Category: AI.

In 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) will expand its influence in the contact centre space as this prolific technology trend permeates more facets of daily operations, dominating capital expenditures and strategic decision-making. “While already a dominant trend in recent years, many operators have realised that rushing into AI implementations caused more challenges that it solved, especially when it comes to generative or GenAI,” explains Martin Cross, Chief Technology Officer at Connect.

Recent years have witnessed significant transformations in business operations, driven by digital migration, technological advancements, and post-pandemic factors. These shifts have brought innovative solutions such as AI for contact centres to the forefront, reshaping customer service and operational workflows. Increasing investment opportunities made possible by advancements in technology continue to contribute to uplifting the economy of South Africa.

Over the past three decades, our organisation has witnessed significant advancements in customer experience. The adoption of advanced technologies has enabled organisations to transition from reactive to proactive customer engagement strategies. In South Africa, we’ve seen a steady digital migration that leverages off advanced AI systems to anticipate and fulfill customer needs. This marks a new era of personalised service characterised by proactive engagement.

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) across the contact centre is rapidly accelerating, with a survey from unified communications & collaboration research firm Metrigy highlighting that over 70% of contact centre operators increased spending on AI in 2023 and 2024.

According to Gartner Inc., the global conversational AI and virtual assistant market represents the fastest-growing segment in the contact centre space.

Amid the intense competition of today's market, delivering exceptional customer experience (CX) is mission-critical for companies that want to attract new customers and retain them throughout the customer lifecycle.
Crafting a frictionless customer journey, characterised by ease of use, seamless interactions across channels, and memorable customer service that delights, is the cornerstone of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

By Craig Smith, CX Automation Manager and Damian Copeland, COO.While artificial intelligence (AI) has been around for nearly 50 years, adoption rates are accelerating across every business sector as the hype around generative AI (GenAI) spurs investment.In the contact centre space, many operators have already implemented AI technology in some guise to support better engagement and enhance customer experience (CX).

By Martin Cross, CTO at Connect.

The journey to Gen AI in the contact centre requires careful planning and implementation. The desire to leapfrog the AI lifecycle and invest in relatively expensive Gen AI capabilities without first putting the fundamental building blocks in place can result in unsuccessful and costly AI implementations.

As consumer behaviours shift and personalisation becomes expected, we look at how utility companies can transform the customer experience.

Countless companies rely on contact centres to service customer queries and generate sales revenue. The contact centre is an established institution but there is an ongoing change in the technology that underpins its operations. Businesses that fail to engage with contact centre transformation risk irritating their customers and provoking the ire of leaders that question […]