What CMP’s Latest CX Report Says About the Future of Support (Hint: It’s Speaking More Languages)

If CMP’s 2025–2026 Customer Contact Benchmarking Report were a fortune cookie, the message inside would read: Automate everything, speak every language, and for the love of all things budget-friendly—do more with less.

CMP, one of Language IO’s trusted partners, has once again delivered a data-rich, executive-level crystal ball into the world of customer contact. And after reading it, I can confidently say: multilingual AI is no longer a nice-to-have—it’s a survival tactic.

Let’s break down the big themes and how they intersect with what we do at Language IO.

A whopping 74% of customer contact leaders are prioritizing AI automation in the next year. That means fewer humans answering routine questions and more bots doing the heavy lifting. But here’s the catch—most of these bots are monolingual. That’s like hiring a genius call center rep who only speaks English in a support org that operates across five continents.

At Language IO, we plug right into that AI-first strategy, making sure your automation efforts don’t hit a language wall.

Over half of leaders are investing in self-service AI chatbots and real-time agent assist tools. And why not? Customers want to help themselves. They just want to do it in their own language, with culturally relevant phrasing, and without feeling like they’re talking to a confused intern who accidentally got hired by your company.

That’s where our multilingual self-service tech comes in. We supercharge your chatbot and knowledge base with enterprise-grade translations—so you can increase self-service adoption globally.

Generative AI has executives excited but also a bit uneasy. The report shows that while GenAI remains a priority, its urgency has dropped. Why? Because integrating it into existing workflows is more complicated than convincing your legal team to greenlight anything new.  However, companies are preparing for its inevitability by streamlining workflows and simplifying their tech stacks.

Refreshing the tech stack ranked high as both a priority and a pain point. It’s the software equivalent of deciding to renovate your kitchen and realizing your plumbing is from the 1970s. Executives are grappling with messy integrations and fragmented systems.

As companies work to consolidate their tech stack, it’s tempting to just settle for the built-in translation features that come bundled with your CRM or chatbot. But “good enough” often… isn’t. We’re seeing more companies realize that generic translations—especially in complex languages with gender, formality, and cultural nuance—can backfire. You risk alienating customers, confusing agents, and wasting precious time cleaning up after the fact. In some cases, those bad translations can even drive churn. That’s why Language IO is purpose-built to deliver context-aware, enterprise-grade translations that don’t require a second round of edits—or a second apology to your customers.

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Perhaps the most telling shift in this year’s report is the rise of cost reduction as a top strategic priority. Executives want the magic of AI and global reach, but on last year’s budget. Which means “multilingual staffing” starts to look more like a luxury yacht than a business essential.

With budgets under pressure, many of the companies we work with are using Language IO not just to translate, but to transform. By consolidating multilingual support into a single, AI-augmented workflow, they’re able to reduce the costs of hiring and managing native-speaking agents in every market. This model allows support teams to expand into new regions without having to fully staff each one—essentially scaling globally using the team they already have. It’s operational efficiency without compromise. And a much more innovative way to grow.

Learn more. Discover the ebook.

CMP’s report shows a clear path forward: more intelligent automation, better self-service, tighter budgets, and AI you can actually trust. The only way to make that work across borders is by making sure your support stack speaks the language of your customers.

That’s where Language IO fits in. We’re not just a translation tool—we’re the multilingual engine that makes your AI, agents, and self-service more innovative and more human, no matter the language.

Want the full report? You can download it here, and trust me, it’s an insightful (and quick) read.