In 2026, Brands Will Make or Break Customer Experiences with AI – CCMA Predictions for the Year Ahead
The convergence of advanced AI, evolving customer expectations and a changing skills requirement means 2026 represents a ‘defining phase’ for UK’ contact centres.
That’s the assessment of the CCMA (Contact Centre Management Association) who, after extensively listening to industry leaders and influencers, are launching their 10 key predictions for the year ahead.
Via a blend of expert opinion, bespoke research, numerous roundtables, open mic sessions and the industry-leading Benchmark initiative, these are the CCMA’s top trends to watch in the UK contact centre sector this year:
The Contact Centre as a Valuable Strategic Asset – Contact centres will continue to enhance their recognition as a valuable strategic asset rather than a cost centre.
Contact Centres Will Enhance Their Role as First Line of Cyber Defence – Threats from social engineering, phishing and sophisticated fraud attempts will continue to escalate. High-profile data breaches highlight how critical frontline colleagues are in protecting customers and organisations.
Alternative Measures of Success Continue to Challenge the Status Quo – Traditional contact centre KPIs will be challenged as organisations develop alternative metrics that better capture customer outcomes, frontline effectiveness and business value.
UK BPOs Will Adapt Their Offering to Meet New Global Realities – The UK’s contact centre outsourcers are uniquely positioned to support more UK businesses, as AI transforms the industry and global uncertainties and volatilities extend. As organisations migrate transactional interactions handled offshore to AI, they’ll increasingly work with onshore BPOs for more difficult, nuanced work.
New Career Paths Will Open Up – As artificial intelligence handles routine and transactional tasks, frontline colleagues are handling increasingly complex interactions. As a result, roles are evolving, driving a heightened need for technical skills alongside core skills such as empathy and emotional intelligence.
Multi-Dimensional Leaders Will Add More Strings to their Bows – Contact centre leadership is a multifaceted and demanding occupation, and many leaders are seeing their remit expand beyond traditional operations.
Demonstrable Support for Vulnerable Customers – Simply saying “we care about vulnerable customers” will no longer be enough. Organisations can quantifiably demonstrate how their vulnerable customer support improves outcomes for both customers and the business.
Proactive Service Will Become More Mainstream – Equipped with data, insights and AI tools that help them anticipate customer needs, more contact centres will offer proactive services that predict and prevent issues before customers encounter them.
Customers Grasp of AI and Digital Will Force Changes in Customer Strategy – Customers are becoming increasingly savvy, with the ever-increasing trend towards the deployment of AI agents – personal assistant bots that negotiate better deals, compare offerings and manage interactions on their behalf. AI’s role on both sides of the customer relationship is deepening.
Brands Will Make or Break Customer Experiences with AI – The rollout of new AI deployments will be a trend that everyone will be on high alert for in 2026. Some organisations will deploy customer-facing AI tools too quickly, resulting in damaged experiences and eroded trust.
“Everyone is keen to see how organisations will evolve their AI use cases in the contact centre. However, the year ahead is fundamentally going to be about how contact centres continue to develop their people and their skills base, in order to keep up with the changing landscape,” says Leigh Hopwood, CEO at the CCMA, in relation to this year’s predictions for the year ahead.
“It’s important that we don’t think AI is the only way forward. Ultimately, it’s people who determine the quality of the customer experience. As an industry, we will continue to demonstrate the value that the contact centre brings and the critical role it has in business and society.”
To review the 10 predictions in full Click Here
For more than 30 years, the CCMA has been dedicated to supporting contact centre leaders. We push ourselves to do more for our thriving membership base, which is the largest community of industry professionals in the UK.
The CCMA was founded with the goal of sharing best practice and networking to improve skills and knowledge in order to progress contact centre operations – and we live by that to this day.
We give those who work in contact centres the chance to discuss ideas and share experiences through member-only Special Interest Groups and online and in-person events. Member organisations are invited to become Accredited through the Contact Centre Standards Framework and get independent guidance on where they can improve. There is the opportunity to compare operations against industry standards and 25+ KPIs, via our annual CCMA Benchmark.
Our training arm, CCMA Academy gives contact centre professionals at all levels a structured learning opportunity to support both personal and professional development for the benefit of their operations. We also celebrate the progress our industry is making through the UK National Contact Centres Awards. Those that win go on to share their stories through channels such as the UK National Contact Centre Conference, Best Practice Visits and CareerTalk, while also providing input into our Special Interest Groups and other events.
