Two numbers sit side by side in the same Genesys report: 95 percent of consumers expect not to have to repeat themselves, and 48 percent of companies pass nothing at all from the virtual agent to the human. The industry's answer is a coordination layer. That is right for some – and an expensive answer to a question most companies can ask much earlier.
The sentence turns up early in almost every project, and it sounds responsible. It is also why a fair number of voice agents never make it out of a meeting room.
Twilio's quarterly results show self-service voice growing more than 50 percent – and costs becoming harder to forecast at the same time. That is one piece of news seen from two sides, and the explanation is the unit you buy in.
Most voice agent pilots are set up so that they cannot fail. Which means they cannot settle anything either. Here are the eight steps that turn two weeks into a decision.
A voice agent that handles 68 percent of calls without transferring looks like a success. The number says nothing about how many of those calls were actually resolved — and even less about what the business did with the capacity it freed up.
Why the demo doesn't survive on the phone
Volume quickly reveals whether AI is an experiment – or an integrated part of daily operations.
Everyone's talking about Voice AI. Everyone's showcasing fancy demos. And everyone promises that “this agent understands everything – in all languages – all the time”. Reality check: It’s nonsense.
We have started a pilot project together with Opinion, where we are testing Voice AI agents as part of data collection and analysis.
Speed, efficiency, and customer experience are crucial for winning and retaining customers. Consumers expect seamless digital processes, but many providers still struggle with manual routines that create friction and drop-off.