Innovation by software providers is outpacing enterprises’ ability to adapt but provides opportunity to modernize customer experiences, ISG new research says
The evolution of AI in contact centers and enterprise operations is disrupting customer processes and may change the outcomes of software investments, according to new research from global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG).
“Contact centers have seen more innovation in the past three years than at any other time in their history,” said Keith Dawson, director of research, Customer Experience, ISG Software Research. “By 2027, more than three-quarters of them will include multiple GenAI applications in their service processes.”
The transformation of contact centers is being fueled by AI, cloud technology and new market entrants, the research finds. Beyond the core functions of routing and workforce management, today’s platforms are defined by analytics, automation, conversational AI and integration with customer relationship management (CRM) and customer experience (CX) systems. However, enterprises first and foremost are looking for ease of use, interoperability, clear ROI, and proven AI results from contact center software, ISG research finds. To succeed, platforms must combine rock-solid reliability with advanced AI-driven features that improve efficiency and elevate the customer experience.
Most current software configurations are deployed in the cloud in the form of contact center as a service (CCaaS), the research finds. They have turned the routing engine at the heart of contact center infrastructure into a commodity. As a result, enterprises have been able to build contact center systems based on whichever component is most important to them, but the cost and maintenance requirements are significant, and contact center suites with platforms and tools are readily available today.
Enterprises are now most often sourcing contact center technology from as few providers as possible and prefer suites for simplicity of administration, the research finds. Most companies evaluating products today have not bought contact center systems since before the pandemic and are facing a world of new capabilities with AI that did not exist five years ago. ISG advises buyers to focus on customer experience. Customer interactions require not just routing and self-service but the foundation for agents and knowledge to guide engagements toward mutually beneficial resolutions and outcomes.
“Enterprises now face more contact center choices than ever, and their options have become more complicated,” said Mark Smith, partner and chief software analyst, ISG Software Research. “This software research provides the industry’s most complete independent rankings and ratings of contact center providers and reveals why AI and customer experience should be priorities for new technology investments.”
ISG Buyers Guides can be found here. The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Contact Centers, produced by ISG Software Research, provide the rankings and ratings of 40 software providers across four software categories and three vertical industries, assessing products that support automated and intelligent contact centers. The research finds that many enterprises are overhauling contact centers that have remained largely unchanged for decades. Using new tools derived from conversational and generative AI, they are expanding opportunities for customers to have intelligent self-service interactions while enabling agents to more effectively engage with customers.
ISG Software Research comments:
Contact centers have always operated as reactive, cost-sensitive entities purpose-built for a narrowly defined function. Now centers are being asked to expand core functions, re-task the human labor force, respond to customers and enterprises in real time and use data for more sophisticated decision-making. In a short period, the foundational assumptions related to outfitting contact centers have been upended.
The researchers at ISG assert that less discussion surrounds the impact of outside providers entering the contact center software space from adjacent markets, especially the hyperscaler giants.
The ISG team comment, “In the past, a buyer had to select the core call-routing engine and build a center’s tech stack around that software provider’s solution. In the new world, hyperscalers have commoditized the routing engine, allowing virtually anyone—buyer or another provider—to build a contact center infrastructure based on whichever software component is most important to them. So, a buyer committed to a particular CRM or case-tracking tool can start with those elements and build the center using the extensive integrations and partnership networks available. Or, they can work with software from the back office or marketing department and conform the center’s systems to accommodate those applications.
“This means that providers from many origin points can plausibly go to market with a software suite that serves the core needs of contact centers—routing and workforce management. Buyers then distinguish between options based on more broad-based needs, such as data management, back-office integration, conformity with existing legacy tools or something specific to the unique business or vertical market. In 2025, contact center buyers face more—and more complicated—choices than ever.
“What enterprises need is assurance of interoperability and clean, easy integrations. Most buyers appear to source technology from as few providers as possible, leaning toward suites for simplicity of administration. Most large and midsized platform providers encourage this by forging extensive partnership networks and app marketplaces that let buyers fill peripheral software needs with best-of-breed niche tools, with the assurance that the platform provider will coordinate the connections.
“Enterprises that have not purchased contact center systems since before the pandemic (which is most of them) are experiencing a different world: new providers, providers that have evolved focus and a set of functional capabilities that didn’t exist five years ago. Business requirements have not advanced as quickly as technological innovation, so buyers are understandably reticent—even confused—about how to prioritize deployment of a new system. It doesn’t help that many contact center buyers are now also sitting side-by-side with CX professionals who have different, parallel goals for software purchases, and are simultaneously under great pressure from executives to stay current on developing AI technologies (if that is even possible).
“All of that said, what enterprises really need to do is focus on two things: the foundational elements of yore, meaning routing and workforce tools, and the expanded universe of tools that support and extend its mission. Those would include advanced analytics, conversational AI for self-service, AI tools for automating quality and knowledge resources that feed the customer-facing AI.
“Buyers also need assurance that when they take the leap into the realm of the new, they have concrete ROI metrics to back them up. Providers report a consistently high portion of AI-related sales riding atop detailed proof-of-concept trials. Some also indicate that the uptake for certain AI tools is correspondingly slow, as buyers wait for the proof points.
“To meet these enterprise needs, today’s contact center systems must incorporate key AI applications that make up the current “core” capabilities: information synthesis and delivery to customers and human agents, automating processes within the center and between departments and analyzing customer sentiment more deeply than just at the level of the interaction. Contemporary tools need to be strong in areas that were once peripheral, especially self-service and analytics.”
For more details, find the ISG Contact Centres Buyers Guide
