The contact centre industry is awash with conversation about AI – what it can do, the exponential speed at which it’s evolving, and which companies are leading with the most fresh and exciting use cases.

However, at the CCMA’s recent How To… event – held at the headquarters of Worcester Bosch – the most telling discussions were arguably not about technology at all, they were about people.

From organisations taking cautious first steps to others already realising measurable gains – including one scaling business that saved three minutes of advisor wrap time per call through automated summarisation alone – a picture has emerged: the tools are increasingly primed and ready, but the organisations often aren’t.

A practical approach

This is not a criticism. It’s a recognition that deploying AI in a contact centre is fundamentally a change management challenge and change management is hard.

Kevin McGachy, Head of Solutions at Sabio and a keynote speaker at the event, offered a framework that resonated strongly with the room: the 5 C’s of change. It’s a practical lens for any leader thinking about AI adoption and it starts long before you plug anything in.

• Clarity comes first. Before any technology conversation, you need a vision that people can understand and connect with. Not a technical roadmap – a business case that answers the ‘how’ and the ‘why’, in human terms. What problem are we solving? What does success look like for the people currently handling customer interactions?
• Communication is what keeps that vision alive. The narrative around AI in the workplace is still understandably shaped by fear for many frontline employees. Without a consistent, honest communications strategy, the rumour mill fills the vacuum and can have huge repercussions on colleague morale.
• Collaboration is where it gets real. Involving you advisors early and allowing them to help drive change through the lens of the customer – be it through focus groups, enablement sessions or reward and recognition schemes – is essential. One organisation at the event had created advisor champion networks specifically to provide feedback on AI change and keep technical teams grounded in operational reality. Getting this right takes time: at least six months, the room was advised, and probably more.
• Culture underpins all of it. Teams need to feel safe to try things, to flag problems and to allowed to potentially fail, without consequence. That safety doesn’t exist by default – it has to be built deliberately.
• Commitment is the final piece — dedicated time and resource for AI training, not bolt-on e-learning squeezed between shifts. Organisations sending teams on structured AI training programmes and embedding AI literacy as a genuine cultural priority are the ones making meaningful progress.

The other thread running through the day’s discussions was a deceptively simple question: what customer journeys are causing you pain? Not ‘what can AI do?’ but ‘where does your operation hurt?’ Map those journeys with the human element intact, build a genuine business case, and let need rather than novelty drive your decisions.

The CCMA’s How To…Succeed With AI events were held through winter 25/26.