Insights
Why Quality, not AI alone, will define the next era of CX
As we enter 2026, contact centers are no longer debating whether AI belongs in customer operations – that question has been decisively answered. Rather, the real challenge is how organizations blend automation, human expertise, and quality assurance into something customers actually trust.
evaluagent CEO Jaime Scott has a clear perspective on where the industry is heading next. The key theme is building durable, trustworthy customer experiences in a world where expectations (and risks) continue to rise.
Below are the most important takeaways from Jaime’s keynote at the Contact Center Performance Summit 2025 – ideal for leaders reflecting on their CX strategy for 2026 and beyond.
1. In 2026, trust will be the true differentiator in customer experience
“The foundation of truly memorable customer experience is trust.”
As digital channels multiply and AI takes on more frontline work, customers will increasingly judge brands not on novelty, but on reliability. Trust will become the currency of competitive advantage – and it is earned through consistency, not speed alone.
In the year ahead, organizations that focus solely on efficiency gains will struggle to stand out. Those that invest in quality, follow-through, and accountability will be the ones customers return to.
2. Quality management is no longer a “tick-box” function — it is mission-critical
“It’s about rigorous quality of service, supporting customers in the moment, and then following up on promised actions”
Quality assurance can no longer sit at the edges of the operation. As AI automates more interactions, the cost of poor oversight will rise. Quality is the mechanism that protects both customer relationships and brand reputation.
This is a pretty fundamental change: quality used to be about auditing the past. In 2026, the best contact centers will be using Quality in real-time to shape customer outcomes.
3. AI will handle more volume, but human interactions will matter more
“Crucially, human interactions will remain preferable in the moments that matter.”
One of the biggest misconceptions for the year ahead is that automation will reduce the importance of human agents. In reality, AI will absorb routine interactions, leaving people to handle the moments that truly define customer loyalty.
As stakes rise, so does the need for skilled, supported agents. Quality frameworks that help them succeed will be vital to making these interactions a success for both agent and customer.
4. Automation will increase, but demand for human intervention will not disappear
“Even as AI handles a growing share of those future queries, requiring human intervention may also continue to grow. Every single interaction with a contact center carries more weight than ever”
AI will continue to scale fast, but complexity will scale alongside it. The rising number of contacts means we’re not expecting to see fewer human interactions overall, but different ones, often higher risk, higher emotion, and higher impact.
Quality programs and workflows must be designed for this reality: human touchpoints will be absolutely critical – and those agents will require deeper insight, advanced skills, and faster learning loops. Coaching and feedback based on the data will be essential.
5. QA is at its best when paired with conversation intelligence
“When you put QA and conversation intelligence together, you truly empower leaders to spot root causes. It feeds insights back into the contact center, and every other part of the business.”
Automating your QA gives you far-reaching insights to improve your customer service, but with conversation intelligence, you can go a level deeper.
Read between the lines of what your customers are saying, understand the overall conversation sentiment and discover what the main demand drivers on your contact centre are.
It’s these insights that can deliver huge value even beyond the contact centre alone – think Product teams, Marketing, Digital & UX, and many more.
So what’s the story for 2026?
Contact centers will face mounting pressure to do more, more, more. More AI, more automation, more efficiency. The leaders who stand out will be those who resist the temptation to chase automation at any cost. Rather, they will anchor their strategy in quality, trust, and human impact. They’ll use AI not as a replacement for good CX, but as a force multiplier for it.
Our prediction is this: customer experience will be built on quality, or it won’t be built to last at all.
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