What Will 2025 Bring For Contact Centers?

It is always important to remember, as we enter the New Year, to focus on what truly counts and that is people. For contact centers that means the customers: and the personnel who engage both directly and indirectly with them. Like the agents, supervisors, and managers. But also like the back office, engineering, HR, IT, and supply chain staff who also make this people experience happen.

Contact centers cannot change decisions made by others nor alter events that are beyond their control, but which affect them.

Like new products or services sparking customer questions or issues with these items driving support inquiries.

Like workplace flexibility policies, wages and benefits, and/or return-to-office policies affecting employee loyalty.

But contact centers can plan and respond to how customers and employees who are impacted by them, within the scope of their authority and budgets. That includes informing the C-suite of critical resulting issues and suggesting solutions that provide a strong ROI, and at an ideally low cost.

For ultimately contact centers are about providing individuals with an excellent customer experience (CX) delivered by other individuals – regardless of location (home, in-office, hybrid) – and assisted with tools like those that are increasingly driven by artificial intelligence (AI). The people experience.

To provide advice and guidance for contact centers, we reached out to our Advisory Board to find out what contact center trends, in this context, do they foresee in 2025? Are they the same, changed, or new as compared to 2024?

Last year, contact centers rushed to implement Generative AI. This year, the challenge is successfully finding the right balance between AI and human interaction.

Generative AI is a powerful tool, enabling agents to retrieve information faster, suggest processes to follow, and help agents refine their responses.

When implemented well, AI chatbots and virtual agents can also manage transactional and even some complex inquiries, offering a convenient option for customers who prefer AI. As the technology evolves, it will take on even more complex issues.

However, technology has not, and will not, fully replace human interaction. Historically, innovative technologies like IVR and live chat promised streamlined service and reduced staffing. Instead, they became added channels, allowing customers to choose the ones to use based on their communication style and inquiry type.

Generative AI is likely to follow the same path, expanding customer options while supplementing, not replacing, human agents.

Some customers will always prefer human interaction, regardless of AI’s capabilities. For instance, many people avoid self-checkouts at grocery stores because they value the personal touch of cashiers. These same customers are the ones who press zero repeatedly to reach live agents when calling companies.

“Generative AI is an incredible tool, but some customers will always need human support. Is your contact center ready to provide this new level of service?” —Mike Aoki

Even tech-savvy customers often opt for human assistance when dealing with complex or emotionally charged issues. This underscores that human interaction will remain essential in contact centers.

Decades ago, people predicted automated banking machines would eliminate bank branches by the 1990s. Yet, 30 years later, there are more branches than ever, with staff handling more complex tasks rather than basic deposits and withdrawals. This illustrates new technology supplements rather than replaces existing service channels.

The same trend is becoming evident in contact centers. As Generative AI handles basic and even some complex inquiries, Tier 1 agents must be upskilled to address Tier 2-level issues. Without adequate training and coaching, this evolution could harm service quality, reduce employee retention, and increase escalations to management.

In 2025, achieving balance between AI and human interaction will be essential. Generative AI is an incredible tool, but some customers will always need human support. Is your contact center ready to provide this new level of service?

AI emerged as a dominant technology trend for contact centers in 2024, and for 2025, it has become the most dominant trend.

Many of the AI evolutions that came in 2024 will continue evolving in 2025, such as automated call summaries and conversational chatbots. In terms of what will be new for contact centers, AI agents will be the trend to watch.

The term is too new to have a standardized definition. But broadly it refers to how AI-based capabilities can now enable virtual “agents” to perform tasks in a more complete manner, with a level of autonomy that today’s chatbots cannot provide. To date, chatbots have essentially served as an advanced form of IVR, where basic tasks or requests can be automated, but in a highly controlled manner.

The AI agent concept started to emerge in late 2024, and the use cases are not exclusive to the contact center. However, the use cases to support CX hold great promise, and in contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) circles, the concept is also labeled as “Agentic AI.” With AI evolving so quickly, I expect these terms will become mainstream in 2025.

To further explain, AI agents take CX automation to a new level, by working autonomously to manage entire interactions, both with customers and for internal processes. Aside from executing pre-programmed tasks, they can draw from knowledge bases to make recommendations: all without any form of human intervention.

“Are AI agents autonomous enough to replace human agents, even if it is initially for the simpler interactions? It’s too early to tell.” —Jon Arnold

AI agents are not just limited to emulate the work of human agents with customers. They can also be operational agents to fully manage workflows, as well as be used by knowledge workers for their workflows. As such, the definition of AI agents will be broad, but the use cases in contact centers are especially strong.

Many types of vendors – not just from the CCaaS space – are investing heavily to develop these capabilities because AI has advanced to the point now where fully autonomous agents are viable.

AI agents are far from perfect, as they can only be as effective as the underlying language models and knowledge bases that are themselves very much works in progress.

That said, they are ready enough that contact centers are willing to try them to improve their automation capabilities. Centers need better ways to manage rising call volumes and be responsive enough to meet today’s CX expectations. Hiring more agents is not the answer, and AI-based technology offers the fastest time-to-market and the best ROI for building the business cases.

Are AI agents autonomous enough to replace human agents, even if it is initially for the simpler interactions? It’s too early to tell. But it could well be a trend to watch for in 2026.

The high traction trend for 2025 swirls around and envelops the concept of being “helpful.” It calls to mind my favorite quote from Mr. Fred Rogers who said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”

I love the legacy of Mr. Rogers and the radically different approach that nice man in the sweater took to quietly shift cultural norms. The essence of his wisdom pours through every prism of our beings with lessons to make things, all things, better. I am gobsmacked.

Being helpful is action, behavior, and the recipe to deliver high value outcomes. It cures the ills and defects in culture, employee engagement, and customer engagement.

Helpful is not just being nice. It is deliberate and intentional with a goal in mind. It is an elixir of focus, discipline, resolve, and grit that gets results. It is:

• Minimizing the excess is helpful. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote in The Little Prince that said: “what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
• I believe too many obstructions make the essential invisible. Eliminate non-value elements: reports, meetings, and thoughts that don’t inform action and outcome. Minimizing excess yields clarity, smooth pathways to repeatable success, and effort focused on meaningful work.
• Respecting time is helpful. Theophrastus wrote “Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend”: women too. It’s finite: no purchase, barter, or factory makes more.
• No commodity is more precious than time so stop wasting it, squandering it, and devaluing it through thoughtlessness. Valuing time reduces customer effort, employee effort, and your own effort. Respecting time yields more available time to think, solve problems, and develop into a better version of yourself.
• Listening to the needs of others is helpful. Ernest Hemingway wrote “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” Practice listening to others, leaning into them, and extending a hand up with frequency to make the muscle memory automatic. Listening yields development, loyalty, and feelings of well-being.

“Being helpful is action, behavior, and the recipe to deliver high value outcomes.” —Dr. Debra Bentson

Helpfulness through minimizing the excess, respecting time, and listening to others must be earned. The next best evolution in business is to bring helpful behaviors into the forefront, cement them into our collective consciousness, and deliver the bounty of benefits.

Wishing you a Helpful New Year!

What is ahead for 2025 is a question that many leaders have been thinking about and have made plans to put into place.

In case you are wondering what some top-of-mind human capital thoughts are, please let me share a few.

Recruitment and AI

The speed and length of the Recruitment cycle will continue to be fast and efficient with a quick turnaround time from the point of application to interview and then feedback. The length of this cycle will be shorter than in recent years.

We have seen in the last few years that many companies have needed to shorten their turnaround times to avoid losing candidates in the process and I expect this to continue for the next few years. There will be a candidate-centered blend of Tech and the Human Touch.

A lot of AI is being used currently but I think how it will be used, will be more human-centered. Companies will be required to be more transparent as to where AI is used in the Recruitment and Onboarding process as well as the impact to the agent’s role.

Embrace AI and human-centered leadership in all areas of Recruitment, Retention, and Development

• Transparency about the role of AI in the Recruitment and onboarding process. Share with new hires how AI can support their role: be transparent!
• The search for talent will continue to be competitive to find those individuals that can perform more complex tasks as AI completes the easier tasks.

Place of Employment

Employees are open to hybrid working, but many centers still attract agents by remaining virtual or blended.

If there is transparency during the full recruitment process, the location of work is more accepted.

Talent Retention

Like last year, it is important to note that employee experience starts at the time of the job posting and first connection. Regardless of which channel or method of interview you choose (traditional email/phone interview, face-to-face, or AI-assisted speed interview style).

The increased awareness within HR and Operations teams started a few years ago as many organizations saw increased attrition during all levels of onboarding and with tenured staff. I expect this trend to continue into 2025.

To retain talent, organizations must have a commitment to creating an employee-centric environment with a culture of inclusion, social responsibility, and most importantly, alignment with purpose.

“The speed and length of the Recruitment cycle will continue to be fast and efficient with a quick turnaround time…” —Sangeeta Bhatnagar

Retaining Top Talent Through a Focus on Employee Engagement

Focus on Engagement right from the interview process. Keep your employees engaged by showing that you care in all areas. See your team members as “whole people” and not a number.

Reskilling and Upskilling

Create a culture of learning, professional development, reskilling, and upskilling by offering courses, micro-learnings, online, and blended classes.

Mindset shift: Never be too busy just doing the job that you do not make time to develop the people.

Strong leaders will be required to keep multiple generations, with different work styles, different expectations fully engaged.

In looking ahead at 2025, many predictions and trends that I mentioned for 2024 continue. One key point I wanted to repeat is based on the Skills Required.

Leadership

In a 2024 post, LinkedIn shared the following:

Change is happening at such a rapid pace, so all levels within the organization will need to develop their Adaptability skills. To have an Adaptable and Resilient workforce, the leaders need to show those very behaviors through actions, behaviors, and words. They must walk the talk!

Leaders will need to have an adaptable mindset enabling them to effectively serve their teams and help their team members navigate and thrive through change.

1. I believe AI will make our representatives’ roles much more efficient.

AI will enable them to provide richer, faster, more accurate customer support. It will reduce the time agents spend hunting down solutions for customers. And with that, AI will help our contact centers deliver a better CX while reducing costs.

“…the options on where people can work will continue to broaden in scope.” —Michele Rowan

Some specific uses in contact centers that I’m excited about:

• Generative AI for instant answers to simple questions. AI automation reduces costs for straightforward and repetitive inquiries like package tracking or password resets, long before customers ever reach a live customer representative.
• At the same time, Generative AI will reduce costs for new hires who spend up to 50% of their time searching for appropriate content to resolve customer issues.
• AI analysis for ticket tagging and routing of more complex issues. AI understands conversation nuance to tag and route tickets using historical data and intent.
• AI for KMS. Reps will be able to access answers from any source directly in the help desk or knowledge management systems (KMS). AI generates replies using past tickets and knowledge articles to provide precise responses, in a fraction of the time it takes to get to the same solutions today.

2. I’m seeing flexibility in the workplace continue to expand.

• Flexibility on where people work. This includes hybrid, full work-from-home (WFH), and bi-annual or quarterly in-person pop-ups. As flexibility gains traction, and as more office leases come up for expiration/renewal, the options on where people can work will continue to broaden in scope.
• Flexibility on when people work is continuing to change in contact centers as well. Schedule adjustments and changes, split shifts, performance-based options, flexible breaks, and making up missed time within the same work week are emerging tactics that appeal to a large segment of the contact center population. And are easily achievable with the new dawn of WFM solutions.

3. Upgrading legacy systems and technologies.

One of the biggest barriers organizations are facing in terms of driving massive efficiencies (via AI) is legacy companion systems that restrict the full potential of AI across contact center environments and the enterprise. I’m seeing capital plans getting approved and going into motion that have been years overdue.

Contact centers are often the leaders in corporate innovation, due to the cost benefits that can be realized so quickly. And we are experiencing that yet again! Exciting times!

Research provided me with current trends:

• Technology: AI, chatbots, intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs), voice authentication, real-time language translation, speech recognition, predictive analytics, QA software, cloud-based systems, omnichannel, data privacy, Internet of Things (IOT).
• Operations: Remote workers, wellness programs, sustainability, social responsibility, processes, workforce management, training programs, customer loyalty, customer service, customer experience, reports.

My recommended 2025 Trend is to get “Back to Basics” on how your center operates and develop a three-to-five year strategic implementation plan for technology upgrades and process enhancements that will be effective.

I would like to refer you to my Nov. 2024 Contact Center Pipeline article “How to Properly Serve Your Customers”. This article has ideas and questions to ask on how getting “Back to Basics” will identify what your customers want and how to make sure your employees have everything they require.

“…develop a three-to-five year strategic implementation plan for technology upgrades and process enhancements that will be effective.” —Laura Sikorski

Customers are the reason your department exists. So here is how to attract them and retain their loyalty through the contact center.

• Implement changes SLOWLY and start with a small customer demographic. Let customers know you want their opinions and feedback on the innovative technologies and processes that you will be testing.
• Stay competitive; however, work smartly. Start with changes that can be easily implemented and will make an impact: no matter how minimal. You and your staff will get a sense of accomplishment.
• When looking at your technology options, work with your IT department and vendors to understand their products. Find out which ones will benefit your customers and staff and more importantly will not cause them frustration!
• Remember what happened with auto-attendants and IVR. People still talk about all those press options…and why they must constantly hear “your call is important to us!”
• Watch your pocketbooks. Some of the modern technologies are expensive and may not be worth the investment if your customers find them more cumbersome to do business with you and your staff do not use them.
• Be sure to have a “Back to Basics” taskforce that includes your agents. They know what customers like and dislike about your website, policies, and voice/data systems.
• Your agents are your company’s greatest asset. They require training in empathy, problem-solving, and communication soft skills.
• Implement what is best for your company, employees, and customers, not because it is something our industry is talking about!