2026 CX Annual Insights Report
Coming soon
Learn how the future of agentic AI could impact the customer experience. Explore strategies that may help your organization strike the right balance between human-led and AI-led interactions.
Wednesday, Oct 21, 1 PM ET Navigating CX in the era of agentic AI
Agentic AI is transforming CX. Join Verizon leaders as they explore the 2026 CX Annual Insights Report and learn how top brands balance AI autonomy with human oversight to boost productivity.
Top takeaways
Discover how AI is reshaping CX with key insights from this year's report.
of executives expect AI agents to eliminate or ease consumer frustration over repeatedly entering information during interactions
of consumers named no-wait access to human agents as the top improvement they want to see most
of executives expect humans to play a major role in CX next year, but anticipate a decline over the next five years
of consumers would be comfortable with AI agents autonomously purchasing goods or services on their behalf
Top takeaways
Discover how AI is reshaping CX with key insights from this year's report.
of executives expect AI agents to eliminate or ease consumer frustration over repeatedly entering information during interactions
of consumers named no-wait access to human agents as the top improvement they want to see most
of executives expect humans to play a major role in CX next year, but anticipate a decline over the next five years
of consumers would be comfortable with AI agents autonomously purchasing goods or services on their behalf
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FAQs
The goal of the CX Annual Insights Report is to provide a comprehensive, data-driven assessment of how consumers interact with brands given the shifting priorities in customer experience (CX). Each year we identify key trends, pain points, and opportunities for brands to adopt new and emerging CX trends to improve customer satisfaction, loyalty and overall business performance.
This is a global report where Verizon partnered with Longitude, a Financial Times company to conduct two surveys that polled 5,000 consumers and 500 executives in seven countries. Additionally, we interviewed key CX leaders across diverse industries including finance, tech, healthcare, and public services to get their insights on emerging technologies and its impact on evolving CX needs.
Verizon’s 6th CX Annual Insights report highlights key CX trends including:
- How agentic AI is reshaping longstanding consumer frustrations in their digital interactions with brands
- Where AI autonomy can help improve productivity and experiences
- Why human oversight remains critical
- How to prepare for a future shaped by personal AI assistants
According to the report, AI is shifting from basic generative tools into "agentic AI" capable of taking independent, goal-oriented actions to manage complex tasks. This technology transforms CX by resolving long-standing consumer pain points—such as repeated data entry and misunderstood queries—while driving faster, more accurate responses. Crucially, agentic AI enhances rather than replaces human touch points; it handles routine administrative tasks so human agents can focus on complex issues, while remaining intelligent enough to enable smoother, context-aware transfers to live representatives when needed. Looking ahead, AI is also expanding beyond brand-led interactions as consumers adopt their own personal AI agents to interact and transact with businesses independently.
- Plan for early workflow evolution: Map CX processes to delegate low-risk, repetitive tasks to AI agents thereby reserving live human support for complex cases.
- Update AI governance: Implement strict guardrails, risk-matrix frameworks and human oversight to minimize errors or data privacy issues that could damage customer relationships.