TheCUBE to Cover AI ROI in Contact Center Summit on Sept. 11

Paul Nashawaty, principal analyst at theCUBE Research, said the focus has shifted from innovation to accountability. "AI in the contact center is moving from an innovation discussion to an accountability discussion. The question is no longer whether generative and agentic AI can automate interactions or assist agents; it is whether those capabilities translate into measurable improvements in cost-to-serve, agent productivity, resolution quality and customer experience," Nashawaty said.

theCUBE Research AppDev practice data shows that organizations investing in AI-enhanced development environments are seeing a 37% reduction in mean time to deploy and a 22% decrease in post-deployment incidents. That finding reinforces that AI value is increasingly tied to how effectively organizations operationalize and scale it, theCUBE Research said.

During the summit, analysts Bob Laliberte and Zeus Kerravala will talk with industry experts about how enterprises can measure whether contact center AI delivers genuine business value. Sponsors Five9 Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Talkdesk Inc. are participating, a sign of how broadly the ROI question now reaches across the contact center technology market.

Adoption is no longer the primary hurdle, said Sam Weston, industry analyst at theCUBE Research. Companies must connect each deployment to business metrics such as first-contact resolution, cost per interaction and customer satisfaction, while watching for false savings that may arise when automated interactions lead to repeat contacts. "Our research shows that 92% of organizations now have AI integrated into at least one stage of their operations — up sharply from 71% in early 2024," Weston said. "The pressure to demonstrate measurable business returns has never been greater."

Productivity gains at the agent level are only the beginning, according to Krista Case, principal analyst at theCUBE Research. The more consequential test is whether those improvements allow a contact center to handle greater demand without comparable increases in staffing, while preserving resolution quality and customer experience. "Contact center AI has already shown it can make an individual agent more productive," Case said. "The next phase is proving those gains translate into operating leverage, with lower cost per resolution, faster outcomes and better customer experiences, without requiring labor to scale at the same rate as the business."

Nashawaty emphasized that a successful deployment depends on the systems surrounding the model. Trusted data, connected workflows and production monitoring determine whether automation performs consistently or becomes another isolated tool that adds complexity without producing a defensible return. "From an application development perspective, realizing ROI requires more than deploying an AI model," he said. "It requires integrating AI into enterprise workflows, connecting it to trusted data, reducing tool fragmentation, establishing governance and continuously observing performance in production. With 61% of developers still citing tool fragmentation as a productivity barrier, the ability to create integrated platforms and measurable feedback loops will be critical."

That operational discipline also requires establishing specific measures before deployment, Nashawaty said. Cost per resolution, containment rates and time to proficiency can reveal progress, but organizations must evaluate them alongside recontact rates and customer satisfaction to understand whether reported savings reflect an actual service improvement. "The enterprises that succeed with contact center AI will be those that treat it as a production application and business capability, with clear KPIs and continuous optimization, not simply another technology experiment," he said.

TheCUBE will stream coverage of the summit on Sept. 11, with on-demand content available after the live event. Viewers can watch through theCUBE's dedicated website and YouTube channel, and coverage from this year's events is available on SiliconANGLE. "TheCUBE Pod" is available on Apple Podcasts.