Hello from Amsterdam! There is an electric energy here at Cisco Live Amsterdam, and it’s not just the coffee from the Cisco Café. We are standing at a pivotal moment in the evolution of customer experience.
Now more than ever, the industry is focused on how AI can drive customer experience transformation. At Webex, we are not focused just on AI. We believe the future isn’t a choice between human or AI, but rather the seamless orchestration across both. We call this Connected Intelligence, where people and AI work side by side.
The Connected Intelligence vision centers around the harmony of Human-to-Human (empowered by AI), Human-and-AI (collaboration and insights in real time), and AI-to-AI (automation supporting efficiency). Together, these layers remove friction and make every interaction feel effortless.
This holistic approach empowers organizations to deliver effortless, personalized interactions at scale. By embedding AI innovation into every layer of the customer journey, our solutions not only solve today’s challenges, but also adapt to the needs of tomorrow. We are focused on our mission to deliver intelligent, personalized interactions built on trust, context, and human connections.
Today, I am thrilled to share several announcements that bring this vision to reality.
Delivering Intelligent Customer Experiences
The future of customer experience demands operational agility that feels effortless – like connecting a customer to the best human to meet their needs on the first try. When operations are tangled by complexity and fragmentation, inefficiencies ripple across every stage of the customer journey, resulting in frustration for both customers and teams alike.
Modern organizations need solutions that deliver seamless, intuitive experiences from start to finish. Therefore, our new native innovations are purpose-built to empower today’s hybrid workforce of humans and AI, working side by side.
Better CX, Reduced Operational Complexity: Introducing AI Routing
Our new AI Routing (Beta Q1 CY26) in Webex Contact Center replaces guesswork with context, intent and intelligence. By leveraging native AI and machine learning, we can now analyze real-time intent and sentiment to match a customer with the best suited agent for their specific needs – no additional complex configurations required. This streamlined approach not only reduces headaches within the contact center but also makes each interaction feel personal, intentional, and meaningful to a customer.
With AI Routing, we help support meeting every customer’s individual needs while also simplifying contact center configurations to optimize for the desired business outcomes, such as higher CSAT or faster resolutions.
Empowering a Smarter, Modern Workforce with AI Forecasting and Scheduling
We understand that today’s contact centers require advanced, specialized management tools to streamline operations and deliver outstanding customer experiences—especially as AI and human collaboration becomes the norm. That’s why we’re developing native, ground-up capabilities to empower every supervisor and agent in every interaction.
Building on the momentum of our recent Webex AI Quality Management announcement—which allows supervisors to evaluate every customer interaction, whether managed by AI or a human—we’re excited to introduce AI Intelligent Forecasting and Scheduling (Beta Q1 CY26). These new capabilities are designed to optimize workforce management planning and drive even greater results.
Empower your operations team to plan staffing needs with confidence by accessing real-time data and flexible scheduling tools for both AI and human agents. Intelligently analyze how AI Agents deflect interactions, predict when human expertise is required, and help budget predictability while maintaining service quality.
In parallel, we continue to strengthen our comprehensive Webex WFO portfolio. We are excited to announce the availability of the Performance Management module within this suite. This addition provides deep operational rigor, helping organizations align agent performance with broader business goals.
Global Scale with a Human Touch
We believe technology should bring people closer together, not create more barriers. Our goal is to help preserve the human connections that build trust and loyalty as you scale operations globally.
Seamlessly remove language barriers with Speech-to-speech Translation
The Translator Agent for Contact Center (Beta H2 CY26) powered by EZDubs is a gamechanger for global BPOs and enterprises. It allows agents and customers to speak their native languages while AI translates the conversation in real-time, preserving the original speaker’s tone and inflection.
Imagine a customer speaking Spanish and an agent responding in English, yet both hear each other in their native tongue, in real-time, with their own vocal nuances preserved. This is the epitome of “Human-to-Human” connection, amplified by AI.
The benefits also extend beyond customer experience. Organizations gain new flexibility in scaling the talent pool without intensive multi-lingual demands, as agents are no longer limited by language proficiency requirements. By simplifying language-based hiring and staffing constraints, companies can achieve significant cost savings while maintaining consistent, high-quality service across markets.
An Open, Interoperable Ecosystem: Introducing Webex Contact Center for ServiceNow
At Webex, we believe exceptional experiences are built on openness and flexibility. Our open ecosystem is designed for integration – whether you want to connect with trusted systems already in your workflow or bring your own solutions, such as virtual agents, LLMs or messaging channels.
Today, we’re excited to announce our native Webex Contact Center integration with ServiceNow (Beta Q1 CY26), adding to recent integration milestones like our Salesforce Service Cloud Voice and Epic Systems integrations. This open ecosystem empowers organizations to unify data and CX capabilities, embedding them directly into core business processes and systems.
With this integration, we are enabling Webex Contact Center to serve as the enterprise-grade CCaaS backbone for ServiceNow environments. Agents remain in their primary system of engagement, supported by Webex’s capabilities such as real-time transcription and AI-powered guidance. As data flows seamlessly across CRM, customer service management, IT service management, and the contact center, every interaction becomes more intelligent, contextual, and efficient.
Whether you are supporting internal service teams or customer-facing contact centers, your agents can now manage all voice and digital interactions alongside critical data in a single, familiar interface. The result? Faster resolution times and a simplified workflow that allows your employees to focus on what matters most: the customer.
Modern On-Premises Experiences with AI innovations
We recognize that for many of our customers, security and sovereign compliance are paramount. We are committed to helping you drive your business confidently by bringing AI innovations and enhancements to our on-premises solutions.
Building on the momentum of Webex AI Agent capabilities, a fully refreshed platform, and new digital channels being generally available, we are now bringing the Cisco AI Assistant to Webex CCE (Webex Contact Center Enterprise), including Real-Time Assist (formerly Suggested Responses) and Wrap-Up Summaries (GA Q2 CY26).
By introducing Real-Time Transcription (Beta Q1 CY26), we are ensuring that on-premises agents have the same agentic advantages as their cloud counterparts – allowing them to stay fully engaged in the conversation while the AI Assistant handles the documentation.
See Connected Intelligence in Action
If you are joining us in Amsterdam, I invite you to experience these innovations firsthand. Visit Webex Customer Experience Solutions in the World of Solutions to see how we are redefining intelligent engagement.
Curious to see an AI Agent in action? Head over to the Cisco Café and order a coffee from our AI Barista. You can place your order with our voice agent in English, Dutch, German, or French (a new addition this year!), or use our traditional digital AI Agent, available in English.
For a deeper dive, step into our Immersive Quiet Cube to witness the power of the Webex Voice AI Agent in action. Choose from three real-world scenarios—finance, healthcare, and travel—all available in multiple languages. Interact naturally with AI to solve tasks, and chat with Roux, our Amsterdam expert agent, who can share insights about the city and the Winter Olympics that just got underway.
Don’t miss our Keynote Deep Dives, PSO, and lightning talks to explore how our solutions can transform your customer experience in the AI era. Hear real-world stories from Deutsche Telekom, First National Bank, Dutch Government, and Terna to discover how they’re leveraging our CX solutions. Explore the full Session catalog here.
The Path Forward: Trusted, Human, Secure
The future of CX isn’t just about “more AI” but smarter AI that earns the trust of both the agent and the customer. Through the lens of Connected Intelligence and delivering smart, trusted engagements, we are ensuring that every interaction is backed by data-driven insights and delivered with a human connection.
For the full list of Webex innovations, check out our What’s New Page.
Enjoy this event and have a great time in Amsterdam. We look forward to seeing you at our future Cisco Live US event in Las Vegas.
Many of the products and features mentioned are still in development and will be made available as they are finalized, subject to ongoing evolution in development and innovation. The timeline for their release is subject to change.
Resources
Building Tomorrow’s Workplace Today: The Era of Connected Intelligence
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