On this episode, we look at where enterprise CX AI actually stands in 2026 — and why deployment and performance are not the same thing.

The Enterprise CX AI: 2026 Global Survey, conducted by Ryan Strategic Advisory and commissioned by TELUS Digital, reached 815 enterprise CX decision-makers representing 19 industry verticals and organizations with annual revenues ranging from $10M to over $5B. Among its findings: AI-assisted agent interactions, where an agent handles the conversation while AI tools surface information, suggestions and automations in real-time, are now the dominant model, leading in six of the seven functions the survey measured.

But there’s more to the story. Only 32% of organizations have AI-powered quality assurance in place, meaning nearly seven-in-ten of the surveyed organizations are running AI-assisted operations at a volume their quality assurance infrastructure likely can't keep pace with.

Meanwhile, CX budgets are largely holding or growing, with 40% of enterprises reporting increased AI investment heading into 2026 and nearly 50% holding steady. At that level of commitment, the question shifts to whether what's been deployed is performing to the level that's expected.

Peter Ryan, president and principal analyst at Ryan Strategic Advisory, and Erin Walker, global vice president of CX AI at TELUS Digital, approach the question from two complementary vantage points — the survey data and the delivery floor. Together, they cover where the enterprise market stands on CX AI.

Download the Enterprise CX AI: 2026 Global Survey conducted by Ryan Strategic Advisory and commissioned by TELUS Digital: https://www.telusdigital.com/insights/customer-experience/resource/enterprise-cx-ai-2026

Learn more about CX Strategic Assessments from TELUS Digital: https://www.telusdigital.com/solutions/cx-consulting

On this episode, we explore what rigorous AI safety testing looks like for customer-facing AI — and why most deployments carry more risk than the teams running them expect.

Testing AI before launch is standard practice. But one-time manual testing treats AI like a deterministic system. Model behavior is probabilistic, and the consequences of inadequate testing fall into four categories: people data harm, other types of data harm, reputational harm and commercial harm. Each represents a distinct exposure with real consequences for your organization and your customers.

Meaningful AI safety testing requires something different: continuous, automated adversarial testing at scale, designed to find what a bad actor would find before they find it. TELUS Digital's benchmark research, running 34 models through more than 620,000 simulated attacks, found attack success rates ranging from 1% to 90%, and identified five gaps in how most organizations approach testing: scale, scope, variety, repetition and simulation realism.

Bret Kinsella, senior vice president and general manager of Fuel iX at TELUS Digital, draws on the GenAI safety model benchmark report to explain where CX AI tends to fail adversarial testing methods, how the exposure management framework reframes risk as an ongoing operational discipline and the question every CX leader should be asking about the AI their customers are currently interacting with.

• Watch Uncharted, TELUS Digital's AI safety and security summit, on demand: https://www.telusdigital.com/insights/fuel-ix/resource/uncharted-ai-security-safety-summit-videos
• Download the full GenAI safety model benchmark report: https://www.telusdigital.com/insights/fuel-ix/resource/genai-safety-benchmark-2026
• Learn more about Fuel iX Fortify, TELUS Digital's continuous adversarial testing and validation platform for enterprise AI, and request a free AI safety & security analysis: https://www.telusdigital.com/solutions/fuel-ix/fortify
• Connect with Bret Kinsella on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bretkinsella/

On this episode, we explore AI orchestration in contact centers — and what CX leaders need to know to move from digitized chaos to operational clarity.

Most brands have implemented AI in their customer experience operations to some degree. But when systems are siloed, data is fragmented and workflows are disconnected, AI can magnify problems instead of solving them.

AI orchestration in the contact center changes that by connecting your data, systems and workflows so AI can make real decisions across every channel. This can increase resolution rates, improve agent experience and drive measurable business impact.

Nuri Gocay, director of contact center platform architecture at Zendesk, and Abby Spahich, global vice president for digital CX solutions at TELUS Digital, map the path from operational fragmentation to orchestrated clarity, making the case that true AI orchestration is ultimately about delivering better customer experiences, not just better efficiency metrics. Their perspectives cover readiness, organizational barriers and the first steps toward a truly orchestrated CX operation.

• Join us at Zendesk Relate 2026 in Denver, Colorado, May 18–20, 2026. TELUS Digital is a platinum sponsor — be sure to stop by our booth to connect with our team in person.
• Read Abby Spahich’s latest article, The modern CCaaS strategy: Five steps for turning efficiency into growth.
• Connect with Abby Spahich on LinkedIn.
• Connect with Nuri Gocay on LinkedIn.

On this episode, we explore how realistic voice simulations are accelerating agent readiness — and what CX leaders need to know to implement AI training at scale.

Generative AI and voice simulation technology are fundamentally transforming how organizations prepare agents for service delivery. When agents feel prepared and confident, they deliver customer care that can result in better first contact resolution, higher customer satisfaction and increased customer lifetime value.

Listen for the compelling insights of Mitch Lieberman, vice president of product for Fuel iX™ at TELUS Digital, and Jack Piunti, go-to-market leader at ElevenLabs, as they reveal how leading organizations are using AI voice simulations to train contact center agents more efficiently — reducing agent ramp time while building genuine confidence.

Along the way, they'll share real results from Fuel iX Agent Trainer, powered by voice AI technology from ElevenLabs, and explain how this approach can create measurable improvements in customer experience.

Visit our website to learn more about TELUS Digital.

• Accelerate agent proficiency with Fuel iX Agent Trainer: https://www.telusdigital.com/solutions/fuel-ix/agent-trainer
• Case study: Discover how TELUS Communications transformed contact center agent training with AI: https://www.telusdigital.com/insights/customer-experience/resource/telus-contact-center-agent-training-ai

On this episode, we explore why enterprises often trust their CX service partners with their customers — but not their revenue.

A new IDC study, sponsored by TELUS Digital, reveals a striking imbalance between the percentage of enterprises that rely on a CX service partner for support and analytics and those that engage those same partners for inbound B2B or B2C sales, despite revenue growth ranking among their top desired outcomes.

Host Robert Zirk sits down with Robin Jakobsen, director of product strategy for Customer Experience Management at TELUS Digital, to find out what's behind that disparity and what enterprises could gain from closing the gap. Along the way, the two discuss a shift from outsourcing as a defensive cost center to a CX partnership enabling revenue growth.

Visit our website to learn more about TELUS Digital.

Download the full IDC InfoBrief, "From Efficiency to Excellence: Driving Enterprise Value Through Customer Experience Partnerships": https://www.telusdigital.com/insights/customer-experience/resource/idc-cx-outsourcing-revenue-growth-research

On this episode, we explore the critical connection between sales and customer experience teams — and why a misalignment might be costing you customers, revenue and brand reputation.

When sales sets expectations that CX can’t meet, customers may churn faster than you can acquire them, wasting your customer acquisition costs. The problem isn’t what either team does in isolation, but rather the handoff between them.

Drawing from 20 years of experience, Robin Jakobsen, director of product strategy for CXM at TELUS Digital, reveals what this sales team alignment gap can cost your business and how CX leaders can take a proactive role in fixing it. Shawn Casemore, keynote speaker and author, brings additional sales expertise, explaining where the disconnect happens and how both teams can shift from competing priorities to shared outcomes.

Together, they share the orchestration tactics and strategies CX leaders need to prevent customer churn, build loyalty and align with sales around revenue metrics.

Visit our website to learn more about TELUS Digital.

1. Download TELUS Digital's 90-day customer activation checklist for B2B customer success and onboarding teams.
2. Learn how TELUS Digital’s B2B Sales Outsourcing can help you transform your sales ecosystem with exceptional buyer-seller experiences.

On this episode, we explore the hidden cost of overlooking agent experience — and how it impacts your customers.

Your contact center agents handle hundreds of customer interactions every week, from routine questions to complex issues. When your agents feel empowered, they resolve problems with creativity and empathy, turning satisfied customers into loyal advocates and ultimately helping you win the moments that matter. When they don't feel empowered, they deliver transactional service, avoid taking initiative and may even start looking for the exit — sabotaging your CX in the process.

Join Ken Hughes, keynote speaker, consumer behavioralist and author, and Estuardo "Ligo" Ligorría, regional vice president of operations for the Americas at TELUS Digital, as they reveal what the best CX leaders get right, what it means for them to truly “show up” for their frontline teams, and how to navigate the tension between efficiency and the human connection.

Visit our website to learn more about TELUS Digital.

On this episode, our expert guests from this year’s past episodes each share one critical question that customer experience (CX) leaders need to ask themselves to deliver better customer outcomes in 2026.

We've compiled the most important questions from our conversations this year — each one designed to reveal where your CX strategy is vulnerable and what to do about it. Join us as we explore those questions with previous guests:

• Mark Abraham (co-author, Personalized: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI)
• Brian Breslin (vice president, fintech and SaaS, TELUS Digital)
• Diane Magers (co-author, The Customer Experience Field Guide)
• Adrian Swinscoe (author, Punk CX and Punk XL)
• Jelena Bajic (vice president, global operations excellence, TELUS)

For more from today's guests, check out these episodes of Questions for now:

• On The era of AI-driven personalization is here. What now?, Mark Abraham reveals the five key promises brands must fulfill to delight customers at every interaction. 
• On Why do satisfied customers leave?, Brian Breslin uncovers what separates customers who stay from those who leave for a better offer.
• On Is experience management the new customer experience?, Diane Magers explains the strategic shift to organization-wide experience management practices.
• On How can you alleviate cost pressures in customer experience?, Adrian Swinscoe and Jelena Bajic share strategies for delivering exceptional outcomes in CX when leaders are asked to do more with less.

Visit our website to learn more about TELUS Digital.

On this episode, we explore why customer experience (CX) leaders need to be aware of developments in AI compliance in 2026 — and why a “light touch” approach puts your CX at risk.

The era of voluntary AI oversight is over. Binding regulations are now enforceable globally. AI-powered fraud is accelerating. And for CX leaders, compliance directly impacts customer trust, and therefore your bottom line. 

Our expert guests cut through the complexity, revealing how to navigate fragmented global regulations, what you can do as a CX leader to prepare your organization and why the competitive edge in AI is shifting from who launches first to who launches responsibly. 

Listen for the compelling insights of Jeff Brown, former general counsel, global privacy officer at TELUS Digital, and Natália Fritzen, head of AI compliance at Sumsub.

Visit our website to learn more about TELUS Digital.

• Benchmark your fraud prevention and compliance program with TELUS Digital’s financial crime and compliance maturity assessment
• Explore the data behind the fraud trends discussed in this episode with Sumsub’s Identity Fraud Report 2025-2026

On this episode, we explore what it takes to shift from vendor to strategic partner — and why good metrics alone don't guarantee renewals.

The difference between vendors who survive consolidation and those who don't isn't performance — it's relationships. Drawing from real customer success transformations, our expert guests reveal the frameworks that get customer success leaders in the room where decisions are made, the warning signs that predict churn despite healthy metrics and the tactics for building executive relationships that position you as a strategic partner.

Listen for the compelling perspectives of Kelly McGuire, vice president of customer success at Everstage, and Tom Pelisson, director of global customer strategy and success at TELUS Digital.

Visit our website to learn more about TELUS Digital.

Show notes:

• Download TELUS Digital's 90-day customer activation checklist for B2B customer success and onboarding teams.