The 2-Z of 2026 tech predictions: X-Z

The 2-Z of 2026 technology predictions ends with:

X is for eXperience

Voice 

"Voice AI is entering a new phase in Asia Pacific — one shaped by three converging forces: the surge in enterprise AI investment, the region’s linguistic and cultural complexity, and rising expectations for real-time, empathetic customer service. While AI innovation has historically focused on text-based chat and automation pilots, we’re entering a stage where enterprises are no longer experimenting with conversational AI but enabling systems that can handle live dialogue, context retention, sentiment understanding, and multilingual switching as the default, not the exception," said Amitabh Sarkar, VP & Head of Asia Pacific and Japan - Enterprise at Tata Communications.

Source: Salesforce.
Barfield.

Gavin Barfield, VP and CTO, Solutions, Salesforce ASEAN, also predicted that voice will become more common in 2026. "Voice will increasingly become the new interface through which we interact with agents, replacing chatbots. Agentic voice technology will allow humans to speak to agents in a natural, conversational manner – as if conversing with another human," he said.

"Maturing this technology will take time, with the diversity in language, as well as nuances in slang, accents, and colloquialisms in human speech, adding to the complexity."

According to Barfield, voice-equipped agents can operate as a limitless labour force handling incoming calls in real-time, effectively eliminating the need for interactive voice response (IVR) menus and even hold music, which he called "an annoyance in traditional customer service". "We could see AI agents functioning as triage within contact centres, interacting conversationally with customers to route queries to the relevant departments. With more experience, AI agents may resolve routine requests autonomously, for example, processing the annual fee waivers for a credit card," Barfield suggested.

"Not only does this ensure a natural, seamless, and positive experience for the customer, but it also frees up time for human employees to focus on resolving complex cases and focus on building rapport for stronger customer relationships."

The AI identity crisis is here, said Nicholas Kontopoulos, VP of Marketing, Asia Pacific & Japan, Twilio, emphasising that transparency is shifting from an ethical talking point to an enforceable consumer right when engaging with AI services.

"Imagine a phone conversation where you only later realise the 'person' was AI. This is already happening. Most consumers cannot reliably tell human agents from AI voice systems. Our Twilio research found that 90% of consumers failed to correctly identify AI-generated voice clips," Kontopoulos explained. 

"When the majority of customers cannot distinguish who they are speaking to, regulatory intervention is a certainty."

"As voice AI advances, we are seeing agentic systems capable of making autonomous decisions and engaging in highly natural dialogue. Mandatory disclosure will become a core compliance requirement. Organisations will need clear, explicit identification. Something like, 'I am Ruby, [Spokesperson]'s voice AI assistant', will become standard," Kontopoulos added.

"This level of clarity is driven by regulation and by risk management. Concealing AI use exposes companies to reputational damage, customer distrust, and significant legal liability."

Kontopoulos said technology leaders are preparing for the crisis now. "Apple’s call-screening shows how mainstream devices can detect and classify machine interactions. As this functionality sharpens, transparency shifts. It moves from a mere compliance obligation to a fundamental customer expectation," he said.

Customer experience (CX)

CX: cybersecurity

"Cybersecurity in marketing will move from a background concern to a frontline customer experience issue. As breaches become a constant, and regulation rises and intensifies, customers in our region are increasingly asking: 'Do I trust this brand with my data?'" Shahid Nizami, VP for APAC and GCC at Braze asked.

"Brands must leverage their first-party data and strong governance not merely as defence, but as a technical foundation that fuels transparency, explaining how data powers meaningful, personalised experiences while leaving customers in control. 

"By mastering this complexity and building trust through clear execution, forward-looking brands can successfully convert security from a necessary cost centre into a powerful competitive differentiator." 

Reinhard Hochrieser, SVP of Product and Technology, Jumio, said that where the data is stored could also change in 2026. "By recognising the security risks posed by centralised data storage, a honeypot for fraudsters, companies will increasingly move to decentralise customer data," he said.  

CX: Trust 

Kontopoulos touched on both trust and transparency. "Brands must identify the threshold where customers lose faith in an AI-generated response. This is where they begin to question the credibility of the entire interaction. As AI handles more front-line service roles, this invisible line becomes a critical operational metric," he said.

"Trust is the foundational pillar of engagement. It forms the basis of all sound CX strategies. Brands will use trust as a new routing rule. This rule determines precisely when AI should lead the conversation, and when it must immediately step aside for a human.

"Imagine a frustrated customer thinking, 'Am I talking to a bot?' Savvy brands will monitor for the signals of this shift in real time. Emotional intensity, customer hesitation, or rising uncertainty must trigger an immediate handoff to a human agent. Thanks to advanced sentiment analysis and observability tools, companies can now route conversations based on these trust signals, not just issue categories."

Kontopoulos predicted that brands will deploy tools to track sentiment decay, confidence scores, and trust drop-offs. "This prevents AI missteps from escalating into significant churn, complaints, or reputational damage," he said.

"In 2026, trust-aware routing and AI observability will be non-negotiable features of a mature CX environment. Brands that recognise and proactively address the limits of customer trust in AI will deliver services that are smoother, safer, and highly resilient."

CX: Transparency

Kontopoulos also said that customers are no longer satisfied with basic status updates, demanding to know what happened, why it happened, and what happens next in a crisis. "If a brand fails to provide this clarity, customers will move to a competitor that does," he said.

"This reflects a fundamental shift to real-time accountability. Digital-native consumers track parcels minute-by-minute. They monitor financial transactions instantly. They expect service updates in real time. When a service stalls, customers demand context. They will not tolerate silence or corporate vagueness."

Kontopoulos advised brands to move from "reactive notification to proactive transparency". "Stop waiting for the customer to ask. Instead, provide continuous progress indicators and contextual explanations. The generic message, 'Your case is being reviewed', is now obsolete," he stated.

"This message must evolve. It needs to become a detailed, time-stamped workflow. It must show exactly where an issue sits in the process. Crucially, it must clarify the next step. This is critical in sectors with complex operations, such as telecommunications, logistics, banking, and government.

"Operational winners in 2026 will treat transparency as a core product feature. They will invest in systems that safely surface internal workflows to customers. They will also build communication frameworks designed to anticipate customer questions. The payoff is significant: reduced call volumes, higher satisfaction, and stronger long-term loyalty. Conversely, companies that maintain operational opacity are actively choosing to accelerate customer attrition."

Hochrieser touched on transparency with respect to data privacy. "Due to the countless number of data breaches, society has become more mindful about data privacy and usage. As a result of this, we will see more companies being transparent about their data usage, providing clear information on how user data is collected, stored, and utilised as well as enhanced data encryption to ensure that personal data is securely stored and transmitted," he said. 

CX: Authentication

Hochrieser further predicted that new biometric detection tools will help to authenticate logins. "Companies will begin to deploy a multifold approach, implementing AI age estimation combined with advanced liveness detection to prove a user is real, is the correct age, and to prevent deepfakes," he said. 

"Digital identity wallets will also begin to emerge due to their data minimisation benefits. They’ll allow users to prove their age without revealing other personal data. This will be critical as customers are increasingly unwilling to share their ID and biometrics solely to prove they are over a certain age." 

CX: Personal assistants

Personal AI agents could change the way companies connect with their customers, Barfield suggested. "Instead of offering messaging, products, and services tailored to consumers, businesses will also need to consider how their outreach can best meet the preferences and objectives of personal AI agents.

"In 2026, brands may find their identity defined less by their logos or slogans and more by their AI agents. We can envision customisable agents becoming always-on brand ambassadors: intelligent, deeply personalised, and continuously evolving with every single customer interaction," Barfield said. 

"This could mark a decisive shift in how customers connect with brands. Instead of judging companies by clever taglines, customers might evaluate brands by how their AI agents interact with them. In this new agent-driven reality, the winning brands will be those whose AI interactions feel less like scripted support and more like a genuinely helpful partner."

Intentional friction vs seamless discussions

Christopher Connolly, Director of Solutions Engineering, Twilio listed two workflow-related trends for 2026. He said expected intentional friction will emerge as a new signal of care in CX, but when it comes to conversations, failure to maintain conversational continuity will be perceived as an act of disrespect. 

"The conventional wisdom that speed is the only consideration for customer experience is collapsing. Consumers will increasingly regard digital speed bumps as symbols of care and protection instead of inconvenience, provided these feel familiar and expected," he said. 

"For example, a banking app requiring a biometric or passcode confirmation for a large transaction feels inherently 'safe' because that level of verification is a well-established and predictable step for high-risk actions. While more than four in 10 APJ customers say they’d spend more for enhanced protection (48%) or premium support (44%), even more prefer to endure a short delay if it delivers the same peace of mind."

Connolly said consumers’ conditional tolerance for delays is driving a major recalibration of CX investment in APJ. "Brands will abandon the unsustainable focus on speed-at-all-costs and instead prioritise making digital experiences feel safe, fair, and transparent. They will move beyond eliminating all friction to embed purposeful pauses in the customer journey—moments of 'strategic friction' designed to enhance confidence, not create frustration," he added. 

On the other hand, friction that is unfamiliar, confusing or disproportionate to the task can quickly erode trust, Connolly warned. "Crucially, brands must proactively communicate the specific reason for any delay to provide contextual clarity and reassure customers who are waiting. This communication should reinforce that the friction is a deliberate, protective measure that aligns with the user's expectations for a secure and careful process."

Repetition and technical hiccups in AI-human agent transitions, on the other hand, are now a major source of frustration among consumers in the region, Connolly noted. "A recent survey on conversational AI finds that only 14% of human agents in APAC have full context when an AI conversation is escalated, while 65% of handoffs still require customers to repeat some information," he shared. 

"2026 will mark a shift as brands work to close this damaging information gap. Consumers are viewing smooth transitions as tangible proof of a brand’s respect for their time, making seamless AI-to-human handoffs indispensable to maintain trust in the AI era. Based on our recent survey on digital patience, the majority (97%) of consumers in the region value the ability to easily hand off from AI to a human agent when needed. 

"This consumer mandate will drive investment in CX orchestration technologies that ensure real-time data and contextual continuity when a transition occurs. For brands, the ability to execute a flawless handoff turns moments of transition into opportunities to strengthen relationships with consumers."

Employee experience

Source: TeamViewer.
Werner.

Kai Werner, Chief Human Resources Officer, TeamViewer, identified the digital workplace experience as a defining factor in employee retention. "As expectations for seamless technology continue to rise, frustration caused by poor systems and disconnected tools is increasingly influencing whether employees stay or leave," he said. 

"By 2026, organisations that fail to address digital friction risk losing talent to competitors offering more supportive and functional work environments, making employee experience a leadership priority rather than an IT issue.” 

Andrew Hewitt, VP, Strategic Technology, TeamViewer, added that enabling employee productivity and creativity can benefit employers.

“In increasingly distracted digital environments, the ability to protect employee focus will emerge as a key source of competitive advantage," Hewitt said. 

Source: TeamViewer.
Hewitt.

"Organisations that reduce digital friction and enable sustained focus will unlock higher levels of productivity and creativity, while those that ignore the cost of distraction will see performance erode over time.” 

Niko Walraven, Area VP - APAC at Neat, spoke of AI as a productivity enabler. "By 2026, AI in the meeting room will evolve from an equaliser to a true productivity engine orchestrator. AI is moving beyond basic augmentation to become an intelligent co-pilot that actively orchestrates meeting flows," he said.

"Through features like attention management and outcome guidance, AI will drive concrete business results while ensuring visual equity. This shift transforms hardware into a strategic asset, delivering measurable ROI and healthier, inclusive spaces purpose-built for high-impact innovation."

Y is for youth

AI adoption in Asia-Pacific

While many industry observers are talking about AI adoption in terms of Day One or Day Two, Yongliang Zhang, GM, BytePlus, believes that AI adoption in the Asia-Pacific region is still developing, with the region standing at the cusp of broader, enterprise-level AI deployment.

"As organisations continue to scale their AI capabilities by integrating AI technologies into everyday workflows and adopting AI-driven processes, they are well-placed to capture new areas of growth and strengthen their competitiveness. This momentum underscores the need for businesses to stay informed on the emerging AI trends shaping the year ahead," Zhang said.

Source: BytePlus.
Zhang.

"AI continues to evolve at a pace where we have not seen clear limits. It reminds me of the early days of the Internet, when most people only used it to read news. The most significant shifts in AI are still ahead of us."

"In this environment, speed matters more than anything else. We are entering a phase where companies that move quickly on AI adoption will gain a competitive edge over peers that are slower to adapt, regardless of size or history. It is very much a 'fast fish eats slow fish' era," Zhang elaborated. 

Southeast Asia's advantage

Zhang also said that Southeast Asia has a shot at being an AI leader. "Southeast Asia has meaningful advantages: large populations, strong local cultures, diverse languages, and unique industry structures. These factors give the region an opportunity to create its own AI capabilities and potentially leapfrog established markets," he observed.

"However, the region is still moving slowly. AI development speed, talent density, technical skills, and investment are growing, but have yet to reach the level of global leaders. Many users still rely heavily on AI products built in the US, China, or Europe."

Zhang elaborated that AI progress compounds quickly. "New applications generate new data. Companies integrate AI into their systems. Teams are also building workflows around prompt engineering, context design, and agent-based execution. Meanwhile, new hardware — cars, wearables, drones, robots — further deepens the integration between software and the real world," he cautioned.

"Once this compounding effect accelerates, the barriers to development will rise sharply. If Southeast Asia cannot accelerate during this window, its gap with leading markets will grow, not shrink.

"Teams that learn quickly from real-world AI usage will widen their lead, while slower organisations will find it increasingly difficult to catch up."

Barfield from Salesforce predicted that 2026 will see more localisation and relevance of AI innovation to markets in Southeast Asia, with more options available to cater to different purposes.

"AI innovation has primarily been in English at launch, with a focus on getting the technology working well. As agentic AI becomes more mature, we anticipate that (2026) will see more investments in localising AI to reflect the unique linguistic tapestry that is ASEAN. AI models finetuned with regional linguistic and cultural nuances will deliver more accurate and contextually relevant responses, improving customer experience and making a true business impact in the region," he said.

"We will also see a variety of LLM options emerge for local businesses, as global LLMs localise and more regional, local, and even industry-specific small language models (SLMs) emerge to cater to varying needs." 

The availability of local and region-specific AI unlocks a huge opportunity in ASEAN, empowering businesses to solve uniquely local problems, he explained. "For example, we are making our Agentforce available in Southeast Asian languages such as Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese, Bahasa Melayu, and Bahasa Indonesia for the first time, to enable more local businesses in the region to transform into truly agentic enterprises," Barfield added.

Barfield is just as upbeat about the ASEAN region becoming an AI leader. "ASEAN has a history of technological leapfrogging, famously skipping the PC era for mobile-first super apps connecting millions across a geographically and culturally disparate region. We may be poised to witness this phenomenon again with agentic AI in 2026, with its young, digitally-savvy, and ambitious population," he said.

"Businesses unburdened by archaic legacy infrastructure have the freedom to adopt agentic AI workflows to unlock an entirely new model of work for ASEAN businesses, where AI agents and humans work alongside one another.

"This would not have been possible before agentic AI. This ability to bypass old systems and traditional thinking is the essence of the leapfrog: it empowers millions of ASEAN businesses to instantly access a digital workforce of autonomous AI agents working alongside human counterparts to fundamentally transform the very nature of work itself."

AI startups

Zhang also observed a trend towards nimble, young, and small AI companies that move very quickly. "While many did not exist a few years ago, their growth and compute consumption already exceeded those of traditional IT or cloud companies. Their survival depends on constant iteration — which again reinforces the 'fast fish' dynamic," he said. 

What startups can rely on is AI lowering the barrier to entrepreneurship, Zhang said. "Programming becomes easier and cheaper, and tasks like creative work, design, finance, and even early legal work can be supported by AI. As a result, we will see more startups with fewer than 10 people — sometimes even five or fewer — capable of building products with much larger potential," he said. 

Agreement intelligence

"A long-held assumption is that enterprise technology breakthroughs begin in Western markets. In 2026, the opposite will be true. Asia Pacific is outpacing the West in digitalisation and AI-led transformation, driven by complex supply chain diversification, rising intra-Asia trade, and the operational necessity for automated risk management," said Kartik Krishnamurthy, VP Asia, Docusign. 

"The APAC region is now the fastest-growing contract management software market globally, projected to expand at a 13.9% CAGR through 2030. Southeast Asian firms are also surpassing those in Australia and New Zealand in adopting AI for foundational functions such as tax and audit research." 

"This momentum is creating structural advantages that put the region on a different trajectory. Early adopters in Asia will accumulate deep proprietary datasets across multilingual agreements, regulatory interpretations, and sector-specific commercial norms – data moats that will be difficult for global rivals to replicate," Krishnamurthy added. 

"In 2026, Asia is poised to define the global benchmarks for agreement intelligence."

APAC stands for the Asia-Pacific region. 

Z is for zero-day

Adam Meyers, SVP of Counter Adversary Operations, CrowdStrike, called AI the 'Zero-Day Accelerator'. 

"In 2026, we’ll likely see an explosion of zero-day vulnerabilities driven by AI. As AI accelerates code generation and software development, it’s also becoming ideally suited to finding flaws in software. There are two primary ways to identify these vulnerabilities: targeted analysis, which is resource-intensive and typically requires a human in the loop. The other is commonly called fuzzing and involves automation to identify flaws," he said. 

"GenAI is a game-changer for the latter. AI can optimise fuzzing methodologies and analyze crash reports at scale, rapidly surfacing exploitable flaws.

"Early indicators suggest advanced adversaries are already investing in this research, driving down the cost of discovering and weaponising vulnerabilities. These exploits are the keys that adversaries use to gain initial access to their targets. The defenders who succeed will be those using AI with the same speed and precision: detecting, patching, and proactively hunting for zero-days as fast as they’re found."

Zero-day vulnerabilities are vulnerabilities which haven't been discovered by the company responsible, so they cannot be fixed. Such vulnerabilities are prized by cybercriminals, as they can be freely exploited while the company responsible has literally zero days to address the problem. In an ideal situation, companies prefer 'nothing to see here' situations where they're informed about the vulnerability and have some time to create and issue a patch before news breaks that the vulnerability existed. 

Explore more 2026 tech predictions

2-5

Hashtag: #2026Predictions