Conversational AI (CAI) and AI agents are transforming enterprise-customer engagement, evolving from scripted chatbots to intelligent, autonomous systems capable of real-time, human-like interaction. This shift is driven by rapid advances in voice AI, multimodal interfaces, and large language models that enable contextual understanding and dynamic task execution. As these technologies scale, enterprises are embedding AI across a wider range of customer-facing functions – from handling service requests to automating complex tasks such as refunds and appointment scheduling. This compendium provides comprehensive and fact-based snapshots of 22 CAI and AI agent technology providers and offers insightful analysis of their capabilities. The compendium enables providers to benchmark their capabilities against their peers, while buyers can assess the providers based on their desired set of capabilities.

Customer Experience Management (CXM) is entering a new evolutionary phase – one defined by AI-native execution. This report explores how leading providers are responding to a rapidly shifting market where intelligent systems can not only predict customer behaviors but also act autonomously through agentic AI. Generative AI has become operational at scale, powering real-time assistance, dynamic content generation, and increasingly proactive customer engagement models. These advances are prompting providers to reposition themselves as technology, talent, and strategy orchestrators – often through ecosystem partnerships that enable faster innovation and measurable value. The compendium profiles 56 providers worldwide, detailing their capabilities, strategic investments, geographic coverage, and differentiation areas. Enterprises will find insights on emerging delivery models, investment priorities, and regional trends. The report will enable providers to benchmark their capabilities against their peers, while CXM services buyers will be able to assess the providers based on the desired set of capabilities.

As Customer Experience (CX) becomes a strategic priority across industries, Global System Integrators (GSIs) are emerging as key partners driving enterprise-wide CX transformation. This report explores how GSIs are evolving from technology implementers to strategic orchestrators integrating cloud, AI, data, and design to deliver seamless, end-to-end CXs. Enterprises increasingly rely on GSIs to unify fragmented CX ecosystems, modernize legacy platforms, and operationalize AI responsibly across customer touchpoints. Leading GSIs combine consulting expertise, platform engineering, and managed CX services to align experience strategy with technology execution while maintaining compliance and governance at scale. The report evaluates 12 GSIs based on their CX capabilities, innovation focus, ecosystem partnerships, and delivery approaches. It highlights their differentiators across CX strategy and design, platform and data integration, AI and analytics, managed CX, CX-as-a-service, and security and compliance. The analysis provides actionable insights for enterprises seeking to identify suitable partners for scalable, AI-ready CX transformation.

Conversational AI is transforming enterprise-customer interactions, evolving beyond legacy scripted chatbots and IVR systems to deliver intelligent, contextually aware experiences. With rising enterprise investments in voice AI, organizations are enabling natural, human-like conversations that reflect tone, cadence, and emotion, while autonomous AI agents are independently handling end-to-end tasks such as scheduling, refunds, and knowledge curation. The rapid maturation of large language models is driving these advances, empowering AI systems with stronger comprehension, multi-turn dialogue management, and adaptability across languages, industries, and use cases. Simultaneously, AI-driven copilots are augmenting live agents by surfacing contextual insights, recommending next actions, and automating post-interaction tasks to improve both customer and employee experiences. In this report, Everest Group assesses 26 conversational AI and AI agent providers, categorizing them as Leaders, Major Contenders, and Aspirants based on their market impact and delivery capabilities. Star Performers are also identified, recognizing providers that have shown exceptional year-over-year improvement. This research helps enterprises identify the right-fit partners for their transformation journeys and enables providers to benchmark their offerings against peers.

The global CXM services market is advancing significantly across the Americas, APAC, and EMEA, towards AI-native execution, driven by agentic AI and generative AI moving into production. Enterprises are increasingly investing in intelligent systems, particularly those powered by AI, to anticipate customer needs and act on them. At the same time, many enterprises have advanced some gen AI use cases from experimental pilots into full-scale production, enabling transformative applications such as dynamic content creation, real-time agent assistance, and proactive customer engagement. CXM service providers are evolving into sophisticated orchestrators, blending advanced AI technologies with deep process expertise, industry domain knowledge, and consulting capabilities. This evolution is reinforced by strategic ecosystem partnerships with leading technology providers that enhance differentiation and deliver measurable business impact. As a result, CXM is no longer viewed as a supporting function but as both a growth accelerator and a resilience pillar for enterprises striving to attract, retain, and delight customers in an increasingly competitive marketplace. In this research, we assess 61 CXM service providers worldwide featured across 4 CXM Services PEAK Matrix® Assessments and evaluate their market success and vision and capabilities. Each provider profile offers a comprehensive picture of its service focus, key IP/solutions, domain investments, and case studies.

The application services market experienced growth, even as macroeconomic uncertainty, investment scrutiny, and slower decision-making cycles continue to impact enterprise technology agendas. Enterprises are increasingly seeking to extract business value from initiatives focused on modernization, cost optimization, and transformation through next-generation automation and implementation of gen AI use cases. This report includes insights from 115 enterprise buyers across industries and geographies. The report reflects their satisfaction levels and expectations from application service providers. Despite an overall uptick in satisfaction, in 2024, enterprises struggled with talent and client management gaps, particularly where niche skills and strategic alignment are essential. Key areas such as value addition and innovation, and commercial flexibility are driving positive enterprise sentiment. However, inconsistencies in delivery exist, emerging as friction points for enterprises.

As Workforce Management (WFM) evolves into a strategic, cross-functional capability, leading providers deliver advanced solutions to help contact centers improve Customer Experience (CX), boost employee engagement, and enhance operational efficiency. This report evaluates 15 technology providers offering advanced WFM solutions tailored for contact center operations. Providers were assessed across four key dimensions: technology and functional capabilities, market presence and business impact, usability and employee experience, and process coverage and industry applicability. The report outlines each provider’s market presence, industry focus, and client base. It also highlights both existing and planned capabilities, including key differentiators such as AI-driven forecasting, flexible scheduling, predictive analytics, real-time adherence, and employee engagement tools. Additionally, the report provides actionable insights for enterprises aiming to elevate their workforce management strategies and align operational, HR, and customer-facing functions effectively.

Enterprises across industries are exploring the potential benefits of outsourcing Customer Experience Management (CXM) operations, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to streamline processes and deliver personalized experiences at scale. By engaging with CXM service providers, enterprises can navigate operational challenges more effectively while capitalizing on the transformative potential of technology to drive meaningful improvements in customer engagement. Based on an enterprise survey, this report provides a nuanced understanding of organizational perspectives and sentiments regarding CXM outsourcing. From identifying industry-specific challenges to exploring the impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives on CXM strategies, the report offers valuable insights to inform strategic decision-making and enhance customer-centric initiatives. Moreover, the report underscores the role of strategic partnerships between enterprises and CXM service providers to optimize customer experiences. By delving into industry-specific perspectives and examining the evolving landscape of socially conscious customer engagement, the research explores the collaborative efforts driving innovation and excellence in CXM delivery. Scope All industries and geographies Contents In this report, we: Study the challenges that enterprises face in CX delivery and evolving enterprise expectations from CXM providers Examine CXM providers’ business objectives / adoption drivers Provide key takeaways for a better enterprise-provider collaboration Membership(s) Customer Experience Management (CXM) Services, including Contact Center Outsourcing CX Excellence CXM Technology Outsourcing Excellence

As the world adapts to a new COVID-19-induced reality, enterprises globally are accelerating their digital transformation efforts with a focus on consolidating disparate technologies and a renewed push for process transformation vis-à-vis the lift-and-shift approach.  While service providers and product vendors emerged as enterprises’ strategic partners during the pandemic’s peak, they have not been able to match enterprise expectations in terms of consulting and advisory services. The proportion of satisfied customers decreased by 15% over 2020-21, as opposed to a 27% increase in satisfaction levels over 2019-20. Enterprises feel that providers need to evolve their positioning from being implementation specialists to becoming transformation partners and help transform their processes and unlock future potential. This report is based on insights from 150+ structured interviews with enterprises referenced by the 35 global service providers assessed in this report. The study summarizes enterprise views on the capabilities of various enterprise platforms and the expectations from product vendors as enterprises look to scale up their investments. The report also lays out enterprises’ quantitative and qualitative inputs on their providers, their strengths, and limitations. Scope Advisory/consulting services, implementation services, maintenance, and support services across cloud and on-premise deployment of enterprise platforms  Enterprise platforms covered include Oracle Cloud ERP, SAP S/4 HANA, Pega, Dynamics 365, ServiceNow, and Salesforce Industry: market activity and investments of leading service providers and tech vendors across industries Geography: global Contents This report examines: Enterprise satisfaction with platforms Enterprise expectations from technology vendors Enterprise satisfaction with providers Enterprises’ satisfaction levels across platforms Enterprise perceptions of individual service providers Membership(s) Enterprise Platform Services (EPS) Sourcing and Vendor Management

Technology vendors emerged as true strategic partners to enterprises during COVID-19 in terms of helping them navigate the pandemic’s impact. These partnerships increased overall satisfaction levels by 21% in 2019 and 2020, versus a drop in satisfaction levels by 5% in 2018 and 2019, particularly due to a sudden shift in enterprise expectations in terms of adopting a digital-first working model and technology vendors’ investments in enhancing their cloud, digital, and data offerings. The findings in this report are based on insights from 523 structured interviews with enterprises that were suggested as references by the 68 global technology vendors assessed in this report. The study summarizes various enterprises’ views on their technology vendors’ capabilities across applications, digital, cloud and infrastructure, and enterprise platform services. The report also captures quantitative and qualitative insights across enterprises’ digital agendas and their perception of technology vendors. Scope All industries and geographies Contents In this report, we share: Enterprises’ business and technology priorities Enterprises’ satisfaction levels across years, geographies, and industries Enterprise perceptions of individual technology vendors Enterprise expectations from technology vendors Change in enterprises’ satisfaction levels vis-à-vis individual technology vendors Membership(s) Application Services Banking Information Technology Cloud and Infrastructure Services Digital Services Enterprise Platform Services (EPS) Healthcare Payer and Provider Information Technology Insurance Information Technology Life Sciences Information Technology Sourcing and Vendor Management