Why AI in the contact centre is only as good as your strategy

Why AI in the contact centre is only as good as your strategy.

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Artificial intelligence is everywhere in business conversations right now. In the contact centre space, it is often hailed as the next great leap forward, promising to transform customer interactions, improve efficiency and drive significant cost savings. Yet, for every success story there are far too many examples of costly implementations that fail to deliver the expected results.

The truth is that AI on its own does not guarantee better customer experiences or business outcomes. Technology is only one part of the equation. Without the right strategy, processes and culture in place, even the most sophisticated AI solution will underperform.

The global market for AI in contact centres is already substantial. It is valued at 2.65 billion US dollars in 2024 and projected to grow by 23% in 2025. Ninety-four percent of businesses say they expect to increase their investment in AI and generative AI in the near future. Digital voice assistants now outnumber the global population.

However, more than 70% of AI projects fail. According to a 2024 Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report, nearly two-thirds of respondents said AI adoption is a mid-level or top strategic priority, but only 10% feel their organisation is fully ready for it. More than half do not believe they have the data foundation required for the new era of AI.

The conclusion is clear. AI is not an automatic win. It is a tool. Whether it delivers value depends entirely on how it is implemented and integrated into the customer experience.

Steve Jobs famously said: “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back towards the technology, not the other way around.” This principle applies perfectly to AI in the contact centre. Too many projects begin with the question: “What can this technology do?” rather than: “What customer or business problem are we trying to solve?”

When you focus first on the customer journey, you can design AI applications that address real pain points. This approach increases the chances of adoption by both customers and employees, and it ensures the technology delivers measurable benefits.

Through our work at Smartz Solutions, we have identified four interconnected elements that determine the success or failure of AI in the contact centre.

1. Data readiness

Data is the lifeblood of AI. If your data is incomplete, inconsistent or non-compliant, the output from AI will be unreliable. Preparing for AI means auditing data sources, ensuring data quality and quantity, labelling data correctly and meeting privacy and compliance standards.

It also means defining a clear business problem to solve and building a cross-functional project team that understands both the technical and operational sides of the business. Without this foundation, even the most advanced AI algorithms cannot produce meaningful insights.

2. Customer journey alignment

AI should be mapped against the customer journey to ensure it enhances every step of the interaction. When done correctly, AI can reduce customer effort, speed up resolution times, enable omnichannel support and increase personalisation. This leads to improved satisfaction scores and stronger brand loyalty.

The risks of ignoring this step are significant. Misaligned AI can create fragmented experiences, frustrate customers and cause businesses to miss critical opportunities to add value. Poorly integrated AI can even damage brand trust and waste investment.

3. Process mapping and business re-engineering

AI will only deliver its full potential if the processes it supports are fit for purpose. Process mapping and re-engineering are essential steps in eliminating inefficiencies, reducing escalations and enabling more effective automation.

Skipping this step means data silos remain, errors are compounded and the organisation struggles to scale effectively. It also reduces internal adoption as employees are less likely to embrace tools that feel disconnected from their daily workflows.

4. AI education and culture shift

AI often creates fear in the workplace, with employees worrying about job security. This fear can slow adoption and limit the benefits of the technology. By contrast, AI literacy empowers employees, reduces resistance to change and accelerates the realisation of value.

Education demystifies AI, clarifies its purpose and helps people understand how it can support their work. It also enables more ethical and responsible use of the technology. When combined with process re-engineering and customer journey alignment, education can create a culture shift that embraces innovation rather than fears it.

One of the most persistent myths about AI in the contact centre is that it will replace human agents. The reality is that AI works best as an augmentation tool, not a replacement. Intelligent automation can handle repetitive, low-value tasks, freeing human agents to focus on complex, high-empathy interactions.

For example, an optimised intelligent voice agent or chatbot can contain more than half of incoming calls, saving millions in operational costs while improving self-service experiences. In one case, a telecommunications company achieved 50% containment of 3.5 million annual interactions, saving 17 million US dollars in agent capacity.

The result is a more efficient contact centre that scales intelligently, without sacrificing the human touch that customers still value.

When implemented strategically, AI in the contact centre delivers clear competitive advantages:

• Accurate, personalised customer experiences
• Improved operational efficiency and agent satisfaction
• Better return on investment and faster time to value
• Higher data quality and compliance
• A scalable, intelligent contact centre model

When implemented poorly, the risks are just as clear:

• Frustrated users and low adoption rates
• Wasted investment with little measurable impact
• Disconnected customer experiences
• Reputational damage
• Ongoing inefficiencies that AI was meant to fix

AI adoption should be driven by the outcomes you want to achieve, not by the technology itself. That means starting small, measuring results and scaling based on evidence. It also means minimising disruption to customers and employees during implementation.

As Eliezer Yudkowsky, a researcher in AI safety, has warned: “By far, the greatest danger of artificial intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it.” True understanding comes from thoughtful planning, cross-functional collaboration and a willingness to adapt as you learn.

AI has the potential to redefine how contact centres operate. But the technology is not a magic solution. It is a tool that must be deployed with precision, guided by strategy and rooted in a deep understanding of both the customer and the business.

By focusing on data readiness, customer journey alignment, process re-engineering and education, organisations can move beyond the hype to achieve meaningful results. The winners in this new era will be those that use AI to enhance human capabilities, not replace them, creating customer experiences that are both intelligent and compassionate.

The challenge is not whether AI can be a game-changer for your contact centre. The real question is whether you are ready to implement it in a way that ensures it will be.