AI will continue to shape the enterprise communications landscape in 2026, with organisations seeking practical value while navigating cost, governance, and deployment constraints. Interest in AI is high, but companies still face gaps around affordability, readiness, and real-world use cases. As a result, the market will progress through grounded, incremental steps, supported by stronger data foundations, evolving pricing models, and greater collaboration across ecosystems and service partners.
1. AI Adoption Will Remain Pragmatic and Focused on Clear ROI
AI will continue to gain momentum, but organisations will prioritise capabilities that deliver immediate, measurable value, such as summarisation, transcription, call insights, and automated follow-ups.
While interest in agentic AI grows, mainstream adoption will be limited by cost and narrow use-case readiness. Vendors will increasingly focus on making agentic capabilities more affordable, modular, and easier to deploy.
2. Data Foundations Will Become the Enabler for Context and Automation
As organisations look into value extraction, data quality and connectivity become essential. AI will need access to contextual, structured, and cross-functional data to deliver accurate outcomes and automate workflows.
To meet these needs, vendors will open their ecosystems, deepen integrations with CRM, ERP, and workflow tools, and begin supporting agent-to-agent orchestration (A2A/MCP) across front-, mid-, and back-office processes.
3. Pricing Models Will Evolve to Reflect AI Consumption Patterns
As AI features become more widely used, traditional subscription pricing will feel less aligned with the way organisations actually consume AI. Vendors will gradually introduce usage-based or metered models, allowing customers to scale AI adoption at their own pace.
To ensure reliability, AI will increasingly blend generative and deterministic approaches, supported by stronger AI observability to maintain accuracy and trust.
4. Verticalisation and Professional Services Will Help Close the Adoption Gap
AI adoption challenges vary significantly by industry. In 2026, more vendors will develop vertical-specific UC&C solutions that reflect distinct workflows in sectors such as healthcare, retail, financial services, and manufacturing.
Because the gap between vendor innovation and customer adoption persists, vendors will collaborate more closely with professional services providers who can translate innovation into practical transformation through guided deployment and workflow redesign.
5. Europe Prioritises Hybrid Deployment and Democratized AI for SMBs
In Europe, concerns around data sovereignty and transparency will continue to influence technology decisions, prompting sustained interest in private cloud and selective retention of on-premises components. Most organisations will move toward hybrid models that offer both innovation and control.
At the same time, European vendors will intensify their focus on SMBs, which represent the bulk of the region’s economy. 2026 will see continued efforts to democratise AI, offering simpler, lighter-weight solutions—such as AI receptionists—as well as modular capabilities that make AI adoption accessible to smaller businesses via partner-led delivery.
Conclusion
In 2026, enterprise communications will move forward through practical AI adoption, deeper data integration, flexible pricing, verticalised innovation, and hybrid deployment models. Markets like Europe will emphasise sovereignty and SMB accessibility, but globally, success will depend on vendors balancing innovation with pragmatism—offering AI that is trustworthy, affordable, and genuinely transformative for how people and organisations communicate and work.
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