Create a foundation for voice success

From the moment they reach out to a business, customers expect a seamless, personalized experience. They want to be recognized, not start over and repeat the same information at every step. They expect an agent to understand their history: the product they care about, their previous interactions with the business and their open tickets. What they want is fast, frictionless resolution delivered by someone who understands their situation.

But many call centers continue to fall short. They’re held back by legacy technology that silos interactions, creates repetition, and slows down support. In fact, according to Zendesk’s 2025 CX Trends report, while 70% of customers expect agents to be fully briefed on their issue, only half of support leaders say their teams are equipped to meet this mark. This gap is a result of systems designed to route calls rather than connect experiences.

This has to change. Voice remains a critical channel—one that can build stronger customer connections and deliver clear competitive advantages to businesses that get it right. But none of this is possible without a modernized approach.

Why voice still matters in the era of digital CX

It happens all too often, a customer waits on hold, goes through a series of automated prompts before finally having to repeat their account details and situation to a live agent. Even in the era of AI chatbots, digital channels and self-service, voice remains central to the customer experience.

But how is it still the case that many are tempted to write voice off entirely? The truth is simple: people still want to talk, indeed, 62% of customers want their support experiences to feel personal especially when situations are tense or complicated. Being able to speak to a human can help bring reassurance, clarity, or empathy.

The message is clear: voice still plays a central and important role. Even so, many businesses have let their voice support lag behind, prioritizing automated channels over updating outdated, inflexible systems. The result? Frustration for customers, reduced agent efficiency, and poor customer experience.

Voice as a driver of empathy and resolution

Voice isn’t just another channel; it’s a relationship builder, allowing for nuance and tone to become tools for understanding. Customers are better able to convey urgency and emotion, while agents can pick up on subtleties that are often lost in text-based channels.

What a modern voice experience unlocks:

• Faster resolutions for complex issues: Phone beats email and chat when urgency and nuance matter.
• Trust and loyalty: A single great voice interaction can turn a frustrated customer into a loyal advocate, building trust and reducing customer churn.
• Support across the full journey: Voice shines at key moments like onboarding, escalations, renewals, where clarity and reassurance are paramount.
• A safety net for automation: Voice can support customers when automated systems may not have the level of sophistication needed for a situation.

How AI is driving the future of voice interactions

Today’s voice solutions are evolving quickly, with AI able to maintain the advantages of voice while dramatically increasing agent efficiency. These include:

• AI-powered routing and intent detection: Understand why customers are calling before an agent even picks up. This allows for smarter routing, shorter wait times, and fewer transfers.
• Real-time agent assistance: Voice AI can listen in on calls, providing agents with real-time suggestions, knowledge articles, or next steps, boosting both confidence and performance.
• Live transcription and sentiment analysis: Speed up case resolution and compliance while also enabling deeper understanding of customer sentiment, alerting supervisors to potential escalations or revealing new training opportunities.
• Automatic call summarization: Cut down on repetitive administrative work, freeing up agent’s time to focus on customer service, not recordkeeping.

Businesses that invest in these robust, intelligent voice capabilities see returns that go beyond customer satisfaction scores—to include long-term loyalty, reduced churn, and empowered front line teams. This is the result of a genuinely omnichannel contact center experience.

Deliver value at every level of the organization

A modern voice solution shouldn’t force a choice between fast, efficient service and personalization. At Zendesk, we believe businesses can have both.

Zendesk for Contact Center, powered by AWS, weaves voice deeply into an intelligent omnichannel workspace, unifying phone, chat, email, messaging, and social in a single, agent-friendly environment.

Providing everything your team needs in a single workspace, simplifying workflows and making it easy for agents to deliver consistent, high-quality customer service. No more toggling. No more missed handoffs. Just one clear path from start to resolution.

Voice continues to be a cornerstone of any successful customer experience strategy, not only as a support channel, but as the bedrock of fully realized omnichannel support strategy. By investing in modern, intelligent voice solutions, organizations can strengthen trust, foster loyalty, and ensure every interaction counts.

Are you ready to transform your voice channel into a true competitive advantage?