IF AI IS NOT CENTRAL TO YOUR THINKING ABOUT MODERNIZING YOUR CONTACT CENTER, YOU WILL SOON BE AT A COM- PETITIVE DISADVANTAGE THAT WILL BE DIFFICULT TO OVERCOME WITHOUT AI.
... POSITION AGEN- TIC AI AS A TOOL TO AUGMENT HUMAN AGENT PERFORMANCE, RATHER THAN AS A THREAT TO REPLACE AGENTS.
IF AI IS NOT CENTRAL TO YOUR THINKING ABOUT MODERNIZING YOUR CONTACT CENTER, YOU WILL SOON BE AT A COM- PETITIVE DISADVANTAGE THAT WILL BE DIFFICULT TO OVERCOME WITHOUT AI.
AGENTIC AI
If AI is viewed solely as a tool for cost-cutting, then the answer is no. In that case, AI-led automation will largely be about reducing your pool of agents, since they represent the largest cost factor for contact centers. Of course, a lot of things will have to go right for this plan to work, especially in terms that would not be detrimental to CX, such as:
• AI Agent customer interactions that feel human-like and conversational.
• The AI Agents stay in their lanes and don ' t venture off-topic.
• Responses and outcomes are accurate and resolve the issues.
• Execution of the tasks are done in a timely manner.
As fast as AI is evolving, the above scenario is wildly optimistic, and based on current realities, CX leaders should be thinking differently.
If you fall anywhere on the spectrum that embraces AI for making CX better- instead of only improving operations- here are three things you should be thinking about to make the right decisions for your contact center’ s AI journey.
16 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
1. AI IS NOT A PASSING FAD
Few technologies have been so heavily hyped, so it’ s easy to think you can ignore AI until the hype gives way to a disappointing reality. You never really understood it in the first place, so better to let others take the risks, and just wait things out until the next technology wave comes around.
There is some validity to this thinking, but AI is delivering tangible results for contact centers today. Rather than being a passing fad, AI is poised to fundamentally re-set the entire model around customer service. If AI is not central to your thinking about modernizing your contact center, you will soon be at a competitive disadvantage that will be difficult to overcome without AI.
... POSITION AGEN- TIC AI AS A TOOL TO AUGMENT HUMAN AGENT PERFORMANCE, RATHER THAN AS A THREAT TO REPLACE AGENTS.
2. AGENTIC AI IS A GOOD FORM OF AUTOMATION
There are many ways to automate effectively with AI, but in terms of net benefit, none has more potential – right now – than Agentic AI. CX leaders don’ t need to know the fine points about how Agentic AI works, but they do need to know about its iterative nature. Initial deployments should be for fairly basic inquiries that AI Agents can handle end-to-end with little risk.
By training these agents on your customer data, they will rapidly learn and be able to handle more complex tasks effectively. They are still far from perfect, but if properly managed, they will keep improving, and with AI’ s native ability to scale, this type of automation will become your best solution to manage growing call volumes.
3. AI AGENTS AND HUMANS CAN BE BETTER TOGETHER
This represents the ideal outcome where contact centers get the best of both worlds. Human agents spend less time dealing with mundane inquiries, and with real-time coaching from AI assistants, CX will improve, as will agent engagement.
Similarly, as AI Agents get better, they will handle more of the workload, helping to optimize operations. So long as CX is maintained – or improved – this will prove to be a better plan for AI automation than using AI Agents to replace human agents.
The key here is to position Agentic AI as a tool to augment human agent performance, rather than as a threat to replace agents. Only by seeing Agentic AI as a complement to their role, will human agents come to embrace this, and see the benefits of working sideby-side: instead of being a competition between man and machine.
Jon Arnold is Principal of J Arnold & Associates, an independent analyst practice providing thought leadership about the business-level impact of digital transformation on the future of work. Core areas of expertise include unified communications, collaboration, cloud platforms( UCaaS, CCaaS and CPaaS), contact centers, and customer experience.