Call volumes keep climbing, but most teams aren't hiring to match. McKinsey estimates automation can handle about 30% of customer interactions without a human, yet plenty of businesses are still running rigid phone trees that do little beyond routing.

Most contact centers now run on 6 to 10 separate tools just to handle daily operations, according to Metrigy. The industry calls it "tool sprawl," and it's exactly what it sounds like: fragmented tech stacks that cost more and slow everyone down.