CX Reliability in 2026: New Research on Human & AI Agents Working Together

CX Reliability in 2026: New Research on Human & AI Agents Working Together

For years, customer experience reliability has been measured by infrastructure metrics like uptime, availability, and SLAs. If systems stayed online, CX was considered reliable.

But customers don’t experience uptime. They experience outcomes.

They remember whether their issue was resolved, whether they felt understood, and whether they had to repeat themselves along the way. As CX environments grow more complex—spanning voice, digital channels, and AI agents—reliability has taken on a broader meaning.

New research from Metrigy reflects this shift. In fact, 85% of companies now report humans and AI working together to serve customers, signaling a clear move toward blended CX workforces built around outcomes, not just efficiency.

At Dialpad, we see this evolution as foundational.

Reliability now means resilience

The same research shows that AI is already deeply embedded in daily CX operations: 

• 52% of companies use AI to automate follow-up tasks

• 50% rely on it to gather information for agents

• 47% use AI to suggest responses during interactions

This isn’t automation for automation’s sake. It’s about resilience.

When AI handles repetitive and preparatory work, human agents are freed to focus on solving complex problems and building trust—especially in moments that matter most. Can your AI agent help an emotionally upset customer who’s about to churn, or would an empathetic human agent be better to help that customer? 

Dialpad was built for this reality, with real-time AI embedded directly into live voice and digital conversations so agents don’t have to juggle tools or hunt for context. Our AI Agents were also built to know when to escalate to a human agent (with full-context).

Human judgment + AI precision

The research also highlights where humans and AI each deliver the most value. Human agents outperform AI in revenue-driving and high-empathy scenarios, with 61% excelling at selling new products, 59% at resolving complex problems, and 59% at upselling during service interactions.

AI agents, meanwhile, perform best in consistency-driven tasks, leading in areas like handling policy and procedure inquiries (57%) and providing product or service details (55%).

The most reliable CX organizations don’t treat this as a competition. They intentionally orchestrate work based on strengths—using AI to support agents in real time, not replace them. That’s where AI becomes a CX advantage, not just a cost-control lever.

Trust and continuity are the new reliability metrics

Reliability breaks down when context gets lost. Metrigy found that 82% of customer interactions involve voice, either initially or through escalation, and 67% of companies support three or four interaction channels. At the same time, 52% allow both human and AI agents to view shared customer interaction history, and 82% of leaders see high value in a unified CX and AI platform.

Customers expect continuity across channels, and voice interactions need to be just as intelligent as digital ones. Dialpad’s unified platform was designed to make that continuity the default—not an exception.

Reliability shows up in results

This shift is already delivering measurable impact. Sixty-four percent of organizations have measured a direct CX benefit from AI, with top performers reporting improvements in revenue growth, customer satisfaction, efficiency, and operational costs.

CX reliability today isn’t just about staying online. It’s about delivering consistent, trusted outcomes—every time.