How Can I Use AI to Reduce the Number of Call Centre Agents?

Sera Diamond at Synthflow explores the role of AI voice agents in transforming call centre operations and workforce strategy.

Call centres are under growing pressure to do more with less. Customers expect fast, 24/7 service. Meanwhile, support teams face burnout, hiring freezes, high turnover, and ballooning costs. The solution isn’t more headcount-it’s smarter automation.

Enter: AI voice agents. With recent advances in conversational AI, companies can now reduce their reliance on human agents while actually improving customer experience. Let’s explore how AI can take on call volume, cut costs, and free up your team to focus on what matters.

Why Reduce Agent Headcount in the First Place?

• Cost pressure: The average fully loaded cost of a support agent can exceed $40K–$70K annually, depending on geography. Multiply that across 10–100 agents, and the numbers add up quickly.
• Scaling pain: As call volumes rise, especially in seasonal or growth phases, teams can’t always scale hiring fast enough.
• Repetition burnout: Agents often spend 60–80% of their time on repeatable, low-value calls like appointment booking, password resets, and order status checks.

AI voice agents offer a smarter path forward.

What Is an AI Voice Agent?

An AI voice agent is a virtual phone agent that can handle real-time conversations with customers over the phone. Powered by speech-to-text (STT), large language models (LLM), and text-to-speech (TTS), it understands callers, responds naturally, and performs actions like:

• Scheduling appointments
• Answering FAQs
• Qualifying leads
• Routing calls to the right team
• Sending SMS follow-ups

Unlike legacy IVR, AI voice agents don’t rely on rigid menus. They understand intent, navigate multi-turn dialogue, and adapt to customer needs – all in natural language.

What Kind of Calls Can AI Handle?

AI agents are ideal for Tier-1 and high-volume interactions, such as:

• Inbound customer support: answering common questions, booking appointments, sending order confirmations
• Outbound follow-ups: confirming bookings, reactivating leads, appointment reminders
• Lead qualification: capturing intent, asking screening questions, routing hot leads
• Overflow & after-hours calls: ensuring 24/7 coverage without paying for night shifts
• Call routing: identifying caller needs and transferring to the right department

You’re not replacing your entire support team. You’re offloading repeatable conversations so your human agents can focus on the edge cases that require empathy and judgment.

Example: What Does AI Cost vs. Human Agents?

Let’s compare AI agents to the cost of human agents:

Final Thoughts

AI won’t eliminate the need for human agents, but it will reshape the role of your support team. With AI Agents, you can:

• Reduce staffing costs
• Improve service availability
• Increase call throughput
• Enhance CX consistency

It’s not about cutting corners – it’s about working smarter.

Reviewed by: Rachael Trickey