utomation is no longer the defining question for customer service and CX. For most organisations, it is already embedded, expected and increasingly invisible. The question for leaders
now is, what this changes and importantly what it does not.
CCA’s Future Scenarios to 2030 research highlights a clear shift: as automation removes routine demand, the work that remains is becoming more complex, more emotionally charged and
more consequential. Customer service is increasingly where judgement is exercised, trust is tested and organisational values are experienced.
The 2026 Industry Council programme, Beyond Automation, focuses on how service models, roles and leadership approaches must evolve in this new reality. Rather than revisiting debates about technology adoption, the programme explores where value is now created, how responsibility is held, and what this means for leadership decisions over the next three to five years.
Across three sessions, senior leaders will engage with the strategic implications of this shift and the questions that arise, sense-check direction with peers and explore how customer service and CX must be led as automation becomes business as usual.
CCA Industry Council Programme 2026
This session explores how leaders retain ownership of AI-influenced decisions, how accountability is retained in AI-enabled service models, and how performance can be measured in ways that reflect trust, fairness and long-term outcomes.
Leaders will explore:
- What accountability and ownership look like when decisions are AI-influenced
- The limits and unintended consequences of traditional performance metrics
- Explainability, governance and the relationship to customer trust
- Leading teams carrying increasing emotional and ethical load
For more information or how to get involved, please contact the team.