The How-to of CX AI: Four actionable steps for leading AI adoption and upskilling in your business

In our second installment of The How-to of CX AI series, we look at some key ways to navigate AI adoption and upskill your agents for this new era.

If 2024 was anything to go by, we’re in for another wild ride on the AI train this year. Just as you were beginning to take steps towards implementing GenAI in your contact center, here comes our new friend agentic AI. That’s why we think it’s prime time to get back to basics and help you get the fundamentals right before embarking on your next AI adventure. With the pressure to get AI implemented quickly, it’s tempting to dive in without a plan, but that has the potential to backfire. A team of frustrated agents and stern words from execs are not what you need in your life right now. We’re here to help. 

We’ll take a look at the differences between GenAI and agentic AI to set the stage. Next up, we’ll walk you through some actionable steps for leading AI adoption and upskilling in your business. After all, without buy-in and support from your leadership and agents, you won’t get far in your AI journey. Plus, when you introduce AI, your agents’ roles will inevitably change. It’s important to give them the reassurance and resources they need to elevate their skills and deliver the higher level of service that’s now expected of them. 

Generative AI (GenAI) and agentic AI are two distinct types of artificial intelligence. Each one has its unique characteristics and applications, and the CX space is a prime testing ground for both. 

GenAI's primary role is content creation. It creates text, images, or music based on input prompts. By pulling from broad-ranging datasets, it can generate vast amounts of output that aims to replicate human creativity. In the CX world, examples include automatically summarizing customer interactions, generating call notes, and retrieving key information from knowledge management systems. GenAI relies heavily on human input and prompt quality to work well. 

Agentic AI, on the other hand, has been built for autonomous decision-making and actions to achieve specific goals with minimal human involvement. It can plan, reason, and adapt to dynamic environments with foresight and intelligence. By learning from the past, it can foster autonomous growth similar to human development. Agentic AI is making waves in the CX space for several reasons. 

To highlight a few, agentic AI has the potential to improve proactive omnichannel customer engagement, anticipating customer needs across channels and addressing them before they need to be escalated. Given their ability to learn and execute autonomously, virtual agents also have the potential to provide a more personalized, ‘always on’ service. Agentic AI needs little human intervention after deployment and makes decisions based on real-time data and feedback.

Read more about how Zoom is preparing for the era of Agentic AI.

To help us define the steps CX leaders can take to embed AI effectively, Amy Roberge, Zoom’s head of global contact center solutions engineering, sat down with Pascal Bornet, AI intelligence and automation expert, and Anthony Abbatiello, CEO advisor and workforce transformation practice leader at PWC, at Zoom’s recent Work Transformation Summit. Here’s what they had to say:

No new technology, AI or otherwise, will stand the test of time without leadership buy-in. In most businesses, the level of C-suite involvement can be the determining factor in the success or failure of such a large-scale project. 

First, ensure your company executives are on board to support funding for AI investments. Next, ask them to champion AI initiatives with internal teams. Ideally they would also be leading by example and using AI in their own day-to-day roles. Lastly, ask for their commitment to clearly communicate the value and impact AI can have on your business. The theme of this communication should be around AI as an organizational asset, not just a technology tool. 

This one act of securing leadership buy-in will make AI implementation so much easier in the long run. Executive support will help get your business over the adoption hurdles that can sometimes arise when introducing new technology. And that’s a nice segue into our second step.

Linked to getting leadership buy-in, it’s important to foster a culture of trust with your employees around AI. This means addressing any concerns employees may have. Not only is the security and privacy of their data a worry to employees, but there’s a real fear amongst the workforce at large that AI will replace their jobs.

AI adoption will be nothing but a pipe dream if you don’t have your employees' trust and confidence. It’s key to communicate how AI will make their lives easier, not take their jobs away. The goal is to enhance what they’re doing and empower them to do what they do best, rather than eliminate them from the business. 

Leaders and those on the AI implementation team need to provide transparency around governance, controls, and responsible AI frameworks and demonstrate AI’s role as a job-enhancer. A good way to build much-needed trust is to include employees from all levels and functions during the early stages of AI implementation. Part of these discussions should be about demonstrating new skills and jobs created by AI and how successful AI-driven workflows can be for all employees. Beyond that, regular training can also help alleviate employee concerns. This brings us to step three.

One and done is not going to work when it comes to AI training. Just as AI is always evolving, so should your internal AI training program. To this end, creating ongoing, engaging training programs that bring your teams up to speed on all the benefits of AI will help increase your chances of AI taking root in your organization. Once they have the foundations down, learning AI should be about having an adaptive growth mindset, rather than focusing on specific technical features that could quickly become obsolete.

We're in the TikTok generation, so training formats that are short, snappy, and simple will be more effective. Employees should really be able to wrap their heads around it. Real-world applications will also help your teams grasp and adopt the different ways AI can be used. Meet learners where they learn and combine concept teaching with application environments for experimentation. 

For AI to work effectively, it still takes humans working behind the scenes to implement it in the right ways. This brings us to our fourth and final step. 

Throughout your CX AI adoption journey, it’s crucial to find the right balance between automation and human interaction. You’re in the business of customer care and that still requires a human touch. In fact, our recent research commissioned with Morning Consult showed that 85% of participants expect agents to be friendly and 82% expect them to be knowledgeable. This shows that it’s important not to lose humans in the mix when implementing AI, but instead give your agents AI-enhanced tools to do their jobs better. 

A good first step is to emphasize AI's role in automating repetitive tasks, such as after-call work, with automatic summaries and transcriptions. This frees up time, allowing your employees and agents to focus on differentiated experiences. To find the balance, it’s necessary to ensure your agents are equipped with not only the knowledge but also the listening and responsive skills to deal with the more complex queries that will come their way. 

AI Automation Expert, Pascal, shared a great example of how Starbucks differentiates itself using the human touch: 

The Starbucks example demonstrates that while automating tasks is important, some tasks represent the core value delivered to clients and shouldn't be automated.  In a future where AI will become table stakes, the sweet spot for companies to stand out is how they combine technology with human interaction in customer service.

Adopting new technology can be daunting, but if everyone is on the same, familiar platform, life can be a lot easier for all. Our AI-first Zoom CX solutions have been built on the recognizable and easy-to-use Zoom Workplace platform, guided by our customers' needs. Whether you’re just starting out on your AI journey or are already well on your way, Zoom CX seamlessly connects your business across multiple touchpoints, empowering your agents to deliver a Total Experience for your customers. 

Find out more about implementing AI across your entire organization in our step-by-step AI implementation guide.

Reach out to us today, we’d love to chat to you about how our Zoom CX suite of products can help your business adopt and implement AI for success.