AI automation, Rich Messaging and platform integration set to reshape industries
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Dec. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Global cloud communications platform Infobip today announces its predictions for 2026, spotlighting transformative trends set to redefine how businesses engage customers and operate across sectors. Central to these shifts are the mainstream adoption of AI-powered agents, the expansion of super apps as integrated ecosystems, and the rise of privacy-first AI models enabling scalable, compliant automation.
"2026 will be a breakthrough year as generative AI and omnichannel communication converge to redefine customer engagement and digital ecosystems," said Silvio Kutić, CEO at Infobip. "Retail and eCommerce sectors are already leading the way with hyper-personalized experiences, while healthcare and finance are rapidly adopting AI-driven solutions to enhance patient care and security. Crucially, the future of customer service lies in a human-in-the-loop approach—where AI-powered automation works hand-in-hand with human expertise to deliver both efficiency and empathy. "
AI Agents will handle the majority of customer interactions
By 2026, AI-powered agents are expected to manage up to 95% of customer engagements, providing instant, personalized support 24/7. These agents are evolving beyond basic FAQ bots into human-like, agentic models capable of complex, autonomous communication. Customer service is rapidly transforming, with both voice bots and chat-based agents supported by human-in-the-loop technology. Companies are already deploying AI chatbots to handle routine banking inquiries and eCommerce order tracking, while advanced voice bots are unlocking new opportunities to automate and enhance customer conversations. This empowers human agents to focus on complex cases and ensures customers receive fast yet empathetic service.
Super apps and Rich Messaging channels drive seamless customer journeys
Platforms such as WhatsApp and Rich Communication Services (RCS) are evolving into super apps that integrate marketing, communication, and payment functionalities within a single interface. Businesses are leveraging RCS for secure, interactive chats that enable customers to complete entire journeys in-channel. Retailers use RCS to send interactive product carousels allowing customers to browse, purchase, and schedule delivery—all within the chat interface. Similarly, healthcare providers are enabling appointment booking and bill payment via WhatsApp, simplifying patient interactions.
Data management is the biggest challenge for AI solutions
While much of today's AI innovation relies on large, generic AI models, we're also seeing interest in smaller, domain-specific language models that run on standard or on-premises hardware that offer data privacy and compliance while delivering accurate, context-aware responses. The biggest challenge facing advanced AI is data: how to efficiently collect, unify, prepare and activate first-party and internal data for customer experience. Infobip is determined to help businesses overcome fragmented data silos and unlock the full potential of advanced automation and unified customer journeys. The emphasis is placed on integrating internal data sources to fuel better targeting and lead assignment, while ensuring compliance and privacy. Industry leaders are prioritizing security and regulatory compliance over rapid product launches to protect users and build trust.
"As we look ahead to 2026, our focus remains on empowering businesses to unlock new opportunities and lead in an evolving digital landscape," said Kutić. "As we navigate this digital transformation journey, we are excited to continue co-creating innovative solutions together with our partners and customers."
About Infobip
Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected experiences across all stages of the customer journey. Accessed through a single platform, Infobip's omnichannel engagement, identity, user authentication and contact centre solutions help businesses and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications to grow business and increase loyalty. It offers natively built technology with the capacity to reach over seven billion mobile devices and 'things' in 6 continents connected to over 9,700+ connections of which 800+ are direct operator connections. Infobip was established in 2006 and is led by its co-founders, CEO Silvio Kutić and Izabel Jelenić.
Recent award wins include:
- Infobip ranked as the number one Established Leader in the Juniper Research Mobile Messaging Fraud Prevention Market report (Sept 2025)
- Infobip named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) for the third consecutive year. In 2025, positioned furthest in Completeness of Vision (July 2025)
- Infobip named among Top 75 in Fortune's Europe's Most Innovative Companies 2025, placing it in the top 25% of all listed organizations (June 2025)
- Infobip ranked as a Leader in the Omdia CPaaS Universe Report for the third time (April 2025)
- Infobip ranked an Established Leader in the Juniper Research Conversational AI Leaderboard (Feb 2025)
- Infobip named a CPaaS Leader for the third time in the IDC MarketScape (Feb 2025)
- Infobip named one of the top CPaaS providers in Metrigy's CPaaS MetriRank Report (Dec 2024)
- Infobip named number one among Established Leaders in RCS Business Messaging in Juniper Research's RCS Business Messaging Competitor Leaderboard 2024 (Nov 2024)
- Infobip recognized as the number one provider in the AIT Fraud Prevention market by Juniper Research (Oct 2024)
- Infobip named to Fast Company's Annual List of the World's Most Innovative Companies (March 2024)
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Infobip unveils 2026 trends poised to transform customer engagement and digital ecosystems
Collaboration aims to advance new technologies that expand infrastructure choice while preserving mission-critical environments
ARMONK, N.Y., April 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a strategic collaboration with Arm to develop new dual‑architecture hardware that helps enterprises run future AI and data intensive workloads with greater flexibility, reliability, and security.
IBM's leadership in system design, from silicon to software and security, has helped enterprises adopt emerging technologies with the scale and reliability required for mission‑critical workloads. As AI moves deeper into core business operations, IBM continues to invest in hardware platforms such as the Telum II processor and Spyre Accelerator, which are designed to bring AI from experimentation into everyday enterprise use.
Through this collaboration, IBM and Arm aim to extend this track record of innovation by combining IBM's enterprise leadership in systems reliability, security, and scalability with Arm's own leadership in power‑efficient architecture, workload enablement expertise, and broad software ecosystem, to build flexible and scalable computing platforms for the future.
"As enterprises scale AI and modernize their infrastructure, the breadth of the Arm software ecosystem is enabling these workloads to run across a broader range of environments," said Mohamed Awad, Executive Vice President, Cloud AI Business Unit, Arm. "Our collaboration with IBM builds on this progress, extending the Arm ecosystem into mission-critical enterprise environments and giving organizations greater flexibility in how they deploy and scale these workloads."
"This collaboration is a natural extension of IBM's leadership in hardware and systems innovation," said Tina Tarquinio, Chief Product Officer, IBM Z and LinuxONE. "It continues IBM's pattern of anticipating enterprise needs well ahead of market inflection points—developing capabilities early so clients are prepared as new workloads and business models emerge. Our aim is to expand software choice and improve system performance while maintaining the reliability and security our clients expect."
"Enterprise infrastructure is entering a new phase where flexibility, workload portability, and ecosystem reach are becoming just as critical as performance and reliability. As AI and data-intensive applications reshape requirements, organizations are looking for platforms that can evolve without forcing disruptive tradeoffs," said Patrick Moorhead, Founder, CEO, and Chief Analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. "What IBM and Arm are signaling here is a meaningful step toward that future that could broaden how enterprises think about deploying and scaling modern workloads. While the full implications will take time to unfold, it's clear this reflects a deeper level of investment in long-term platform innovation and ecosystem expansion than we typically see at this stage."
A Collaboration Designed for What's Next
The collaboration is focused on three key areas. First, the companies are exploring how to expand virtualization technologies that allow Arm®-based software environments to operate within IBM's enterprise computing platforms. This work is designed to expand software compatibility and further streamline how developers and enterprises bring Arm applications into mission-critical environments.
Secondly, enterprise infrastructure must support high-availability operations, as well as security and local data sovereignty requirements. IBM and Arm are exploring new ways to support the performance and efficiency demands of modern workloads, including AI and data intensive applications. The work includes enabling enterprise systems to recognize and execute Arm applications, with the goal of helping Arm-based environments align with the reliability, security, and operational requirements enterprises need.
Finally, the collaboration is focused on long term ecosystem growth. By creating shared technology layers between platforms, IBM and Arm aim to open the door to broader software ecosystems and greater flexibility in how applications are deployed and managed. This approach could give enterprises more choice, positioning them to adopt new applications and architectures while continuing to leverage their existing investments.
"IBM's defining role in shaping enterprise infrastructure spans decades, showcasing the breadth and commitment required to support our clients' most intensive and sensitive workloads," said Christian Jacobi, Chief Technology Officer and IBM Fellow, IBM Systems Development. "This moment marks the latest step in our innovation journey for future generations of our IBM Z and LinuxONE systems, reinforcing our end-to-end system design as a powerful advantage."
Statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.
About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of governments and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to effect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.
Media contact:
Bethany McCarthy
IBM
bethany@ibm.com
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IBM Announces Strategic Collaboration with Arm to Shape the Future of Enterprise Computing
