CX Insight Magazine

July 2025

Why Voice Still Leads

Discover the enduring power of voice in CX through next-gen IVRs, intelligent orchestration, and agentic AI.

Article contributed by Chance Whittley, Principal AI Consultant at PTP

Despite the rapid proliferation and adoption of digital channels, the voice channel remains the most trusted and effective means of customer support — particularly in high-stakes or emotionally charged interactions. While many digital-first customers embrace messaging and automated self-service channels, studies continue to affirm that a sizable portion still prefer to speak to someone when it matters most. Although it may not be a surprise to learn that 94 percent of Boomers want to contact via voice, a massive 71 percent of Gen Z also prefers this contact channel.1 As industries from healthcare to finance navigate increasing service complexity, voice is evolving rather than disappearing.

Legacy interactive voice response platforms, once sufficient for basic routing and limited self-service, are now an obstacle to modern customer engagement. Enter next-generation interactive voice response (NGIVR) systems: platform and vendor agnostic, on-premises, cloud, and hybrid friendly, and AI-enhanced that supports natural language, contextual routing, and real-time personalization.2

These modern systems can be layered over existing infrastructure, enabling organizations to modernize at their own pace without costly rip-and-replace projects. They serve as a foundation for intelligent voice experiences, adapting call flows based on behavior, linking to customer relationship management systems, and providing seamless integration with digital journeys.  NGIVRs lay the foundation for truly intelligent voice interactions.

Agentic AI: From Static Automation to Adaptive Intelligence

Layered within NGIVRs, agentic artificial intelligence (AI) introduces adaptive intelligence that moves beyond reactive automation.3 Unlike generative AI that simply responds to prompts, agentic AI autonomously plans, decides, and executes tasks in real-time. These systems operate within defined policies and continuously learn from live interactions, transforming the voice channel into a proactive, self-improving engine that handles procedural and transactional tasks to complement human agents.

The result is a smarter, faster, and more human-centric customer experience (CX), an immediate and tangible benefit to customers. Instead of navigating frustrating menus or waiting on hold, they interact naturally, speaking in their own words and receiving timely, accurate resolutions. When interactions require emotional nuance or complex judgment, seamless hot transfers route customers along with their information and highlights of the conversation to the right human agent with the right skills, preserving continuity and trust.

By layering agentic AI on top of NGIVRs, customer effort and friction are dramatically reduced. Context follows them across channels, eliminating repetition and reducing frustration. Routine requests are handled instantly, while proactive issue detection addresses problems before escalating. Interactions feel personalized as AI adapts to preferences and history, while transparent AI disclosures and clear escalation options empower customer choice. Customers gain confidence that their experience is intelligent, empathetic, efficient, and continuously improving.

Getting Started: Planning a Scalable AI-Enhanced Voice Strategy

Modernizing voice platforms requires a deliberate, phased approach and buy-in from all stakeholders from concept to delivery. The journey toward an intelligent voice begins with identifying simple use cases that are acceptable to all.

Ideal starting points include high-volume, low-risk interactions, such as order status, benefit lookups, or loyalty inquiries. These contacts provide quick wins without the emotional or regulatory complexity of sensitive issues. From there, organizations can iterate and expand to more nuanced tasks, introduce A/B testing, and capture feedback through human-in-the-loop (HITL) systems. Real-time quality assurance and performance dashboards allow for constant refinement and trust-building with customers and employees.

True transformation comes not just from deployment but from orchestration coordinating intelligent interactions across voice, chat, short message service (SMS), and digital self-service. Orchestration layers ensure consistent logic and decision-making across all touch points.

Channel symmetry becomes key: a billing inquiry over chat should yield the same quality of response as over voice. Shared knowledge repositories, dynamic routing, and context persistence ensure customers never have to repeat themselves and that AI agents leverage the same intelligence across channels.

Optimizing for Long-Term Performance

Deploying AI is not a one-time implementation but rather a dynamic, ongoing process. Leading organizations embed continuous optimization as a core operational discipline.

AI-specific performance metrics, such as resolution confidence, containment rates, and customer experience scores, guide iterative improvements. Business users, not just developers, must be empowered to update knowledge bases, tune flows, and adapt logic in near real-time, ensuring that AI evolves alongside customer expectations.

The People Side: Workforce Transformation in the AI Era

Modern voice platforms redefine workforce roles rather than eliminate them. As AI manages repetitive tasks, human agents shift toward higher-value responsibilities: managing exceptions, supervising AI performance, and overseeing quality assurance.

New roles, including prompt engineers, conversation designers, and AI performance managers, have become essential. Building an AI-enabled culture where human agents view AI as an empowering tool to deliver exceptional experiences rather than a replacement is critical to long-term success.

Governance and Risk: Building Trust Through Oversight

With greater autonomy comes greater responsibility. Effective governance ensures AI systems operate safely within defined boundaries, with clear escalation paths and auditability.

Cross-functional oversight spanning IT, CX, Legal, Risk, and Compliance establishes transparency and accountability. Customers are informed when interacting with AI and offered clear options for human escalation, reinforcing trust while maintaining high service standards across sensitive or regulated industries.

The Omnichannel Future: One Brain Across All Channels

Agentic AI is not just for voice. When orchestrated correctly, the same intelligence can power SMS, chat, web, and mobile interactions. This unified approach ensures that customers receive consistent service and do not need to repeat themselves as they move across channels. By linking all interactions through a single orchestration and decisioning layer, organizations can offer seamless journeys, proactive service, and deeper personalization at scale.

Rethinking the Role of Voice in a Digital World

The voice channel is not a relic; it is the proving ground for AI-enabled transformation. Modernizing voice with NGIVRs layered with agentic AI is far more than a technology upgrade. It represents a new strategic approach to customer engagement.

Organizations that invest in workforce readiness, enterprise governance, orchestration with low-risk testing, and continuous optimization are not simply improving contact centers. Instead, they are building future-ready, intelligent customer ecosystems that redefine what great voice CX sounds like in the AI era.

Chance Whittley
Principal AI Consultant

Chance has more than 25 years of experience in customer experience, operations, and contact center transformation. As a strategic leader, he helps organizations achieve their desired outcomes by blending innovative methodologies with industry best practices. His expertise lies in optimizing operational efficiency while enhancing customer and employee experience. His primary mission is to empower organizations to exceed their customers’ expectations.

PTP is a professional services firm specializing in innovative self-service and contact center solutions.

Learn more at https://ptpinc.com/

Article Links:

  1. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/operations-blog/why-your-kids-arent-calling-you-but-they-are-calling-their-bank
  2. https://ptpinc.com/our-solutions/self-service/the-next-generation-of-ivr/
  3. https://ptpinc.com/ai/modernizing-voice-platforms/