How Contact Centers Became the Corporate Nervous System (Live from ICMI w Daniel)

Host: Bob Furniss (without co-host Amos) Guest: Daniel Thomas, Informa Location: ICMI Conference Expo Floor

• Daniel Thomas approaches contact center industry from a research background
• Surveys audiences and writes research reports
• Has "front row seat" to industry transformation
• Conducts the annual State of the Contact Center survey

• Comprehensive benchmark study surveying contact center professionals
• Covers multiple verticals including:
  • Training and skills
  • Compensation and salary
  • Technology use
  • Leadership perceptions
  • Strategy
• Tracks year-over-year progress
• Recent additions include AI and workforce training questions

• Major shift: Contact centers increasingly viewed as "strategic customer intelligence hubs" rather than cost centers
• Described as "customer intelligence and nervous system"
• No other department has closer customer proximity or more customer data
• C-suite now acknowledges value with direct data funnels informing executive decisions

• 72% believe AI will transform roles, not replace them
• Only ~25% think AI will lead to workforce reductions
• AI expected to handle "level one, rote, monotonous, repetitive work"
• Agents will focus on:
  • Complex needs and edge cases
  • Soft skills: empathy, communication, problem solving, critical thinking
• 90% of surveyed leaders believe humans necessary as AI overseers
• Gartner prediction: 40% of agentic AI projects will fail by 2027 (often due to neglecting human oversight)

• Agents increasingly viewed as:
  • Consultants
  • Solutions architects
  • Higher-tier problem solvers
  • "White glove service" providers
• Rising expectations due to AI support
• Agents becoming intelligence providers to C-suite
• More analytical roles: identifying trends, patterns, creating intelligent summaries

1. Customer resistance (top concern)
2. Data accuracy
3. Data privacy and security
4. Lack of proper AI governance

• In-office full time
• Hybrid
• Fully remote
• Models remain transitional and subject to change
• Increased scheduling flexibility critical for retention

• Traditional metrics: CSAT, utilization, average handle time
• New priority: Agent experience rising in importance
• Recognition that internal customer experience drives external customer experience

• Current CSAT surveys often lack nuance
• Can't distinguish between:
  • Poor agent performance vs. poor company policy
  • Single bad experience vs. overall satisfaction
• Need for more qualitative feedback mechanisms
• "Watermelon effect": High metrics but poor actual experience

• Significant jump from multi-channel to omni-channel implementation
• Growth in non-traditional channels:
  • Social media
  • SMS/text
  • Video
• Technology enabling unified customer history across channels

• Successful organizations treat contact centers as "valuable strategic sources of intelligence"
• Organizations not recognizing this value are "dropping the ball" and will "see the consequences"
• Contact centers serve as the "hub" and "nervous system" reaching everywhere in the organization
• When no one knows the answer, they turn to the contact center

• "If your agents aren't excited about AI, then you actually haven't communicated to them how enriching and transforming it could be"
• "Agents are increasingly going to play a role where they are the eyes and the ears... providing the intelligence back to the C-suite"
• Contact centers as "the strongest data... the hub... the nervous system that reaches in everywhere else"