2026 Trends Shaping Contact Centers and CX
By Jaime Meritt, Chief Product Officer at Verint
If you’re still viewing your contact center as an operational function rather than a strategic asset, it may be time to change your perspective. 2026 promises to be a pivotal year in the contact center and CX industry. Adapting to the sector’s transformation can separate the winners from the pack.
Looking ahead, I predict three key industry-shaping trends: the evolution of contact centers into data hubs, better collaboration between humans and machines, and matured AI technologies.
Trend 1: Contact Centers Evolved into Data Hubs
For decades contact centers were seen as operational functions that process customer inquiries with limited contributions to the business’s strategy. Forward-thinking organizations are already challenging this view by 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.
Contact center data can tell much more than how to improve call flows or handle times. It reveals customer sentiment, retention factors and sales opportunities, empowering brands to keep their customers happy and their costs low.
Leaders in this new era must transform large volumes of contact center data into insights shared across the organization without breaching data privacy and compliance.
Trend 2: Improved Human-Machine Collaboration
While today’s customers expect speedy, efficient services, they also need empathy when things get complicated.
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.
The result is improved efficiency, less customer frustration and high-quality customer and employee experience at scale.
Trend 3: Matured AI Models
According to research by MIT, an astonishing 95% of generative AI projects fail to achieve their goals. By 2026, contact center AI will move beyond this 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.
Get Ready
Leveraging contact center data as a competitive asset will be the engine of outstanding customer experiences and business growth. The question is not whether this shift is happening, but how you can react and set new standards for customer engagement. Those who embrace this exciting evolution will be not only far better at serving the needs of customers but also produce a lasting competitive advantage.
Are you ready?
Author’s Bio
For more than 25 years, Jaime Meritt has been at the intersection of advanced technology and real-world customer needs, turning innovation into measurable value for enterprises worldwide. With a career spanning both technical and business-focused leadership roles, he brings a rare blend of product vision, operational insight, and CX strategy to every initiative he leads. As Chief Product Officer at Verint, Jaime guides the development of the company’s AI-powered CX Automation solutions, helping brands transform their contact centers into strategic engines for customer engagement, efficiency, and growth.
About Verint
Verint® is a global leader in Customer Experience (CX) Automation, trusted by more than 80 of the Fortune 100 to power their most critical customer interactions. Leveraging the Verint Open Platform and a robust team of AI-powered bots, the company helps organizations deliver tangible AI Business Outcomes Now™ across contact centers, back offices, and digital channels. With its differentiated, AI-driven, open architecture, Verint enables brands to elevate customer engagement, increase automation, and reduce operational costs at scale. Verint—The CX Automation Company™—is also proud to be Certified™ by Great Place To Work®, reflecting its strong culture and commitment to its people. Learn more at Verint.com.
