsells into vulnerable populations What scares Jon Arnold but first Go Jays Go! 🙂 AI may lower the quality bar for writing and analysis Customers deferring to AI for "good enough" results instead of investing in true analysis What scares Kevin Kieller: The complexity explosion as new features are added faster and faster Will customers eventually become so confused that the tools provide diminishing returns and reduced productivity? In the end, Tom Brannen wraps things up by optimistically hoping that AI, especially proactive AI, might help address some of the scary things the other experts highlighted! Happy Halloween! If you are facing scary decisions related to UCaaS, CCaaS, AI, or associated technologies, the BCStrategies Experts can help. We provide independent and unbiased assessments related to strategy, architecture, and implementation. Many of our Experts deliver top-tier management and delivery from the RFP process through to post-delivery user adoption and training services.

NiCE held its Analyst Summit in beautiful Vienna, Austria—its first major event under a new executive team that includes CEO Scott Russell , CMO Michelle Cooper, President of Product and Technology Jeff Comstock, and Phil Heltweg, formerly CEO of Cognigy and now Chief AI Officer of NiCE Cognigy. As expected, much of the discussion centered on AI, particularly AI Agents and orchestration. A New Strategic Vision Scott Russell opened the event by outlining NiCE’s strategy of taking an “aggressive approach to innovation, running with speed, and being a business that’s great to do business with.”  NiCE has long been recognized for its innovation, and Russell made it clear that this focus will continue—now with an even faster pace. He also emphasized NiCE’s goal of being an AI-first CX platform, positioning the company as a leader in “the AI-first CX era.” Notably, the term CCaaS was used sparingly—NiCE now refers to its offering as a Customer Engagement Platform (CEP) ,  reflecting a broader vision that goes beyond traditional contact center services. Product & Technology Direction Just a few weeks into his new role, Jeff Comstock shared insights from his time leading Microsoft’s CRM group and building its contact center offering. He explained why he joined NiCE, noting that his CRM background gave him deep appreciation for the “point of interaction and engagement with the customer” —both self-service and human-assisted—and the value of the data that fuels those interactions in order to do “magical things.” In the Agentic AI era ,  NiCE plans to accelerate innovation in its agentic framework and orchestration layer, enabling seamless fulfillment across the enterprise. I spoke with Comstock about his role at NiCE and what he’s most excited about.   To summarize the key themes and messages of the event, I spoke with Andy Traba, VP of Product Marketing, who discussed what NiCE means by AI-first for CX, as well as the company’s focus beyond the front office to the mid and back office, and the role of orchestration.       Cognigy: The Star of the Show Cognigy took center stage, with analysts getting a closer look at its role in NiCE’s AI strategy. Heltweg led an engaging session on “Leading the Future of AI-Powered Experiences: Unlocking the Power of One AI Platform.”  He traced Cognigy’s evolution from conversational AI to Agentic AI, sharing real-world customer examples that demonstrated measurable impact. Cognigy’s Agentic AI platform enables organizations to create highly flexible, adaptive AI agents and orchestrate them at scale, characterized by being: ·       Multimodal – engaging via chat, voice, and device features (e.g., camera or GPS). ·       Connected – integrated with the broader enterprise ecosystem. ·       Low-code – enabling rapid time to market. Not every use case requires LLM-powered agents, and Cognigy offers hybrid AI Agents   that combine rule-based AI and LLMs. Depending on the interaction, an agent can start with an LLM and transition to a structured, rule-based workflow. Demonstrations showcased how easy it is to use AI Agent Studio for building agents, as well as the AI Agent Simulator to test the AI Agents through thousands of conversations. Through its Voice Gateway integration layer, Cognigy connects with leading contact center platforms, including Avaya , Genesys, 8x8 ,  and RingCentral. Although Cognigy will continue as a standalone product, some legacy partnerships—such as with Genesys—are ending, as evidenced by its removal from the Genesys AppFoundry marketplace.   I spoke with Alan Ranger, VP Marketing of NiCE Cognigy, to discuss Cognigy’s differentiation, as well as the synergies with NiCE.     From Insights to Action There were several demos, but the one that got the most rave reviews was Automated Insights. This solution analyzes customer interaction data to identify key topics and automation opportunities, then feeds them back into Cognigy to rapidly build AI agents. What differentiates Automated Insights is its ability to move beyond analytics—providing actionable recommendations such as coaching opportunities and knowledge-base creation, transforming insights directly into outcomes. To provide more information on Automated Insights, I spoke with Carmit DiAndrea, head of AI Data Management.     Orchestration   As mentioned, orchestration was a hot topic. Tim Harris, VP & GM , Workflow Orchestration , gave an enlightening presentation on orchestrating workflows, noting that: ·      Automation delivers full value only when it is intelligently orchestrated ·      Orchestration connects customer intent seamlessly through to fulfillment ·      The future isn’t AI or humans, it’s both working together In this video, Tim Harris discusses Interaction Orchestration, which involves human agents and AI agents. He explains workflow orchestration, as well as how NiCE is orchestrating between front- and back-office specialists, and expanding beyond customer service to sales and marketing as it relates to CX.     The Role of Data David Gustafson emphasized the importance of a strong AI-ready data foundation. He outlined what makes for effective data infrastructure—hint: a lot of high-quality data —and described how NiCE provides an AI-ready data foundation with the largest CX data set that has the highest fidelity, is dynamically applied, open and extensible, and actionable and observable.     The Future Workforce The evolving workforce will comprise humans, augmented human agents, and AI agents—working together in increasingly complex environments. As a leader in Workforce Engagement Management (WEM), NiCE is extending its expertise to accommodate this new dynamic. Omri Hayner, head of Workforce Automation (title TBD), discussed how the rise of AI and augmented agents requires a reimagined approach to WEM. NiCE is expanding WEM capabilities to the middle and back office, enabling functions such as: ·       Accurate scheduling in blended human/AI environments ·       Enhancing ticket interaction quality ·       Empowering back-office supervisors Hayner noted that Agentic AI is redefining the workforce, and NiCE’s AI-first WEM will fundamentally reshape CX practices by supporting the entire customer journey across the enterprise. Key Takeaways One of the highlights of the summit was the openness of NiCE’s leaders. The executives and product leaders didn’t just present their vision for NiCE – they listened – truly listened – to the analysts and our feedback. The company understands that while it has led the CCaaS market, there are new challenges and opportunities in the AI-driven CX landscape. Scott Russell and his team were highly engaged, reflecting a genuine commitment to transparency and collaboration. NiCE’s ambition is to extend beyond customer service into sales and marketing, uniting the front, middle, and back office into a cohesive Customer Engagement Platform for the AI-first era. While this broader expansion is still in development, the company’s direction is clear—and I expect its messaging to tighten and sharpen as new customers and use cases emerge. With its new leadership team and the infusion of Cognigy’s AI expertise, NiCE is entering a period of transformation. Expect more partnerships, stronger international expansion (a personal focus for Russell), and a refreshed brand under Michelle Cooper’s guidance. NiCE has ambitious goals—but its history of innovation, combined with renewed leadership energy, positions it well for success. From its roots in voice recording and workforce management to its evolution into a leading CCaaS provider, NiCE is now setting its sights on leading the AI-first CX era with its Customer Engagement Platform. It’s an exciting time for NiCE—and worth watching closely as the new leadership’s vision unfolds.

As a passionate advocate for innovation in customer experience, I was thrilled to join Charles Studt, CMO at Sendbird, for an enlightening discussion on the transformative power of AI agents in retail. Our webinar, "Retail Reinvented: The Rise of AI Agents in Customer Experience," delved into the pressing challenges retailers face today and the unprecedented opportunities AI presents to enhance customer interactions. During the session, we explored how AI agents can bridge the expectation gap by delivering personalized, empathetic, and proactive service. We shared insights on starting small with AI implementation, the importance of structured data, and the need for continuous refinement of AI systems. Our conversation also highlighted the significant ROI that AI can bring to retail, driving customer loyalty and increasing sales. If you missed the live event, I invite you to watch the recording and discover how AI can revolutionize your customer experience strategy. Visit https://sendbird.com/resources/the-rise-of-ai-agents-in-customer-experience  to access the webinar and learn more about leveraging AI to stay ahead in the competitive retail landscape.

In this podcast, BCStrategies Experts Kevin Kieller, David Danto, Tom Brannen, and David Maldow review and recap the WebexOne 2025 conference held in San Diego. They comment on the venue and then analyze some of the key announcements, including ... Five new AI agents: Notetaker, Task Agent, Polling Agent, Meeting Scheduler, Receptionist The AI Quality Management dashboard that consolidates ratings for both human and digital agents RoomOS 26 Copilot integration Native Zoom meetings on Cisco devices Director - providing AI-powered cinematics during a meeting and more ...

Experts Blair Pleasant and Jon Arnold provide their analysis and insights related to the Sprinklr CXUnifiers 25. Sprinklr is a social media listening platform and has expanded into providing a unified CX platform with numerous AI features.

The Sprinklr Analyst Summit was held alongside the company’s CXUnifiers customer conference in Nashville, TN. The event highlighted Sprinklr’s core product areas: Sprinklr Social, Sprinklr Marketing, Sprinklr Insights (Voice of the Customer), and Sprinklr Service. While best known for social media management, Sprinklr has steadily expanded—first into marketing workflows and digital customer service, then CCaaS—and now delivers a full Unified Customer Experience Management (CXM) platform. Its goal: give brands a holistic view of the customer and connect them seamlessly through one unified system. A key benefit of the joint analyst and customer format was access to Sprinklr’s impressive customer base. With 79 of the world’s top 100 most valuable brands as customers, the event featured several of these global leaders sharing how they leverage Sprinklr technology in real-world scenarios. To set the stage, I spoke with CEO Rory Read. In our conversation, Read emphasized how Sprinklr’s unified AI platform integrates multiple engagement elements to amplify the voice of the customer. He views AI as both transformational and foundational—driving an initial surge of acceleration followed by sustained growth. Sprinklr’s AI, he explained, enables new use cases and workflows that foster intelligent customer collaboration. Everything is built on Sprinklr’s AI Studio for creating bi-directional learning between humans and AI to become a flywheel of exponential acceleration of AI impact.   Key Announcements Sprinklr introduced several new AI-driven capabilities at CXUnifiers, including: AI Agent Builder  – to configure and deploy autonomous AI agents at scale Workforce Management - helps workforce management (WFM) planners and contact center supervisors forecast case volumes, plan for staffing needs, and schedule staff to bring maximum efficiency and productivity to contact center operations VoiceConnect  – Sprinklr’s native telephony solution Sprinklr Copilot  – an always-on AI companion offering real-time conversational assistance across the platform Sprinklr AI Agents  – purpose-built autonomous agents Customer Feedback Management  – modernizing and simplifying Voice of the Customer feedback with a no-code, AI-native solution CMO Arun Pattabhiraman expanded on these announcements, highlighting Sprinklr’s differentiation in unifying data, teams, and channels across its platform. Sprinklr’s AI Framework Sprinklr has been building AI into its products for more than a decade, and positions its AI in four key categories: ·      Embedded AI Capabilities, with 100+ built-in capabilities throughout the product suite, such as spellcheck and grammar correction ·      Standalone AI Products: Sprinklr offers seven standalone AI products, such as Conversational AI, Agent Assist, Automated Quality Management, Product Insights, and more ·      Persona-specific AI Copilots for Customer Support Agents, Contact Center Supervisors, Social Media Analysts, Research Analysts, and Ads & Marketing Analysts ·      Specialized AI Agents: autonomous AI agents for specific vertical capabilities. Sprinklr is building specialized prebuilt autonomous AI agents for specific verticals and with specialized capabilities, such as Telecom Support Agents, Telecom Sales Agent, Technology Support Agent, Travel Support Agent, and more. Sprinklr’s AI Studio is a hub for building agents and copilots, applying guardrails and governance, managing models, and enabling prompt engineering. Sprinklr envisions a hybrid workforce where humans collaborate with AI agents, providing feedback, coaching, and oversight. The company also partners with multiple LLM providers, including OpenAI and Anthropic. To get more insights into Sprinklr’s AI vision, I spoke with Sprinklr CTO, Amitabh Misra. Misra drilled down into Sprinklr’s approach to AI, and discussed how the AI agents are continuously learning and working with humans based on a hybrid AI and human workforce. I also spoke with Mathan Jain, Senior Product Manager - AI Agent, who discussed how copilots work as assistants for human agents. He also noted that general-purpose AI agents have limits, and Sprinklr is addressing this by developing vertical-specific specialized agents that are fine-tuned for those verticals, along with the right guardrails. Closing Thoughts The central theme of unification and unifying CX on a single platform was clear .  Sprinklr has evolved from social monitoring into a comprehensive CXM provider with CCaaS, marketing, and Voice of the Customer—all on an AI-native foundation. The company has earned the trust of iconic brands that view Sprinklr as a true business partner, rather than just a technology provider. The combination of social media listening and monitoring, combined with customer service and CCaaS capabilities – all on an AI-native platform, helps companies better engage with customers, understanding their history, pain points, sentiment, and more. By combining AI-powered listening, customer service, and engagement across channels, Sprinklr helps organizations understand customer history, sentiment, and pain points in context. Its focus on hybrid AI-human collaboration acknowledges both the power and the current limits of AI. Perhaps most compelling were the customer stories, which showcased tangible business outcomes and ROI achieved for various use cases. While Sprinklr still has operational areas to address, the company has a strong vision. With its AI agents and AI framework focusing on domain- and vertical-specific AI to augment humans, the company is well positioned to continue its success in Unified CXM.

Five9 hosted its annual analyst summit at the stunning Montage Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The theme, “Putting the New CX into Action,”  reflected the company’s focus on moving beyond vision to execution and results. Laura Mackey, Global Head of Analyst and Influencer Relations, opened the event with three key takeaways she wanted attendees to leave with: ·      Five9 understands we’re in an evolving market driven by AI transformation ·      Five9 will capitalize on that change and is evolving to meet the market demands ·      Partners and customers will validate that Five9 is their trusted CX partner of choice I spoke with Matt McGinnis, VP of Product Marketing, about the event, the customer and partner panels, and the major themes. CEO and Chairman Mike Burkland emphasized that Five9’s vision is to “bring joy to CX” — delivering better customer experiences while also creating tangible business impact for brands and employees. He highlighted how AI disruption is reshaping the customer service landscape and explained that Five9 is transitioning from a cloud-native company to an AI-native one. To achieve this, Five9 is taking deliberate steps to win through: Organizational and leadership evolution Go-to-market strategy evolution Financial and operational excellence Product innovation “Our DNA is about delivering value to customers,” Burkland explained. “The New CX is about AI agents and human agents working hand-in-hand to provide better experiences at lower cost and with greater efficiency.” Importantly, Five9 is not focused on replacing humans with AI, but on enabling humans and AI to work together. Differentiation is increasingly difficult as every CCaaS and CX vendor positions itself as AI-first. One of Five9’s strengths is its customer obsession. The company is recognized for white-glove service, strong professional services, and post-deployment support. On a customer panel, all three participants highlighted Five9’s reliability, stability, and integration capabilities. One BPO customer supporting thousands of agents even described Five9’s customer service team as the best in the industry. I also spoke with Five9 President Andy Dignan, (who was previously the Chief Customer Officer and deserves much of the credit for the company’s services business and customer success delivery excellence) about Five9’s go-to-market approach and how the company helps customers achieve measurable AI outcomes. He explained how Five9 is combining its core CX strengths with AI innovation while also pursuing standalone AI capabilities. He also spoke about how Five9 enables its partners to differentiate themselves in the market. The event itself was heavily AI-focused, with demonstrations of Five9’s AI agents and emerging agentic AI capabilities. Most of these details remain under NDA until the Five9 CX Summit in November, so stay tuned. Ajay Awatramani, Chief Product Officer, described how Five9 is “Driving AI Transformation,” noting that the company is “playing a new game” in today’s market. Five9 is developing what it calls Agentic CX — a model where AI takes the lead, with humans stepping in when needed. This flips the current paradigm from “AI augmenting humans” to “humans augmenting AI.” According to Awatramani, agentic AI will become the new frontline of CX, driving operational excellence that is: Memorable and personalized Consistent in brand voice Outcome-focused Tailored for specific industries Five9 plans to introduce new products and solutions in this area, many of which will be formally unveiled at the November CX Summit. At his first analyst summit since becoming Chief Revenue Officer, Matt Tuckness discussed the need to retool to focus on outcomes rather than migration, to drive efficiency and a better CX, while bringing joy to customers. Five9 is changing how it provides support and works with partners, with a new go-to-market model, as well as a new pricing model. In this video, Tuckness discusses what makes Five9 special (hint: it’s the people), and its opportunity to help customers in this new AI world. He also discusses the company’s services and support teams and how the company guides customers to their desired outcomes. Tuckness notes that Five9’s differentiation is about its people, providing the care and trust customers are looking for. Closing Thoughts Five9 made clear that it has both a vision for the next stage of CX and a growing team of AI experts to execute it. Through demos, the company showed how new AI capabilities can transform customer journeys, improve agent performance, and enhance management insights. While some innovations are more mature than others, the company has a clear roadmap for where it’s headed. The company remains singularly focused on ensuring customer success, and customers validated Five9’s strong focus on success, while  partners reinforced their trust in the company.   AI transformation continues to create challenges – and opportunities – for CCaaS/CX players in the rush to evolve to keep up with rapid technological changes. In addition to the mega-trends impacting all vendors, Five9 will be undergoing leadership changes as it searches for a new CEO. If the company continues on its current path, it may truly deliver on its promise to “bring joy to CX.”