Gartner Unveils Inaugural Magic Quadrant for AI Agent Management
As enterprises scramble to govern an increasingly unruly AI agent workforce, Gartner’s inaugural Magic Quadrant for AI Agent Management Platforms puts Microsoft, IBM, and ServiceNow in the Leader quadrant, while AWS, ServiceNow, OneReach.ai, and Gravitee are named Challengers.
Rhys Fisher · 2 Nov 2026
Amazon Wants Alexa to Become Your Default Shopping Agent
Amazon has reported that more than 400 million customers have used Alexa for Shopping in the past 12 months. The company sees the assistant as the future front door to its platform, but higher spend alone will not prove the customer journey is improving.
Rhys Fisher · 2 Nov 2026
Can AI Make Shopping Easier Without Taking Control?
AI-assisted shopping can help customers turn product discovery into a more confident purchase decision. But TikTok product designer Zhengyang Yang argues that the technology must reduce uncertainty, show its evidence, and know when to step aside and allow customers to move forward without it.
Rhys Fisher · 30 Oct 2026
Why AI Handoffs Still Make Customers Repeat Themselves
We all know that AI can make customer service quicker, but too many customers still have to repeat information when a conversation moves from a bot to an agent. Twilio’s Sam Richardson explains why context, identity, and reassurance must travel with the customer.
Rhys Fisher · 26 Oct 2026
Has Salesforce Bought Its Missing Engagement Engine?
Salesforce has agreed to acquire Braze for $5.66B, adding real-time customer engagement to its CRM, data, AI, and content stack. But Constellation Research’s Liz Miller argues the deal is really about one missing piece: the execution engine that turns customer insight into action.
Rhys Fisher · 21 Oct 2026
Zoom Targets CX’s Broken Context With Its New AI Layer
Zoom has unveiled a Unified Context Layer at Zoomtopia 2026, giving virtual and human agents a shared, real-time view of customer history. The move could reduce repeated explanations, while pushing Zoom further into the race to make AI agents genuinely useful.
Rhys Fisher · 20 Oct 2026
Why Contact Center Efficiency Can Be a False Win
Deflection, containment, and shorter calls can make a contact center look more efficient. But if customers have to call back, switch channels, or give up, Natalie Beckerman argues that businesses have not removed effort. They have simply moved it somewhere else.
Rhys Fisher · 19 Oct 2026
Why Customer Engagement Is Still Too Slow to Be Personal
Brands have more customer data, dashboards, and campaign tools than ever. Yet turning a useful signal into the right response can still take days, multiple systems, and several teams. Amperity’s new AI agent, Pér, highlights the challenge of acting faster without losing context, control, or trust.
Rhys Fisher · 16 Oct 2026
Salesforce Loops Deal Targets CX Problems Before They Hit
Salesforce’s latest acquisition points to a bigger ambition for Tableau and Agentforce. The vendor is helping businesses identify the causes of customer experience failures, rather than simply measuring their effects. But can enterprises trust AI to recommend the next move?
Rhys Fisher · 13 Oct 2026
Why Churn is a Customer Experience Warning, Not a Metric
Churn is often treated as a retention metric to manage at the end of the customer journey. But as NRG’s Suzie Dieth explains, it can actually be an early warning that trust, clarity, or value broke down much earlier, long before a customer decides to leave.
Rhys Fisher · 12 Oct 2026
HubSpot Cuts 660 Jobs as AI Strategy Reshapes Business
The layoffs are part of HubSpot's strategy to reorganize around AI-powered customer outcomes. The vendor insists the move is not driven by AI efficiencies, but the distinction between AI efficiency and AI-led reorganization may not mean much to employees whose roles have been eliminated.
Rhys Fisher · 7 Oct 2026