Global AI-first cloud communications platform Infobip, celebrating two decades of innovation globally and over 15 years of continuous operation in South Africa, predicts an imminent and seismic shift in brand-consumer engagement. Moving away from the current application-to-person (A2P) messaging, Infobip forecasts a widespread shift to an agent-to-person model, eventually leading to a fully autonomous agent-to-agent future by 2030.
The Evolution of Engagement
Swift AI adoption is driving enterprises toward agentic AI communication models, which drive autonomous customer communications across all touchpoints. This technology enables hyper-personalisation across multiple channels, creating highly engaging content tailored to individual needs.
Silvio Kutić, Infobip CEO, comments: “How we communicate with brands is constantly evolving. In this new agentic AI world, brands must seize the opportunity to take a holistic approach to communication. They must capitalise on the hyper-personalisation made available through agentic AI and rich communication channels like RCS and WhatsApp.”
In South Africa, Infobip has been supporting enterprises across industries including banking and financial services, telecommunications, retail, and the public sector. Over the past 15 years, the company has helped local organisations modernise customer engagement through omnichannel communication, conversational messaging, and AI-powered solutions, positioning South African brands to compete in an increasingly digital, experience-driven economy. This success extends across Africa, where Infobip maintains local operations in markets like Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco, and Ghana, supporting enterprises with secure, scalable AI-powered communications.
The Agent-to-Agent Future
Looking ahead to 2030, Infobip envisions personal AI assistants embedded in smartphones handling complex tasks independently. For example, a user’s personal AI could autonomously negotiate with a travel company’s AI to research, book, and purchase a holiday based on the user’s digital habits and preferences.
The Challenge for Brands
To succeed in this new landscape, businesses must eliminate data silos. Effective AI agents require a unified view of customer touchpoints – from marketing to support – to deliver the personalised experience consumers will become accustomed to. Currently, business readiness is low, with only about 5% of enterprise AI agent projects reaching production due to unstructured data and internal barriers.
“Enterprises must act now,” Kutić emphasizes. “Organisational structures that facilitate seamless data sharing will be the key to successful AI agent adoption. While a personal AI agent booking a holiday might seem futuristic today, brands unable to meet this future will risk losing their competitive edge.”
