Research with Metric Sherpa’s Justin Robbins identifies 5 barriers holding financial institutions back from unlocking contact center value in the AI era

Nearly nine in 10 business leaders now say their contact centers, traditionally utilized solely as service endpoints, have become core to their strategic innovation, a new industry study has found. Published by Glia, the leader in AI-powered interactions for banking, the survey signals a pivotal elevation in the contact center’s value as AI unlocks the wealth of untapped intelligence contained in customer and member interactions for banks and credit unions.

The report, titled “The New Equation: Redefining Value, Effort, and Impact in the AI-Era Contact Center,” reveals a widespread “maturity gap” where AI adoption is outpacing the strategic frameworks required to capitalize on its true ROI. Despite nine in 10 leaders recognizing the contact center’s strategic importance, fewer than three in 10 have evolved the roles and metrics needed to realize its full business potential unlocked by AI.

“This research makes it clear: AI’s biggest impact isn’t just about cutting costs — it’s about extending the capacity of your team,” said Dan Michaeli, CEO and Co-Founder of Glia. “When banks and credit unions deploy Glia AI, they create unprecedented capacity. And when they do, the real question becomes, what will you do with all those newfound increases and savings? What we’re hearing from customers is shockingly consistent: reskill and reallocate agents to servicing centers, stop paying for after-hours and overflow support agencies, be more proactive with financial literacy education programs and do more in the community. Too often, AI is treated like a tech decision, when really, it’s a shift in how we think about labor allocation and project prioritization. It opens up the opportunity to reallocate resources — budget and talent alike — toward innovation, customer and member value, and human potential.”

Conducted in partnership with Metric Sherpa, the next-generation analyst firm for customer interaction leaders, the study identifies five key barriers hindering financial institutions in capitalizing on the true business value their contact centers can contribute when cost-center mindsets are replaced with reimagined forward-thinking:

• AI adoption outpaces operational maturity: 75% of contact centers use AI, but only a third fully embed it into daily workflows and measurement systems.
• Strategic value is hidden in plain sight: 86% of contact centers say AI is crucial, but only 27% measure its impact — missing a key link to enterprise priorities.
• Customer and agent friction mirror each other: Long wait times and system switching erode not only customer and member satisfaction, but also employee efficiency.
• AI savings are funding talent — not just cuts: 43% of organizations reinvest savings into higher pay and hiring standards, reaffirming AI as workforce fuel.
• AI decisions are disconnected from frontline needs: Only one in six organizations trust contact centers to lead AI decisions, risking misalignment.

The research paints a picture of a contact center landscape in transition — where AI adoption is high, but the operational foundations needed to realize AI’s value remain underdeveloped. Leaders recognize value in four dimensions — customer, employee, economic and strategic — but struggle to measure that value consistently, especially when it comes to strategic contributions. At the same time, inconveniences faced by customers, members and agents are shaped by the same root causes: disconnected systems, poor context and manual workflows.

“Our frontline agents might have been extremely skeptical about AI at first, but once they saw it in front of them and realized it’s easy to use, helpful, beneficial and there for every single call, they bought in quickly,” said Adam Goetzke, Director of Customer Experience at Heritage Federal Credit Union. “AI is achieving what I hoped it would achieve with regard to impacting our people at every level. In real time, it’s helping agents, supervisors and managers — it’s even aiding in workforce management planning. AI has a positive impact on all KPIs in one way or another.”

The survey’s findings will be discussed during Glia and Metric Sherpa’s free, public webinar “From Cutting Costs to Driving Value: The Untapped Power of Contact Center AI,” Thursday, Aug. 27, at 2 p.m. EDT. A collaborative discussion between financial services leaders, the webinar will review key survey findings, share practical strategies for bridging the AI maturity gap and explore how banks and credit unions can reimagine their contact centers as value engines for their whole organization.

“The contact center probably knows more about the business than any other function — but more often than not, it isn’t being asked,” said Justin Robbins, Founder and Principal Analyst at Metric Sherpa. “If you’re only using AI to cut costs, you’re missing out on its greatest potential: driving growth through strategic intelligence. Modern AI can turn every customer interaction into actionable insight — fueling innovation, improving experiences and driving long-term growth. With thoughtful AI deployment, business leaders can elevate the contact center from merely a service endpoint to a key innovation driver.”

Additional information on Glia is available at glia.com.

About Glia

Glia is the leading AI customer interactions solution for banks and credit unions. Our platform unifies AI and human agents across every voice and digital interaction with our proprietary ChannelLess^® Architecture. With Glia’s AI for All™, organizations solve the efficiency vs. experience tradeoff by using AI to automate interactions, elevate agent performance and transform reporting and insights for leaders.

Glia has been named a Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ company for five consecutive years and certified as a Great Place to Work (with a 98% employee satisfaction rating). With an industry-leading 72 NPS score across over 700 organizations, the company has raised over $150 million in funding from top investors and was recently valued at over $1 billion. Learn more at glia.com.

About Metric Sherpa

Metric Sherpa is the next-generation analyst firm organizations rely on for clear, independent business communication and customer interactions insight. We deliver original research, strategic guidance and content that drives real decisions. Founded by customer experience expert Justin Robbins, we bridge the gap between strategy and execution with practical, experience-backed analysis. Our work helps tech companies and business leaders understand the market, sharpen their message and lead with confidence. Learn more at metricsherpa.com.

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