Why True Contact Center Transformation Starts with People, Not Promises

In a recent The Power of More fireside chat with Amplix and Five9, Steve Blood, VP of Marketing at Five9, sat down with Adam Rennert, President at Amplix, to cut through the noise. Together, they explored what’s actually working in AI today — and what contact center leaders need to do differently to see meaningful returns. 

Over 30 minutes, one theme came through clearly: The New CX isn’t about rushing to deploy AI. It’s about building the right foundation so AI and human agents can work better together. 

The AI hype hangover 

The hype around generative AI reached a fever pitch in 2023. But as early trials rolled out, many companies found themselves facing underwhelming results. Why? According to Rennert, it often comes down to unrealistic expectations and skipping foundational steps. 

“There’s this belief that you can flip a switch and suddenly your call center is fully automated,” Rennert said. “In reality, you need clean data, compliant knowledge sources, security alignment, and — most importantly — people who understand what you’re solving for.” 

That’s where AI compliance and readiness come into focus. Before deploying automation, organizations must ensure governance, data integrity, and guardrails are in place. Without that, even the most advanced AI will struggle to deliver value. 

Five9 addresses this through AI Trust & Governance, helping organizations deploy AI responsibly — with built-in safeguards, transparency, and compliance controls that support enterprise-grade transformation. 

Blood agreed. “Many early projects were internally focused. They tried to contain calls and remove live agents without thinking about what the customer actually wants.” 

AI without customer alignment — and without operational readiness — isn’t transformation. It’s experimentation. 

From buzzwords to business outcomes 

Customers do want to use AI — but on their terms. That means building solutions that are context-aware, well-tuned, and deeply aligned with human agents. 

“We see AI agents as just that: agents,” said Blood. “They need training, supervision, and coaching — just like their human counterparts. That’s how you unlock true containment, not by chasing a quick ROI.” 

That shift reframes the conversation. AI isn’t a shortcut. It’s a workforce multiplier. 

True AI supervision improves agent efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, surfacing insights in real time, and freeing human agents to focus on higher-value, complex interactions. With technologies like conversational, generative, and agentic AI, organizations can orchestrate AI agents and human agents together — not in competition, but in collaboration. 

Amplix has developed a methodology to help clients avoid the trap of vague AI goals. It starts with cross-functional stakeholder alignment, maps digestible use cases, and ensures tuning is part of the journey —not an afterthought. 

“You can’t swallow the whole thing at once,” said Rennert. “Start small. Tune. Then scale.” 

That’s operational readiness in practice: align IT, security, CX leaders, and frontline teams before launch. Build repeatable processes. Treat AI like a program — not a pilot. 

Hyper-personalization: a near-future reality 

The promise of AI-driven personalization is real — but we’re not fully there yet. While technology like real-time transcription and contextual sentiment analysis is moving fast, Rennert warned that ethical and legal considerations are still evolving. 

“The tech can do it. What’s lagging is confidence in security, compliance, and how far is too far in personalization,” he said. “But we’re heading toward a world where AI and humans co-pilot the customer journey — and that’s exciting.”  

Hyper-personalization at scale requires more than advanced models. It requires trust, governance, and thoughtful design. That’s why AI readiness must include compliance strategy, privacy guardrails, and transparent decision-making. 

The evolving role of the agent 

As AI scales, it’s not replacing agents — it’s elevating them. Both speakers emphasized that the contact center job of the future is more strategic, specialized, and AI-savvy. 

“The next generation of agents will supervise AI agents, step in on complex issues, and help tune models,” said Blood. “They’ll be premium, high-value team members.” 

In other words, the future of CX isn’t fewer agents. It’s more capable ones. 

AI supervision roles — from bot quality analyst to AI coach — are emerging as key drivers of agent efficiency and long-term performance. When agents are equipped to guide and refine AI, organizations see stronger containment rates, better customer outcomes, and higher engagement across the workforce. 

What’s next? 

The companies winning with AI are the ones that started early, invested in operational readiness, and treated transformation as a long game. 

“Some of our clients have 250 AI use cases in production. Others have 18. But the key is — they started,” said Rennert. “Don’t get caught comparing outcomes when you’re still at the starting line. Take your first step.” 

AI isn’t a product. It’s a process. And when people, data, and technology align, that’s when The New CX becomes more than a vision — it becomes reality. 

Want to see it in action? 

Watch the webinar on-demand to explore the trends reshaping contact centers and customer experience.