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Top AI Contact Center Software 2024: The Complete Guide
Top AI Contact Center Software 2024: The Complete Guide
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90% of modern customers anticipate seamless and engaging interactions at every touchpoint. To cater to such high levels of expectations, many customer support teams are increasingly leaning towards AI-powered platforms.
In fact, 87% of organizations are turning to AI to provide real-time agent assistance. AI call center software uses artificial intelligence technologies to transform customer service operations across digital and voice channels.
AI can perform a diverse range of tasks to help make customer interactions prompt and more efficient. Unlike legacy call centers that mostly rely on human agents, AI call centers leverage advanced software systems that can handle multiple tasks.
In this blog post, we'll look at the top 10 AI call center solutions and help you figure out which one might be best for your needs.
10 best AI contact center software
1. Plivo CX
Best for AI-powered agent desktop features
Plivo CX is a popular AI cloud call center software built for small businesses and SMBs to offer a comprehensive omnichannel customer experience.
To make it easier for your business to give great customer service even when things get busy, Plivo CX relies on smart technology like chatbots and voice assistants to answer common questions automatically. This is a significant time-saver for CX teams in the long run. To emphasize customer experience, these AI assistants can even have personalized conversations by using information from your customer database. The system also organizes incoming messages and makes sure urgent issues get attention first. Furthermore, you can set up the AI to sound like your brand and ensure it follows your company's rules. If a customer has a tricky problem, the AI can smoothly transfer them to a human agent.
Key features
- Unified Agent Desktop: A single window pane to manage customer interactions across different channels like email, live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, and more
- Built for efficiency: Makes it easier to share photos, videos, and other files with customers, offers ready-to-use message templates, and ensures everyone has the latest information instantly
- Self-Service chatbot: Deploy a no-code, OpenAI-powered chatbot integrated with a knowledge base and smooth agent hand-off
- Categorize and prioritize: Automatically sorts and prioritizes critical customer requests with AI capabilities
- IVR: Take your customer experience a notch higher with an automated and configurable phone system for customer routing.
- Workflows: Without coding, design and implement automated workflows using a visual interface, simplifying the creation of complex processes like case management, follow-ups, and notifications
- Metrics & Reporting: Monitor KPIs, track agent efficiency, and gain insights into customer satisfaction
- Coach your agents: Offer real-time feedback and conduct training sessions directly within the platform
- Integration: Out-of-the-box integrations with several platforms, including Salesforce, Zendesk, and Shopify, to centralize customer information
Limitations
- The platform lacks features for monitoring agent performance, making it difficult to ensure quality standards and optimize workforce allocation
- There is no mobile application available for agents, hindering their ability to access and manage tickets while on the move
- The system might not be the best fit for handling a high volume of routine and transactional customer support inquiries
Pricing
Omnichannel (annual plans):
- Growth: $29 per user per month
- Business: $69 per user per month
- Enterprise: Available on request
Voice-Only annual plans
- Growth: $25 per user per month
- Business: $40 per user per month
- Enterprise: Available on request
Chat-Only annual plans
- Growth: $15 per user per month
- Business: $30 per user per month
- Enterprise: Available on request
Plivo CX ratings & reviews
2. Talkdesk
Best for versatile AI use cases
Talkdesk is a leading AI-powered contact center with features that help automate every step of the customer journey. It offers AI capabilities for diverse business applications, such as self-service, omnichannel engagement, customer experience analytics, and employee engagement.
Key features
- Generative AI and pre-built virtual agents for automating customer self-service for smooth 24X7 support
- Reveals powerful interaction analytics to improve conversations with Mood Insights, Transcription Cards, and Keyword Sensors
- Offers Talkdesk Co-pilot that listens, guides, and assists agents during live interactions
Limitations
- Some features cannot be customized by end users
- There’s a need for more user-friendly reporting tools and customization options within the reporting section
Pricing
- CX Cloud Digital Essentials: $85 per month
- CX Cloud Essentials: $85 per month
- CX Cloud Elevate: $115 per month
- CX Cloud Elite: $145 per month
3. Cloudtalk
Best for conversation intelligence features
As a business-calling software, Cloudtalk comes with an in-built AI-powered conversation intelligence platform. It removes the need to manually analyze calls by offering in-depth conversational insights and coaching for sales and support teams.
Key features:
- Reduce after-call work with automatic call summaries and tags
- Get in-depth business intelligence by viewing trends across different customer conversations.
- Use Call Scoring to evaluate agent performance
Limitations
- They support customer service only on voice channels.
- There are reports of the mobile and desktop apps being glitchy
Pricing
- Starter: $25 per month
- Essential: $30 per month
- Expert: $50 per month
4. Calabrio
Best for hyper-personalized experiences
Calabrio serves as AI software for your contact center that boosts brand loyalty and accelerates revenue generation. It is a workforce enhancement suite with enterprise-grade agent engagement and AI analytics for a complete view of agent and customer experience from a single interface.
Key features:
- Records customer conversations across calls, chats, texts, emails, and tweets
- Get nuanced insights with speech-to-text and sentiment analytics
- Use the AI-powered Workforce Management tools to forecast volume and allocate the right agents with the appropriate skills at the right time
Limitations (G2)
- The software can be complex to set up and use effectively, especially for new users.
- Some search features could be more flexible
Pricing
Available on request
5. Dialpad AI Contact Center
Best for real-time agent assist
The Dialpad AI Contact Center is known for its real-time agent assist features, which are dedicated to agent coaching and enabling customer satisfaction. It comes with a range of AI capabilities that help you enhance agent performance and turn rookie agents into seasoned experts.
Key features:
- Offers immediate answers to agent questions with AI Agent Assist
- Uses automated speech recognition software for real-time call transcription
- Provides call summaries with recommended action items so agents don’t need to take notes during calls
Limitations (G2)
- Certain features, such as voicemail setup and call routing, are not very intuitive
- Standard customers must upgrade to at least the Pro tier to gain access to numerous integrations, which can be a barrier for smaller businesses
Pricing
- Standard: $27 per user per month ($15 if billed annually)
- Pro: $35 per user per month ($25 if billed annually)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
6. Callhippo
Best for call insights and coaching
Callhippo, known for its business phone system features, is another call center AI software that offers call insights combined with AI-powered coaching. It caters to use cases across sales, support, marketing, and operations with advanced functionality like talk-to-listen ratio, sentiment analysis, and topic extraction.
Key features:
- Analyzes customer sentiment based on voice patterns to deliver personalized experiences
- Identifies recurring themes and topics that offer insights into customer pain points and trends
- Tracks conversation ratio between agents and customers for maximum loyalty and retention
Limitations (G2)
- The app/interface is tough to use, and you don't get notifications on the dialer on the desktop/laptop interface
Pricing
- Starter: $18 per user/month if billed annually
- Professional: $30 per user/month if billed annually
- Ultimate: $42 per user/month if billed annually
- AI Add-On: $10 per user/month if billed annually
7. Aircall
Best for in-depth AI-powered business intelligence
Aircall is another notable business phone solution that incorporates AI contact center capabilities into its suite of features. It can sift through huge volumes of conversations for seamless call reviews and an in-depth understanding of customers’ priorities.
Key features:
- Enables you to review sales pitches and coach reps
- Offers deeper context on deals and tickets with AI-generated insights
- Text transcript search for keywords and phrases across calls helps capture the essence of every conversation
Limitations
- Aircall's workflow designer doesn't provide the flexibility needed to design custom journeys
- The software doesn't have its own built-in video-calling feature
Pricing
- Essentials: $30 per license per month
- Professional: $50 per license per month
8. Gong
Best for AI-generated revenue intelligence
Gong.io is an AI-based revenue intelligence solution perfect for customer service and sales teams. It gathers customer data across interactions, providing an eagle-eye view of the customer lifecycle.
Key features
- Offers customer service teams with data-driven recommendations and tailored coaching for account renewals
- Helps spot churn indicators early on to prevent customers from slipping through the cracks
- Helps forecast and close more deals with deep pipeline visibility
Limitations (Capterra)
- It can be tricky to find particular calls using the search feature
- People have mentioned that the transcripts aren't always accurate, especially when there are accents or dialects involved
Pricing
Custom Pricing
9. Zoho Desk
Best for combining agent and AI capabilities
Zoho Desk is an AI contact center solution dedicated to swift query resolution. It deploys powerful features and comes with an AI-powered chatbot called Zia, which responds to customer requests with appropriate solutions by tapping into the sentiment behind each ticket.
Key features
- Helps frame contextualized responses to tickets based on customer sentiment
- Aids agents in drafting accurate responses to customers based on ticket content and information from the knowledge base
- Tracks team performance 24/7 and alerts teams in case of surges in incoming tickets
Limitations (G2)
- Some features that companies would regard as essential may only be accessible on the top-tier plans
- Advanced features and customization options can be complex and have a steep learning curve
Pricing
- Standard: $9.76 per month
- Professional: $17.07 per month
- Enterprise: $29.27 per month
10. Balto
Best for capturing customer behavior in real-time
Balto is an AI call center that helps agents retain customers and convert leads right when it matters, that is, in real time. With features like Dynamic Prompts, notifications, and real-time QA scores, Balto equips customer experience teams with everything they need to make a positive impression.
Key features
- Surfaces key questions and phrases for agents during customer calls
- Sends notifications to agents to spot and course correct where needed
- Helps spot the real cause of low call quality by analyzing and scoring 100% of calls
Limitations (Source)
- Balto has been reported to experience connectivity issues, with instances of the software not working properly during calls or failing to load or reconnect
- There have been complaints regarding Balto's speech recognition capabilities, with some finding it inaccurate and prone to misinterpreting words
Pricing
Available on request
Essential AI contact center software features
These are the key features to look for when choosing a contact center AI software:
AI chatbots
AI chatbots are AI call center agents that simulate human-like conversations with customers. These typically work via web chat or text chat programs, leveraging natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to comprehend and respond to customer queries in real time. AI chatbots can handle basic queries like resetting passwords and answering FAQs from customers, while human agents focus on deeper business problems. AI chatbots bring easy, always-on accessibility to your business and can easily scale without affecting your budget.
Conversation intelligence
This AI call center technology deploys machine learning and AI to analyze customer conversations to derive customer insights, perform sentiment analysis, and improve agent performance. Conversation intelligence software helps transcribe, evaluate, and extract insights from every interaction. Conversation intelligence equips agents with the context and insights needed to understand and serve customers efficiently. These insights remove operational inefficiencies and foster higher customer satisfaction.
Intelligent call routing
Also known as Automated Call Distribution Systems, intelligent call routing automatically directs calls to specific agents or departments. It uses predefined criteria, such as skill-defined routing, round-robin, or first available agent, to distribute phone calls among team members. In a busy call center, intelligent call routing is a huge plus because customer queries are directly forwarded to the right agent, significantly reducing waiting times for resolution. For agents, this means efficient utilization of their time and smooth handling of huge call volumes.
Real-time call monitoring, live coaching, and barging
To ensure compliance and consistency across communication channels, customer service team leaders and managers can listen in on live calls and even jump into conversations if needed. In sensitive, high-impact conversations, the manager may join the call and speak directly to the customer. This not only provides an objective basis for performance reviews but also helps flag any deviations or potential compliance issues.
Predictive analytics
Predictive analytics is an AI call center feature that helps forecast future outcomes. This helps call centers prepare more effectively for peak call volumes and allocate resources more efficiently. Predictive analytics also offers insights into customer needs and preferences to offer a more personalized and effective experience. These insights are crucial in helping teams frame strategies to counter customer churn and build agile teams that can adapt quickly to ever-evolving customer needs.
Voice bots
Like AI chatbots, voice bots allow you to offer round-the-clock support across time zones and geographies. Customers can interact with the virtual assistant through keypad inputs or voice commands. Aside from greeting and guiding incoming callers, AI-powered voice bots can handle basic questions and queries like account balance, FAQs, and order statuses. Voice bots are no longer a nice feature but a must-have in modern call centers that help boost first-touch resolution.
Opt for the leading AI call center solution for your business
AI-powered contact center technology is a must-have for modern customer service. It improves customer loyalty and agent productivity, leading to a better overall customer experience.
If you are looking for an AI-powered call center software that maximizes agent productivity, try out Plivo CX. With its comprehensive, unified platform for streamlining customer interactions across multiple channels, this solution empowers you to handle high-query volumes while avoiding agent burnouts.
Its AI-powered features, such as self-service chatbots, ticket categorization and prioritization, and real-time agent coaching enhance both customer experience and agent performance, ensuring that your team is equipped to handle inquiries efficiently. Book a demo or contact us to learn more.
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