VOICE IVAS HELP REDUCE THE NUMBER OF INCOMING CALLS ... BY PROVIDING AI-POWERED SELF-SERVICE OVER TELEPHONY AND VOICE-ENABLED CHANNELS .
AGENT PRODUCTIVITY
According to our research of 300 U . S . brands , businesses leveraging AI for self-service are up to twice as likely to achieve higher containment and FCR rates across both digital and voice channels . This is essential for increasing agent capacity , allowing businesses to lower support costs or reassign agents to revenue-generating initiatives and handle more complex issues .
IVAs are different from rudimentary chatbots and IVR systems which rely solely on predetermined customer journeys and often fail to truly understand customer needs . In contrast , AI-powered IVAs can understand a wider range of customer intents to more accurately resolve issues .
AI BOOSTS CX CONFIDENCE
Using AI to support self-service doesn ’ t just help businesses generate strong business outcomes . It also helps organizations to meet customers ’ needs moving forward .
Businesses using AI to deliver self-service recognize the value it generates , which breeds confidence for future contact center performance .
This may explain why our study revealed that 89 % of businesses using AI-powered IVAs plan to maintain or increase their investments over the next 12 months . Among those utilizing AI for self-service , 53 % are using it across both voice and digital channels , while 46 % use it for either voice or digital .
Overall , brands are seeing a strong return on investment and continuing to invest in increasing interaction containment and FCR rates , ultimately improving agent capacity .
IVA BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
The ability to support a seamless transition between IVAs and human agents ensures that customers receive efficient support when the time comes that they want to talk to an agent .
When a handoff occurs , the IVA provides context about the customer ' s issue , so they don ’ t have to repeat themselves . This not only improves customer satisfaction , but it also enhances agent efficiency , as agents can now focus on engaging with customers rather than repetitive inquiries .
Many organizations believe they need to re-platform and move to the cloud before adopting AI technologies such as IVAs . However , that ’ s no longer the case with open platforms , which allow technology infrastructure to remain in situ .
Open platforms are transforming the discussion around AI adoption success , enabling organizations to achieve immediate results . The power of AI is available now and not tied to lengthy infrastructure experiments taking years to deliver real business outcomes .
AGENT COPILOT BOTS BOLSTER PRODUCTIVITY
Increasingly , businesses are also deploying agent assistance in the form of “ copilots ” that can provide CX automation in real time during customer communications .
These AI-powered bots provide suggested responses , coach agents on delivering higher quality service , and even execute tasks on behalf of the agents , reducing employee strain while delivering better CX .
For example , implementing knowledge automation bots means that contact center agents no longer need to spend valuable time searching for the right answers to customers ' questions while the customers are on hold . Instead , the AI-powered bot automatically searches across multiple enterprise content sources and uses Generative AI to summarize these search results into easily digestible responses .
OPEN PLATFORMS ARE TRANSFORMING THE DISCUSSION AROUND AI ADOPTION SUCCESS ...
DRIVING AI BUSINESS OUTCOMES , NOW
Organizations are using the extra agent capacity created by AI solutions , such as IVA technologies and bots , to achieve their CX goals and business objectives . These include lowering labor costs and enhancing the customer and employee experience by freeing up agent time for interaction as well as support . And , finally , boosting revenue by empowering agents to upsell and cross-sell products and services .
Dave Singer is Verint ' s Global Vice President , Go-To-Market Strategy . Singer is responsible for driving the GTM strategy for Verint ’ s Workforce Engagement solutions and its Open CCaaS Platform . The strategy is based on developing innovative messaging and offerings that drive customer-centric differentiation and align value with both customer needs and expectations .
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