CX Live’s The Experience Show Middle East 2026 Highlights

Customer experience transformation across the Middle East is entering a new phase, with organisations increasingly looking beyond individual AI tools and towards reshaping the technology infrastructure that underpins customer journeys, contact operations and service delivery.

This shift was highlighted at the ninth annual edition of The Experience Show Middle East 2026, held on 30 September-1 October at the JW Marriott Hotel Dubai Marina, where findings from the The Experience Show Middle East Intelligence Report 2026 revealed the scale and direction of technology investment taking place across the region.

The report found that 76% of organisations are upgrading their existing technology stacks with AI-powered customer experience capabilities, making it the most prominent area of planned investment.

While Agentic AI follows closely, with 62% of organisations identifying it as an area of technology investment, chat and voice bots were cited by 38%, and 37% are reportedly upgrading Contact Centre and Support technologies.

Rather than treating AI as a standalone layer, organisations are increasingly connecting it to the wider architecture of customer experience. 63% are using AI copilots and Agentic AI, while 53% are leveraging Voice of Customer analytics.

Customer journey orchestration is being used by 47% of organisations, and 42% are adopting automation and workflow orchestration.

The transformation is particularly pronounced within customer contact. AI transformation and automation was identified as the biggest challenge facing customer contact by 64% of organisations, highlighting the operational scale of the shift. At the same time, 48% cited real-time analytics, compliance and quality management as a key challenge, while 44% pointed to fragmented technology stacks. Omnichannel operations remain another significant issue, cited by 47% of organisations.

Behind these operational pressures sits a broader question around how organisations can translate technology investment into measurable customer and business value.

Proving ROI and business impact is a priority for 58% of organisations, while 57% are grappling with how to use AI without damaging customer trust or service quality.

A further 51% cite the complexity of managing journeys across digital and human touchpoints, while 48% are focused on moving from reactive support towards more proactive experience management.

“What we are seeing in the Middle East is a shift from adding new CX technologies to reconsidering how the entire technology ecosystem works together,” said Ayusha Tyagi, Managing Director, Customer Experience Live.

“AI, automation, journey orchestration, Voice of Customer and contact centre technologies are increasingly interconnected.

The opportunity for organisations is to build an ecosystem where these capabilities work together rather than creating another layer of complexity.”

The Experience Show Middle East brought together senior leaders from leading organisations like First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), Emirates, Allianz, Aster DM Healthcare, ADNOC, Petroleum Development of Oman, AviLease, DP World, Talabat, Al-Futtaim, AW Rostamani, Samsung Electronics MENA, Schneider Electric, Unilever Gulf, DMCC, and Expo City Dubai. Across the two-day event, discussions focused on the practical transformation of customer operations – from deploying Agentic AI and intelligent automation to connecting customer data, orchestrating journeys, modernising contact centres and balancing intelligent technologies with human interaction.

The event also recognised the remarkable achievements of individuals and organisations that continue to raise the bar for CX through the Customer Experience Live Awards Middle East 2026.

This year’s winners included ALTANFEETHI, SESTEK, Ajman Bank, BEEAH, Mashreq, Aldar Properties PJSC, Department of Ports & Customs – Ajman, Dubai Taxi Company PJSC, Bank Muscat, TASLEEM METERING & PAYMENT COLLECTION, Dubai National Insurance (DNI), Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), stc, Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai, Medcare Hospitals & Medical Centre, Sobha Modular Ind LLC OPC- Facades Division, and Amira AI – almost human.

The conference was supported by leading sponsors including SESTEK, CX Experts, Zendesk, Rezolve Ai, Toku, Optimizely, CommBox, XEBO.ai, Apifonica, Locobuzz, Polynome, Kaizen Institute, Amira AI – almost human, QuestionPro, Diabolocom, UXCam, ConVox, and ScoreMachine.ai .

Call Centre Helper partnered as the Official Media Partner while the Customer Institute and BPO Search joined as Strategic Partners.

Additional media partners included ACN Newswire, CrmXchange, StartupNews.fyi, CIOReview, AI Tools Network, Financial Service Review, Conference Alerts, Applied Technology Review, CIO Outlook, APAC CIO Outlook, AIPressRoom, Times of AI, CryptoNewsZ, NameCoinNews, CryptoMoonPress,

Reviewed by: Megan Jones