If the past few years were about experimenting with new tools, 2026 is shaping up to be the year contact centres put structure and intent behind their customer experience efforts.
AI, automation, and data foundations are no longer new. What’s changing is how confidently teams are using them. Instead of pilots and isolated use cases, many organisations are starting to embed these capabilities into everyday operations, with clearer goals around efficiency, consistency, and agent support.
That shift creates real opportunity. Progress won’t happen overnight, but the direction is clear.
Here are six trends that will shape how contact centres operate, support their teams, and meet customer expectations in 2026 and beyond.
Over the last few years, AI in customer service has often meant experimentation. Small pilots. Narrow use cases. Big promises, mixed results.
In 2026, that starts to change.
Most contact centres have now tested AI in some form. The difference is that many are beginning to move beyond proof of concept and into real deployment. That shift is happening because AI is starting to prove its value in day-to-day work, not just in demos or isolated trials.
Copilots and agent-assist tools are a good example. Teams using them are reducing wrap-up time from minutes to seconds, improving consistency in responses, and cutting down on manual admin. The result is not just efficiency gains, but less cognitive load for agents during busy shifts.
External research backs this up. McKinsey reports that teams using generative AI in customer service resolve 14% more issues per hour and reduce handling time by 9%. For CX leaders under pressure to do more with limited resources, that kind of impact is hard to ignore.
In 2026, the conversation shifts from “should we use AI?” to “where does it genuinely help, and how do we scale it responsibly?”
Many contact centres are still operating with fragmented technology setups. Multiple platforms. Overlapping tools. Data spread across systems that don’t talk to each other.
That complexity shows up everywhere: slower onboarding, clunky agent workflows, inconsistent reporting, and difficulty rolling out AI in a meaningful way.
There’s now clear evidence linking this fragmentation to stalled progress. Salesforce data shows that 44% of service leaders using AI say tech silos have delayed or limited their AI initiatives. Even teams ready to scale are being held back by the foundations they’re working with.
It’s no surprise, then, that 94% of CX leaders say simplifying their tech stack is essential to improving efficiency and performance.
The benefits go beyond cleaner operations. Organisations that bring service channel data into one unified platform are 1.4 times more likely to describe their AI implementations as “very successful” than those working with siloed systems.
In 2026, tech stack simplification stops being an IT clean-up exercise. It becomes a prerequisite for faster decision-making, better AI outcomes, and more consistent customer experiences.
Most contact centres want better insight, more personalisation, and smarter automation. Fewer have the data foundations needed to support that ambition.
AI can only be as effective as the data behind it. That’s why 2026 is less about collecting more data, and more about improving the quality, structure, and accessibility of the data teams already have.
A solid foundation starts with basics: accurate CRM records, a complete interaction history, and a shared view of the customer across channels. When agents can’t see what a customer already tried online, how a virtual agent handled the case, or what happened in the last interaction, conversations begin at a disadvantage.
Beyond that, the focus shifts to how data is used in practice, especially in two key areas:
Agents still lose valuable time searching across multiple systems for answers. AI-supported knowledge access is becoming essential, helping teams surface the right information in seconds. A dependable, unified knowledge base is now central to consistent service and a key enabler for AI-assisted workflows.
Manually reviewing a small sample of calls is no longer enough. Conversational Intelligence gives teams visibility across every interaction, automatically tagging, summarising, and analysing conversations. That insight helps leaders understand why customers are contacting them, where friction appears, and where agents need better support, without adding admin.
In 2026, the teams that stand out won’t be the ones with the most data, but the ones using it most effectively.
Customers expect fast, accurate, and consistent service across channels. That’s not new. What is changing is how quickly patience runs out when those expectations aren’t met.
Small issues now escalate faster. A slow handover, repeated questions, or unclear self-service can push customers to abandon a channel or escalate the interaction almost immediately.
In our latest survey of 1,505 CX professionals, meeting customer expectations is cited as the single biggest challenge for 2026.
Clear information, reliable self-service, and well-supported agents are no longer “nice to have.” Customers assume these basics are already in place. When they’re not, dissatisfaction sets in quickly.
For CX leaders, this raises the bar. Improving experience isn’t about adding more channels or features. It’s about removing friction, improving consistency, and making it easier for customers to get answers the first time.
2026 will be a defining year for the agent role.
As routine tasks are increasingly automated, more of the work reaching human agents involves judgement, nuance, and emotional sensitivity. Agents are expected to work alongside AI, manage more complex cases, and maintain empathy under pressure.
Copilots are becoming a core part of that workflow. They surface relevant knowledge, provide context before a conversation begins, and handle admin-heavy tasks like summaries and documentation. It’s telling that 91% of CX leaders say AI copilots and agent-assist tools will be essential to supporting their teams over the next two years.
As AI removes more cognitive load, agents can focus on what truly needs a human touch: clarity, reassurance, and problem-solving. But that shift also raises expectations. Agents need support not just to use AI, but to interpret it, challenge it when needed, and apply their own judgement with confidence.
Teams that invest in coaching, AI-supported workflows, and better on-the-job support will set their agents up to succeed. Those that don’t risk skills gaps, rising stress, and inconsistent service.
If 2025 was the year teams experimented with generative AI for content and suggestions, 2026 will be the year AI starts taking action.
Agentic and autonomous AI systems go beyond recommending responses. They can update records, trigger workflows, verify details, summarise interactions, and resolve simple cases end-to-end before a human steps in. It’s a shift from AI as a “helper” to AI as a fully capable operator for well-defined processes.
The business impact is already visible. According to Salesforce, service leaders using AI agents expect service costs and case-resolution times to fall by around 20%. With virtual agents handling predictable, high-volume interactions and copilots taking care of admin, human agents can focus on complex problem-solving and high-value conversations.
Taken together, these trends point to a clear direction. Contact centres are moving away from fragmented tools and isolated AI use cases, and towards simpler foundations, better data, and more intentional use of automation.
The teams making the most progress aren’t trying to do everything at once. They’re simplifying where they can, focusing on practical use cases, and using AI to support people rather than overwhelm them.
As 2026 approaches, the question isn’t whether CX will change. It’s how deliberately organisations choose to shape that change.
These trends are based on insights from our latest State of Contact Centres 2026 report, built on research with 1,505 CX leaders and contact centre professionals across Europe.
The report goes deeper into how teams are approaching AI, tech stack simplification, agent support, and rising customer expectations, with data-backed insights you can use to sense-check your own priorities for the year ahead.
👉 Explore the State of Contact Centres 2026 report