Call Center Automation: How it Works, Benefits & Use Cases

Call center automation helps manage high call volumes, increases operational efficiency, reduces the margin of human error, and lets agents spend more time providing quality customer service.

In this post, we explain what call center automation is, explore the technology behind it, and outline its top benefits. We also cover popular call center automation types, use cases, best practices, and the providers leveraging automation in their CCaaS solutions.

• Overview
• How it Works
• Types of Automation
• Top Benefits
• Challenges
• Best Practices
• Popular Use Cases
• Top Solutions

What Is Call Center Automation?

Call center automation is the act of leveraging AI-powered technology to automate routine business processes, completing tasks and optimizing workflows without involving a human agent.

Effective call center automation increases overall productivity levels, provides more efficient self-service options, reduces customer wait times, and lowers call center operating costs.

Most importantly, automating repetitive tasks frees up live agents to assist callers with more complicated support and customer needs. Instead of losing hours to data entry or manual call routing, agents can provide the kind of personalized customer service that boosts CSAT scores and consumer spending.

In short: call center automation eliminates busy work, putting the focus back on the customer while reducing agent burnout.

How Does Call Center Automation Work?

Call center automation works by using AI technology like Natural Language Processing (NLP), machine learning, Generative AI, and Conversational Intelligence to evaluate and respond to customer requests.

Natural Language Processing leverages intent and sentiment analysis to understand what a human customer is saying and what they want to get out of the interaction. NLP and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) evaluate conversational context, recognize different emotions, and can even understand slang terms and colloquialisms.

Next, Conversational Intelligence uses Generative AI to synthesize the appropriate responses to customer queries, engaging in natural-sounding two-way conversations.

Machine learning makes call center automation more accurate and efficient by continually evaluating conversational outcomes and adjusting responses accordingly. The more customers interact with your AI call center tools, the more helpful they become.

Based on the quality of the datasets used to train the AI–as well as customer data from integrated CRM systems and knowledge bases–automated systems will either completely resolve the issue or escalate the call to a live agent.

Main Types of Call Center Automation

The main types of call center automation are:

• IVR and IVAs
• Forecasting and scheduling
• Workflow automation
• Live agent guidance
• Proactive outbound messaging
• Auto dialers

IVR and IVAs

Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs) are AI-powered customer self-service tools that can have contextually-aware, two-way conversations with customers–often resolving customer issues without ever needing to involve a live agent.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems play a pre-recorded call menu to inbound callers, which customers then respond to via DTMF touch tone or by speaking their responses into the phone. IVR uses Natural Langauge Processing and pre-configured call flow paths and routing rules to direct the customer’s call accordingly. IVR systems can place customers in the appropriate call queue, route them to a live agent, play announcements, provide customer account information, and complete basic support interactions.

IVA chatbots can be implemented on your website, mobile application, or used in social media and text messaging. They provide automated customer self-service across digital channels.

Chatbots and IVR menus are entirely customizable via drag-and-drop interaction flow designers, and integrate with your internal knowledge base to provide accurate support.

Forecasting and Scheduling

Call and contact center software uses WFM forecasting tools to automate and optimize the agent scheduling process.

Using predictive analytics and forecasting algorithms, these tools create agent schedules according to call volume trends, agent availability and time zones, agent skill sets, omnichannel customer engagement, and more. Admins can choose from pre-made forecasting templates or set custom conditions.

Completed schedules are automatically sent to agents, who can accept them, trade/bid on shifts, or request and receive automated PTO approvals. Most scheduling tools offer automated real-time adherence monitoring and even automatically adjust schedules if call center conditions change.

By automating multiple time-consuming tasks–insight analysis, channel volume forecasting, custom scheduling, and schedule adjustments–activity forecasting saves agents, supervisors, and administrators hours each day.

Workflow Automations

Workflow automation is a general term that refers to the automation of routine tasks and business processes. Common workflow automation solutions include call transfers and call routing, data syncing across apps, real-time push notifications/alerts, post-call customer surveys and post-call work, call summaries, scoring agent performance, and follow-up tasks.

Workflow automation is designed to eliminate as many manual tasks as possible while maintaining KPI thresholds and meeting SLAs.

Administrators can set up these workflows in their CCaaS app’s Automations tab, typically using a sequence of triggers and conditions. These automations help prevent department siloes, simplify communication between agents and administrators, and spare hours of daily busy work.

Live Agent Guidance

Modern CCaaS platforms offer live-agent AI support, displayed on the app interface during customer interactions. Machine learning uses natural language understanding to analyze call audio and provide automated live transcripts, along with a variety of insights and agent tools.

Common Automated Live-Agent Insights include customer sentiment scores, live conversation transcripts, canned responses, pacing feedback, to-do items, Agent Assist, and relevant knowledge base articles.

These auto-generated AI insights not only improve the performance of call center agents but that of supervisors as well. Supervisors can view live transcripts and customer sentiment scores in the queue dashboard, receiving notifications when metrics breach certain thresholds or SLAs.

Proactive Outbound Messaging

Automate outbound messaging campaigns and notifications that trigger in response to customer actions. Send messages in response to specific notification events–such as when a customer subscribes to your service, submits a survey response, or misses a payment.

Once a preset notification event is triggered, your CCaaS system determines the customer’s preferred communication channel–voice, email, SMS, or social media–and delivers the customer a proactive, custom message. Set templates for each trigger event, automatically filling the text with customer information for a personal tone.

Use proactive outbound messaging for appointment reminders, password resets, abandoned cart notifications, billing updates, delivery and order status updates, and other important announcements.

Auto Dialers

Auto dialer technology is an outbound calling tool that assists sales agents by automatically dialing customers and leads while human agents speak with customers on the phone.

Provide your auto dialer a list of phone numbers–which can be manually created or imported from your CRM system–and the dialer initiates outbound phone calls individually, detecting if the call reaches a real human, a busy signal, or an answering machine. If the system reaches a real human, it hands the call off to a live agent. If it reaches a busy signal or answering machine, it either hangs up or “drops” a pre-recorded message.

Some types of auto dialers, like progressive and predictive dialers, anticipate the likelihood of a real human answering as well as how soon the next agent will be free to speak. Other dialers–like power dialers–initiate the next call immediately when an agent becomes free.

Auto dialers save agents time by sitting through ring tones, busy signals, and leaving voicemail messages.

Top Benefits of Call Center Automation

Call center automation dramatically improves the overall customer experience by offering 24/7 omnichannel self-service, reducing call wait times, and eliminating the need for follow-up calls. It’s estimated that leveraging automation in your call center can increase customer satisfaction by 15-20%.[*]

Below, we’ll take a look at some additional benefits of contact center automation, including lower operating costs, increased productivity and sales, and higher employee satisfaction.

Lower Operating Costs

Call center automation can reduce overall operating costs by up to 40% by optimizing agent schedules, automating basic sales and support interactions, and decreasing the average cost per call.[*]

With automation, business owners can manage high call volumes without having to hire additional agents or pay overtime.

Increased Sales

Call center automation doesn’t just lower operating costs–it also increases consumer spending and profits.

Sales teams using automated tools see up to a 77% increase in conversion rates, especially thanks to automated lead qualification scoring and follow-ups.[*] Businesses leveraging call center automation experience a 36% increase in repeat purchases.[*]

Common sales use cases for Artificial Intelligence automation tools include creating sales scripts, monitoring customer journeys, researching customers and competitors, and automating marketing processes.

Improved Agent Performance

Automating routine tasks reduces the margin of error by 66%, gives agents more time to develop new skill sets, and increases inter-departmental collaboration.[*]

Automated agent performance scoring helps team members quickly identify areas for improvement, while AI-powered in-call coaching increases first call resolution rates. In-conversation AI Agent Assist eliminates app switching, giving agents automatic next-best-action suggestions based on CRM and internal knowledge base data.

QA automation tools use call recordings of successful interactions to create training materials and assign relevant training modules to agents based on their performance scores.

Increased Agent Retention

Leveraging automation doesn’t just make agents better at their jobs–it also increases employee satisfaction and, by extension, agent retention.

89% of call center agents say leveraging automated tools dramatically increased their job satisfaction, while 91% of agents think automation helped them achieve a better work-life balance.[*]

Higher Productivity

Manual administrative tasks like CRM data entry and post-call notetaking take up over ⅓ of your sales team’s working hours.[*] It’s no wonder, then, that 74% of call center agents say using automation in the workplace makes them more productive.[*]

Studies estimate that roughly 30% of all sales-related activities can be automated, including lead and order management, marketing strategies, and even pricing.[*] Proactive customer engagement, auto dialers, and drip marketing campaigns are all popular sales automation strategies designed to speed up sales pipelines and free up live agents.

Making automation a part of your customer service strategy shortens the average support resolution time by 52% and decreases your ticket-to-order ratio by up to 27%.[*] 24/7 customer self-service tools like chatbots and IVR give consumers the flexibility to reach out for help on their own schedules and automate standard customer service requests.

Challenges In Call Center Automation

Negative consumer perceptions of AI, a disregard for TCPA regulations, and over-automation are all common call center automation challenges. Below, we’ll explore these challenges in more detail–and give you tips on how to proactively navigate them.

Consumer Trust

The biggest challenge to successful call center automation is the lack of consumer trust in AI, with 77% of customers citing concerns about AI’s general lack of transparency.[*] While perceptions of AI vary across industries, age ranges, and use cases, many customers worry they won’t be able to tell if they’re talking to a human or a robot. Today’s consumers are also concerned about a lack of government oversight of AI, as well as the general quality–and accuracy–of bot-based customer service interactions.

To combat this, allow customers to escalate their bot-based conversation to a live agent with the click of a button. Be transparent about your use of AI, and be selective about the specific business processes you automate.

Lack of Personalized Interactions 

81% of customers say they would rather wait to speak to a human agent than instantly interact with a virtual one.[*]

Providing estimated call wait times, offering omnichannel agent support, and enabling customer callbacks all help connect customers to real people.

Additionally, be strategic about when to involve automation during customer service interactions.

For example, using chatbots to collect customer contact information, account details, and the reason for a customer’s call all help live agents provide high-quality customer support. Leverage automated tools to optimize customer conversations with live agents, not replace human interactions entirely.

TCPA Compliance

Excessive robocalls, shady data brokering, relentless SMS marketing, and a lack of customer opt-in/out options are all examples of automation gone wrong. A lack of understanding of what your company is–and is not–legally allowed to use automation can lead to enormous legal fees and fines, reputation damage, and the potential closure of your business.

Call center automation is best used to streamline internal operations, not to spam customers and prospects with marketing materials and sales calls.

Our guide to TCPA compliance provides additional details about the role of automation in telemarketing and telesales.

Call Center Automation Best Practices 

Below are some best practices for how to effectively leverage call center automation. Choosing the right CCaaS tool, continually monitoring feedback and analytics, and integrating third-party tools will help you get the most out of your automation tools.

Choose The Right Call Center Software 

Choosing the right call center software means identifying the business processes you want to automate. Review analytics to identify workflow bottlenecks, time-consuming tasks, and call types with the highest follow-up rates.

Then, consider the automation features your CCaaS solution should include, such as forecasting tools, outbound auto dialers, chatbots, multi-level IVR, or customizable workflow automation.

Review Self-Service Analytics+Collect Customer Feedback

Regularly review call center analytics and KPIs like call abandonment rate, FCR, call queue lengths, and call transfer rate to see how much of an impact your automated processes have had on call center activity.

Automate post-call customer surveys to evaluate the quality and efficacy of your self-service options.

Ask customers if they were able to resolve their issue without a live agent, if the information they received was consistent, and if they were able to quickly connect to a team member if needed. Conversational analytics instantly analyze customer conversations and survey responses, organizing responses by keyword, customer sentiment, topic, CSAT score, and more.

Integrate Third-Party Tools

Integrate third-party platforms like CRM systems, helpdesk software, marketing tools, and sales platforms to streamline cross-platform synching nd get a holistic picture of your call center activity. Third-party integration ensures agents have the most accurate information when interacting with customers, and is an essential aspect of popular automation features like AI Agent Assist and campaign management.

Optimize Internal Knowledge Base Content 

Automation is heavily reliant on your internal knowledge base content–meaning its quality directly impacts the quality of customer support.

Regularly review knowledge base content to ensure it’s up-to-date, accurate, and consistent across channels. Organize content with chapters, FAQs, keywords, and tags. Admins can leverage GenAI to create, optimize, and edit internal knowledge base content.

Involve Live Agents

Whether customers interact with self-service tools on voice or digital channels, always give them the option to connect to a live agent at any point in the interaction.

For example, IVR menus should include a menu option like, “To speak to an agent, press 4.” For chatbots, customers should be able to type “agent” to be connected to a team member. Be sure to provide estimated wait times or queue positions, and give customers the option to request and schedule a callback if no agents are currently available.

Enable Omnichannel Support

To further reduce call volumes–and to give customers more flexibility–consider implementing additional support channels with automated self-service.

Social media messaging, email, SMS, and website chat are all popular digital support options that can be optimized with automation.

Popular Call Center Automation Use Cases

Call center automation has an incredibly wide variety of use cases across several industries. The most popular call center automation use cases include:

• Appointment Management: Healthcare patients can schedule or cancel appointments via IVR or website chatbot, opt-in to automated SMS appointment reminders, and complete pre-appointment forms that are instantly sent to providers to review ahead of time. Once the appointment is over, patients can review test results, pay their bills, or manage prescription refills via IVR
• Marketing and Customer Engagement: Popular automated marketing tools include outbound auto dialers, bulk text message marketing, email campaigns, and drip marketing. Proactive website engagement tools use chatbots to engage website visitors at crucial points during the customer journey (like the checkout page) to increase retail conversions
• Account Updates: Financial and banking institutions can leverage automation to send customers real-time fraud alerts, provide account balance updates, and even collect loan application information. Customers can use IVR to activate credit cards, pay bills, or even dispute transactions
• Subscription Renewals: Subscription-based businesses can automate the renewal process, send SMS renewal reminders and discount codes, or use chatbots to make product recommendations
• Campus-Wide Alerts: Automating campus-wide safety and security alerts gives students and faculty real-time updates and instructions in the event of an emergency
• Order Tracking: Retailers can provide customers with automated order updates like purchase confirmations, tracking numbers, and final mile delivery alerts

CCaaS Solutions Providing Call Center Automation

The contact center software providers below offer extensive call center automation alongside omnichannel automation across voice and digital channels.