Report: Real-Time AI Is a Key Contact Center Investment, Despite Economic Uncertainty

There’s no one-size-fits all solution for business and contact center challenges.

That real-time investment increasingly has a concrete name: Companion Agent, Observe.AI’s evolution of real-time agent assist, which listens to every conversation as it happens, guides agents live, and automatically summarizes the call once it ends.

But, according to our new report, there is something that comes close.

Although 88% of contact centers are using AI and automation, the majority are left wanting more. 

Only 36% say they are “very satisfied” with their current contact center AI tools.

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So what’s lacking?

More than half of respondents wish they had more real-time guidance for agents.

Why?

Respondents Want More Real-Time Guidance

First of all, let’s define real-time AI.

Real-time AI allows contact center leaders to create custom experiences that improve agent skills and make them more productive while handling customer calls. 

This may include smart scripts that keep agents on track, dynamic prompts to help handle objections, or remind agents about upsell opportunities, or behavioral coaching to alert reps of negative customer sentiment or hold time violations.

For supervisors, this could mean the ability to monitor active conversations and provide contextual help or save calls before they end.

Real-time AI gives contact center leaders the ability to drive behavior and performance in the moment, rather than after the conversation is completed. 

And this is exactly why contact center leaders already using real-time AI solutions say they get a host of benefits. 

According to the report, the top benefits of real-time AI, include helping agents:

• Provide a better customer experience
• Convert more sales calls/drive more revenue
• Stay compliant on calls
• Onboard faster

On a more tactical level, real-time AI is helping agents execute customer conversations better and be more productive.

The top benefits include:

• Reducing hold time on calls
• Guiding agents on next best steps or objection handling talk tracks
• Providing situation-based, knowledge base links
• Helping agents empathize with customers who express a negative sentiment

For a full list of real-time AI benefits reported by our respondents, read the report. 

What Real-Time AI Investment Looks Like Today: Companion Agent

For most of the contact centers in this report, “real-time AI investment” now has a concrete name: Companion Agent. As Observe.AI’s current AI agent assist software, Companion Agent listens to every conversation as it happens, surfaces next-best-action guidance, compliance prompts, and objection-handling talk tracks in real time, then automatically summarizes the call once it ends.

Companion Agent is the practical expression of the real-time agent assist capabilities respondents said they wanted more of — built to support agents live rather than only reviewing calls after the fact, and to give supervisors visibility into conversations as they unfold.

• Live, in-call guidance on next steps and objection handling
• Real-time compliance and sentiment alerts
• Automatic post-call summaries for faster wrap-up
• Supervisor visibility into active conversations

Broader Business Benefits from Real-Time AI

Agents are the primary day-to-day beneficiary of real-time AI solutions, but the benefits expand to the broader business as well.

In fact, real-time AI was seen by respondents as the solution to a number of key business-wide challenges:

• 61% plan to invest in real-time to improve overall contact center performance
• 40% plan to invest in real-time specifically to prevent agent turnover
• 37% plan to invest in real-time specifically to prepare for a possible recession

Yes, real-time AI is good for agents, but it’s also good for the greater business.

“Observe.AI’s Real-Time AI brings new levels of personalization to agent coaching,” says Tom Nusspickel, Chief Operations Officer of American First Finance. “It expands our universe of data and insights that inform real-time guidance, so our agents can focus on what’s actually relevant to them rather than be bombarded with irrelevant alerts. We feel we’re better positioned to act quickly and precisely to improve the service we provide to our customers and financial partners.” 

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