Talkdesk Report Reveals Artificial Intelligence Fuels Improved Customer Experience and Agent Experiences Amid Surging Call Volumes

Talkdesk global data shows deploying generative artificial intelligence correlates with improved core contact center competencies such as faster response times 

• The Talkdesk Global Contact Center Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Benchmarking report shows the correlation between artificial intelligence (AI) and contact center performance in 2023 and includes six months of data since generative AI (GenAI) transformed the customer experience (CX) industry.

• Inbound call volumes surged by 21% in 2023 yet the data indicates AI helped organizations maintain service levels, engage with customers faster, and make agents’ roles easier.

• The report helps contact center leaders compare their center performance against peers across industries, regions, and company sizes, and identify ways to improve CX.

Talkdesk®, Inc., a global provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered customer experience (CX) technology that serves enterprises of all sizes, launched its latest annual Talkdesk Global Contact Center Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Benchmarking report. Announced this week at Customer Contact Week Las Vegas 2024, the report measures five traditional contact center performance metrics and indicates that amid surging inbound call volumes in 2023, AI helps organizations improve speed to answer, maintain service levels, and more.

The proprietary global data—gathered from across a wide range of industries, company sizes, and locations in 2023—is designed to help contact center leaders successfully navigate industry changes, especially the implications of generative AI (GenAI) on contact center operations and CX delivery. Moreover, the report contains six months of data since Talkdesk layered GenAI across the entire contact center platform, including its flagship Talkdesk CX Cloud™ and Industry Experience Clouds.

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While Talkdesk has been an AI innovator since 2018, GenAI radically changed the contact center landscape in 2023. The report will help contact center leaders compare their performance against peers and understand how they can best implement AI and GenAI solutions in order to excel in core contact center competencies.

Among the KPI benchmarks’ insight into the performance and opportunities for success in contact centers, key findings include:

As call volumes increase, KPI indicators show AI offers a path to improved speed to answer and service levels.

• Total inbound calls increased 21% to 390 million in 2023 across Talkdesk customers. In a positive outlook for rising AI usage, speed to answer improved significantly – down 13% to an average of 8.7 seconds – and service level improved slightly to 75.61%.
• While recruitment and attrition were challenges in 2023, AI-powered self-service solutions helped handle a portion of the large volumes of calls despite labor shortages. These results indicate that AI is enabling organizations to engage with customers faster.

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Human agents remain critical to the contact center.

• The role of the agent is still mission-critical. With inbound call volumes reaching over 390 million and the average talk time hovering around 2 minutes and 50 seconds, the data implies human agents will likely focus on handling more complex issues and customers who would rather have a human resolve their queries than AI.

Industry-specific contact center solutions correlate with higher service levels.

• While the average service level was maintained from 2022 to 2023 (75.4% in 2022 vs. 75.6% in 2023), some industries achieved higher service levels, including retail and consumer goods (RCG) at 78.5%. Organizations that deploy industry-tailored solutions, like Talkdesk Autopilot for Retail, Banking, and Healthcare, can accelerate contact center transformation with AI. The data implies industries can better address vertical-specific CX queries due to these tailored solutions.