5 Investments That Revenue-Generating Contact Centers Are Prioritizing Right Now (and You Should Too)

5 Investments That Revenue-Generating Contact Centers Are Prioritizing Right Now (and You Should Too)

AI agents for contact centers are now the top investment priority for revenue-generating teams, building on data originally reported in the 2022 State of Contact Center Conversation Intelligence Report.

Revenue is the lifeblood of every company—and now, the ability for contact centers to be more than a cost center and generate revenue is more critical than ever.

Since this data was originally gathered, the market has shifted decisively toward agentic AI investment in the contact center. Revenue-generating teams are no longer treating AI as an experimental add-on: they are prioritizing AI agents that can operate across both voice and chat to automate customer conversations end to end. This shift reflects a broader move from disconnected point solutions toward purpose-built AI agents that support both customers and the human and AI agents serving them. The investment priorities below still hold, but AI agents for contact centers has emerged as the clear top priority for teams focused on revenue growth.

With uncertainty at an all-time high, contact centers are looking for ways to improve conversion rates and new bookings to fuel their bottom line, whether on outbound calls, inbound calls, or service calls.

What does this mean for contact center leaders?

For contact center and operations leaders, visibility into performance KPIs at the team and individual levels—and then mobilizing teams to move the needle—is critical.

For sales managers and trainers, improving sales efficiency comes down to knowing what works and what doesn’t so they can deliver the coaching that will drive the biggest impact.

For QA teams, it means knowing whether sales reps and agents are sticking to the script and exhibiting the behavior that will drive more sales, then working cross-functionally to deliver those insights.

For businesses in highly regulated markets, this requires confidence that your sales team is in compliance and not introducing risk to the organization.

Up and down the contact center, dialing in these initiatives require complete visibility into what’s discussed in customer conversations.

How you prioritize and invest can make or break the success.

Based on new data from the State of Contact Center Conversation Intelligence report, we’ve identified the five strategic areas of investment based on responses from more than 100 revenue-generating contact centers.

A Sixth Investment Priority: AI Agents for Contact Centers as a Single Platform

Revenue-generating contact centers are increasingly consolidating around AI agents for contact centers as a single platform, rather than stitching together separate point tools for transcription, quality management, coaching, and self-service. Purpose-built AI agents that work across voice and chat can now handle a growing share of customer conversations directly, while the same platform captures those interactions and surfaces performance data for AI agents for operations. Centralizing agentic AI on one platform reduces integration overhead, gives leaders a single source of truth for coaching and compliance, and lets teams launch new use cases faster than adding another disconnected tool. For contact centers deciding where to invest next, this platform consolidation is becoming just as important as any single feature.

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Frequently Answered Questions

What are AI agents for contact centers?

AI agents for contact centers are purpose-built agentic AI systems that can autonomously handle customer conversations across voice and chat, from answering routine questions to completing transactions, while escalating complex issues to human agents when needed.

Why are revenue-generating contact centers investing in AI agents right now?

Revenue-generating contact centers are prioritizing AI agents because they can automate a growing share of routine conversations, freeing human agents to focus on interactions that directly affect revenue, while giving leaders consistent visibility into performance across every conversation.

How do AI agents for contact centers fit alongside conversation intelligence investments?

AI agents for contact centers build on the same conversation data that powers quality management and coaching, using it to automate voice and chat interactions directly and to generate insights that help both human and AI agents improve over time.

Michael Lowe
Head of Content
LinkedIn profile
October 19, 2022