As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the customer experience (CX) landscape, many organizations recognize its transformative potential within the contact center. For most CX leaders, AI is a welcome addition to their toolkits as they evolve contact center operations to better meet the complex demands of today’s multigenerational, distributed workforce. Two-thirds of CX leaders surveyed for the report “Customer experience in the age of AI” say greater AI adoption will make employees in their CX organization more engaged.

Many organizations are also shifting from a company-centric focus on workforce optimization and management to an employee-centric workforce engagement management (WEM) approach. This shift is not merely about streamlined processes and improved scheduling, but it also represents a comprehensive approach to enabling and supporting employees.

For forward-thinking organizations, AI can also play a central role in this shift. For example, about two-thirds of the nearly 20% of organizations that use forecasting and scheduling tools are using AI-powered versions of those solutions, the AI report found. Similarly, about one-fifth of CX leaders surveyed say they use automated coaching and training tools; of those 44% use AI-powered versions.

The Journey to Engagement

Traditional workforce management focuses on operational efficiency — most often, activities such as scheduling, capacity planning, and basic forecasting. While effective, these approaches can fail to address the nuanced needs of a workforce that’s increasingly diverse and digitally distributed.

Today, organizations are embracing WEM to provide a holistic framework for workforce support. For some, this includes up-leveling to AI-powered versions of more traditional solutions. For others, it also considers how the integration of chatbots and voicebots into customer service journeys impacts the agent experience.

In a recent interview on CX trends, Robin Gareiss, CEO and Principal Analyst at Metrigy, highlights the growing complexity of having to manage human agents and AI-powered bots in tandem. “More than 60% of companies view their workforce as both human agents and AI agents when it comes to scheduling,” said Gareiss.

This complexity demands new tools and strategies for everything from capacity planning to agent support. AI’s role in this transformation is pivotal. It automates time-intensive tasks like forecasting and scheduling, which has the potential to save planners and supervisors hours weekly, as well as help them balance human agents’ schedules with AI agents’ capacity for handling basic tasks 24/7 — and customers’ likelihood to select one versus the other.

It can also enhance operational efficiency, which could free up agents from performing repetitive, rote tasks — and give them more time to resolve complex customer issues.

AI also plays a critical role in knowledge management, providing agents with real-time assistance through predictive suggestions and content curation. This capability can not only enhance efficiency, it can also bolster agents’ confidence in their roles.

More than half of CX leaders surveyed for the AI report are using or piloting the technology to help agents find answers faster in their knowledge base. And that complements their use of WEM solutions.

Additionally, sentiment and empathy analysis solutions allow agents to adjust their approach in real time. “When you analyze what the customer is saying and share that with employees as close to real time as possible, they can address issues immediately, improving both performance and satisfaction,” noted Gareiss.

Enhancing the Employee Experience with AI

AI’s integration into workforce engagement has far-reaching implications for employee experience. Using WEM goes beyond time-saving measures: It introduces AI-driven quality management, coaching and real-time assistance to create a more engaging environment for employees.

For example, AI-powered tools can assist with quality management by providing organizations with the ability to analyze every interaction (versus a select few) and offering tailored coaching based on data-driven insights.

 

“Companies using AI for coaching save supervisors an average of 11 hours per week, allowing them to focus on more strategic activities like outreach to at-risk customers,”
– Robin Gareiss, CEO and Principal Analyst at Metrigy

 

Sixty percent of CX leaders surveyed for the AI report expect that their organization’s use of AI will enable supervisors, quality managers and planners to be more efficient and effective over the next 1-3 years. These technologies can also help to improve onboarding and training processes. This is likely why 62% say their organization is using or piloting AI to improve agent efficiency, including to reduce training time and improve training quality.

Additionally, AI can help supervisors identify when agents are experiencing burnout by analyzing sentiment and workload patterns, allowing for timely interventions. This capability is increasingly important as agent-led interactions increase in complexity and AI copilots take over handling “downtime” tasks such as post-call summaries. It’s no wonder the AI report found that 44% of CX leaders surveyed are using or piloting AI to reduce employee attrition.

The Future of AI in Workforce Engagement

The benefits of AI in workforce engagement extend beyond employees to impact customer experience. Engaged employees are more likely to deliver empathetic, high-quality service. This connection creates a virtuous cycle where satisfied employees improve customer interactions, driving loyalty and business growth.

AI also facilitates predictive customer service, which can enable organizations to anticipate customer needs and proactively address them. “AI lets us use operational and customer data not only for efficiency but also to create more personalized, empathetic customer experiences,” said Gareiss.

As organizations continue their AI journey, there will likely be a focus on continued expansion of how they use WEM to improve the employee experience. By prioritizing not just efficiency but also employee empowerment and satisfaction, companies can create a sustainable framework for business growth, customer satisfaction and employee engagement in the age of AI.

Integrating AI into every aspect of workforce management — from scheduling to real-time support — can allow organizations to not only address current challenges but also to lay the foundation for a more adaptable, resilient future. It will also enable CX leaders to evolve their service-related strategies and processes to be even more employee centric. This evolution underscores a simple yet powerful truth: Empowered employees contribute to more exceptional customer experiences.

As Gareiss said: “When implemented strategically, WEM reduces turnover and improves key business metrics like revenue and customer satisfaction. It’s about creating an environment where employees are enabled to thrive. And when they thrive, so do customers.”

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