24% of UK contact centres say they use agentic AI, but only 2% have a bot that can work out its own steps and act across more than one system.

Based on surveys of 202 UK contact centres and 1,000 UK consumers, it sets out what has been deployed, what it cost, what it delivered and what customers make of it.

Throughout, a claim and a measurement are treated as different things: those reporting a capability were asked what it does unaided, and those reporting a benefit whether it was measured.

This report shows:

• How much of the CX budget goes on AI, and why the function carrying the blame for any AI failure rarely holds it

• What the most capable bot in each operation can actually do on its own

• How much bots resolve without a human, and why containment rates flatter the position

• What controls exist on the actions bots take in live business systems

• What agent assist and AI analytics have delivered, measured rather than claimed

• How AI compares with human agents on handling time, accuracy, resolution and satisfaction

• What has been stopped, paused or rolled back after deployment, and why

• When customers actively prefer AI, what worries them most and where the appetite stops

• What AI has done to headcount, and what nobody has changed for agents

Download this report and find out where AI is actually delivering in UK contact centres (and where it is not), and what the evidence supports doing next.

This is the most detailed and objective primary research that has ever been carried out on UK contact centres’ use of AI.

AI in UK Contact Centres – The Reality is available for free download.

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