Stuart Dorman reveals how AI will transform contact centres into strategic powerhouses during recent CCMA 2026 Predictions webinar
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, January 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — AI will enable “infinite” customer conversations and position the contact centre as the strategic heart of business intelligence, according to insights shared during the recent CCMA’s 2026 Contact Centre Predictions webinar.
Stuart Dorman, Chief Innovation Officer at AI-first customer experience transformation specialist, Sabio, outlined a future where contact centres become invaluable insight engines during the session, alongside Everest Group Partner, David Rickard, and ManyPets’ Head of Operations, Kieran Holdcroft, hosted by CCMA CEO, Leigh Hopwood.
Dorman challenged the industry to embrace a revolutionary shift in thinking about customer interactions. “What AI allows us to do is to essentially scale, almost infinitely, the numbers of conversations that we can have with our customers,” he stated during the webinar.
This fundamental transformation means contact centres can finally stop “hiding phone numbers on the website” and instead embrace their role as strategic insight engines for the entire business. According to Dorman – who will cover AI’s future impact on the contact centre industry at Sabio’s upcoming Disrupt event in London this summer – this evolution will see “more and more insight on our products, on our services, on our competitors” being driven directly from contact centre operations.
The Race for Customer Experience Excellence
Dorman highlighted the urgency for brands to excel at AI-powered experiences, referencing Gartner research suggesting that “70% of customer journeys will both start and finish on a third-party AI agent by 2029.”
“That might be good for the consumer,” he adds, “but it’s not good for the brand, because we then lose control of the customer journey,” Dorman explained, emphasising the tremendous opportunity for organisations that get their AI strategy right first.
In a fascinating insight, Dorman revealed that success with AI comes through strategic design rather than unlimited deployment. “The art of getting it to work well comes from constraining it,” he explained. “For years as designers, the challenge has been the constraints that have been applied by the technology and how we work around those. It’s almost the opposite now.”
This approach positions Sabio at the forefront of thoughtful AI implementation, helping organisations harness AI’s power whilst maintaining control and quality.
Voice and Digital Unite for Richer Experiences
The future contact centre will seamlessly blend voice and digital channels to create more powerful customer interactions. Dorman said: “As more and more customer journeys start through a digital channel… we need to think about using digital means, digital communication alongside voice in order to share complex ideas about products or services,.”
This evolution creates exciting new career paths, with Dorman emphasising that “creating knowledge and refining knowledge is something that is a really important role that the contact centre needs to own and drive.”
Leveraging Existing Excellence
In an encouraging message for the industry, Dorman drew parallels between traditional quality management and AI oversight. “We already have a really robust quality process that is designed to help and coach our colleagues… That exact same concept applies to AI,” he noted, suggesting that contact centres already possess the fundamental skills needed to excel in the AI revolution.
Dorman was particularly optimistic about using AI to identify and support vulnerable customers, stating: “The time is now to really do something about this, to have a positive impact on society and a positive impact on our customers.”
With Sabio actively working with major government departments on vulnerability detection systems, this prediction is already becoming reality.
Metrics That Matter
The AI revolution brings opportunities to measure what truly matters, Dorman argued. “We need to start thinking about metrics and KPIs that actually measure the number of insights on different products and services that the contact centre is surfacing,” he said, calling for metrics that reflect the contact centre’s strategic value.
He said: “As an AI-first expert services partner specialising in customer experience and contact centre transformation, Sabio is positioning itself at the forefront of helping organisations navigate this exciting transformation by combining AI efficiency with human insight and empathy. Our company’s focus on strategic AI implementation while scaling customer conversations represents a balanced approach to revolutionary change.”
The CCMA Contact Centre Predictions Webinar took place on 15th January, featuring industry leaders discussing how contact centres are rethinking AI, people, operating models and customer expectations as they plan for the future.
Joe O’Brien NEW
Sabio Group
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