Stay ahead of the curve with the tools and technology shaping the contact center of tomorrow.

Emerging Contact Center Technology
February 18 | 12PM ET

Agenda Day 1

10:00 am - 10:15 am Analyst Chat: Emerging Technology in the Contact Center

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.

10:15 am - 10:45 am 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.

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John Finch

VP, Product Marketing, Customer Engagement
RingCentral

10:45 am - 11:15 am 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.

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Philipp Heltewig

Chief AI Officer
NiCE Cognigy