Sheila Walthoe

Contact center modernization in the agentic era

By Sheila Walthoe
Zendesk
Director, Marketing Contact Center
03/10/2026

As customer expectations for speed, accuracy and personalisation continue to rise, contact centers are entering a new phase of transformation powered by advanced conversational AI and agentic automation. In this session, discoverhow to modernize your service operations by combining intelligent self-service with seamless agent workflows to reduce operational burden while strengthening customer trust. Learn how smart automation can resolve issues faster, personalise interactions at scale and free agents to focus on higher-value, complex customer needs, all while delivering measurable improvements in cost-to-serve and customer satisfaction.

Through real-world examples and proven integration patterns, this session will explore how AI-driven self-service and agent support can work together across channels to create consistent, reliable and trusted customer experiences.

Key takeaways:

  • Discover new techniques for building personalised, accurate and error-free self-service journeys
  • Learn how to reduce reliance on live agents without degrading customer experience
  • Understand integration patterns that unify bot and agent workflows across digital and voice channels
  • Explore the proof points of upgrading CX capabilities, including reduced cost-to-serve and improved customer satisfaction
  • See how smart self-service can become a critical trust builder when implemented correctly