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AI Guide for Contact Centres

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For the optimal personalised customer experience, contact centre technology needs to constantly evolve. That means investing more in contact centre AI. Trying to run and manage contact centres today without some level of AI will ultimately fall short of customer’s 24/7 service expectations. That’s why it’s important for organisations to understand the impact contact centre AI technologies can have on operations and the overall customer experience.

To navigate the different contact centre AI technology, here is a comprehensive guide.

Download the AI Guide for Contact Centres eBook today.

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Additional content about the contact centre industry which might interest you
2 minute read
Infographic: Voice of the Contact Centre Consumer 2026
An infographic visualising the key findings from the Voice of the Contact Centre Consumer 2026 report.
Customer Experience
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47 minute listen
CareerTalk with Graham Swanton
With a career spanning customer operations and service improvement in the social housing sector, Graham has progressed through a range of roles, building both frontline and strategic experience along the way.
Colleague Experience Customer Experience
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36 minute listen
Will Governmental Change Mean Change to Employment Law?
Chris is joined by renowned employment law and HR expert Kate Palmer to discuss the latest updates from the Employment Rights Act 2025, and what to prepare for in the coming months.
Colleague Experience
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5 minute read
Supporting Your Contact Centre Teams During Hot Weather
With summer temperatures continuing to rise, contact centre environments – whether office-based or at home – can quickly become uncomfortable and, at times, unsafe.
Colleague Experience
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4 minute read
BPO Relationships Must Start with Questions, Not Solutions
Organisations are increasingly reframing the contact centre outsourcing process to ask - what can outsourcing deliver us?
Operational Excellence
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5 minute read
How Do We Plug the Sentiment Gap?
While most UK consumers feel customer service has improved, vulnerable consumers increasingly feel they're being left behind.
Operational Excellence Strategy and Leadership
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50 minute read
Voice of the Contact Centre Consumer 2026
This year’s Voice of the Contact Centre Consumer research provides a comprehensive analysis of consumer contact experiences, with a particular focus on vulnerability.
Customer Experience Operational Excellence Strategy and Leadership
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47 minute listen
CareerTalk with Morris Pentel
With a career spanning telecoms, outsourcing and financial services, Morris has been at the heart of change, technology and innovation in our industry for many years.
Colleague Experience
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4 minute read
Is the UK Outsourcing Market Shifting From Cost to Capability?
The 2026 edition of the UK Contact Centre Outsourcing Report reveals a changing landscape for buyers.
Innovation Operational Excellence
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6 minute read
The UK is a Nation of Experience Sharers and Email Enthusiasts
This article provides an overview of the results from the CCMA’s new landmark study Beyond Demographics: Customer Contact Personas Shaping UK Service Expectations.
Customer Experience Operational Excellence
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6 minute read
Technology Procurement – Where to Start?
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Innovation
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30 minute listen
Tackling Data Sovereignty Challenges
This podcast explore why data sovereignty has become an increasingly important area for discussion in recent years, and what contact centre leaders can do to ensure they are keeping their finger on the pulse.
Operational Excellence Strategy and Leadership
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50 minute read
The UK Contact Centre Outsourcing Report 2026
This report is the CCMA’s essential annual guide for buyers of UK customer contact outsourcing services, produced with key insights from The Knowledge Group and written by a range of industry experts.
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47 minute listen
CareerTalk with Imran Ahmed, Aura Global Solutions
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Operational Excellence
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1 hour read
Beyond Demographics: Customer Contact Personas Shaping UK Service Expectations
This CCMA research initiative reveals the five Customer Contact Personas that make up the UK adult consumer population, each with its own distinctive preferences and perceptions.
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43 minute listen
CareerTalk with Harj Johal, The AA
Harj has 30 years working in contact centres and customer relations within the UK insurance industry, for major brands including Direct Line.
Operational Excellence
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5 minute read
How Does the EU AI Act Impact Contact Centre Leaders?
This article dives into how the new EU Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act) impacts UK contact centres.
Innovation Operational Excellence Strategy and Leadership
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30 minute listen
Creating a Culture of Health and Wellbeing in the Contact Centre
In this episode of Informer, Chris is joined by Dr Jillian Manner, Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and a member of the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy to discuss these questions, and the answers in more detail.
Colleague Experience
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44 minute listen
CareerTalk with Ryan Rubertazzi, VodafoneThree
Leigh speaks with Contact Centre Leader of the Year at the ⁠UK National Contact Centre Awards⁠ in 2021, ⁠Ryan Rubertazzi⁠.
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30 minute read
Public Services: Connecting Fragmented Journeys
Key insights from the March 2026 Leadership Forum, where senior leaders from across public services to discuss customer journey management.
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34 minute listen
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40 minute read
Contact Centre: 2030
Contact Centre: 2030 is a comprehensive research initiative that paints a clear picture of what the not-so-distant future might look like in the contact centre industry.
Colleague Experience Customer Experience Innovation Operational Excellence Strategy and Leadership
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43 minute listen
CareerTalk with Claire Carroll, Hargreaves Lansdown
Claire chats about her career leading contact centre operations for incredible brands such as Virgin Media, Homeserve, BT, Co-Op and JP Morgan.
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60 minute watch
The Importance of Developing your People
In this online seminar, we explored how behaviour, mindset and meaningful development shape engaged teams, motivated colleagues and consistently strong outcomes.
Colleague Experience Operational Excellence
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12 minute read
UK Contact Centre Salary Guide 2026
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46 minute listen
CareerTalk with David Rumble, Founder and Director
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30 minute listen
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Colleague Experience
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4 minute read
Can we Predict the Operating Models of the Future?
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Operational Excellence Strategy and Leadership
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30 minute read
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3 minute read
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Innovation
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6 minute listen
CareerTalk Special – National Contact Centre Day
We take a peek behind the curtain, by visiting WTW in Redhill on National Contact Centre Day for a special episode of CareerTalk.
Operational Excellence
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5 minute read
Before the Bot: Why a Framework for AI Adoption is Crucial
Deploying AI in the contact centre is fundamentally a change management challenge that needs critical strategy planning.
Innovation
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50 minute listen
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Danielle Henry, Director of Customer Care and Contact at John Lewis Partnership, speaks about her career to date.
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5 minute read
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Operational Excellence
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30 minute read
The Hidden Cost of Over-Automation
Senior leaders gathered at the House of Lords to explore the impact of ‘over-automation’ within their contact centre operations.
Operational Excellence
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50 minute listen
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In this episode of Informer we’re focusing on a topic that will resonate with almost everyone in some shape or form, and that impacts every organisation — from banks and fintechs to energy providers, retailers, and pretty much any business with a customer phoneline.
Innovation Operational Excellence
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40 minute listen
CareerTalk with Vicki Mercer, CAF Bank
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43 minute listen
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60 minute watch
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10 minute read
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46 minute listen
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5 minute read
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15 minute
Early Colleague Involvement – the Key to AI Success?
Organisations that involve their frontline colleagues early in AI implementation are the ones that have most frequently declared success.
Colleague Experience
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15 minute read
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This Q+A tackles some of the most common Knowledge Management challenges, collated from recent CCMA events and from across our network.
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National Contact Centre Day – How Will You Be Celebrating?
By getting involved in the inaugural National Contact Centre Day on 4 March 2026, we hope to continue shining the spotlight on all the fantastic and innovative work being done in our industry.
Colleague Experience Strategy and Leadership
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37 minute listen
CareerTalk with Kirk Bradley, Operations Director, Bupa
Leigh talks to Kirk Bradley, Operations Director at Bupa and the Contact Centre Leader of the Year at the UKNCCA 2025.
Customer Experience
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46 minute listen
CareerTalk with James Wilson, Barclays Customer Care
For this episode of CareerTalk, we speak with James Wilson, Interim Head of Supplier Service Management at Barclays Customer Care.
Colleague Experience
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For more than 30 years, the CCMA has been dedicated to supporting contact centre leaders. We push ourselves to do more for our thriving membership base, which is the largest community of industry professionals in the UK.

The CCMA was founded with the goal of sharing best practice and networking to improve skills and knowledge in order to progress contact centre operations - and we live by that to this day.

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