Surprisingly, only 10% of contact center leaders believe that telephony will significantly impact CX automation in the next 12 months, according to a recent study conducted by Verint. Instead, more than half (53%) identified artificial intelligence (AI), while 23% pointed to digital channels as the primary drivers behind their CX automation initiatives.
“Our research underscores the imperative for contact centers to embrace openness in their technology platforms. The shift from telephony-first to AI-driven solutions is evident, and organizations that prioritize flexibility and innovation will lead the way in delivering exceptional customer experiences now and in the future,” says Jenni Palocsik, Vice President, Marketing Insights, Experience and Enablement, Verint.
The survey emphasizes the critical role of openness, automation, and AI in addressing the challenges faced by contact centers striving to enhance CX while managing resource constraints. The evaluation particularly focuses on Contact Center as a Service (CaaS) solutions and their effectiveness in an era where AI plays a pivotal role in transforming customer engagement.
The findings highlight shortcomings in first-generation, telephony-centric CCaaS solutions, which are failing to optimize contact center efficiency in three key areas: inadequate support for omnichannel engagement, lack of effective mechanisms for reducing administrative burdens, and suboptimal leveraging of engagement data.
Only 41% of leaders are satisfied with current solutions
Despite 75% of respondents leveraging CCaaS solutions for customer engagement, many leaders express dissatisfaction with their performance. As many as 80% consider features like AI, automation, and bots for self-service and agent-assisted tasks important, but only 41% are content with their current solutions. Similarly, 82% emphasize the importance of easy integration into third-party systems, yet only 46% are satisfied with this capability in their organizations.
Verint addresses these challenges by offering an open CX automation platform designed for agile, scalable omnichannel customer engagement with a core focus on data and AI. The platform enables businesses to choose applications based on their specific needs, access comprehensive engagement data, and enhance their human workforce with specialized AI-powered bots. This approach aims to elevate both agent and customer experiences by unifying engagement data, ensuring continuous AI training, and integrating specialized AI-powered bots into the human workforce seamlessly.
The previous survey by Verint highlighted that over three-quarters (77%) of businesses have noticed a rise in consumer demands for improved digital interaction.
