Xander Freeman Shares Latest Call Centre Helper Research on Zoom Podcast

Published On: 19th Oct 2026 11:00

Call Centre Helper Director Xander Freeman recently joined Zoom’s Zoom in on CX podcast to discuss findings from Call Centre Helper’s 14th annual research, alongside Zoom’s James Adamczuk.

In the episode, Where Is AI Heading in Contact Centres? Annual Research Highlights, Xander and James dig into some of the key trends emerging from this year’s research, exploring how AI trust, human-centred change management and data quality are shaping the future of contact centres.

Is Trusting AI Enough?

As seen in our latest research, AI remains priority number one for contact centre leaders, with more than 40% identifying it as a key area of focus.

On the other hand, people and culture are currently ranking third.

It’s clear the new technology in the sphere is having a tremendous impact, but this certainly raises questions around whether organisations are giving enough attention to the employees expected to work alongside these technologies, or if the implementation of new tech might need a bit more consideration.

Additionally, the findings also highlight the growing role of AI in quality assurance, with 64% of respondents indicating that they mostly trust AI to make QA decisions.

While this suggests increasing confidence in the technology, Xander and James delve into the distinction between trusting AI itself and trusting how an organisation chooses to implement it.

Bring Your Agents Along on Your AI Journey

Which brings us onto employee involvement!

Through their discussion, the importance of keeping your agents involved when introducing AI-powered tools is underlined.

And as automated quality assurance and conversation analytics become more widespread, it’s vital that organisations consider how these changes are communicated to frontline teams.

Xander and James highlight the risks of introducing AI-generated performance assessments without first explaining how the technology works, what it measures and how the results will be used.

After all, successful AI transformation requires more than just technology investment.

Chatbots Pass a Major Milestone

The research also reveals that in 2026, chatbot adoption has passed 50% for the first time!

Meanwhile, video chat continues to achieve some of the highest customer satisfaction scores among contact centre channels, highlighting the ongoing importance of human interaction alongside digital automation.

Altogether, these findings suggest that contact centres are increasingly balancing automated services with channels that provide more personalised customer support.

Build Your Insights on a Solid Data Foundation

Beyond adoption figures, the episode examines how contact centres can make better use of the growing volumes of customer data available to them.

Now, organisations have opportunities to identify recurring issues, improve operational performance and share insights across the wider business.

Yet, as highlighted throughout the conversation, getting the most out of AI starts with getting the data right in the first place.

In the end, even the most advanced AI technology relies on accurate, reliable information to deliver meaningful insights and lead to real improvements across the customer experience.

Listen to the full episode of Zoom in on CX, Where Is AI Heading in Contact Centres? Annual Research Highlights to hear more about the findings and what they mean for the future of customer experience.