NiCE awards honour AI leaders in customer experience

NiCE has named the winners of its 2026 International CX Excellence Awards in London, recognising companies using artificial intelligence in customer experience operations.

The winners included Currys and Concentrix, GX Bank Berhad, EE, Openreach and Tripadvisor across categories covering engagement, workforce management, automation and AI innovation.

NiCE, which sells customer experience and contact centre software, said the awards focused on organisations that have integrated AI with customer service teams, workflows and operational data. It presented the winners as examples of how businesses in retail, banking, telecoms and travel are changing the way customer interactions are handled.

Currys and Concentrix won the EMEA award for Excellence in Engagement Orchestration. NiCE said Currys used its CXone platform with Concentrix to unify customer interactions across buying, ownership and support journeys.

That work led to improvements in customer satisfaction and quality, and created a foundation for further changes in the retailer's customer operations, according to NiCE.

In the same category for the Asia-Pacific region, GX Bank Berhad was recognised for building its customer experience operation on NiCE CXone. The digital bank, which operates without branches or legacy infrastructure, has grown to 1.4 million customers in two years, supported by a 66-person customer experience team.

NiCE said GX Bank's chatbot, AINI, resolves 70% of chat interactions without human intervention. The bank recorded customer satisfaction of 95% and first-contact resolution of 95%, it added.

The model stands out because it serves many first-time banking customers in remote and underserved communities. That makes it one of the clearest examples among the winners of automation being used not only to reduce workload but also to widen access to financial services.

Workforce changes

EE won the Excellence in Workforce Empowerment category. NiCE said the telecoms provider used automation tools including its workforce management technology, Power Apps, Data Explorer and Real-Time Designer to redesign a manual flexi-time process.

The result was an internal Flexi App that allows employees to adjust schedules in real time without manual approvals. At the first live site, absence rates fell 28% year on year, according to NiCE.

That case differs from the others because it focuses less on consumer-facing automation and more on internal workforce operations. In sectors with large contact centre workforces, managing staffing levels and employee flexibility has become a pressing issue as companies try to balance service quality with cost control.

Automation at scale

Openreach received the award for Excellence in Agentic Experience Automation. NiCE said the broadband network operator uses its Proactive AI Agent to manage broadband installation and repair journeys across the country.

The system processes more than 7 billion real-time operational and network signals each year, according to NiCE. It said the software tracks customer orders, monitors events, takes action and communicates updates in real time.

NiCE added that generative AI supports customer communications and that the overall process has improved reliability and efficiency. For Openreach, the award points to a use of AI beyond contact centre scripts or chatbots, extending into operational processes linked to field work and network services.

Tripadvisor won the Excellence in AI Innovation category. NiCE said the travel platform launched an AI voice agent called Vesper using its Cognigy Auto Agent and integrated it with the company's global telecoms platform.

The system offers natural-language voice interactions, identity verification, call containment and hand-off to human agents when required. NiCE said early results showed customer adoption and measurable business impact, though it did not disclose figures.

Industry direction

The winners reflect how customer experience technology suppliers are increasingly presenting AI as part of broader operating models rather than as a standalone tool. In practice, that means linking chatbots, voice agents, workforce systems and operational data into a single flow that can automate more of the customer journey.

The trend is particularly visible in large organisations with high volumes of customer contact and complex back-end processes. Retailers are trying to connect sales and support interactions, banks are using automation to serve digital customers at scale, telecoms groups are applying AI to both staffing and service delivery, and travel companies are testing voice automation for support.

Darren Rushworth, President, NiCE International, commented on the awards and the broader direction of customer operations.

"This year's winners have embedded CX AI into their operations to deliver measurable outcomes," said Darren Rushworth, President, NiCE International.

"From transforming citizen services and digital banking to empowering employees and automating complex journeys, these organizations are redefining great customer experience and showing how AI can drive meaningful impact at scale," Rushworth said.