Is Contact Center AI Taking Over? Let’s Look at the Facts

ai taking over featured image final

Right now, the contact center market is growing at an exponential rate. Technology advances coupled with the advent of the virtual call center are leaving behind anyone who doesn’t have at least a remote omnichannel software. But there’s an even bigger hurdle: contact center AI.

Recently, Google has been making incursions into the contact center space. What at first were steps have now turned into strides, and the Google Cloud Contact Center AI is here to stay, plus they’ve partnered with some of the biggest names in the industry. Other solution providers are adopting AI as well.

More and more companies are employing these solutions to replace increasingly complex agent interactions. So, it’s fair to ask: is contact center AI taking over? Is it really necessary that you use an AI solution? And how effective will it be?

Let’s look at the facts one by one.

ai taking over featured image final

Contact Center AI Market Will Expand Significantly by 2025

A recent report highlights just how big the growth of the global contact center AI market will be. With companies such as Google, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and Amazon investing in the space, and 78% of contact centers looking to adopt AI solutions, it might seem like the direction is clear.

The bottom line is there’s a high demand for cloud-based contact center AI solutions. This trend comes coupled with the ever-increasing value of consumer data and the staggering growth of social media engagement among customers during the pandemic.

The Shift to Useful AI

According to the report in The Daily Chronicle, there are some exciting advancements in technology that are said to fuel the growth of AI within the contact center space. These are:

  • The integration of gesture recognition with AI-based chatbots
  • A rising trend of providing services on digital platforms

These technological strides might enable AI solutions to come closer to human levels of interactions. They won’t reach the same levels, but they’ll get better at it progressively.

The shift to useful AI is further emphasized by Google’s push to allow businesses to make their own AI voice. Google markets its AI as one that “understands, interacts, and talks.” They’ve adeptly identified one of the key issues with contact center AI and are addressing it directly: typical AI is just not intelligent enough.

So, any company that wants to enter the AI space needs to follow and build on that to offer true AI solutions, not AI problems.

Big Tech Using AI to Enter the Contact Center Market

We’ve already mentioned Big Tech. Google’s just the latest actor to show its head in the contact center world – they must’ve realized it’s a very promising avenue, set to grow by up to $6 billion by 2024.

There’s a concern current companies within the contact center space should have: what’s Google up to?

It’s an ancient question that many have asked whenever Big Tech enters a new market. Right now, Google partnered its contact center AI initiative with many well-established industry names. And it’s being downright friendly in its relationship with these businesses. The question becomes: will any of these companies become part of Google?

Should we be concerned that Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, or Amazon might be looking for acquisitions as well? It’s certainly a common business model. With so many Big Tech companies moving into the contact center space with innovative AI solutions, an easy conclusion is that they’re looking to expand into the CCaaS area. And whenever Big Tech expands into a sector, it ends up dominating that sector with a lot more ease based solely on brand affinity and power.

But something tells me they won’t stop at CCaaS. Seeing as they’re big corporations that have their own gigantic contact center operations, expanding that side to service other companies would be a logical step. As such, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and Amazon look primed to enter not just the CCaaS space, but also the BPO space.

This is all speculation but it’s happened before when Big Tech entered the Financial market.  And it’s scary seeing how COVID-19 negatively impacted most companies, while Big Tech came out of the Pandemic looking better than ever.

Still a Way to Go before AI Becomes Preferred

But that’s a long way off.

Right now, confidence in contact center AI solutions is still not great. We know from personal experience that interacting with a customer support chatbot can be infuriating. We’ve talked about it before on our podcast series numerous times.

Our conclusion’s always been that real, live agents will never really disappear from a contact center, but they will need to adapt. In the future of the contact center, the majority of customer support interactions will be for complex issues. Agents need to get better and better at servicing those particular customers.

Voice Is Still King

A recent survey however revealed that voice is still the preferential means of communication for American consumers. And it’s set to stay that way for the foreseeable future – at least, when it comes to service issues that bots simply can’t handle.

That same report however highlighted the need for other communication channels. Simply put, you can’t expect to stick entirely to voice. That just won’t cut it. You need to give people the option of many, many channels to pick from.

And before AI takes over (because, at some point, it will), businesses need to move closer to identifying and implementing some form of efficient AI system.

Summing Up – Live Agents Will Never Really Go Away

But as we said – live agents will never really be gone. You’ll still need someone there on the phone day in, day out, to pick up. To chat with people and be reassuring. I don’t think any robot can be reassuring to the level that a human can. Unless it’s Data from Star Trek, and even then it’s still not the same.

So to answer our initial question: is AI taking over?

Maybe. But it’s doing so slowly, and it’s relying on technological advancements to become more useful. Until it can actually handle customer interactions without becoming a nuisance, it’s still far away.

Right now, what you need to have is something that can prepare you for AI – an omnichannel solution. And I think we’ve got just the thing – OMNI+.

With a background in Anthropology and a passion for digital marketing and copywriting, Georgian enjoys translating complex, often technical, concepts into everyday words. He loves optimizing everything, from texts, marketing funnels, and PPC campaigns to visual creations, social media feeds, or landing pages.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

AI is advancing at a rapid pace. Big Tech is moving into the contact center space with innovative AI solutions. How will this change the industry? Is contact center AI taking over? We're giving you an in-depth look at the facts, right here.
Anda Alexandrescu

Anda Alexandrescu

The greatest writer of them all. Insert more bio info here

call center dashboards
Blog

What is a call center dashboard and what does it do?

Call center dashboards play a vital role in contact centers. Call center dashboards provide the kinds of insights and metrics that contribute to having improved agent performance and more successful campaigns. These digital command centers offer a comprehensive overview of operations, enabling supervisors to make informed decisions in real-time. Let’s delve deeper and explore the dashboard functionalities, key metrics, best practices, and their pivotal role in enhancing customer satisfaction.

Read More »
Unified Customer Experience Management
Blog

What Is Unified Customer Experience Management (CXM)?

Customer demands are ever-changing and more often than not, they become more and more difficult to keep up with for a lot of businesses. Customers today expect seamless and personalized interactions across all touch points. Disjointed experiences not only frustrate customers but also hinder businesses from nurturing loyalty and trust. To address and overcome this challenge, many companies have started embracing Unified Customer Experience Management (Unified CXM). CXM has completely revolutionized how brands engage with their customers.

Read More »
Blog

Call Center optimization: Tools and best practices to increase performance

Call center optimization is a strategic approach that focuses on enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of call center operations. When companies implement specific tools and best practices, they can significantly improve their customer experience (CX), increase agent performance, and ensure high-quality service. This article delves into the essential aspects of call center optimization, including the tools and best practices that can drive performance improvements.

Read More »

Free 30-day Proof of Concept

Unlock Your FREE Month of licensing and take your contact center to the next level.

Fill in this form and save big on your tech stack with NobelBiz OMNI+ cloud contact center software!

"*" indicates required fields

Hidden

Expert Form Tip: Sign Up with Google ReCAPTCHA

To use the CAPTCHA field on this form to protect your website from spam and bot abuse you will need to sign up with Google ReCAPTCHA. For more information on this, check out the Docs.

Important: Delete this tip before you publish the form.

Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Warmth Beyond Winter

We're adopting a family for one year.
Let's make an impact together.

NEW WEBINAR ON-DEMAND:

From Leads to Profits: Mastering Outbound Lead Generation and Sales

New LIVE Webinar

Mastering Workforce Management

NEW ON-DEMAND FIRESIDE CHAT!

2023 Contact Center Industry Recap & Future Projections