US Firms Embrace Providers of Contact Center Automation

Partner engagements are increasing as enterprises aggressively adopt AI, analytics, cloud migration, ISG Provider Lens report says

Enterprises in the U.S. are engaging with customer experience services providers as they seek to rapidly automate contact centers and move them to the cloud, according to a new research report published by Information Services Group, a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

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“To modernize contact centers, enterprises need to bring a wide range of technologies to bear”

The 2023 ISG Provider Lens Contact Center — Customer Experience Services report for the U.S. finds that companies have sharpened their focus on customer experience (CX) as a competitive differentiator. Service providers that can provide a broad range of CX capabilities across multiple channels, in the cloud and from any location, are increasingly important partners in this mission.

“To modernize contact centers, enterprises need to bring a wide range of technologies to bear,” said Wayne Butterfield, ISG partner, digital solutions. “The contact center is the perfect place for AI-enabled technologies to add real incremental value. Beyond efficiencies, these technologies deliver a deeper level of understanding of what customers want and a real-time view of what is happening in your contact center operation.”

New technology adoption continues to shape U.S. enterprises’ approach to contact center customer experience, the report says. Cloud-based contact center operations have become mainstream in the U.S., which leads the world in cloud migration, and AI is now becoming a standard part of their customer experience toolkits for features such as chatbots. Most companies in the U.S. view AI as a useful, well-controlled tool and worry less than their counterparts in Europe about dangers to privacy and other concerns. While AI usage is more highly evolved in the U.S., most enterprises have not yet deployed generative AI in production.

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Analytics also plays a growing role in contact center modernization in the U.S. and other markets, the report says. Advanced analytics tools can integrate data from many sources to give agents as much insight as possible into a customers’ query, mood and past interactions with the company before and during a call.

Companies recognize that consumers’ impressions of a brand may extend beyond customer care to multiple channels, including social media, chatrooms and even websites created to impugn a company, ISG says. They are engaging with providers for omnichannel services that include monitoring consumer sentiment. Many companies in the U.S., including but not limited to large multinationals, are joining this trend.

“Customers today expect more than to have their queries resolved,” said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “They want a holistic experience across all their contacts with the company, and service providers are making that possible.”

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