Podcast Summary: "Dear Santa: Here is the AI Contact Center Tools We Actually Want!"

Podcast: Advice from a Call Center Geek!
Host: Thomas (Tom) Laird
Episode Date: December 17, 2025
Duration: ~30 minutes

Episode Overview

In this festive edition, Tom Laird—a recognized leader in the contact center industry—shares his "AI Christmas wish list" for contact center technology. With a focus on real needs over the hype, Tom outlines the AI-driven tools he believes CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) providers should be building in 2025 and beyond—moving far beyond basic chatbots and conversational AI. The tone is candid, direct, and often humorous as Tom draws from decades of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) experience, emphasizing practical solutions that could genuinely revolutionize agent experiences and customer outcomes.

Key Topics & Insights

1. The State of AI in Contact Centers (03:00–07:00)

• Overview of the Problem:
  Most major CCaaS vendors are "building the same stuff. And it's kind of boring to be honest."—Tom (03:45)
• There's an industry-wide obsession with building chatbots to replace agents, while more transformative and practical AI applications remain neglected.

2. Tom’s AI Christmas Wish List: The Tools Contact Centers Really Need

A. AI-Driven Flow/Routing Builder (07:00–11:30)

• Current Challenge: Every platform has its own scripting/routing language, inaccessible to non-technical users.
• Wish: An AI-powered builder that understands plain English prompts to design complex routing logic:
  • Example: "Build me a script that checks if the caller is a repeat customer within 30 days, and if so, routes them to the last group they spoke with."
• Quote:

  "Normal people can't use the platform to its fullest extent... I'd love to see [a tool] that would allow access to your platform to everyone." (09:30)

• Impact: Dramatically increases accessibility for smaller contact centers; reduces tech resource bottlenecks.

B. True AI Workforce Orchestrator / Mission Control (11:30–16:00)

• Vision:
  • AI sets and enforces service levels, moves agents between queues, uses predictive analytics, leverages virtual agents, and preempts staffing issues—all based on plain language rules.
  • Today: Partial/complex tools exist (e.g., NICE Workforce Intelligence), but integration is poor, setup is overly technical.
• Quote:

  "To have really... every-body talks about we're an AI-powered contact center. I don't even know what the hell that means. That means you have some AI chatbots. That means you're using Agent Assist. I mean I do it too. But I don't have this. This is a true AI-powered contact center where AI is actually running the center." (14:20)

• Tip: Many WFI tools are underutilized—"If you're not using it, it's normally totally free. Make sure that you ask about that and start using [it]." (16:00)

C. AI-Powered Predictive/Personality-Based Routing (16:00–18:30)

• Concept: Use sentiment, tone, agent/current customer performance, CRM data—even social media—to match customers with the best-fit agent, not just "next available."
• Current State: Some attempts exist, but nothing robust or widely adopted.
• Quote:

  "We shouldn't just be going to the next available agent, we should be going to the matchmaking of that customer...with AI-powered decisions." (17:30)

D. Prompt-Based Custom Dashboards & Proactive AI Insights (18:30–21:30)

• Wish: Dynamic dashboards generated via prompts—no more static, labor-intensive dashboards or endless filtering.
• Examples: "Show me the handle time by sentiment over the past seven days compared to conversion rate… highlight where CSAT has dropped more than 5% week over week."
• AI Becomes Proactive: The system transitions from “red-highlighted warnings” to genuinely insightful, actionable guidance.
• Quote:

  "This again is truly, you know, what I think contact center managers would want to see...make AI more difficult. I don't know, it's frustrating, but I think that would be very, very, very cool." (20:45)

E. Reimagined Agent Assist—AI as Real-Time Coach (21:30–23:30)

• Future Vision: Move from info-popups to true real-time coaching, tailored to the company and call context.
• Features: Immediate, personalized feedback—pacing, empathy, conversion techniques—without overwhelming the agent.
• Quote:

  "Looking at AI as a coach, not just as a assistant...so agents see how their words, their tone, their pacing affects customers. I think that could be really, really cool." (23:00)

F. Transparent, Real-Time Billing & Utilization Analytics (23:30–27:00)

• Current Frustrations: Monthly, complex bills, seat licensing minimums, lack of granular “what are we paying for" awareness.
• Dream Feature: Real-time cost visibility by channel, skill, team—eliminate waste, spot anomalies, optimize utilization.
• Quote:

  "Why can't we just use what we pay for, what we use?...There's so much waste that does go into all platforms, especially in the BPO world." (25:30)

G. Real-Time QA and Retake Libraries (27:00–28:00)

• Emerging Feature: Scoring calls as they happen, integrating QA feedback with agent assist and training.
• Innovations:
  • Systems like "Redo" let agents retake problem calls with AI avatars for practice—builds agent competence before they go live.
• Quote:

  "To be able to take 15 to 20 calls with AI before they go on the phone... that's the stuff we're building out with Auto." (27:45)

Notable & Memorable Moments

• On “AI-Powered” Buzzwords:

  "Everybody talks about we're an AI-powered contact center. I don't even know what the hell that means... That's what we're doing. But I don't have this. This is a true AI-powered contact center where AI is actually running the center." (14:20)

• Industry Critique:

  "I'm just tired of CCaaS telling us that the AI that everybody wants is the chatbot...there’s so much opportunity in these really cool niche things that people actually want, people actually need." (29:00)

• On Making Life Easier:

  "How about we actually use AI for other things?...How about we make life easier? How about we make it better? How about we make the agent experience better?" (29:30)

Timestamped Breakdown

| Time | Topic | |------|-------| | 00:00–03:00 | Intro & quick company update (skip) | | 03:00–07:00 | Industry trend: all platforms building the same (boring) AI | | 07:00–11:30 | 1. AI-driven flow/routing builder—plain English prompts | | 11:30–16:00 | 2. AI-powered workforce orchestrator/mission control | | 16:00–18:30 | 3. Predictive (personality/sentiment-based) routing | | 18:30–21:30 | 4. Dynamic prompt dashboards & proactive AI | | 21:30–23:30 | 5. Next-gen agent assist: real-time coaching | | 23:30–27:00 | 6. Real-time billing analytics & transparent pricing | | 27:00–28:00 | 7. Real-time QA, AI retake training (Redo) | | 28:00–30:00 | Recap, call for audience ideas, sign off (some discussion of what's "real" for 2026) |

Conclusion

Tom Laird’s wish list is a clarion call for contact center leaders and CCaaS vendors: Stop chasing hype and start addressing operators’ real pain points with innovative, intelligent automation that empowers—not replaces—humans. His vision is bold, practical, and shaped by years on the industry frontline.

Quote to sum it up:

"There’s all this stuff that’s being left on the table that…nobody wants to build. And I think if somebody actually starts to do that stuff, they're going to be massively successful." (29:05)

For questions or to share your own "AI wish list," Tom encourages listeners to connect on LinkedIn, TikTok, and other socials.