Executive Roundtable Recap

Enabling Smarter Conversations:
Agentic AI and the Evolution of Voice Platforms

On April 3, 2025, PTP partnered with Execs In The Know for an executive roundtable to explore the future of voice platforms.

PTP knows that as voice platforms evolve, businesses must rethink customer engagement by exploring AI enhancements that improve interactions, streamline operations, and more effectively support human agents. Emerging AI capabilities are transforming existing voice platforms to enable smarter, more efficient conversations.

Chance Whittley, Principal AI and CX Consultant, and Jeremy McCall, Solutions Architect, led this engaging and timely session. The roundtable, attended by 19 top brands, covered several key discussion points, which are summarized below.

Section 1: Understanding Agentic AI and Its Role in Voice Platforms

Agentic AI refers to a system that can autonomously plan, determine probability, make decisions, and take actions to achieve specified outcomes. The term “agentic” comes from “agent-like.” Organizations typically train and staff a human agent to take specific interaction types during designated hours of the day; however, with Agentic AI, brands can train a single agentic agent to take many interaction types and be available anytime.

Key Takeaways

• Agentic AI mimics human agents: it uses CRM data, adapts in real-time, and can be tuned and trained.
• Unlike simple generative models, it includes guardrails and human-in-the-loop feedback.
• Use cases often start small and simple (e.g., FAQs, product bundle inquiries) and scale gradually to larger and more complex tasks.
• It enables seamless, autonomous handling of common customer needs, freeing up human agents for high-empathy or nuanced tasks.

Section 2: Balancing Innovation with Regulation and Ethics

Transparency is key when it comes to offering innovative CX solutions. PTP recommends informing customers up front that they are interacting with AI, giving them choices, and inserting the right disclosure guardrails and opt-out options.

Key Takeaways

• Transparency and customer choice (e.g., opting out of AI interactions) are essential to build trust.
• Highly regulated industries (e.g., finance, healthcare) must address privacy, disclosures, and authentication carefully. 
• Companies are finding success by layering deterministic flows for authentication and hand-offs to Agentic AI for specific interactions.
• Legal, compliance, and ethical considerations must be integrated into the design from day one.

Section 3: Workforce Evolution: Reskilling, Not Replacing

PTP’s view is that AI supplements (not replaces) the human agent; humans can be reskilled to improve QA, AI training and tuning, and documentation. Brands can also benefit from cost savings and increased productivity when using Agentic AI.

Key Takeaways

• Agentic AI acts as a force multiplier, increasing productivity and deflecting repetitive tasks.
• Companies are reskilling agents for QA roles, AI model tuning, and content curation to train AI.
• Emotional or complex interactions remain with human agents; AI handles transactional ones.
• Agent-assist AI is helping teams create more consistent, knowledge-driven experiences by capturing institutional knowledge and surfacing it in real time.

Section 4: Voice Platform Modernization & Next-Gen IVRs

Modernizing a voice platform doesn’t require ripping and replacing your current systems. For example, you can leverage a Next-Generation IVR by layering it on top of existing infrastructure — whether on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid — enabling the use of AI sooner and enhancing capabilities to deliver more efficient, personalized customer experiences.

Key Takeaways

• Next-generation IVRs go beyond touch-tone systems; they include conversational AI, integrated data access, and adaptive responses.
• Some organizations are building IVRs that match a customer’s prior digital behavior rather than adjusting call flow interactions in real time.
• Implementation does not require full cloud migration — wrappers can be used with existing tech, even if it is on-prem.
• Customization, not replacement, is the future of IVR evolution.

Section 5: Business Readiness, Planning, and Cultural Shift

A critical aspect of success is for CX leaders to realize that Agentic AI deployment is a cultural shift. It’s not just adding another piece of technology in the stack. PTP also encourages brands to recognize that organizational readiness means making sure we have the right information to feed these AI models. Finally, if your goal is to reduce staff, know that’s not what you’ll see upfront. You will get improvements in containment, FCR, and efficiency, but headcount changes come later, through natural attrition or redistribution.

Key Takeaways

• Success requires cross-functional buy-in from tech, legal, ops, and CX leaders.
• Start with a clean, up-to-date knowledge base; AI is only as smart as the information it learns from.
• Don’t rush wide-scale implementations. Speed of deployment was not a top priority among attendees; ROI and agent support were more important. Instead, start small and start now.
• Carefully evaluate your organization’s agility and readiness before diving in, especially with limited resources.
• You may need a trusted partner to help navigate the waters of this exciting new technology. PTP can help!