The Future of Contact Centers | AI, Agent Empowerment & CX Strategy

What does the future of contact centers look like in the age of AI?
In this episode of CX Roundtable, host Sarah Caminiti sits down with global CX leaders Brad Cleveland and Luke Jamieson to break down the major trends reshaping customer experience, agent roles, contact center technology, and leadership expectations.

This conversation covers AI in contact centers, the shift toward human-centered CX, the metrics leaders should prioritize, the impact of poor technology on agent burnout, and how organizations can evolve into intelligence hubs powered by real-time customer insights.

Whether you lead a contact center, run a CX organization, or manage customer support in SaaS, this episode unpacks the top 5 industry shifts that will define the next decade.

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⏱️ Chapters

00:00 — Welcome to the CX Roundtable
00:34 — Introducing Brad Cleveland & Luke Jamieson
02:00 — How Contact Centers Have Evolved
03:00 — The Future: Contact Centers as the Intelligence Hub
05:00 — AI, Fear, Opportunity & Industry Transformation
08:30 — Empowering Contact Center Agents in the Age of AI
11:00 — Will AI Finally Elevate the Agent Role?
13:00 — Why Human Oversight Still Matters
14:30 — The Power of White-Glove Support & Premium Human Service
17:00 — Abuse in Contact Centers: How Dehumanization Fuels It
19:00 — Emotional Labor, Cognitive Load & Agent Well-Being
20:30 — The Metrics That Actually Matter
22:00 — The Real Story Behind Declining Metrics (Brad’s “Superstar Agent”)
26:00 — Tech Limitations & Agent Burnout (Luke’s MOS Story)
29:00 — Why Bad Hardware Leads to Higher Attrition
31:00 — Leaders: You MUST Sit in the Queue
33:00 — Understanding How Other Departments Work
35:00 — Lighthouse Metrics for the C-Suite
37:30 — AI’s Real Value: Creating Space
40:00 — How Leaders Should Use That Space
43:00 — Purpose, Values, and Hybrid CX Culture
46:00 — AI Success Rates & Why Implementations Fail
49:00 — If You Built a Contact Center From Scratch Today…
53:00 — The Three Pillars of a Modern Contact Center
55:00 — Fast vs. Slow: Lessons in Leadership Pace
56:30 — Final Rapid-Fire: One Word for the Future of Contact Centers
57:30 — Closing Thoughts

In this episode, we uncover:
• Why contact centers are becoming the intelligence hub of the organization
• How AI will elevate agents, not replace them
• Why many AI implementations fail — and what leaders must do instead
• How poor tooling increases agent attrition
• What metrics leaders should actually care about
• Practical shifts leaders must make to support hybrid, global teams
• Why empowered employees create powerful customer experiences
• The rise of space-focused leadership — and how AI enables it

Featuring the insights of Brad Cleveland, one of the most influential CX leaders in the world, and Luke Jamieson, known for his innovative thinking around human-first technology and modern contact center design.

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