The voice customer service channel is not finished yet.

Jonas Berggren

Head Of Business Development NE

Core services

voice channel,

call center,

phone calls,

Interactive Voice Response,

AI translation,

customer service,

contact center,

Customer experience,

CX trends,

Published on Thu Oct 30 2025

Updated on Thu Oct 30 2025

4 minute read

Is customer experience going more digital? Are customers calling for help less often? This is what the analysts and studies used to suggest. The expectation is that we will all be seeing more artificial intelligence, more digital channels, and fewer phone calls to a customer service line. But phone calls and voice interactions are the bedrock of customer service. Is the voice channel really finished?

The NTT Data 2023 Global CX report appears to support this general change in channel preferences. The study suggests that the preference for human-led telephone interactions declined from 12% to 7% for those under 25 years old and from 18% to 11% for customers between 25 and 39 years old over the period from 2021 to 2023. In the 40-to-59-year-old group, the telephone percentage stayed steady over the period, and for those sixty and over, it actually increased slightly, from 29% to 31%. This study suggests that older customers prefer calling and talking to someone when they need help, but younger customers prefer digital channels. When this data was released, some CX analysts said that ‘voice for CX is dying.’

In fact, if voice calls were truly dying, then you might expect contact centers to be in decline, but look at the data from the US. The number of people employed in contact centers and the call volume is up - more customers are calling, and more agents are answering. This suggests to me that the voice channel is not dying, but the way we use voice is adapting. These analysts are talking about a voice call to a customer service line, but what if we start thinking about other types of voice interaction and why customers like interacting this way?

Voice is often easier and more direct than typing a long message or email. Imagine your new washing machine doesn’t work. Would you rather call and explain what is going on in a conversation or type out a long message describing how you had set up the machine and which settings you selected? In many cases, it is still far easier to just say something rather than switch to a digital communication channel. In addition to this, I see several specific trends or pointers to voice that will become more important for customer service design in the future.

Alexa is about to get much better.

We all use digital assistants, such as Google Assistant, Siri on the iPhone, or the Amazon Echo at home. Amazon has shipped over half a billion of these devices, so everyone is now familiar with asking Alexa to perform basic tasks like summarizing the weather or playing some music. Satya Nadella, the Microsoft CEO, said last year that these devices are ‘as dumb as a rock.’ They perform basic functions, but they cannot engage in a long and detailed conversation in the same way that over 200 million people do every week using ChatGPT. So, it is no surprise that we are about to see all these assistants go through an AI-powered upgrade.

Think what this means from a CX perspective. Instead of just asking Alexa to play music, you can ask for a recommendation for a hotel in Paris tomorrow night and then ask the assistant to book it if you agree with the suggestion. It will allow true ongoing conversation, will remember what you talked about earlier, and will learn your preferences. The voice suddenly becomes an important digital interface once these assistants start to be genuinely useful.

Get CX that does it all.

Stop automating pain: why AI won't fix your customer service issues.

Jonas Berggren

Created at Wed Apr 29 2026

4 min read

Stop automating pain: why AI won't fix your customer service issues.

We make unconscious choices several times every single day. Most people rarely stop to think about them because they are unconscious - it requires focused effort to stop and think precisely about what you are doing. Driving is a good example. When you first learn to drive a car, you need to think about each action, but it eventually becomes natural and fluid.

Earlier this week, I was thinking about this in the context of customer service teams. It’s one of those subjects that works well at the

Real-time translation.

Europe uses many different languages, and cross-border businesses - such as e-commerce or retail brands - have always struggled to manage their customer service team in a way that reflects all the required languages. The major languages are ok, but if you want to serve your Finnish customers in Finnish, you need to establish a local customer service team - even if there is a low volume of interactions using this language.

The traditional approach has been to build multilingual hubs where agents with skills in multiple languages work alongside each other. Still, now we can use AI-powered software to translate conversations in real time. As recently as last year, this technology wasn’t completely smooth and convincing, but if you hear it working today, then you will be convinced this is an option. We are breaking through the language barrier. So customers who do want to speak to someone can do so in their home language - encouraging even more voice interactions.

The value of voice engagement.

McKinsey has written extensive research on this. The central point is that if you are only concerned about answering a customer service question then you can probably automate the process - let a chatbot handle the interaction. However, if you want to engage with the customer, to sense if there is a sales opportunity, to answer their doubts before they unsubscribe to your service, or to offer a highly personalized interaction, then nothing can beat a human agent - especially if they are supported by technology.

Talking to McKinsey, the CEO of Call Journey, a speech analytics platform, said, “Customer foundations for brand engagement, product and service purchase, and brand loyalty will almost entirely be emotionally based now.” What does this mean for your business? If 20% of customer decisions around purchasing are rational, but 80% are emotional, then the difference between a knowledgeable agent helping the customer and automation is clear.

Voice is a core feature of future CX.

I have spent the past two years documenting how AI is changing the customer experience, but I do think that the common assumption customers will no longer want to use their voice when they need help is wrong. Sometimes, calling and talking to someone is the easiest way to express yourself and get help.

Key takeaways for CX leaders.

Don't underestimate the power of voice.
Use AI to enhance, not replace, human interaction.
Explore voice-driven technologies like advanced digital assistants and real-time translation.
Prioritize agent training and empowerment to maximize the value of voice interactions.

Standout CX isn't about choosing between voice and digital, but about creating a seamless, integrated experience where voice plays a central role. Voice isn't dying. It may, in fact, be the essence of future customer experiences.

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Dutch x PrettyLitter: how Awesome CX connects brands, people, and purpose to build community.

Transcom

Created at Tue Apr 14 2026

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Dutch x PrettyLitter: how Awesome CX connects brands, people, and purpose to build community.

What motivates our people to strive for the best? It’s not a mere matter of discipline, it’s the devotion that emerges when passion meets purpose. At Awesome CX, our employees do more than come to work. They show up as part of a community. One that believes customer experience is rooted in human connection, shared values, and the relationships built along the way.

Much of our work is centered on helping brands support their customers. This year, however, we took a moment to turn that focus

The voice customer service channel is not finished yet.

Get CX that does it all.

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Stop automating pain: why AI won't fix your customer service issues.

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