While the use of a computerized voice and artificial intelligence may suggest the potential replacement of human operators by computers as a cost-saving measure, the need to have a human being at the end of the line is not going away any time soon. “The quality of the system that converts text to spoken language is at a very good level nowadays, and it is therefore only a matter of time till we start seeing these systems being implemented and used by call centers. But the target of this system is not to replace the human operator. Human operators are necessary to solve specific requests outside the automated system—escalations, serving the VIP clients, and so on,” said Veselka.
T-Mobile’s Kemrová agrees that the human element in call centers cannot be replaced. “This will never be possible. While we can expect an increasing pressure toward automation of the majority of systems, there must always be a human operator [in reserve], ready to solve uncommon requests. The reason is simple—in these cases, automation is not worth it,” she said.
