CX Today

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556

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Oct 2026

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News and Insights for Today, and Tomorrow CX Today reports on the latest customer experience technology news and marketplace trends. Every day our tech journalists uncover the hottest topics and vendor innovations shaping the future of work. Our coverage is fully digital offering our audience authentic news and insights on the channel of their choice. We offer daily news, weekly features, video conversations and authority content aligned to the needs of business leaders in today's world.For industry professionals, our weekly newsletter offers a range of popular stories hand-picked by our editorial team. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.If you're seeking editorial coverage, connect with our news desk.

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October 26, 202611 min

Why AI Handoffs Still Make Customers Repeat Themselves

Twilio’s Sam Richardson explains why customer context, identity, and reassurance must travel between AI, human agents, and channels. AI customer service may be getting faster and more conversational, but too many customers are still being forced to repeat themselves when they move between bots, agents, and channels. In this CX Today interview, Rhys Fisher speaks with Sam Richardson, Director of Executive Engagement at Twilio, about the real challenge behind AI handoffs: ensuring that customer context, conversation history, identity, and trust travel with the interaction. Twilio research found that 74% of consumers have to repeat information to AI assistants at least some of the time. Richardson explains why this is not simply an AI-model problem. It can stem from fragmented customer data, disconnected systems, incomplete CRM and knowledge-base integration, and the growing complexity of identity verification and fraud prevention. The conversation explores: Why customers still repeat information after an AI interaction The data and system challenges behind failed AI-to-human handoffs Why identity verification can make continuity harder What a “warm handoff” should look like in the AI era Why acknowledgment and reassurance matter during service transfers When slower AI deployment can protect customer trust Why businesses and customers often judge the same AI experience differently The key question for contact center leaders is simple: when an AI interaction ends, does the next person or channel know what has already happened, or does the customer have to start again?

October 21, 202615 min

Has Salesforce Bought Its Missing Engagement Engine?

Constellation Research’s Liz Miller explains why Salesforce’s $5.66B Braze deal is about the execution layer behind data, AI, content, and customer engagement. Salesforce has agreed to acquire Braze for $5.66B. The deal adds Braze’s real-time, cross-channel customer engagement and decisioning capabilities to Salesforce’s growing stack of CRM, data, AI, and content tools. But, according to Liz Miller, VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, this is about more than another acquisition. Salesforce has spent years building out Customer 360, Data 360, Agentforce, and, more recently, Contentful. The missing piece was how brands actually execute engagement at scale: delivering a major product announcement to millions while also managing personalized, timely communication with individual customers. In this CX Today interview, Miller discusses whether Braze gives Salesforce the engine it needed to turn customer data and AI into real-time customer engagement. The conversation covers: Why Salesforce’s Braze acquisition was not a surprise The engagement execution gap in Salesforce’s wider strategy Why data and AI are only useful when brands can act on them The challenge of balancing mass brand communication with one-to-one engagement What the acquisition could mean for Salesforce Marketing Cloud Why Braze customers may be concerned about cost, simplicity, and innovation Where Data 360, Contentful, Braze, and Agentforce could fit together The integration risks that could define the deal’s success

October 19, 202614 min

Is Contact Center AI Making Customer Service Worse?

Contact centers are under pressure to automate, cut costs, and reduce customer contact. But are efficiency targets improving service, or simply making it harder for customers to get help? In this CX Today interview, Rhys Fisher speaks with Natalie Beckerman, Chief Business Officer at iQor and author of When Did You Stop Caring?, about the “caring recession” she believes has taken hold in customer service. Beckerman explains why containment, deflection, and average handle time can hide unresolved customer problems, repeat contacts, and declining trust. She also shares where automation can genuinely improve the customer experience, when it becomes a barrier to human support, and why agents should be involved in journey and technology design. The conversation covers: Why reducing contact is not always the same as improving CX The customer-service risks hidden behind containment and deflection rates Why repeat contact can expose a failed self-service journey Where AI and automation genuinely make service easier How automation can trap customers in loops and block human help Why frontline agents should shape service and technology decisions The metrics leaders should use alongside efficiency measures Natalie Beckerman’s book, When Did You Stop Caring? Reignite Humanity in a World Obsessed with Efficiency, explores how businesses can restore care to customer and employee experiences.

October 16, 202618 min

Why Customer Engagement Is Still Too Slow to Be Personal

Brands have more customer data, dashboards, and campaign tools than ever. Yet turning a useful customer signal into the right action can still take too long. In this CX Today interview, Rhys Fisher speaks with Kabir Shahani, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Amperity, about Pér, Amperity’s new customer data agent. Shahani explains why customer engagement often slows down after a business spots the signal, as information passes between analytics, marketing, service, and activation teams. He also shares an early MacKenzie-Childs use case, where Pér analyzed survey feedback to identify customers connected to wedding and registry purchases and proposed a possible engagement journey. The conversation explores: Why fragmented customer data still creates slow decision-making How Pér moves from investigation to recommendation and approval The difference between generic AI tools and specialized customer-data intelligence Why brands need evidence, permissions, and human approval before acting How to avoid intrusive outreach, including promotions during unresolved service issues When personalization is useful and when restraint is the better customer experience

October 12, 202615 min

NRG CX Chief: Churn Is a Warning Sign, Not Just a Retention Number

In this CX Today interview, Rhys Fisher, Associate Editor at CX Today, speaks with Suzie Dieth, VP and Chief Experience Officer at NRG, about why churn should concern every customer experience leader. In deregulated energy markets, customers have plenty of options and can switch providers with relative ease. Dieth explains why the decision to leave often starts much earlier, and what businesses can do to spot the warning signs before it is too late. A customer switching provider is rarely a single-moment decision. In competitive energy markets, a higher-than-expected bill, a home move, poor communication, or an uninspiring renewal offer can all become reasons to look elsewhere. For Dieth, churn is not simply a number to reduce; it is a signal that customers may no longer feel the value or connection needed to stay. In this CX Today interview, Dieth discusses: 🔴 The moments most likely to trigger churn, including bill shock, relocation, and contract renewal, and why these points demand proactive customer support. 🔴 How NRG seeks to build trust through tailored support, payment assistance, competitive renewal plans, and weekly usage updates that help customers avoid surprises. 🔴 Why NPS and CSAT are only useful when connected to retention, customer behavior, revenue, and the operational changes teams need to make. 🔴 Why employee experience and AI both matter, but neither can replace the human judgment needed to understand customer needs and act on them. For more Customer Experience tech news visit https://www.cxtoday.com

October 9, 202614 min

Retailers Are Moving to WhatsApp. Can They Avoid Turning It into Spam?

In this CX Today interview, Rhys Fisher, Associate Editor at CX Today, speaks with Kim Johal, Retail Specialist at Infobip, about WhatsApp’s growing role in UK retail customer engagement. Infobip’s research points to a shift away from one-way notifications and toward richer conversations across service, shopping, loyalty, and returns. Johal explains why the next challenge for retailers is not sending more messages, but making every interaction feel relevant enough to deserve a place in a customer’s inbox. WhatsApp is already in shoppers’ pockets. Retailers are now racing to make it part of the customer journey. But there is a fine line between a useful conversation and another message a customer wants to mute. Johal discusses why WhatsApp is gaining traction across UK retail, and how AI, customer data, and rich messaging channels could reshape everything from product discovery to returns. They cover: • Why consumers are moving away from phone calls and toward conversational channels that support text, images, updates, and real-time service. • Why personalization needs to go beyond “Hi, first name,” using consented behavioral data to make a message timely and useful. • How agentic AI can support product availability, sizing questions, store locations, returns, and purchase decisions without forcing customers through a rigid chatbot flow. • Why future retail engagement may be driven by customer preference across WhatsApp, Apple Business Messenger, and RCS, rather than a brand deciding where the conversation happens. Johal also explains why returns are becoming an important AI use case. Better sizing, product guidance, and purchase support can help customers make more confident choices before they buy. For retail and CX leaders, start by identifying where customers already ask for help, then connect those moments across service, commerce, and loyalty.

October 8, 202625 min

Twilio: Voice Is CX’s Next Breaking Point

Are customer experiences becoming too clunky for the way people now want to communicate? In this CX Today interview, Rob Wilkinson speaks with Peter Bell, VP of Marketing, EMEA at Twilio, about how voice is changing the way consumers interact with technology, and what that means for brands designing the next generation of digital customer journeys. Peter explores Twilio research showing that almost a quarter of Brits now talk more than they type when using technology, rising to 33 percent among Gen Z. He explains why voice is becoming a more natural interface for customers, where it can reduce friction, and why brands should avoid treating it as a one-size-fits-all solution. The conversation also covers the importance of context, sentiment, and conversational intelligence in customer engagement. Peter shares why businesses need to design processes around the customer first, then apply the right technology, rather than recreating old IVR frustrations with newer tools. The discussion also looks at voice as part of brand identity, from tone and personality to the long-term emotional associations customers build with a company’s service experience. Watch the full interview to learn how voice, AI, and communications infrastructure are reshaping customer engagement.

October 5, 202617 min

Stop Sampling Calls. Start Listening to What Customers Actually Say

In this CX Today interview, Rhys Fisher, Associate Editor at CX Today, speaks with Russell White, Transformation Lead at Bluecrest, and Reece Harper, Account Executive at NiCE. Bluecrest has moved from reviewing a sample of calls to analyzing every customer interaction through NiCE CXone. The conversation explores what happens when contact centers stop relying on assumptions and start using customer intent, real conversation data, and human-reviewed AI summaries to guide decisions. Contact centers have recorded calls for years. The problem is that most businesses only listen to a fraction of them. White and Harper discuss how 100% interaction analysis is changing the way Bluecrest understands customer intent, tests internal assumptions, and identifies where service journeys need work. They cover: 🔴 Why call dispositions can show an outcome without explaining why a customer got in touch, and how full interaction analysis revealed the gap between internal assumptions and customer reality. 🔴 How Bluecrest’s self-service rescheduling launch did not reduce call demand as expected, but showed customers wanted more flexibility to change appointments. 🔴 How analytics uncovered that a new Health Monitor product was being mentioned in fewer than 10% of relevant calls, leading to targeted training and a rise to around 60–70%. 🔴 Why human review of AI-generated call summaries remains essential in healthcare, where records must be accurate, consistent, and compliant. As White puts it: “The first thing you find is that the anecdote and reality are two different things.” For contact center leaders, start by asking which decisions are still based on sampled calls, dispositions, or internal opinion. Then use real interaction data to test those assumptions before automating the journey around them. For more Customer Experience tech news visit https://www.cxtoday.com

October 2, 202618 min

AI Could Steal Your Customer Before They Reach Your Site

In this CX Today interview, Rhys Fisher, Associate Editor at CX Today, speaks with Christina Augustine, COO of Bloomreach, about the growing impact of AI on product discovery, personalization, and retailer loyalty. With shoppers increasingly asking ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude where to buy, the conversation unpacks whether brands deliver the same depth, confidence, and relevance once customers arrive on their own sites? AI is quickly becoming the first stop in the shopping journey. But if customers discover a product through an AI assistant, what happens when they land on a retailer’s website and the experience feels like it has been left behind? Augustine reflects on the findings from Bloomreach’s latest consumer research and discusses what retailers need to do next. In this interview, they cover: 🔴 Why AI is helping shoppers at the two hardest points in the journey: knowing where to start and feeling confident enough to buy. 🔴 Why retailers should treat conversational queries as valuable first-party customer signals, not a future experiment. 🔴 How richer product data, from boot weight to gift-buying context, can prevent customers from bouncing elsewhere. 🔴 Why useful AI should give customers more agency, rather than push urgency tactics that can damage trust. One quote sums up the shift: “Before I was looking at pixel clicks, right? Like, and reading the tea leaves… Now you don’t have to guess.” Retail, ecommerce, and CX leaders must review where customers are forced to infer product information, test conversational discovery around high-consideration purchases, and make sure the experience does not break when a shopper moves from an AI answer engine to your site. For more Customer Experience tech news visit https://www.cxtoday.com

September 30, 202635 min

What Contact Center Buyers Should Prioritize in 2026

Are contact center buyers still using yesterday’s criteria to make tomorrow’s technology decisions? In this CX Today interview, Rob Wilkinson speaks with Keith Dawson, Research Director at ISG, about what contact center leaders should prioritize in 2026 as artificial intelligence, automation, analytics, and customer expectations reshape the market. Keith explains why the contact center is evolving from a routing and efficiency engine into a broader customer engagement environment. He explores why buyers now need to think beyond traditional vendor rankings and assess how platforms fit their operating model, enterprise technology stack, governance requirements, and long-term CX strategy. The conversation also covers the rising importance of AI governance, context preservation, automated quality management, self-service, agent guidance, and closer collaboration with IT. For contact center, CX, and service leaders planning new investments, this discussion highlights why the right buying decision now depends on more than features. It depends on understanding operational complexity, risk, integration, and what the business wants every customer interaction to achieve. Watch the full interview to learn how ISG believes buyers should approach the 2026 contact center market.