Voice AI Is Changing CX: What Works, What Doesn’t

Voice AI is reshaping how contact centres handle support, sales, and service operations. As companies seek faster, more efficient ways to engage customers, conversational AI tools have become central to customer experience (CX) strategies. Yet, while voice AI offers clear benefits, it also faces limitations that affect its effectiveness. This editorial explores where voice AI delivers strong results, where it falls short, and how solutions like Sanas AI and Retell AI fit into the evolving CX automation landscape.

How Voice AI Transforms Contact Center Operations

Contact centres have long been the frontline of customer interaction. Voice AI now automates many of these interactions, changing how support and sales teams operate. Conversational AI systems can understand spoken language, respond naturally, and handle routine tasks without human intervention.

Support Operations

Voice AI improves support by handling common inquiries quickly. Customers can get answers to FAQs, check order status, or reset passwords without waiting for a human agent. This reduces call wait times and frees agents to focus on complex issues.

For example, AI voice agents can guide customers through troubleshooting steps for technical problems. This reduces repeat calls and improves first-call resolution rates. Speech automation also captures customer intent and sentiment, helping route calls more accurately.

Sales Operations

In sales, voice AI can qualify leads and schedule appointments. AI voice agents engage prospects with personalised scripts, answering questions and collecting information. This allows sales teams to prioritise high-value leads and close deals faster.

Voice AI also supports upselling and cross-selling by recognising opportunities during conversations. Automated follow-ups can be scheduled without manual effort, increasing conversion rates.

Service Operations

Service teams benefit from voice AI by automating routine transactions like billing inquiries or appointment changes. This speeds up service delivery and reduces errors. Voice AI can also provide 24/7 availability, ensuring customers get support outside business hours.

By integrating with CRM systems, voice AI tools keep customer records updated in real time, improving service continuity.

Where Voice AI Delivers Results

Voice AI excels in specific areas that improve contact center efficiency and customer satisfaction.

• Handling High Call Volumes

Voice AI manages spikes in call volume without adding staff. Automated responses reduce wait times and call abandonment rates.

• Consistent Customer Experience

AI voice agents deliver consistent answers and tone, reducing variability caused by human agents.

• Multilingual and Accent Adaptation

Tools like Sanas AI enhance speech clarity and accent recognition, enabling better understanding across diverse customer bases.

• End-to-End Automation

Platforms such as Retell AI provide full voice automation workflows, from call initiation to resolution, minimizing human handoffs.

• Data Collection and Insights

Speech automation captures detailed interaction data, helping CX leaders identify trends and improve processes.

Where Voice AI Falls Short

Despite advances, voice AI still faces challenges that limit its effectiveness.

• Complex Conversations

AI struggles with nuanced or emotional conversations requiring empathy and judgment. Customers with complicated issues often prefer human agents.

• Speech Recognition Errors

Background noise, accents, or unclear speech can cause misunderstandings.

• Limited Context Awareness

AI voice agents may lack full context of a customer’s history or situation, leading to repetitive or irrelevant responses.

• Customer Frustration

Some customers find automated voices impersonal or frustrating, especially if they cannot easily reach a human agent.

• Integration Challenges

Implementing voice AI into existing CX stacks can be complex, requiring careful alignment with CRM, ticketing, and analytics systems.

How Sanas AI Enhances Speech Clarity and Accent Recognition

Sanas AI focuses on improving speech clarity and accent adaptation, two critical factors for effective voice AI. It uses advanced algorithms to normalise speech patterns, making accents easier to understand for AI systems. This reduces recognition errors and improves response accuracy.

By enhancing how AI interprets diverse voices, Sanas AI helps contact centers serve global customers more effectively. This is especially valuable in multilingual markets or regions with strong regional accents.

How Retell AI Supports End-to-End Voice Automation

Retell AI offers a comprehensive voice automation platform that manages entire call flows without human intervention. It combines natural language understanding, speech recognition, and dialogue management to handle complex interactions.

Retell AI integrates with CRM and backend systems to update records and trigger workflows automatically. This reduces manual work and speeds up resolution times. Its ability to automate sales, support, and service calls makes it a versatile tool in CX automation.

Building a Modern CX Stack with Voice AI

To get the most from voice AI, contact centres must build a CX stack that combines multiple tools and technologies.

• Speech Automation Engines

Core voice AI platforms that handle recognition and response.

• Speech Clarity Tools

Solutions like Sanas AI that improve understanding across accents and speech patterns.

• End-to-End Automation Platforms

Tools such as Retell AI that manage full call journeys.

• CRM and Analytics Integration

Systems that provide customer context and capture interaction data.

• Human Agent Support

Seamless handoff mechanisms to human agents when AI reaches its limits.

This layered approach ensures voice AI delivers value while maintaining high customer satisfaction.

Practical Examples of Voice AI in Action

• A telecom provider uses Retell AI to automate billing inquiries, reducing call times by 30% and freeing agents for technical support.

  
  

• A global bank employs Sanas AI to improve speech recognition for customers with diverse accents, increasing first-call resolution by 15%.

  
  

• An e-commerce company uses AI voice agents to qualify sales leads and schedule demos, boosting conversion rates by 20%.

  
  

These examples show how voice AI can drive measurable improvements when applied thoughtfully.