Melbourne, Australia, August 27, 2026 – NiCE today kicked off the Australian leg of the NiCE World 2026 ANZ series, which brings together CX and technology leaders across Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide to focus on what it really takes to deploy agentic AI in customer experience (CX) at enterprise scale.
The series connects leaders from companies such as Allianz Australia, Columbus Capital, Optus, NTT DATA, Concentrix, Humint Labs, Arzo, Datacom, DCS and Lake, alongside more than 1,600 CX and technology leaders.
The events showcase organisations already putting AI to work – sharing customer success stories, AI agent demonstrations and practical lessons on how enterprises are building new CX operating models around AI.
The focus is moving beyond what AI could do to what it is already doing for enterprises. A chatbot that answers a question is useful. An AI agent that understands intent and executes the next action across booking, payment, identity and workflow systems is transformational, requiring a fundamentally different approach to orchestration, governance and control.
“AI is no longer the future of customer experience. It’s here; the only question is whether your customers are experiencing it yet,” said Nigel Lindsay Smith, Managing Director, ANZ, NiCE. “Across our region, the conversation has shifted from what AI could do to what it has actually delivered. NiCE World is where the organisations already achieving AI value at scale show others how.”
That shift comes as Australian businesses rethink their AI strategies, according to the 2026–27 Australia and New Zealand Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide, published by ContactBabel and supported by NiCE. The first generation of chatbots is being reconsidered: 40% of Australian chatbot users plan to replace or upgrade their solution, alongside 38% of SMS users and 37% of speech analytics users. Yet chatbots remain the top 12-month investment priority (36%). Australia is re-buying AI, not retreating from it.
NiCE World 2026 Australia explores what it takes to turn agentic AI from promise into enterprise reality, moving beyond isolated AI tools to orchestration intelligence that connects AI with the systems, data and workflows, and delivers meaningful outcomes securely, responsibly and at scale.
About NiCE
NiCE (NASDAQ: NICE) is transforming the world with AI that puts people first. Our purpose-built, AI-powered platforms automate engagements into proactive, safe, intelligent actions, empowering individuals and organisations to innovate and act from interaction to resolution. Trusted by organisations throughout 150+ countries worldwide, NiCE’s platforms are widely adopted across industries connecting people, systems, and workflows to work smarter at scale, elevating performance across the organisation, delivering proven measurable outcomes.
Methodology
Findings referenced in this release are drawn from The 2026-27 Australia and New Zealand Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide, an independent ContactBabel study supported by NiCE. The research draws on responses from managers and directors at 112 ANZ contact centre operations, alongside surveys of 1,000 Australian and 500 New Zealand consumers.
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