As enterprises race to integrate AI into customer service, many contact center projects remain trapped in proof-of-concept mode. Verint says its latest 2026 Engage Partner Awards recognize the partners that are helping organizations move beyond experimentation and achieve measurable business outcomes.

Announced as part of Verint's annual partner recognition program, the awards celebrate technology and channel partners that have successfully deployed AI-powered customer experience (CX) solutions at scale. According to Verint, winners were evaluated on the strength, consistency, and measurable impact of customer deployments, including improvements in agent productivity, handle times, self-service performance, and operational efficiency.

The awards highlight a growing industry shift from AI pilots toward production-ready implementations that deliver tangible return on investment.

AI Success Is Now Measured by Business Outcomes

While generative AI has dominated enterprise technology conversations over the past two years, many organizations continue to struggle with moving beyond limited trials.

For contact centers, success increasingly depends less on deploying AI itself and more on integrating it into everyday workflows that improve both customer and agent experiences.

Verint says its award winners demonstrated the ability to operationalize AI across customer environments, helping organizations expand agent capacity, reduce average handling time, and strengthen automation without sacrificing service quality.

John Bourne, Senior Vice President of Global Channels and Alliances at Verint, said the winners are distinguished by their ability to translate AI investments into measurable financial results.

"Our partners are doing the work to put AI into production and prove its value on our customers' P&Ls," Bourne said. "That's how the gap between AI pilots and outcomes gets closed."

2026 Engage Partner Award Winners

Verint recognized partners across global, North American, and Latin American markets.

Global

• Global Partner of the Year: Five9

North America

• North America Partner of the Year: Cisco
• Public Sector Partner of the Year: TTEC Digital
• North America Rising Star of the Year: Sandler Partners
• CX Automation & Innovation Award: SPAR Solutions

Latin America

• Latin America Rising Star of the Year: Cisco LatAm
• Latin America CX Automation Award: Avaya LatAm
• Latin America Innovation with AI & Bots: Datagrama Comunicaciones

The diversity of winners reflects the expanding role of ecosystem partners in helping enterprises modernize customer engagement across industries and geographic markets.

Contact Centers Are Moving From Automation to AI Orchestration

The recognition comes as contact centers undergo one of their biggest technology transformations in decades.

Organizations are increasingly combining conversational AI, intelligent routing, workforce optimization, analytics, and agent-assist technologies to improve both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Rather than deploying isolated automation tools, many enterprises are now pursuing integrated AI strategies capable of supporting the entire customer journey.

This evolution has also increased the importance of implementation partners that can align AI technologies with existing infrastructure, compliance requirements, and business objectives.

Companies such as Verint, Five9, Cisco, Genesys, NICE, and others are investing heavily in AI-powered customer experience platforms as enterprises seek measurable productivity gains instead of standalone AI capabilities.

Why It Matters

As enterprise AI matures, the conversation is shifting away from experimentation toward execution.

Businesses increasingly expect AI investments to deliver improvements in service quality, operational efficiency, and financial performance—not simply showcase new technology. That places greater emphasis on partners capable of implementing AI at scale while demonstrating clear business value.

Verint's 2026 Engage Partner Awards reflect that transition, recognizing organizations that are helping customers operationalize AI across contact center environments and achieve measurable outcomes.

For enterprises still evaluating AI strategies, the message is becoming increasingly clear: competitive advantage will come not from running more AI pilots, but from successfully putting AI into production.

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