For an industry built on handling calls, the interactive voice response (IVR) system has become one of the most universally disliked experiences for customers. At next week’s Call & Contact Centre Expo 2026 in London, Newo is betting that the best way to prove its Voice AI is different is to let attendees simply pick up a phone and try it themselves.
Call Newo’s Voice AI live at stand CC-H10, ExCeL London, 18 and 19 November, and hear Ryan McManus on what comes after the IVR on 18 November
Almost every contact centre has an IVR, and very few customers enjoy using one. We’d rather people walk up, make a call, and decide for themselves whether this is different.”— Ryan McManus, VP of Marketing, Newo
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, November 10, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Leaders from the contact centre world gathering at ExCeL London on 18 and 19 November will have the opportunity to test Newo’s Voice AI in the most straightforward way imaginable: by lifting a handset and dialling. Newo, the ready-to-deploy Voice AI built for human-quality conversations and real business outcomes, will operate live demonstration calls from stand CC-H10 throughout both days of the expo.
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“Almost every contact centre has an IVR, and very few customers enjoy using one,” said Ryan McManus, VP of Marketing at Newo. “Thirty years of menu trees have trained customers to press zero as fast as they can. We’d rather people walk up, make a call, and decide for themselves whether this is different.”
Rather than a scripted demonstration, Newo has set up four interactive kiosks, each themed around a different industry: retail and e-commerce, financial services and insurance, healthcare, and telecommunications. Visitors can listen as the company’s Voice AI handles realistic customer conversations—answering questions, processing industry-specific requests, and dealing with interruptions or varying accents in real time.
Newo’s AI IVR agents are designed to resolve straightforward requests on the first call, completing the next step directly within the systems that contact centres already use. When a matter is too complex, the call is routed to the appropriate human representative along with the full conversation history, so that skilled agents spend their time only on the interactions that truly require human judgment. Newo targets organisations that handle high call volumes, such as appointment-driven practices and multi-site service brands.
What comes after the IVR?
Ryan McManus will also take the stage on Wednesday 18 November from 11:00 to 11:30 in the Connected Contact Centre Theatre. His session, “After IVR: How AI Changes What Happens When Customers Call,” draws on real-world deployments, including lessons learned, to explore which customer interactions AI can handle today, which still need human expertise, and how to design the handover between AI and human teams.
Partner opportunities
Newo will meet agencies, business process outsourcing (BPO) providers and resellers at the Expo to discuss its white-label partner programme, which lets partners offer Newo’s AI IVR and Voice AI capabilities to their own clients under their own brand, without building the underlying technology themselves.
Experience Newo live
Attendees can visit Newo at stand CC-H10 on 18 and 19 November, or book a one-to-one demonstration in advance at https://emea.newo.ai/cx-expo-london?utm_source=einpresswire&utm_medium=press_release&utm_campaign=ccexpo_london_2026#book.
About Newo
Newo is the ready-to-deploy Voice AI built for human-quality conversations and real business outcomes. Newo handles customer conversations and completes the work that follows in the tools businesses already use, from routing calls and updating records to booking appointments, and hands complex cases to people with full context. More than 1,000 customers use Newo, with more than 15,000 AI agents deployed, directly and through a white-label partner programme. Newo is ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified and headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Learn more at https://newo.ai.
Notes to editors
– Event: Call & Contact Centre Expo 2026
– Dates: 18 and 19 November 2026
– Venue: ExCeL London, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, London E16 1XL
– Newo stand: CC-H10
– Speaking session: “After IVR: How AI Changes What Happens When Customers Call,” Ryan McManus, VP of Marketing, Newo. Wednesday 18 November 2026, 11:00 to 11:30, Connected Contact Centre Theatre
– Interviews with Ryan McManus are available on both exhibition days. Press images and stand visuals are available on request.
– Book a meeting: https://emea.newo.ai/cx-expo-london?utm_source=einpresswire&utm_medium=press_release&utm_campaign=ccexpo_london_2026#book
Anastasia Sharapova
Newo
anastasia.sharapova@newo.ai
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Why it matters: For an industry where customer frustration with IVR menus is the norm, Newo is betting that live, hands-on testing will prove its AI can actually deliver human-quality conversations. If the demo convinces even a fraction of the contact centre leaders attending, the shift from clunky menu trees to conversational AI could accelerate significantly—changing not just how calls are handled, but how customers feel about picking up the phone.
