Stay ahead of the curve with the tools and technology shaping the contact center of tomorrow.
Emerging Contact Center Technology
February 17 | 12PM ET
Agenda Day 1
12:00 pm - 12:15 pm
Analyst Chat: Emerging Technology in the Contact Center
Brooke Lynch -
Principal Analyst and Deputy Divisional Director,
CCW Digital
Brian Cantor - Principal Analyst & CCW Digital Director, CCW Digital
2026 is the year we break boundaries in tech. Contact center leaders are ready to implement new tools that will empower faster, better, and stronger connections. But, this passion for improvement is also prompting conversations about what new technology is actually worth the hype. With so many new tools out there, how can leaders decipher what is just buzz and what is grounded in real results?
This session will break down emerging technology in the contact center and share research from CMP’s latest market study covering the state of innovation in CX. Join CMP analysts Brian Cantor and Brooke Lynch as they unpack the challenges and opportunities of emerging tech today.
12:15 pm - 12:45 pm
Seamless Customer Experiences with AI-Driven RingCX
John Finch -
VP, Product Marketing, Customer Engagement,
RingCentral
Join RingCentral to learn how contact centers can elevate customer experience by embedding AI across the customer journey using the RingCentral RingCX™ platform. This session highlights how RingCX unifies omnichannel communications with AI-driven capabilities to modernize engagement and operations.
Discover how intelligent virtual agents and AI-powered entry points enable always-on, efficient interactions, while real-time AI assistance supports agents and supervisors to boost productivity and consistency. Explore how AI quality management, interaction analytics, and voice data generate actionable insights for continuous improvement, and see how RingCentral’s AI Assessment Tool helps prioritize AI capabilities to optimize touchpoints, enhance CX strategy, and transform end-to-end contact center performance.
12:45 pm - 1:15 pm
The New Rules of Customer Contact: The Agentic Shift and What's Coming Next in 2026
Philipp Heltewig -
Chief AI Officer,
NiCE Cognigy
The next evolution of customer service is already taking shape: Agentic AI Agents that go beyond answering questions to actively completing tasks, orchestrating workflows, and driving outcomes across channels. In 2026, the winners won’t be the companies that experiment the most — they’ll be the ones that operationalize AI the fastest, with the right guardrails and CX strategy.
In this candid fireside chat, Philipp Heltewig, Chief AI Officer at NiCE, joins CCW Digital analyst Brian Cantor to unpack what’s changing in 2026: the emerging technologies powering AI Agents, the new operating frameworks required to scale them responsibly, and the use cases delivering measurable impact today.
Philipp will also share a forward-looking perspective on what enterprises can expect with NiCE Cognigy and NiCE technologies combined — and how this duo changes the speed, governance, and customer experience potential of AI at scale.
1:15 pm - 1:45 pm
The Agentic Future Your Customers Feel, Not See
Nirmal Mukhi -
Chief Architect,
ASAPP
In this CCW webinar, ASAPP examines the next evolution of AI in the contact center—where multiple AI systems work together, sharing context and interaction history to support customers and agents throughout the service journey. This coordinated approach moves beyond isolated automation and toward a more connected system of intelligence.
The session will explore key technology shifts influencing this transition, including orchestration of agents across the enterprise, the growing use of task-specific small language models (SLMs) instead of generalized large language models (LLMs) for contact center use cases, the evolving role of human agents, and common readiness challenges, such as fragmented knowledge management and limited integration maturity.
Designed for contact center and CX leaders, this session provides a practical view of how coordinated AI systems are being applied today and what organizations should prioritize as they plan for 2026. Insights are informed by ASAPP’s experience supporting large-scale enterprise contact centers
What You’ll Learn
- Why disconnected bots and copilots are limiting CX impact
- How coordinated AI systems improve experience consistency and agent effectiveness
- The foundational capabilities required to support advanced AI in the contact center
- How leading teams are redefining the role of human agents in AI-driven operations
