AI, leadership must team up to cut contact center attrition: CX expert
NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES — Contact center attrition remains one of the most persistent challenges in customer experience (CX), but a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and strong leadership could provide a solution, according to a recent Forbes thought leadership article.
Adrian Swinscoe, who wrote the article, is an experimental CX thought leader and visionary. He covers topics related to customer service, experience, and engagement, focusing on what it takes to achieve outcomes that satisfy both customers and brands. He has been exploring these themes on Forbes since 2013.
Swinscoe highlights how innovative technology is helping companies not only streamline operations but also retain their agents.
How AI guidance helps reduce contact center attrition
Swinscoe spoke with Olivier Jouve, Chief Product Officer at Genesys, about the company’s latest developments, including its expanded partnership with ServiceNow.
Jouve explained to Swinscoe that by using the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol, Genesys’ AI agents can automatically find and connect with the appropriate AI agent in ServiceNow’s catalog, carry all relevant front-office context to execute a back-office task, and then relay the completed task information back to the front office.
Jouve called this a “real revolution” that moves beyond simple automation to a system where agents can reason, make decisions, and connect with the right counterpart autonomously.
Real-world results back up the promise: Best Buy Canada, after implementing Genesys’ Cloud platform, saw a 20% reduction in overall operating costs, a 19% decrease in average handle time, and a 40% drop in call transfers.
Most notably, the technology helps address the industry’s silent crisis, agent attrition, by providing real-time guidance and performance support, reducing turnover by 10-30% in some cases.
Why leadership and culture still drive CX retention
Yet, Swinscoe warns that technology alone cannot solve attrition. Contact center agents increasingly handle emotionally charged or complex calls, a challenge intensified by the shift to remote work.
“Imagine if you have 30,000 agents that you have to replace every year. That’s crazy,” Jouve said. “So, that’s something that has to be addressed.”
Swinscoe argues that sustainable reductions in attrition require leadership that fosters trust, empowerment, and accountability.
Technology can flag burnout and suggest wellness interventions, but agents themselves must have the autonomy to manage their workload, balancing AI-driven insights with human judgment.
As the outsourcing industry continues to expand globally, these lessons are particularly relevant.
By combining AI-powered efficiency with strong leadership and a culture of support, service providers can reduce turnover, enhance agent satisfaction, and deliver better customer experiences.
Swinscoe’s insights suggest that the next evolution of contact centers will be defined not only by cutting-edge technology but by how well companies integrate it with human-centered management.
