The Wire

The awards honor practitioners and vendors who exemplify excellence in customer experience strategy and execution. SAN FRANCISCO — CMSWire, the world’s foremost publication covering digital customer experience, brought to you by Simpler Media Group (SMG), today announced the 2026 Customer Experience Leader of the Year and the full list of CMSWire IMPACT Award recipients across eight categories.

New product suite will help businesses stay credible and visible as AI changes the buyer journey NEW YORK – April 7, 2026 – Trustpilot, the world’s largest open feedback platform, today launched a strategic product suite helping brands master the full AI-powered path to purchase. In an environment where AI agents increasingly guide consumer decisions, Trustpilot provides the critical "trust signals" required to move a buyer from curiosity to conversion.

Optimove and Smartico to remain fully independent, each continuing to innovate and grow the iGaming CRM marketing industry New York, April 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Optimove, the creator of Positionless Marketing and the #1 Player Engagement Solution for iGaming and sports betting operators, today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Smartico, the company that brought gamification-led CRM marketing to the iGaming industry. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks.

“Kustomer AI - Signals” surfaces real-time customer context, sentiment, and escalation risk directly to reps and managers before they engage, closing the gap between CX visibility and action. Available now natively in the Kustomer platform and on Zendesk NEW YORK, April 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kustomer, the AI customer experience platform, today unveiled “Kustomer AI - Signals”, a new AI capability within AI for Reps that extends Kustomer's platform to deliver proactive, real-time customer intelligence to support human reps the moment a conversation begins.

Newest MadCap Syndicate version conducts AI-powered semantic search and analysis at scale, enables the creation of customized portals with full control and AI-readiness, and expands capabilities for converting content silos into a single source of truth Denver, CO, USA – April 2, 2026 – MadCap Software, Inc., the leader in multi-channel content authoring, management and publishing, backed by global investment firm Battery Ventures, today introduced the Spring 2026 release of MadCap Syndicate, an intelligent platform for content delivery, aggregation, and artificial intelligence (AI) enablement. The new version adds AI-powered features for enriching users’ experiences, managing content at scale, maximizing the quality of AI-generated content and analysis, and improving the effectiveness of AI agents.

Customer success and revenue teams can build agentic retention workflows on Gainsight's customer intelligence using AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT San Francisco, CA — April 2, 2026 — Gainsight, the retention engine powering the world's most customer-centric companies, today announced support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP) across Gainsight CS and Staircase AI. For the first time, customer success and post-sales leaders can direct AI agents to run retention workflows on their behalf, drawing on the full picture of every customer relationship to take action, from flagging risk to orchestrating renewal plays, in minutes instead of weeks. "We've spent over a decade building the most advanced CS platform.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TTEC today announced AI Gateway, a new software solution by TTEC Digital designed to connect modern AI capabilities with legacy contact center infrastructure through a single integration. TTEC, a leading global consulting, technology, and managed services company delivering solutions at the intersection of data, AI, and customer experience (CX), introduced the solution to solve the biggest challenge in enterprise customer service today: adopting AI to improve the customer experience at a lower cost without disrupting vital operations. “Our clients know AI will transform both their customer experience and their bottom line, but they have serious concerns about overhauling mission-critical systems they’ve spent decades building and customizing,” said Alfredo Rizzo, Chief Technology Officer, TTEC. “We designed AI Gateway to enable our clients to deploy, test, and scale AI within the contact center ecosystem they already operate without embarking on costly and extensive migrations to new technology platforms.” AI Gateway is designed to be a universal connector between contact center and AI platforms that allows TTEC clients to leverage multiple frontier AI solutions in their environment, mix and switch models at any time, and ingest data from many sources with advanced AI.

Organizations can now automatically send personalized text message survey invites from Salesforce to drive higher engagement and faster, more informed decision-making SAN MATEO, Calif., March 31, 2026 – SurveyMonkey, the world’s most popular platform for surveys and forms, today announced the general availability of automated SMS survey invites within its Salesforce integration, available on AppExchange. This update allows CX and support teams to automatically send personalized survey invites by text message when key events happen in Salesforce, such as closing a support case or completing a transaction.

Media networks can now onboard and list audiences to DSP marketplaces like The Trade Desk and Yahoo DSP without secondary revshare fees, cutting total marketplace fees in half SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hightouch, the leader in data and AI for marketing, today announced direct data onboarding integrations with The Trade Desk and Yahoo DSP, enabling media networks to list and monetize audiences in self-service ad marketplaces without paying secondary marketplace fees. Media networks using the new solution can cut total marketplace fees roughly in half compared to traditional onboarders like LiveRamp.

Voice AI leader appoints Chief Customer Officer and Chief Marketing Officer to scale what's working—deeper, faster, and for more brands ready to Flip the script on customer experience NEW YORK--( BUSINESS WIRE)-- Flip, the enterprise Voice AI platform purpose-built for retail/e-commerce, healthcare, and transportation, today announced the appointment of Amy McDonnell as Chief Customer Officer (CCO) and Lee Nadler as Chief Marketing Officer. On the heels of its $20 million Series A raised in January 2026, the hires are a direct response to surging demand.