90% of modern customers anticipate seamless and engaging interactions at every touchpoint. To cater to such high levels of expectations, many customer support teams are increasingly leaning towards AI-powered platforms. 

In fact, 87% of organizations are turning to AI to provide real-time agent assistance. AI call center software uses artificial intelligence technologies to transform customer service operations across digital and voice channels. 

AI can perform a diverse range of tasks to help make customer interactions prompt and more efficient. Unlike legacy call centers that mostly rely on human agents, AI call centers leverage advanced software systems that can handle multiple tasks.

In this blog post, we'll look at the top 10 AI call center solutions and help you figure out which one might be best for your needs.

10 best AI contact center software 

1. Plivo CX

Best for AI-powered agent desktop features

Plivo CX is a popular AI cloud call center software built for small businesses and SMBs to offer a comprehensive omnichannel customer experience.
To make it easier for your business to give great customer service even when things get busy, Plivo CX relies on smart technology like chatbots and voice assistants to answer common questions automatically. This is a significant time-saver for CX teams in the long run. To emphasize customer experience, these AI assistants can even have personalized conversations by using information from your customer database. The system also organizes incoming messages and makes sure urgent issues get attention first. Furthermore, you can set up the AI to sound like your brand and ensure it follows your company's rules. If a customer has a tricky problem, the AI can smoothly transfer them to a human agent. 

Key features

• Unified Agent Desktop: A single window pane to manage customer interactions across different channels like email, live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, and more
• Built for efficiency: Makes it easier to share photos, videos, and other files with customers, offers ready-to-use message templates, and ensures everyone has the latest information instantly
• Self-Service chatbot: Deploy a no-code, OpenAI-powered chatbot integrated with a knowledge base and smooth agent hand-off
• Categorize and prioritize: Automatically sorts and prioritizes critical customer requests with AI capabilities
• IVR: Take your customer experience a notch higher with an automated and configurable phone system for customer routing.
• Workflows: Without coding, design and implement automated workflows using a visual interface, simplifying the creation of complex processes like case management, follow-ups, and notifications
• Metrics & Reporting: Monitor KPIs, track agent efficiency, and gain insights into customer satisfaction
• Coach your agents: Offer real-time feedback and conduct training sessions directly within the platform
• Integration: Out-of-the-box integrations with several platforms, including Salesforce, Zendesk, and Shopify, to centralize customer information

Limitations 

• The platform lacks features for monitoring agent performance, making it difficult to ensure quality standards and optimize workforce allocation
• There is no mobile application available for agents, hindering their ability to access and manage tickets while on the move
• The system might not be the best fit for handling a high volume of routine and transactional customer support inquiries

Pricing

Omnichannel (annual plans):

• Growth: $29 per user per month
• Business: $69 per user per month
• Enterprise: Available on request

Voice-Only annual plans

• Growth: $25 per user per month
• Business: $40 per user per month
• Enterprise: Available on request

Chat-Only annual plans

• Growth: $15 per user per month
• Business: $30 per user per month
• Enterprise: Available on request

Plivo CX ratings & reviews 

• G2: 4.5/5 (700+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.3/5 (80+ reviews)

‍
2. Talkdesk

Best for versatile AI use cases

Talkdesk is a leading AI-powered contact center with features that help automate every step of the customer journey. It offers AI capabilities for diverse business applications, such as self-service, omnichannel engagement, customer experience analytics, and employee engagement. 

Key features

• Generative AI and pre-built virtual agents for automating customer self-service for smooth 24X7 support 
• Reveals powerful interaction analytics to improve conversations with Mood Insights, Transcription Cards, and Keyword Sensors
• Offers Talkdesk Co-pilot that listens, guides, and assists agents during live interactions 

Limitations 

• Some features cannot be customized by end users
• There’s a need for more user-friendly reporting tools and customization options within the reporting section

Pricing

• CX Cloud Digital Essentials: $85 per month

• CX Cloud Essentials: $85 per month
   
• CX Cloud Elevate: $115 per month

• CX Cloud Elite: $145 per month

Talkdesk ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/ 5 (2200+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/ 5 (720+ reviews)

3. Cloudtalk

Best for conversation intelligence features

As a business-calling software, Cloudtalk comes with an in-built AI-powered conversation intelligence platform. It removes the need to manually analyze calls by offering in-depth conversational insights and coaching for sales and support teams.   

Key features: 

• Reduce after-call work with automatic call summaries and tags
• Get in-depth business intelligence by viewing trends across different customer conversations.   
• Use Call Scoring to evaluate agent performance

Limitations 

• They support customer service only on voice channels.
• There are reports of the mobile and desktop apps being glitchy

Pricing 

• Starter: $25 per month 

• Essential: $30 per month

• Expert: $50 per month

Cloudtalk ratings & reviews

• G2: 4.3/ 5 (1000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/ 5 (260+ reviews)

4. Calabrio

Best for hyper-personalized experiences

‍Calabrio serves as AI software for your contact center that boosts brand loyalty and accelerates revenue generation. It is a workforce enhancement suite with enterprise-grade agent engagement and AI analytics for a complete view of agent and customer experience from a single interface.    

Key features: 

• Records customer conversations across calls, chats, texts, emails, and tweets
• Get nuanced insights with speech-to-text and sentiment analytics
• Use the AI-powered Workforce Management tools to forecast volume and allocate the right agents with the appropriate skills at the right time 

 Limitations (G2)

• The software can be complex to set up and use effectively, especially for new users.
• Some search features could be more flexible

Pricing

Available on request

Calabrio ratings & reviews 

• G2: 4.4/ 5 (270+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/ 5 (260+ reviews)

5. Dialpad AI Contact Center

Best for real-time agent assist

The Dialpad AI Contact Center is known for its real-time agent assist features, which are dedicated to agent coaching and enabling customer satisfaction. It comes with a range of AI capabilities that help you enhance agent performance and turn rookie agents into seasoned experts. 

Key features: 

• Offers immediate answers to agent questions with AI Agent Assist 
• Uses automated speech recognition software for real-time call transcription 
• Provides call summaries with recommended action items so agents don’t need to take notes during calls 

Limitations (G2)

• Certain features, such as voicemail setup and call routing, are not very intuitive
• Standard customers must upgrade to at least the Pro tier to gain access to numerous integrations, which can be a barrier for smaller businesses

Pricing 

• Standard: $27 per user per month ($15 if billed annually)
  
• Pro: $35 per user per month ($25 if billed annually)
  
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Dialpad ratings & reviews 

• G2: 4.3/ 5 (230+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.2/ 5 (500+ reviews)

6. Callhippo 

Best for call insights and coaching

Callhippo, known for its business phone system features, is another call center AI software that offers call insights combined with AI-powered coaching. It caters to use cases across sales, support, marketing, and operations with advanced functionality like talk-to-listen ratio, sentiment analysis, and topic extraction.

Key features:

• Analyzes customer sentiment based on voice patterns to deliver personalized experiences
• Identifies recurring themes and topics that offer insights into customer pain points and trends
• Tracks conversation ratio between agents and customers for maximum loyalty and retention

Limitations (G2)

• The app/interface is tough to use, and you don't get notifications on the dialer on the desktop/laptop interface

Pricing

• Starter: $18 per user/month if billed annually
• Professional: $30 per user/month if billed annually
• Ultimate: $42 per user/month if billed annually
• AI Add-On: $10 per user/month if billed annually

Callhippo ratings & reviews 

• G2: 4.4/ 5 (300+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.3/ 5 (500+ reviews)

7. Aircall

Best for in-depth AI-powered business intelligence

Aircall is another notable business phone solution that incorporates AI contact center capabilities into its suite of features. It can sift through huge volumes of conversations for seamless call reviews and an in-depth understanding of customers’ priorities.   

Key features: 

• Enables you to review sales pitches and coach reps 
• Offers deeper context on deals and tickets with AI-generated insights   
• Text transcript search for keywords and phrases across calls helps capture the essence of every conversation

Limitations 

• Aircall's workflow designer doesn't provide the flexibility needed to design custom journeys
• The software doesn't have its own built-in video-calling feature

Pricing

• Essentials: $30 per license per month

• Professional: $50 per license per month

Aircall ratings & reviews

• G2: 4.3/ 5 (1000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.3/ 5 (400+ reviews)

8. Gong

Best for AI-generated revenue intelligence

Gong.io  is an AI-based revenue intelligence solution perfect for customer service and sales teams. It gathers customer data across interactions, providing an eagle-eye view of the customer lifecycle.  

Key features

• Offers customer service teams with data-driven recommendations and tailored coaching for account renewals
• Helps spot churn indicators early on to prevent customers from slipping through the cracks
• Helps forecast and close more deals with deep pipeline visibility

Limitations (Capterra)

• It can be tricky to find particular calls using the search feature
• People have mentioned that the transcripts aren't always accurate, especially when there are accents or dialects involved

Kustomer ratings & reviews

• Capterra: 4.8/ 5 (500+ reviews)
• G2: 4.7/ 5 (5700+ reviews)

Pricing

Custom Pricing

9. Zoho Desk 

Best for combining agent and AI capabilities

Zoho Desk is an AI contact center solution dedicated to swift query resolution. It deploys powerful features and comes with an AI-powered chatbot called Zia, which responds to customer requests with appropriate solutions by tapping into the sentiment behind each ticket. 

Key features

• Helps frame contextualized responses to tickets based on customer sentiment 
• Aids agents in drafting accurate responses to customers based on ticket content and information from the knowledge base 
• Tracks team performance 24/7 and alerts teams in case of surges in incoming tickets  

Limitations (G2)

• Some features that companies would regard as essential may only be accessible on the top-tier plans
• Advanced features and customization options can be complex and have a steep learning curve

Zoho Desk ratings & reviews 

• Capterra: 4.5/ 5 (2100+ reviews)
• G2: 4.4/ 5 (5600+ reviews)

Pricing

• Standard: $9.76 per month 

• Professional: $17.07 per month 

• Enterprise: $29.27  per month 

10. Balto

Best for capturing customer behavior in real-time 

Balto is an AI call center that helps agents retain customers and convert leads right when it matters, that is, in real time. With features like Dynamic Prompts, notifications, and real-time QA scores, Balto equips customer experience teams with everything they need to make a positive impression. 

Key features

• Surfaces key questions and phrases for agents during customer calls
• Sends notifications to agents to spot and course correct where needed 
• Helps spot the real cause of low call quality by analyzing and scoring 100% of calls 

Limitations (Source)

• Balto has been reported to experience connectivity issues, with instances of the software not working properly during calls or failing to load or reconnect
• There have been complaints regarding Balto's speech recognition capabilities, with some finding it inaccurate and prone to misinterpreting words

Pricing

Available on request 

Balto Service Rating and Reviews

• G2: 4.8/ 5 (400+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/ 5 (10 reviews)

Essential AI contact center software features

These are the key features to look for when choosing a contact center AI software: 

AI chatbots 

‍AI chatbots are AI call center agents that simulate human-like conversations with customers. These typically work via web chat or text chat programs, leveraging natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to comprehend and respond to customer queries in real time. AI chatbots can handle basic queries like resetting passwords and answering FAQs from customers, while human agents focus on deeper business problems. AI chatbots bring easy, always-on accessibility to your business and can easily scale without affecting your budget. 

Conversation intelligence 

This AI call center technology deploys machine learning and AI to analyze customer conversations to derive customer insights, perform sentiment analysis, and improve agent performance. Conversation intelligence software helps transcribe, evaluate, and extract insights from every interaction. Conversation intelligence equips agents with the context and insights needed to understand and serve customers efficiently. These insights remove operational inefficiencies and foster higher customer satisfaction. 

Intelligent call routing 

Also known as Automated Call Distribution Systems, intelligent call routing automatically directs calls to specific agents or departments. It uses predefined criteria, such as skill-defined routing, round-robin, or first available agent, to distribute phone calls among team members. In a busy call center, intelligent call routing is a huge plus because customer queries are directly forwarded to the right agent, significantly reducing waiting times for resolution. For agents, this means efficient utilization of their time and smooth handling of huge call volumes. 

Real-time call monitoring, live coaching, and barging

To ensure compliance and consistency across communication channels, customer service team leaders and managers can listen in on live calls and even jump into conversations if needed. In sensitive, high-impact conversations, the manager may join the call and speak directly to the customer. This not only provides an objective basis for performance reviews but also helps flag any deviations or potential compliance issues.

Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics is an AI call center feature that helps forecast future outcomes. This helps call centers prepare more effectively for peak call volumes and allocate resources more efficiently. Predictive analytics also offers insights into customer needs and preferences to offer a more personalized and effective experience. These insights are crucial in helping teams frame strategies to counter customer churn and build agile teams that can adapt quickly to ever-evolving customer needs.

Voice bots

Like AI chatbots, voice bots allow you to offer round-the-clock support across time zones and geographies. Customers can interact with the virtual assistant through keypad inputs or voice commands. Aside from greeting and guiding incoming callers, AI-powered voice bots can handle basic questions and queries like account balance, FAQs, and order statuses. Voice bots are no longer a nice feature but a must-have in modern call centers that help boost first-touch resolution. 

Opt for the leading AI call center solution for your business 

AI-powered contact center technology is a must-have for modern customer service. It improves customer loyalty and agent productivity, leading to a better overall customer experience.

If you are looking for an AI-powered call center software that maximizes agent productivity, try out Plivo CX.  With its comprehensive, unified platform for streamlining customer interactions across multiple channels, this solution empowers you to handle high-query volumes while avoiding agent burnouts. 

Its AI-powered features, such as self-service chatbots, ticket categorization and prioritization, and real-time agent coaching enhance both customer experience and agent performance, ensuring that your team is equipped to handle inquiries efficiently. Book a demo or contact us to learn more.