ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
BY MIKE AOKI AND ADAM BOELKE
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE STOCK
BEFORE AI BECOMES THE NEXT IVR HOW CONTACT CENTER LEADERS CAN
Contact centers have been through major technology promises before. IVR, chat, omnichannel platforms, workforce optimization( WFO) tools, knowledge bases, automation, and now AI have all arrived promising greater efficiency, lower costs, and a better customer experience( CX).
The difference was rarely the technology alone. It was how thoughtfully leaders implemented it, communicated the purpose, prepared employees, and understood the effect on customer effort and employee trust.
16 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
IMPLEMENT AI PROPERLY.
AI may be the most powerful tool contact centers have seen in decades. But if leaders treat it primarily as a cost-cutting shortcut instead of a performance and experience enabler, they risk repeating old mistakes faster, louder, and with greater consequences.
THE PROMISE AND PRESSURE OF AI
AI is entering contact centers when leaders are under pressure to reduce cost, improve service levels, increase speed, and do more with fewer resources.
The danger is that AI is too often positioned as a replacement strategy rather than an enablement strategy.
When frontline employees hear,“ This tool is here to replace you,” they understandably lose trust in its adoption. When they believe automation is being done to them instead of with them, they are far less likely to embrace and improve it or help make it successful.