NiCE named among Fast Company's most innovative firms

NiCE has been named to Fast Company's list of the World's Most Innovative Companies of 2026, ranking 11th in the Applied AI category.

The recognition places NiCE among 720 honourees across 59 sectors and regions in Fast Company's annual ranking of companies shaping industry and culture through innovation.

The ranking follows a year in which NiCE completed its acquisition of Cognigy, a deal it described as a key step in expanding its work in customer experience automation. The purchase strengthened its position in conversational AI and broadened the reach of its customer service technology.

NiCE develops customer experience software, including cloud contact centre products and AI tools that businesses use to manage customer interactions. It said adding Cognigy brought contact centre as a service and conversational AI together on one platform, covering human-assisted service, self-service, and AI-led orchestration.

Fast Company's list is one of the publication's best-known editorial rankings, spanning businesses from early-stage start-ups to some of the world's largest listed groups. In the Applied AI category, NiCE ranked alongside other companies recognised for using artificial intelligence in commercial products and services.

NiCE presented the ranking as external endorsement of its AI strategy for customer engagement. Management has increasingly centred that strategy on combining automation with customer service workflows used by large organisations.

Scott Russell, Chief Executive Officer, NiCE, linked the recognition to the company's broader direction in AI.

"Two principles guide us forward: speed and focus," said Scott Russell, Chief Executive Officer, NiCE. "We are moving decisively to extend our market leadership into the era of agentic AI, leveraging our unified AI-native platform and deep domain expertise to redefine customer experience."

The mention of agentic AI reflects a wider shift across the software sector, as suppliers move beyond chatbots and scripted automation toward systems that can complete more complex tasks with less human input. Customer service technology providers have been among the most active in this area, as clients seek to cut handling times and automate routine enquiries while keeping live agents for more complex cases.

NiCE's acquisition of Cognigy in 2025 was presented as part of that shift. Cognigy was known for conversational AI products that help companies build automated customer service agents, and the deal gave NiCE a larger footprint in the market for AI-driven service tools.

NiCE operates in a competitive field that includes contact centre software providers, workflow software groups, and specialist AI developers. Recognition from a business publication does not alter that landscape, but rankings of this kind can help raise a company's profile with customers, partners, and investors, especially in a market where many suppliers are making similar AI claims.

Fast Company said its editors and writers assessed thousands of submissions through a competitive application process to determine the final list. The ranking covers companies across multiple industries and regions, with category tables intended to highlight standout performers in fields such as Applied AI.

Brendan Vaughan, Editor-in-Chief, Fast Company, described the basis for the list in a statement accompanying the rankings.

"Our list of the Most Innovative Companies is about spotlighting organizations that don't just adapt to change-they drive it," said Brendan Vaughan, Editor-in-Chief, Fast Company. "The companies we honor this year are redefining what leadership looks like in 2026, pairing bold ideas with measurable impact and turning breakthrough innovation into real-world value. They are setting the pace for their industries and offering a blueprint for what sustained innovation can achieve."

NiCE said its products are used by organisations in more than 150 countries.