Outsourcing used to be the blueprint for scaling customer service, particularly offshoring to cheaper labour. But today’s best contact centers aren’t scaling with headcount; they are scaling with AI Agents and automation.
The uncomfortable truth is that in most cases, if you can outsource it, you can likely use generative AI to automate it.
This is more of a revolution, than an evolution.
For years we’ve been deploying new technology with the aim of automating processes, reducing costs and providing better customer experiences. Until now the impact has been minimal. Generative AI has changed that. We can now do things that were previously difficult to scale and expensive to run.
This is the first time in decades where we will genuinely scale contact centers with AI Agents.
“By 2029, agentic AI will autonomously resolve 80% of common customer service issues without human intervention, leading to a 30% reduction in operational costs” – Gartner
AI Agents aren’t just cheaper; for many use cases they’re operationally superior. They don’t call in sick the morning after a product launch. They don’t leave for a competitor after three months of training. They don’t need six weeks of onboarding to remember your refund policy, escalation path, or tone of voice. They are multi-lingual, can be applied across any channel (voice, chat, sms, social etc) and are infinitely scalable.
AI Agents bring consistency, speed, and scale, and they don’t burn-out.
So Why Are We Still Outsourcing?
The original appeal of BPOs was cost efficiency and scalability. But AI does this and more – it adds an intelligence layer from Day 1. It can understand all of your policies and procedures immediately.
AI-first CX isn’t just about reducing cost. It is about:
- Responding in real-time, 24/7 with brand-aligned tone
- Learning from every interaction to sharpen your offering
- Freeing humans to focus on high-empathy, high-value issues
The winners in this next chapter of CX are unlikely to be the organizations who saved the most on offshoring. They’re the ones who owned their own AI, built institutional memory, process intelligence, and customer intimacy, at scale.