Embracing AI in Quality Assurance: A Double-Edged Sword for Contact Centers
Contact Center Show
Summary In this conversation, Amas Tenumah and Bob Furniss discuss the implications of AI in quality assurance within contact centers. They explore the benefits of AI, such as increased coverage and trend spotting, while also addressing concerns about accuracy and the potential for AI to replace human interaction. The discussion emphasizes the importance of using AI to enhance human capabilities rather than eliminate them, and the need for effective coaching and data utilization to improve agent performance. Main Content: Understanding AI in Quality Assurance The podcast opens with a...
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Is AI a Threat to CRM?
Contact Center Show
Summary In this episode, Amas Tenumah and Bob Furniss delve into the current state of Software as a Service (SaaS) and its intersection with artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in the context of contact centers. They discuss the recent downturn in stock prices for major SaaS companies like Salesforce and ServiceNow, attributing this to Wall Street's skepticism about the actual impact of AI on these platforms. Amas expresses concern that the hype surrounding AI is outpacing the reality of its implementation, suggesting that many companies are not yet ready to fully embrace AI-driven...
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Stop Chasing Vanity Metrics
Contact Center Show
Most customer experience goals are meaningless. In this episode, Bob Furniss and Amas Tenumah dismantle the way contact centers set annual CX metrics and explain why leaders keep optimizing numbers that customers neither notice nor value. Using insights from a John Goodman article on CX goal-setting, the conversation exposes the disconnect between executives, customers, and frontline teams—and why automation, deflection, and “respectable” percentage improvements often make service worse, not better. This episode is about shifting from internally convenient metrics to customer-impactful...
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New Year Predictions — What 2025 Got Wrong, What 2026 Gets Right
Contact Center Show
2025 predictions — graded AI-powered knowledge Bob’s 2025 prediction: AI would dramatically improve knowledge in contact centers. Result: Early but mostly wrong. The technology moved, but the data did not. Knowledge bases were too fragmented, too dirty, and too poorly governed for AI to meaningfully improve frontline work. The industry instead spent another year chasing bots, automation, and surface-level “AI assistants.” Grade: C+ The failure was not AI. It was the state of enterprise knowledge. Remote work reversal Bob’s 2025 prediction: Work-from-home would shrink and...
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HOLD — The Suffering Economy of Customer Service
Contact Center Show
Amas Tenumah explains why customer service is not “broken” but intentionally designed to fail. Drawing on decades inside contact centers, historical research, and real corporate incentives, he argues that long waits, deflection, and automation-first strategies are features—not bugs. The conversation dismantles common CX myths, challenges executive complacency, and frames consumer behavior as the only force capable of triggering real change. Core Themes The Suffering Economy of Customer Service: When service is universally bad across industries, it’s systemic. Incentives—not...
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Empowering Sales Teams through AI
Contact Center Show
Summary The conversation explores the integration of AI in sales, focusing on how it enhances customer engagement and improves sales efficiency. Bob Furniss discusses the importance of using data to empower salespeople rather than reducing their numbers, emphasizing a customer-centric approach to AI in sales. Takeaways AI can enhance customer engagement in sales. The focus should be on empowering salespeople with data. AI is not just about reducing costs but improving efficiency. Sales strategies should prioritize customer needs. Data-driven insights can lead to better sales...
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Unlocking Value in Contact Centers with Brad Cleveland
Contact Center Show
Summary In this conversation, Amas Tenumah, Bob Furniss and Brad Cleveland discusses the three levels of value that contact centers create: efficiency, customer satisfaction and loyalty, and strategic insights provided by AI. He emphasizes the importance of these levels in improving products, services, and processes. Takeaways there's three levels of value that contact centers create Level one is efficiency customer satisfaction, loyalty, if we do a good job it's the strategic insight that AI can provide it can still tell us, hey, here's a trend I'm seeing Here's an opportunity to improve...
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Stacy Sherman: Why 'Satisfied' Is the New 'Fine' And 12 Reasons That's Not Good Enough"
Contact Center Show
Low-Cost, High-Impact CX Improvements The Power of Language: Transform "I can't" into "How can we" Shift from "I have to" to "We get to" Being "impeccable with your word" (inspired by The Four Agreements) Words trigger emotional responses that shape customer perception Getting CX Buy-In Across Organizations The Alignment Problem: CX initiatives fail when metrics aren't shared across departments Success came when executives adopted the same CX metrics as the CX team Without shared goals, customer insights get shelved with "we'll get to it later" The Pilot Program Strategy: Start small...
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Live from ICMI Conference - HR as a Contact Center with Bianca
Contact Center Show
Episode Summary Broadcasting live from the ICMI conference in Orlando, Amas and Bob discuss the evolving role of AI in contact centers, the ongoing struggle for strategic recognition, and welcome special guest Bianca, who shares her unique perspective on running HR as a contact center at Michigan State University.
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How Contact Centers Became the Corporate Nervous System (Live from ICMI w Daniel)
Contact Center Show
Host: Bob Furniss (without co-host Amos) Guest: Daniel Thomas, Informa Location: ICMI Conference Expo Floor Guest Background Daniel Thomas approaches contact center industry from a research background Surveys audiences and writes research reports Has "front row seat" to industry transformation Conducts the annual State of the Contact Center survey About the State of the Contact Center Report Comprehensive benchmark study surveying contact center professionals Covers multiple verticals including: Training and skills Compensation and salary Technology use Leadership perceptions Strategy ...
info_outlineWe’re back from summer break (okay, maybe fall break too) and diving straight into the mess where AI, customers, and reality collide. In this episode, Amas and Bob unpack the hype vs. the truth about AI in contact centers:
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Is AI replacing humans—or just making customers angrier?
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Why human agents are still the heart of service, even as bots sound more “human.”
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How contact center leaders feel stuck—between CEOs chanting “AI, AI, AI” and customers who just want their problems solved.
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What the data really says about automation, agent workloads, and customer expectations.
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Practical advice for leaders: use AI to reduce after-call work, not replace human connection.
We also share personal summer highlights—Amas’ trip to Italy with his son, Bob’s perfect beach-and-donut days—and a fiery debate about tipping culture.
Finally, big news: The Contact Center Show is hitting the road! Catch us live at the ICMI Contact Center Expo in Orlando (October 27–30). We’ll have guests, fresh perspectives, and maybe even say the things your CEO wishes you wouldn’t.
Key Takeaways
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AI isn’t the enemy. The problem is how it’s rolled out—done to agents, not for them.
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Agents aren’t disappearing. Industry headcount is actually growing, despite automation hype.
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Data is your weapon. Use it to show execs that customers can tell when a bot can handle it—and when they need a human.
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Customer trust is fragile. Overcomplicate service and they’ll punish you with churn and complaints.
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Leadership focus must return to people. Coaching, development, and real support matter more than the next shiny tool.
Episode Quotes
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“I don’t hear the C-suite anymore talking about our people as the difference. It’s just AI, AI, AI.” – Amas
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“It’s not about reducing talk time. It’s about reducing the after-call work so agents can get back to serving.” – Bob
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“Adoption is failing in many companies because reps just ignore the tools. You’re doing it to them, not for them.” – Amas
Resources & Links
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Register for ICMI Contact Center Expo in Orlando → https://www.icmi.com/contact-center-expo-conference
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Follow Amas on LinkedIn: @amastenumah
Next Steps
Want us to bring The Contact Center Show to your company, campus, or event? Reach out—we’ll say the things you can’t without getting fired.