Customer experience teams, especially those within call centers, have often gotten the short end of the stick. This sector is infamous for having high turnover, which often results in the remaining CX agents trying to provide service with a skeleton crew full of new hires who don’t yet know the intricacies of the business. Then, since there aren’t enough agents to go around, callers get left on hold for extended periods of time and agents barely have time to take a breath between calls before the next one is ringing into their headset.
Once the call is connected, agents are often met with less-than-pleasant attitudes because of long hold times and other annoyances like convoluted menu trees and unhelpful robot voices. In fact, according to recent research, a shocking 9 in 10 customer service workers have reported a noticeable uptick in hostility and abuse from customers in the last year. In light of this, it’s no wonder retaining customer service representatives is challenging. It’s a vicious circle. Insufficient staffing leads to poor service leads to frustrated customers who take it out on agents which leads to agents quitting…resulting in insufficient staffing, and so on. But it doesn’t have to be like this.
Because of advancements in machine learning (ML) and spoken language understanding (SLU), a new era of customer service is emerging — contact center AI is changing the customer experience game. AI-powered voice assistants can be invaluable teammates for human CX representatives, offering support in ways that were previously impossible before the development of this technology. AI is transforming the way customer experience teams operate because it allows for technological innovation alongside the familiar, on-point service that customers seek.
What went wrong in the call center?
Before digging into how AI can help CX teams, it’s important to understand the root cause of call center woes. First up: legacy interactive voice response (IVR) systems. IVR systems are the robot-voiced “press one for more options” menus we’ve all come to know and hate. From poor speech recognition (“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.”) that leaves callers begging to speak to a representative to looping lists of irrelevant options, IVR systems are a regular source of customer dissatisfaction. By the time a caller is connected to a live agent, they’re already agitated. Though they haven’t even divulged their issue, let alone solved it, the experience has thus far been a bad one. This can tank customer satisfaction scores and open agents up to verbal abuse and belittling remarks. With an IVR system, no one is having a good time.
Next up on the list of call center complaints is high employee turnover. The average representative abandons their position after about 15 months of service in the call center. This constant churn means newer, less experienced agents handle the majority of customer interactions, and organizations must continuously divert resources to training rather than skill development. The unstable workforce results in deteriorating service quality as inexperienced staff take longer to resolve issues and make more frequent errors. Moreover, the revolving door of employees weakens team dynamics and workplace culture, resulting in reduced engagement and emotional investment from the remaining staff. Customers often perceive this strain through interactions marked by uncertainty, apathy or lack of confidence, creating a self-reinforcing cycle where challenging work conditions fuel further turnover.
Finally, agents face extremely high call volumes with extensive wait times as a result of being understaffed. Extended wait times represent one of the most significant friction points in customer service interactions, and the patience threshold is low – research indicates that around 44% of callers begin experiencing negative emotions after waiting just five to 15 minutes. This widespread frustration with lengthy waits has emerged as a leading driver of customer dissatisfaction and, eventually, churn. The modern consumer’s expectation for immediate service makes these delays especially problematic, as customers increasingly view long hold times as a sign of poor service quality and lack of respect for their time.
The combination of these pitfalls is a recipe for bad customer experiences, but AI-powered voice assistants can help take CX teams to the next level.
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CX team transformation
One major benefit of AI-powered voice assistants is that they never have to take a break and won’t quit if someone is mean to them, meaning they have 24/7/365 uptime. Because of this constant availability, hold times are dramatically reduced, and speedier service means happier customers. Voice assistants also communicate with customers in natural-sounding language and understand intent, even if the caller interrupts or pauses, has a thick accent or if there is background noise present.
Since voice bots are programmed to answer customer FAQs, many customers can resolve their issues without ever needing human intervention. In fact, a recent IBM report found that “AI infused virtual agents” can solve up to 80% of routine tasks and common customer questions, thus boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty.
If there is a customer need that’s too complex, or if specific issues are programmed to be escalated to a person, the AI is “smart” enough to know when to hand the call off to a human agent who can deal with situations that require an irreplaceable human touch. Since human agents are fielding fewer calls and dealing with vetted (and vented) customers because of the AI on the frontlines, reps are less stressed and more equipped to provide outstanding service. Implementing AI-powered voice assistants can help improve customer experiences and the experiences of CX teams — it’s a win-win.
Leveraging both advanced AI assistants and skilled human agents is shifting customer experiences toward the better. This tech enables natural dialogue while intelligently determining when to involve human expertise. This approach combines AI’s efficiency in handling routine queries with live agents’ uniquely human ability to parse complex issues and provide genuine empathy. The result is a smoother, more enjoyable customer experience that eliminates those traditional pain points like long holds and confounding menu options. As these systems continue to mature, they’re setting a new standard for customer experience teams, allowing them to balance technological convenience with authentic human connection and provide outstanding service to every caller, every time.
