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ISG: Unified, AI-Enabled CXM Platforms Rise

Information Services Group (ISG) published its 2026 Buyers Guides for Customer Experience Management, reporting a shift from fragmented, department-level customer tools toward unified end-to-end CXM platforms that combine contact center, CDP, analytics and marketing automation capabilities. ISG highlights AI as a major driver—powering automation, real-time guidance and predictive decisioning—and recommends enterprises evaluate CXM vendors in the context of AI strategy, orchestration, lifecycle visibility and extensibility. The research assessed 42 providers across five guide categories (including AI-CXM and retail CXM), named Leaders and Overall Leaders (Salesforce ranked top Overall Leader), and identified exemplary and innovative vendors across categories.

Contactless Adoption High Despite Concerns; Brands Need Clarity Around Consumer Data - ExchangeWire.com

The article summarizes three UK-focused consumer research findings: high adoption of contactless payments despite security concerns, the importance of brands clearly communicating data use and personalization, and a rapid rise in smart speaker ownership. Paymentsense data show 46% of UK shoppers worry about card security, yet 80% still view card transactions (including contactless) as their preferred payment method, with 24% overall favouring contactless and 41% of 18–24-year-olds preferring it versus under 10% of those aged 55+. Research from Vision Critical and YouGov highlights data-sharing comfort and personalization expectations: 66% would share more if brands clearly explained data use, 58% respond better to personalized messages, and 80% are comfortable with data used directly for personalization. Separately, YouGov reports smart speaker ownership doubling from 5% to 10% in six months, with Amazon at 75% market share (down from 88%), and smaller shares for Google Home Mini, Google Home, and Apple HomePod.