WAVE 2026 preview: Step into the future of AI and CX

The conversation around enterprise AI has shifted. It’s no longer about experimentation, but execution. How do organizations bring AI into production reliably and safely? How do they achieve real business impact? And how do they scale enterprise AI across use cases, teams, languages, and markets? 

That's the focus of WAVE 2026, Europe’s largest AI + CX conference, happening on October 7 and 8 at Wilhelm Studios in Berlin.

For the third time, Parloa will bring together leading minds in AI, customer experience, and technology at WAVE. More than 700 decision makers from across Europe will gather to exchange experiences, gain new perspectives, and help shape the future of enterprise AI in customer communication. 

What’s new at WAVE 2026 

This year, WAVE is bigger and more interactive than ever. Spanning two days, the event offers hands-on workshops, case studies, and conversations with the leaders already deploying enterprise AI successfully. 

It all kicks off on October 7 with masterclasses starting at 2 PM. Parloa experts and partners will answer questions like, how do AI agents make the leap from proof of concept to production? How can they be scaled, monitored, and optimized safely? What does it take for them to work reliably in deployment, beyond a perfect demo? 

On October 8, the main conference day will cover key developments in AI and CX featuring keynotes, customer stories, panels, Parloa product news, demos, an expo floor, and networking.

6 key themes and 30+ speakers 

WAVE connects two perspectives: what's already working in production today, and what will shape enterprise CX tomorrow. More than 30 speakers will bring their experience and perspectives to the WAVE stage. 

The lineup ranges from AI leaders in retail, finance, travel, and other industries to World Cup champion Bastian Schweinsteiger. The program will center on six key themes shaping the future of AI and CX: 

1. The AI reality check: from hype to production 

When does a voice agent actually work in production? Marco Casalaina, VP of Products, CoreAI and Futurist at Microsoft, will talk about what makes voice agents successful and how businesses are preparing for a future where agents communicate with one another. 

The theme will also be explored in the Build vs. Buy panel with Maren Glismann, Head of Customer Service, ING, and Gero Decker, Co-Founder of SAP Signavio. Together, they will discuss when a pre-built solution gets you to your goals faster and more effectively than building it yourself. 

2. New rules for AI-era customer service

In her masterclass, Corina Taban, Founder & CEO of 934 Advisors, will explore organization, change management, and AI adoption, showing how people and AI agents can successfully work together. The session will be followed by a conversation with football world champion Bastian Schweinsteiger on leadership under pressure because transformation, after all, is about teams, not just technology. 

3. From pilot to production: AI that customers trust 

Mike Gathright, Chief Customer Officer at HealthEquity, will join a fireside chat with Latané Conant, CMO at Parloa, to discuss how companies build trust with AI and why context is so critical to building it. 

The panel with Nathalie Diewald, Experience Design Manager at IKEA, Matthias Quirmbach, Head of Customer Care Management at OBI, and Lindsey Taylor, Group Product Manager of Customer Service AI & Automation at Booking.com, will focus on the journey from a successful pilot to production. They’ll discuss how they deploy AI agents in business-critical use cases and scale them across countries and languages without losing customer trust. They’ll also share insights into what made their pilots successful, how they achieved a fast and smooth rollout, and what they recommend to other companies looking to scale AI agents quickly and reliably. 

4. The business case: CX as a revenue driver, not a cost center 

Customer service is still primarily seen as a cost center. But with AI agents, support can create value not only for customers, but for businesses too. Alexander App, Director of Customer Service, Europe at AUTO1 Group, will show what this looks like in practice. In just nine weeks, his team launched AI agents that are now delivering measurable value across nine countries and seven languages. 

5. Governance, control, and the European edge

Lennard Schmidt, Co-Founder and CEO of Langdock, will join other industry experts in the opening panel to explore how digital sovereignty shapes the way companies approach AI, customer experience, and control. This will be followed by a fireside chat with Prof. Dr. Philipp Hacker, Professor of Law and Ethics of the Digital Society, and Dr. Carolin Gütschow, Director of Legal at Parloa, who will discuss the strategic role of regulation for businesses, not just as a compliance requirement, but as a competitive advantage. 

6. What’s next in agentic AI

Malte Kosub, CEO & Co-Founder of Parloa, will open WAVE with a keynote on the next generation of Agentic AI. Then, Parloa’s Chief Product Officer, Csaba Tamas, and VP of Product Marketing, Kevin Boyer, will reveal Parloa’s latest product innovations. Together, they’ll explore what comes after individual AI agents: specialized multi-agent systems that communicate with each other, coordinate tasks, and work together to resolve complex customer needs. 

See the WAVE Speaker List 

See the WAVE Agenda

WAVE customer awards

Parloa will once again recognize the customers who are reimagining customer service and creating positive impact with AI, awarding winners across five categories—ROI Hero, AI Visionary, Global Scaler, Trust Guardian, and AI Agent of the Year. The winners will be revealed live on the WAVE stage on October 8, celebrating some of the year’s most exciting AI success stories.

Be part of what's next

WAVE isn’t just about getting excited for AI. It's about learning how to activate it. At the same time, WAVE also looks ahead to exploring what's next for AI agents and the customer experiences they enable, so attendees don’t just catch up on agentic CX, but lay the foundation for scale.

Also joining are our partners, including Accenture, NTT DATA, SAP, Deloitte, infinit.cx, Kinova, MUUUH!, Objektkultur, Transcom, and logen.ai, who are already supporting companies through this transformation and will bring their perspectives from the field. 

WAVE 2026: where AI and CX leaders define what's next.

Want to be part of WAVE and set the pace for the next decade of customer experience? Get your tickets now at wave.parloa.com.

See you on October 7 and 8, 2026, at Wilhelm Studios in Berlin!