Cisco upgrades Webex
AI experience

A suite of AI-powered innovations aimed at revolutionising customer service experiences was unveiled by technology giant Cisco during the WebexOne conference in Florida, USA, last week.

New features for Webex Contact Centre include the Webex AI Agent, AI Agent Studio, and Cisco AI Assistant. All are designed to enhance customer interactions by streamlining issue resolution and boosting satisfaction through automation and conversational intelligence.

One of the highlights of Cisco’s announcement is the Webex AI Agent, a self-service tool that eliminates wait times by addressing customer inquiries with natural language processing. Designed to resolve issues quickly and effectively, it reduces the need for live agent intervention, creating a smoother experience for customers and reducing strain on contact centre teams.

“Customer experience can make or break a brand, and unlike other solutions on the market, the Webex AI Agent solves customer problems instantaneously and will fundamentally transform the experiences we have all reluctantly been using for far too long,” said Jeetu Patel, Cisco executive VP and chief product officer.

“At Cisco, we’re building AI solutions natively. We start product design with the assumption that AI is going to be in the core fabric of the product and an essential ingredient in how we reimagine customer experiences. We believe that in the next few years, a large majority of first-time calls will be handled by an AI Agent that will be just as interactive, dynamic, engaging and personable as a human agent.”

Cisco’s global study reveals that traditional customer service options often fall short, contributing to long queues and frustrated users. The Webex AI Agent is designed to fill this gap, offering resolutions that boost customer satisfaction.

Scaling with AI Agent Studio

To help businesses implement AI-driven solutions more easily, Cisco also introduced the AI Agent Studio, a design tool that allows users to quickly deploy AI agents tailored to their needs.

Contact centres can set up AI-powered voice or digital agents, allowing human agents to focus on more complex tasks. The AI Agent Studio, along with the Webex AI Agent, will be available to cloud customers in the first quarter of 2025.

Boosting agent productivity

The Cisco AI Assistant, another feature set to launch in early 2025, aims to support busy customer service teams. It provides agents with instant access to context summaries, suggested responses, and dropped call summaries, helping reduce call times and improve the overall customer experience. These tools ensure that agents have all necessary information at their fingertips, allowing them to provide expert-level support.

Cisco unveiled AI-powered analytics to enhance customer experience management. Tools like Topic Analytics, available now, help businesses proactively address customer concerns by identifying the main drivers of customer inquiries. In January 2025, Cisco will introduce automatic CSAT scoring, which analyses customer interactions, offering real-time insights for continuous improvement.

* Jason Bannier is a data analyst at World Wide Worx and writer for Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Threads at @jas2bann.