The Contact Centre Expo at Excel London this week represents a convergence point for the sector at a moment when vendor strategy and customer expectations are diverging sharply. The event itself—a traditional gathering for configuration discussions and relationship-building—occurs against a backdrop of accelerating AI deployment across contact centres, from Home Depot's multilingual voice agents to Sierra's acquisition of Fragment. This timing raises a critical question: are vendors using these physical events to demonstrate incremental platform improvements whilst the real competitive pressure is shifting toward AI-native architectures that bypass traditional configuration management altogether?
The Mobile SDK updates and Zendesk configuration management demonstrations signal that established platforms are doubling down on their core strength—enterprise integration and governance—rather than pivoting toward conversational AI. This positioning makes sense for teams already embedded in these ecosystems, but it also exposes a strategic vulnerability. When agents report using AI daily yet don't consider it essential, and when enterprises like Home Depot are deploying purpose-built voice agents outside traditional contact centre stacks, the question becomes whether configuration excellence remains sufficient differentiation. For CX leaders evaluating platform investments, the real decision isn't about which vendor has the best SDK or configuration UI, but whether your chosen platform's roadmap acknowledges that AI agents are becoming a primary customer interaction channel rather than an optional enhancement to existing workflows.
We'll be in London this week for the Contact Centre Expo at the Excel centre. I've done this event before and I'm looking forward to seeing familiar faces and making new friends too. We're also demonstrating our Zendesk configuration management solution for a select audience. If you're around on Thu