Harnessing the Power of Contact Center AI

As a follow up to our March 2020 report, "Customer Experience and the Contact Center", we are pleased to extend our domain coverage with a focus on how Artificial Intelligence is impacting the contact center and related customer and employee experiences. Conversational AI platforms, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are enabling contact centers to handle routine inquiries and frequently asked questions and relieve human agents of repetitive tasks. Moreover, AI-driven sentiment analysis and emotion recognition tools provide contact centers with valuable insights into customer emotions during interactions. AI's predictive analytics help contact centers optimize workforce management, forecast call volumes and customer behavior patterns. Additionally, AI can identify potential upselling and cross-selling opportunities, thereby increasing customer lifetime value.

The convergence of factors like heightened customer and employee service expectations; rising contact center call, text and other asynchronous communications volume; and the desire to drive down agent cost is advancing AI tech within contact centers by enabling seamless integration of multiple communication channels, enhancing customer and employee engagements and satisfaction, and streamlining operations through intelligent automation and data-driven insights. As a result, the global Contact Center AI market, estimated at $1.4B, is poised for rapid growth in years ahead following a strong uptick in usage seen during COVID.

On the deal front, Contact Center M&A transaction volume remains steady despite market volatility as new players emerge and existing solution providers aim to modernize their offerings to meet the evolving demands of customers. We believe that it will be hard to justify acquisition or investment spend that doesn't have an AI angle soon.

With over 230 companies identified in AGC's Contact Center Tech landscape, this industry is sizeable and growing rapidly. AI is forcing this tech sector to adapt while public giants compete for pole position to build or buy the ecosystem. We hope you enjoy the report!