Just 23% Optimise Automation With CX Insights, CallMiner Report Finds

A new CallMiner report highlights a gap between automation and the use of customer insights.

The 2026 CX Landscape Report, produced in partnership with Vanson Bourne, examines how organisations are using automation, AI and CX data.

The report found that just 23% of organisations say their customer interactions are both highly automated and consistently optimised using CX insights.

While automation and AI are now widely used across customer experience, the findings suggest organisations are still working out how to use customer intelligence to improve automated interactions and determine where human expertise is needed.

“Nearly every organization is using automation, but adoption alone doesn’t guarantee better CX,” said Jeff Gallino, CEO and founder, CallMiner.

“As automation becomes ubiquitous and AI expands what’s possible, the differentiator is customer intelligence. Organizations need to continuously learn from customer interactions to understand where automation works, where it needs to improve and where human expertise delivers greater value.”

CX Data is Not Being Fully Used

All organisations surveyed said they collect CX data to understand and improve customer interactions.

However, 68% said they do not use CX data to its best advantage, up from 62% in 2025.

At the same time, more organisations are using automation to analyse their CX data, with 66% now relying on automated processes compared with 53% in 2025.

Despite this, customer insights are not consistently being used to shape automation. Just 30% use CX insights to improve automated interactions, while 22% use them to decide what should be automated.

Although 71% said customer insights inform these decisions, 76% acknowledged that automation is ultimately driven by internal goals rather than customer needs.

The report also found that 94% of organisations experience difficulties aligning CX data and feedback across departments.

“Organizations have more customer intelligence at their fingertips than ever, but collecting and analyzing data isn’t enough,” Gallino added.

“The real value comes from putting those insights into action. When customer intelligence continuously informs automation decisions, organizations can identify friction faster, make smarter choices and improve experiences over time.”

Human Agents Remain Part of the Picture

The research also highlights the role of human agents alongside automation and AI.

Some 95% of organisations said human agents add more value than automation or AI in at least one type of customer interaction.

This was particularly the case for complex problem solving, interactions with significant business consequences, customer vulnerability and situations requiring empathy.

Organisations reporting very positive automated customer experiences were also more likely to escalate interactions to human agents, at 76% compared with 68% among those reporting mixed or negative experiences.

AI Increasingly Supports Agents

AI is now being incorporated into most CX initiatives, with 96% of organisations reporting that they are implementing AI and 85% using it for at least one human-agent use case.

Organisations reporting very positive automated customer experiences were more likely to use AI to personalise customer outreach and provide real-time assistance to human agents.

By comparison, organisations reporting mixed or negative experiences were more likely to focus on using AI to reduce or automate repetitive work.

However, concerns around AI remain. Some 91% of organisations reported fears around implementing AI, although this has fallen from 95% in 2025.

The research also found that 43% believe customers prefer speaking with human agents, while 40% believe AI and automation still struggle to handle complex, emotional or high-risk interactions.

Research Methodology

The research surveyed 700 senior decision-makers from contact centre and CX departments in May and June 2026.

Respondents were based in the US (250), UK/Ireland (125), France (125), Germany (125) and South Africa (75).

Organisations had to have a contact centre, at least 100 employees globally and operate in healthcare, financial services, technology, retail or BPO.

Where the report compares results with 2025, BPO data is excluded for comparability.

You can download a copy of the 2026 CX Landscape report here.

Author: Hannah Swankie

Reviewed by: Jo Robinson