Just a few more nights of sleep and the largest event for customer contact professionals in Western Europe will kick off again: CCW 2026 in Berlin. Ziptone is visiting some sponsors and exhibitors. What do they have to offer and share in Berlin? This time, we hear from: Sandy Ruikes, senior manager Solution Engineering at Salesforce.

 

Why should visitors to CCW 2026 visit your booth?

Visitors should definitely come and experience firsthand what it's like to become an agent-driven enterprise. Through live demos and expert sessions, we'll demonstrate Agentforce Service, AI agents, Voice, and the agent-driven contact center in action, and how these applications work together to transform service processes and improve the customer experience. Salesforce can be found in Hall 2.1, booth J1 – next to the conference's main stage.

For customer service organizations, the evolution toward an agent-driven enterprise means moving from slow, manual processes to a service that is smart, fast, and proactive. Think of AI agents as capable team members: they handle routine requests, understand customer needs, make decisions, and take action. And they simultaneously learn and improve after every interaction. This frees up human agents to focus on complex issues or provide truly empathetic support.

 

What new innovations is Salesforce showcasing at CCW 2026?

Salesforce is unveiling a series of new applications. First up is Agentforce Voice & Contact Center, focused on voice-driven service interactions. Salesforce is also unveiling Command Center, which provides customer service managers with a unified view of their entire support ecosystem, including human and AI agents across all channels. By consolidating data and performance metrics into a single dashboard, teams can spot trends, quickly identify issues, redistribute workloads, and make informed decisions quickly that improve service quality and efficiency. Command Center helps managers monitor the overall health of the contact center, track key indicators such as queues, wait times, SLA compliance, and agent availability, and proactively intervene when needed.

Salesforce will also showcase AI agents in action. This includes live demos of autonomous agents handling routine tasks, freeing up service agents to address complex customer issues. Finally, we'll showcase innovations in self-service and AI-powered self-service portals.

 

Last year, we asked them which specific contact center process they'd like to eliminate. What do you think is the most annoying aspect of customer contact these days, and why? In short, what do we really need to stop doing?

The most frustrating things in customer contact are repetitive manual tasks, long phone menus, and unnecessary follow-ups. Agents waste time copying information, asking customers the same questions, or navigating fragmented systems. We really need to stop performing low-value, frustrating tasks. Instead, we should focus on fast, smart, and proactive service. And on empathetic interactions.

 

What do you think will be the biggest breakthrough in customer contact technology in the next three years?

The biggest breakthrough in customer contact technology over the next three years will be AI-powered agents for both voice and digital channels, all powered by connected data. We expect autonomous agents to handle most routine tasks, and agent-to-agent communication will also transform contact center operations.

 

And what new innovations do you expect to present at CCW 2027 next year?

There's so much innovation happening at Salesforce, especially in AI capabilities, that it's hard to predict.

 

Why should Dutch customer contact professionals come to CCW Berlin?

CCW is the annual meeting point for the contact center industry. We believe in sharing experiences to find the best solution for your own business. CCW allows attendees to stay informed about the latest CX, AI, and contact center innovations shaping the European market. CCW offers excellent opportunities to learn from innovative use cases—both at the booths and during the keynote program. The event provides direct access to leading solution providers, real-world examples, and valuable networking opportunities with industry peers.

 

CCW2026 The event will take place from February 23rd to 26th, 2026, at the Estrel Congress Center (ECC), Berlin. Ziptone is the media partner of CCW Berlin this year. Content Guru can be found in Hall 3, booth D16.

For free access to the CCW exhibition floor, you can use this voucher (pdf).

Read the impressions of CCW2025

 

Event, Featured, Technology CCW, Salesforce