New research from SAP’s 2026 Engagement Index paints a picture that will make a lot of CX teams uncomfortable.
With 43% of Gen Z already using AI agents to guide purchasing decisions, customers are arriving at brands further along in the buying journey than ever before. The question is whether brands are equipped to meet them there.
In a recent interview with CX Today, Sara Richter, CMO of SAP Engagement Cloud, broke down what that shift actually demands, and pulled few punches about where most organizations are falling short. The core issue, she argues, isn’t a lack of data. It’s the failure to use it, she explained:
“The next chapter of customer engagement isn’t going to be defined by the person who has piles and piles of data. It’s going to be the person that can turn that data into action most effectively and responsibly.”
Richter is particularly sharp on what she calls “dark data,” the customer information brands collect but never actually activate. During peak trading periods, when marketing, service, inventory, and fulfillment all need to work in sync, that unused data stops being a missed opportunity and starts actively damaging trust.
She also makes the case that fixing this isn’t purely a technology problem. It starts with an organizational mindset shift, putting the customer at the center of every department, not just marketing. Brands like Gibson are already doing this, using AI to surface real-time patterns and free up marketers to focus on creativity and genuine customer understanding rather than chasing reports.
The divide between what customers expect and what brands deliver is real. This interview is a good place to start closing it.
