Global AI-first cloud communications platform Infobip’s 2026 Customer Experience (CX) Maturity Report reveals a widening gap between communications infrastructure investment and CX performance.

With ever-increasing customer expectations, achieving CX maturity is the goal for major global brands. This hinges on how well brands can build experiences on mobile channels. There is a fundamental difference between a simple fraud alert on SMS and a two-way WhatsApp chat that allows customers to act immediately.

While 96% of brands automate customer interactions in some way, few are delivering a seamless experience. Only 58% of brands say their channels are fully in sync, and 60% have centralized storage of customer data. But looking closer, only 27% use an orchestration platform, and 50% of brands say their tools are fully API-ready. This means half of brands struggle with connecting tools and data and many don’t use a unified platform to build truly seamless experiences.

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This fragmentation is stifling AI adoption and optimization and prevents a seamless customer experience. While over half (53%) of brands use agentic AI in their customer journeys, growth is being held back by disconnected data and trust in the technology. Organizations cite user trust (71%), data privacy (64%), and tech stack integration (41%) as the primary barriers to deeper AI deployment.

CX Maturity looks at what brands are automating now, how they are doing it, and the potential that already exists in their tech stack to streamline AI adoption and scale growth.

Ante Pamuković, Chief Revenue Officer at Infobip, commented: “Our CX Maturity report highlights a turning point for global brands this year. The race to adopt agentic AI is well underway, but CX Maturity will be the key differentiator between brands prepared to launch effective AI-powered journeys that last and the ones that will struggle with scaling their adoption. To move from basic automated responses to deep, seamless customer journeys, brands must overcome the dual barriers of fragmented systems and user trust.”

Elka Popova, VP of Connected Work from Frost & Sullivan commented on the state of play in the market: “Agentic AI has redefined the CX landscape with capacity to reason, plan, and implement across workflows. The challenge has now shifted from exploring the technology’s potential to implementing it, requiring enterprises to adapt their systems and build customer trust.”

CX maturity by sector

CX maturity analysis across sectors shows that retail and telecommunications jointly lead in journey automation, both scoring 32/100, while banking follows closely at 30/100. When it comes to sophistication, telecommunications stand out as the most advanced sector with 27/100, slightly ahead of retail (26/100), while banking at 21/100. In terms of system potential, retail and telecommunications again share the top position with 59/100, indicating strong API‑ready infrastructures, while banking records a slightly lower score of 56/100. The findings indicate that all three sectors have substantial room to grow, particularly in the sophistication of their automated interactions.