To overcome a growing skills gap, rising costs and limited resources, two-thirds of customer service operations plan to use artificial intelligence (AI) in their cloud-based Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) applications to help agents better engage customers in the next three to five years, a new global study by Frost & Sullivan indicates.
These findings result from Frost & Sullivan’s 2024 WEM Customer Perspectives global survey, in collaboration with SuccessKPI, of more than 300 contact center operators at commercial and government enterprises. This research gauges market demand for AI-powered WEM technology that impacts the entire customer experience (CX), not only on customer service calls in the contact center but also across all customer experience workforce management motions.
Only 30% of enterprises believe that WEM features included in CCaaS platforms are best suited for their organizations because, as Frost & Sullivan reported, 70% of organizations have multiple CCaaS platforms in addition to blended operations with on-premise environments and those leveraging contact center outsourcing providers. This illustrates that CCaaS-specific WEM solutions are not the preferred model in the market.
The study indicated two-thirds of enterprises plan to integrate AI-powered WEM applications into their customer service operations. The top reasons for migrating WEM to the cloud are the ability to scale customer interactions, manage costs better and accommodate fluctuating workstyles which can impact workforce training and readiness and require technology that connects remote or hybrid workers.
“Supervisors are the unsung heroes and they need to have the tools to really help agents with training, onboarding, career growth and career pathway,” said Alpa Shah, Vice President of CX at Frost & Sullivan. “In terms of AI, (it) really helps better predict the agent’s needs. AI is really helpful as it is more targeted and more personalized, which also is more humanizing. As an agent, I don’t need to waste time on something I already know, but at the moment, I might need some training on a specific task. Clearly, that’s why many businesses intend to move WEM to the cloud, focused on the supervisor helping their teams perform better.”
Industry Breakdown
From a vertical industry perspective, the Frost & Sullivan survey showed that government and financial services were the least advanced, reflecting the lowest adoption and satisfaction across all solution categories. Financial services had the lowest average adoption/satisfaction score at 59% (lowest in six categories) while government had the lowest score in eight categories, citing modernizing legacy systems as the biggest need for advancement.
Government had the lowest reported use of contact center automation with just 45% reporting automation adoption. Government also lags behind in adopting AI-guided resolution/next best action, using CCaaS for proactive customer support, and advanced WFM in the cloud.
Despite government responses lagging in adoption, the road to success in government has been paved by new AI-powered solutions such as Maximus TXM, according to independent analyst Sheila McGee-Smith.
Another vertical at the lower end of adoption/satisfaction was financial services. Financial services had the lowest or among the lowest scores of all industries in the following solution categories: AI guided resolution, automation in the cloud, advanced WFM in the cloud, and lowest average score across all categories.
Conversely, the healthcare industry was the most advanced in embracing AI-powered WEM technology with the highest rates of adoption/satisfaction of all industries surveyed. Healthcare led in the following categories: agent gamification & collaboration, automation in the cloud, AI-guided resolution, speech & text analytics, and speech & text analytics in the cloud.
The retail & ecommerce industry also came in at the upper end with the highest average score across all categories at 65%. Retail came in as leaders in automation in the contact center, proactive customer care outcomes in the cloud, and agent gamification & collaboration in the cloud outcomes.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) led in uptake of all cloud-based CCaaS, advanced WFM in the cloud outcome and speech & text analytics in the cloud outcomes. However, BPO registered among the lowest adoption scores in speech & text analytics in the cloud and outcomes achieved by automation in the cloud.
Geographic Breakdown – Asia-Pacific Leads in AI Adoption
The Asia-Pacific region led in AI adoption across 13 categories, especially with the adoption and satisfaction of their AI-powered WEM solutions. The United States led in speech & text analytics in the cloud and in collaboration in the cloud. Latin America showed strong adoption of speech & text analytics, including sentiment analysis, automation and quality management (QM).
In some of the most surprising findings, the prosperous DACH area – comprised of Germany, Austria and Switzerland – reflected the lowest adoption/satisfaction in the highest number of categories (10) with the global technology leader, United States (U.S.), close behind with the lowest scores in eight categories.
DACH had the lowest adoption/satisfaction rates for AI-guided resolution, speech & text analytics including sentiment analysis, agent gamification & collaboration, automation in the cloud, outcomes achieved by automation in the cloud, and agent gamification & collaboration in the cloud outcomes.
The U.S. ranked among the lowest in guided resolution, collaboration tools in the cloud outcomes, knowledge management in the cloud outcomes, and QM in the cloud outcomes.
The Asia-Pacific nations of Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand were the most WEM-advanced overall, especially with the adoption and satisfaction of their AI-powered WEM solutions. APAC also had the highest plans for investment with 67% average across all solutions intending to spend on AI-powered WEM in the next five years. Some of the categories APAC led or tied for the lead in included advanced WFM in the cloud, agent gamification & collaboration in the cloud, proactive customer care outcomes in the cloud, performance management outcomes in the cloud, AI-guided resolution, advanced workforce management in the cloud outcomes, QM in the cloud outcomes, speech & text analytics in the cloud outcomes and agent gamification & collaboration in the cloud outcomes.
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