Welcome to 2026!
In many ways, 2025 provided some clarity around the path of advanced technologies in CX delivery, but a great deal of murkiness still abounds. In addition, with consumer dissatisfaction remaining problematic across many demand markets, enterprises and their customer management partners face considerable pressure to improve front-line service. And, at the time of writing, the political / economic uncertainty that pervaded the previous 12 months shows little sign of abating.
As customer management enters the new year, it is customary for industry pundits to provide their predictions on what to expect over the next 12 months. So, without further ado, Ryan Strategic Advisory is pleased to offer the following prognostications for what CX executives around the world should be anticipating over the coming 359 days. Here goes:
- At least one CX BPO mega-consolidation – as noted in last year’s predictions, the past 12 months were a flurry of targeted, tactical acquisitions among outsourcers. For many, the focus in 2025 had been to buy niche providers based on specific subject-matter expertise, geography or technology. This trend is likely to continue in 2026, but savvy sector-watchers will be looking for at least one deal involving the fusion of two global operators, driven by the need to scale seat counts and revenues. Such a transaction would almost certainly have an upward impact on the valuations of most firms within the BPO space (especially those that are publicly listed).
- CX industry event shakeout – the sheer volume of industry events that have popped onto the CX sector’s radar in recent years have become unsustainable both from a participant bandwidth perspective, as well as the financial resources needed to promote and exhibit at these gatherings. Anecdotally, attendees rightly complain that CX trade shows are stuffed to the rafters with AI providers all peddling the same thing; there is also a feeling that many industry association conferences have degenerated into self-promotion forums for those leading these bodies, member mutual backslapping sessions or showcases for self-appointed CX gurus that have appeared out of the ether. In 2026, customer management decision-makers are likely to attend a smaller number of more targeted events designed around in-depth networking and thought-leadership. Those forums that are not perceived to add value will steadily disappear.
- Minimal service standard legislation becomes mainstream – there is no way to escape that consumers feel enterprises are not providing the service levels they deserve. There is a myriad of reasons for this, including (but not limited to) a legacy of poorly deployed front-line automation, bad processes and agents that do not have the right tools at their fingertips. Added to this is excessive budgetary pressure preventing CX departments from investing strategically. Regardless, going into the new year, end-users appear to be more angry than ever. In 2024, this blog predicted that customer service levels would become a political hot potato; in 2026 watch for actual laws to be enacted across municipal, regional and national lines that force businesses to meet minimal care requirements. The likelihood is that this will begin in more heavily regulated industries (such as health care) or consumer-sensitive sectors (possibly air travel).
- Business continuity fuels diversified shoring choices – there is no getting around the fact that going into the new year, the world continues to face significant levels of instability, no matter the region. Whether the threat of further Russian expansion in Eastern Europe, sabre-rattling in Asia, or the recent events in South America, making certain to not be over-exposed geographically is a ‘must’. An offshoot of this will be for both enterprises and their BPO partners to find a way of diversifying risk as much as possible. A probable result in 2026 will be for these actors to look for multiple newer, emerging destinations that carry can provide niche areas of specialty (function or language), which can be used to hedge against pressure being felt in more traditional or over-exposed destinations.
- AI bubble burst impacts CX technology providers – talk of a bursting AI bubble has been pervading business news outlets for months, with many financial analyst predicting some kind of imminent pop. To be clear, the tech sector has seen similar events unfold multiple times – think the video game console crash in 1983 or the dot.com bubble in the early 2000s, both of which were driven by hype-cycles, quality concerns and oversaturation due to too many vendors. In 2026, if such an event is to transpire, it would significantly impact the landscape for vendors in the CX space. Many of these players will simply cease to exist, while others, on the back of downgraded valuations, would be gobbled up by larger organizations. The net result for enterprises and BPOs will be a smaller number of tech firms from which to purchase solutions, but almost certainly (and hopefully) a more mature, considered discussion around the actual capabilities of these solutions.
