HFS Horizons: Customer Experience Services, 2026

The HFS Horizons: Customer Experience Services, 2026 report is for CX, digital, and operations leaders evaluating service providers to scale agentic, AI-native customer experience.

Overview

The HFS Horizons: Customer Experience Services, 2026 report assesses 33 service providers on their ability to deliver AI-native customer experience across three Horizons of value, from functional optimization through end-to-end transformation to ecosystem-driven growth. It concludes that CX has entered its Services-as-Software™ era, the HFS Research model in which agentic software, rather than headcount, delivers customer experience outcomes as generative AI (GenAI) and agentic AI become the core of service delivery.

Key findings

1. Horizon 3, ecosystem synergy and new value creation, includes Accenture, Capgemini, Cognizant, EXL, EY, Firstsource, Genpact, IBM, Infosys, KPMG, Publicis Sapient, Sutherland, TCS, and Tech Mahindra. Horizon 2, end-to-end experience transformation, includes Amdocs, Atain, Coforge, Concentrix, Deloitte, HCLTech, IntouchCX, LTM, Movate, TP, Transcom, TTEC, and Wipro. Horizon 1, functional transformation, includes HGS, ibex, iQor, Konecta, Mphasis, and TELUS.
2. GenAI and agentic AI lead both roadmap and budget: 74% of enterprise clients place them among their top three technology investments, and nearly half rank them first for budget share.
3. Enterprises want outcome-based pricing but still pay for effort: 76% of clients are open to outcome-based or gainshare models, yet only 5% of contracts use them, a roughly 15x appetite gap.
4. Trust in autonomous CX runs high: 79% of enterprise clients and 90% of partners are confident or very confident in AI owning key CX outcomes.
5. Providers deliver an operational engine, not a growth engine: cost-to-serve and productivity improved for 67% of clients, while new commercial models and personalization each moved for only 19%.

HFS finds that capability has commoditized, as agent assist, automated quality, and conversational AI are now standard and often built on similar platforms, shifting differentiation to proprietary data, owned IP, the operating model, and outcome-based commercial models. HFS assesses that Horizon 3 leaders separate themselves by what they prove rather than what they pitch, owning the technology layer and spanning consulting to operations under single-partner accountability.

Research methodology

This global 2026 study draws on structured briefings with 33 service providers, reference checks with 40 enterprise CX buyers and 36 ecosystem partners, and HFS Pulse survey data from 605 enterprise leaders.