Is AI the Biggest Career Opportunity Agents Have Ever Had?

The rise of AI in the contact centre has sparked fear and excitement in equal measure. However, an increasing number of people are now beginning to see that AI could be the greatest career accelerator agents have ever seen.

To find out more, we spoke to contact centre experts to help you better understand where the real opportunities for agent growth now lie, what skills will matter most, and how to make sure your top talent leans in to all it has to offer.

The Gap Is Narrowing Between Agents and Team Leaders

There’s no doubt that AI has only accelerated a trend that’s been taking shape for years – the increase in call complexity.

Thanks to an ever-increasing number of simple queries being handled by bots and self-service, agents are left to deal with emotionally charged, high-stakes, and complex interactions.

This creates a paradox. Yes, the job is now more interesting, but it is also more intense.

Yet many are rising to the challenge and contact centres are upskilling agents faster than ever – particularly in specialist areas such as complaints handling, collections, and complex support roles.

This in turn is also narrowing the gap between agents and team leaders, enabling faster progression for those who are capable and motivated.

“We’ve got this dichotomy in contact centres because the majority of people worrying about losing their job to AI are Gen Zs, yet the majority of contact centre agents are also Gen Zs.

This essentially means we have a workforce that’s innately worried that AI is going to take their job. But in our industry, it’s such a good tool for agents! They are being made superhuman by AI. Their jobs are much more interesting!

They’ve got more information at their fingertips, they can help customers far more easily, and they’re doing the human bits that AI can’t do. On paper, when you write a new job spec with AI included, it’s actually a much nicer job!” – Katy Forsyth, Managing Director of Red Recruitment

To find out what it takes to set out truly transparent and engaging career pathways, read our article: How to Define Career Paths in Your Contact Centre

There Are Growing Opportunities Around Knowledge Management

Beyond this, the changing AI landscape is also creating new roles centred around knowledge management.

After all, the intelligence that many of these systems rely upon does not magically appear – it must be built!

And turning that raw information into something AI can use requires human judgement, context, and insight.

This is where some agents are already finding new growth pathways in helping to shape the knowledge base that feeds AI systems.

This is work that ultimately pulls agents into project teams, exposes them to transformation initiatives, and creates development routes beyond the frontline.

“I’ve seen some really good examples of where agents have started to build the knowledge base and systems that then feed into AI.

They’ve gone from information being on bits of paper or in somebody’s head to creating something that’s valid, relevant, and accurate, and then putting that into a system that can be used to support customers and agents alike.

The people who get involved in that then get noticed and pulled into project teams, and from there their careers can really take off.”  – Martin Jukes, Managing Director of Mpathy Plus

What’s increasingly clear is that the agents who recognize that their role is changing and choose to adapt early will be the ones most likely to succeed, particularly those that take ownership of their learning, build new skills in their own time, and seek out opportunities to contribute to change.

Some Will Still Need a Gentle Push to Embrace the Opportunities AI Can Bring

That being said, some agents will still need a gentle push to embrace the opportunities in front of them.

Even so, not every agent will want to lean in and there will still be those who simply want to do a good job and go home.

This is where a skill/will assessment can really help – just like we saw at Simplyhealth – to assess where people have lack of will (“I don’t want to work in a digital environment”) or skill (“What skills do I need to be part of the change?”) – as this can really help kick-start conversations that help them move forward, wherever they’re starting from.

It’s ultimately about putting the spotlight on what’s now possible to help agents see that even if they don’t want to shoot for the moon, they can still benefit from working with smarter, more supportive systems that make their working day easier.

To find out how the very best leaders are bringing everyone along on their AI journey and moving forward together, read our article: Kick-Start AI Education in the Contact Centre

Leaders Must Catch Up With the New Agent Reality

And it’s not just agents that need to evolve here! There’s a leadership lag in play too! Many team leaders still manage agents as if they are doing the same job they did 5 years ago.

“Operating rhythms must evolve, as productivity cannot be measured the same way as before when agents are now expected to continuously think, analyse, and solve complex problems. Perhaps most importantly, leaders need to see the world through the agent’s eyes again.

Without returning to the frontline and getting stuck into the new pace of day-to-day work, leadership teams risk becoming disconnected from reality.” – Katy Forsyth, Managing Director of Red Recruitment

AI Is Not Removing Agent Career Paths; It’s Multiplying Them

What’s clear is that AI is not removing agent career paths – rather it is multiplying them. And for those willing to lean into change, the AI-enhanced workplace is not an ending… It is a beginning!

Are Your Agents Embracing the Opportunities for Growth in This New AI World?

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With thanks to the following people for sharing their thoughts for this article:

• Katy Forsyth, Managing Director of Red Recruitment
• Martin Jukes, Managing Director of Mpathy Plus

Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Xander Freeman