Cover of The Adults in the AI Room – Episode 102: AI in the Contact Center, Why Implementations Fail, and the Business Model Reckoning with Michael Darwal

The Adults in the AI Room – Episode 102: AI in the Contact Center, Why Implementations Fail, and the Business Model Reckoning with Michael Darwal

The Adults in the AI Room – Episode 102: AI in the Contact Center, Why Implementations Fail, and the Business Model Reckoning with Michael Darwal

Listen for free

View show details

Season's Savings | 0.99 €/month for 3 months

5.99 €/month thereafter - terms apply. Cancel monthly.
Summary
 What if the real promise of AI in the contact center isn’t replacing human agents, but making every conversation faster, smarter, and more likely to end in a real resolution?The Adults in the AI Room (formerly the Earley AI Podcast) — On this podcast, host Seth Earley invites Michael Darwal, Chief AI and Digital Officer at ibex, for a practical conversation about AI agents, customer journey mapping, cost-per-resolution pricing, workforce development, and the knowledge foundations that decide whether contact center AI succeeds.When generative AI arrived, many predicted it would quickly automate away 70% or more of traditional call center work. The reality has been far more nuanced. Studies now suggest that roughly 95% of AI implementations fail to deliver the ROI they promised, often because organizations misunderstand what AI can do, where it fits in the customer journey, and how success should be measured.Michael explains why treating AI as a binary choice, where either the AI handles the call or a human does, sets companies up to fail. The better approach is a spectrum. In it, AI agents take on simpler interactions and handle the front end of complex calls, then hand off verified, summarized information to human agents who can resolve the issue faster.He also shares how ibex combines best-in-class conversational AI technology from partner Sierra AI with decades of customer journey data. That pairing lets ibex map interactions, set realistic expectations, and launch AI agents in digestible stages rather than trying to boil the ocean.In this episode, you’ll discover:Why most AI implementations in the contact center fail to deliver their promised ROIWhy the “AI or human” framing leads companies to measure the wrong thingsHow to define success across customer satisfaction, ROI, and first-contact resolutionWhy automating every cancellation request can quietly hurt the businessHow AI agents can cut a 20-minute call by 40% to 50% without handling it aloneWhy historical customer journey data is the foundation of a successful AI deploymentHow to identify which 30% of call volume is easiest to automate firstWhy replacing the traditional IVR menu with an AI agent is often a smart starting pointHow the contact center pricing model is shifting from cost per hour to cost per resolutionWhy cost-per-resolution models can deliver savings of 50% or more for clientsHow AI is helping ibex capture market share instead of shrinking revenueHow AI tools increased human agent throughput by 40%Why AI is making contact center jobs more enjoyable and improving retentionWhere the next generation of experienced contact center leaders will come fromHow AI is helping build better knowledge bases faster from disparate legacy systemsMichael brings 13 years of experience at ibex, a global customer experience management company with nearly 40,000 employees operating 31 contact centers. Its locations span the U.S., Jamaica, Nicaragua, Honduras, the Philippines, Pakistan, and India. His career at the company has moved across finance, digital marketing, and now AI, where he leads the development of the Wave iX platform for integrating AI agents into traditional customer experience workflows.He also shares how AI tools have changed the employee experience at ibex. They have helped the company recruit from a wider talent pool, get new agents to proficiency faster, and raise its employee NPS from an already high 77 to 82.Michael explains why the company’s strongest AI ideas often come from people who started their careers on the phones. Many ibex leaders have risen from agent to supervisor, floor manager, director, and even country manager. Those firsthand experiences continue to shape how the company builds and improves its AI agent lifecycle.His message is simple but powerful: AI succeeds in the contact center when it is built around the real customer journey, measured by true resolution, and designed to make both customers and human agents more effective.The Adults in the AI Room explores what it takes to make AI work inside the large enterprise, from the pilot to production. Each episode features leaders, builders, researchers, and practitioners who have put AI to work and can speak to real results. If you’re a CX leader, contact center executive, Chief AI Officer, operations leader, or enterprise technology decision-maker, this podcast is built to provide practical lessons you can apply.🎙️ Listen to the full episode and discover how AI agents and human agents can work together to deliver faster resolutions, lower costs, and better customer experiences.About The Adults in the AI RoomHosted by Seth Earley, The Adults in the AI Room features conversations with the leaders, builders, researchers, and practitioners who have taken AI from pilot to production inside the enterprise.Ways to Tune In:Earley AI Podcast: https://www.earley.com/earley-ai-podcast-homeApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/...
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet