New SAP research reveals how agentic AI is transforming customer engagement, turning major cultural moments and the holiday shopping season into business-critical stress tests
INDIANAPOLIS– June 24, 2026 – SAP Engagement Cloud today revealed that 2026’s biggest commercial moments, from major global sporting events to the holiday shopping season, will act as high-stakes tests of brands’ ability to deliver connected customer engagement at the point of decision.
New research from SAP’s 2026 Engagement Index shows that as consumers increasingly rely on AI to guide decisions, competitive advantage is being redefined. Yet, many organisations still struggle to act on customer insight when it matters most.
From Campaigns to Continuous Engagement
Consumer behavior is evolving toward AI-assisted decision-making. According to the research, 21% of consumers already use AI Agents to support purchasing decisions, rising to 43% among Gen Z, while 74% say it helps them make faster, more informed choices. At the same time, 80% of marketers believe AI will be essential for acquiring and retaining customers in 2026 and beyond.
This is fundamentally changing engagement. Instead of linear campaigns, brands must operate in a continuous model, responding dynamically as customer intent emerges.
Agentic AI is enabling this progression by connecting insight directly to action across the business.
Engagement Becomes a Whole-Business Capability
“Agentic AI is turning engagement into a real-time, enterprise-wide capability, but for many brands this remains difficult in practice,” said Sara Richter, CMO, SAP Engagement Cloud.
“Data is often spread across disconnected systems, teams operate in siloes, and inconsistent data quality limits the ability to act in the moment. Most organizations want to deliver joined-up engagement, but few have the operational foundation to do so at scale. Those with more unified core systems are in a much stronger position.”
One Defining Test
The challenge becomes most visible during high-intensity demand moments, from large-scale sporting events to the holiday season, when brands must align marketing, inventory, fulfilment and customer service under pressure.
While these moments differ in context, they reveal the same underlying question: can a business coordinate action as events unfold?
“These moments are not just marketing opportunities. They are operational stress tests,” added Richter. “The brands that succeed will be those that can act on data instantly to deliver experiences customers value.”
SAP Engagement Cloud, launched earlier this year as part of SAP’s enterprise engagement strategy, supports this approach by connecting customer, commerce and operational data so businesses can coordinate action in the moment rather than after it has passed.
This capability reflects SAP’s broader vision of the Autonomous Enterprise, where AI-powered systems move beyond insight to take coordinated action across core business workflows. By combining human expertise with AI, organisations can respond to customer needs with greater speed, precision and resilience.
From Insight to Impact
Brands are already beginning to unlock this potential.
American guitar brand, Gibson is using AI to unify customer data and surface insights that enable more relevant engagement.
“One of the biggest opportunities for us is making better use of the data we already have,” said Jonathan Martz, Senior CRM Manager at Gibson. “AI helps us identify patterns in real time, so we can move beyond broad campaigns.”
Preparing for Peak Season
To support marketers and business leaders, SAP Engagement Cloud is launching a Holiday Readiness guide Deck the Carts Holiday Guide for Marketers .
The guide shows how brands can use agentic AI and connected customer and operational data to create actionable insights that make peak-season shopping faster, smarter, and more convenient.
