The contact center industry is in the grip of an AI arms race and CX and contact center leaders are investing heavily in AI and automation. This makes sense with the significant efficiency gains available and increased competitive environment. There is ,however, a creeping risk in going all-in on tech without putting the same energy into culture reform. The potential result is that every contact center ends up with the same tech stack and deflection rate with little left to differentiate them.
The human skills that will define tomorrow's contact center – namely curiosity and empathy - don't emerge from software deployments. They have to be hired for and trained for.
In this session, Heather Arthur, Vice President of Client Experience Centres at Scotiabank, will make the case for a parallel transformation in which investment in AI is matched by investment in the agents and wider culture surrounding it. We will explore what that looks like in practice, from rethinking hiring for a world where agents handle only the most emotionally charged calls, to redesigning training programs that prioritize connection and building feedback loops that make frontline agents feel seen and heard. We will also address the internal structural challenge that has held the industry back, in which technology lives in IT and culture lives in HR, and they rarely speak. This session will make the case for contact center and CX leaders to become the connectors between these two worlds to drive collaboration that serve customers better.
Attendees will learn:
Why investing in AI without investing in culture risks a talent crisis and a race to the bottom on differentiation
How hiring practices and training must evolve now that AI is handling tier-one interactions
The role CX leaders must play in bridging IT and HR to build the contact center of tomorrow
