Agentic AI has unequivocally been the most talked about technology in the customer service and experience space in 2025.
Given the natural marriage of AI and CX, it is unsurprising that the latest iteration of the tech has caused such a stir.
But with all the noise and excitement surrounding agentic AI and AI agents, it can be difficult to understand how it differs from traditional AI innovations and the tangible benefits it can bring to your contact center offerings.
In short, agentic AI offers deeper engagement, higher levels of automation, and can solve more complex customer problems.
In a recent conversation with CX Today, Sabio’s Chief Innovation Officer Stuart Dorman encouraged contact center and CX professionals to ensure that what’s being pitched to them is truly agentic AI.
As with any hot topic or buzzword, organizations will inevitably try to piggyback off the trend and may misrepresent what they are really offering.
“The term is being applied to pretty much everything at the moment,” Dorman explains.
“It’s vital to scratch beneath the surface a little bit and question, is this really agentic AI? What problem are you trying to solve? And how does the combination of these different technologies come together to help you solve a particular problem?”
Sabio’s CIO explained that part of the confusion is that the tech is still relatively new and not widely adopted, despite what some vendors might suggest.
Many organizations are experimenting – hiring teams, launching pilots – but in Dorman’s experience, often those projects stall before going live.
“I’ve spoken to so many enterprises that have been running AI initiatives for a year or more, and they’re still not in production,” he said.
“That’s often because they don’t know how to get started or how to tie the technology to a specific use case.”
More Than Meets the Eye
As a specialist expert services partner in CX and contact center tech, Sabio helps businesses with implementation and optimization – allowing them to maximize the potential of their solutions.
This is crucial for a product as new and complex as agentic AI, where implementation requires far more than just plugging in the new tool.
Sabio prides itself on its quick-start approach. It helps clients launch AI solutions in four to five weeks so they can start capturing data and building a strategy based on real outcomes.
In addition, Sabio is able to assess where along the customer journey this technology adds the most value and how to prioritize those touchpoints.
While Dorman is clearly proud of his company’s capabilities, he is also candid about the difficulties and challenges that are associated with introducing the tech, as he explains:
“Agentic AI isn’t a quick win; it’s a long-term, multi-year transformation.”
“That means thinking across departments, joining up web experiences, voice, and chat – and removing friction across the journey to really unlock value.”
Implementing Agentic AI in “The Right Way”
Another key point that comes across when speaking to Dorman, is the need to implement agentic AI in “the right way.”
When questioned on precisely what that looks like, he highlighted the company’s nearly three decades of experience of working with AI in the contact center.
While he admits that technology has drastically changed and altered during this time, he firmly believes that many of the fundamental capabilities and principles needed to implement technology effectively have stayed the same.
These core principles include:
- The capacity to understand human behavior
- An understanding of linguistics and how people want to communicate
- Considerations about user interface design
- Customer journey mapping
- ROI measurement
- Governance
Dorman explains how organizations often overlook and underestimate the importance of these areas, adding:
“A minimum viable product is one thing – but to truly optimize and get full value, you need a mix of skills that many organizations don’t initially consider.”
Another common mistake companies make is getting bogged down in pursuing perfection.
Although reaching a certain standard is essential, the market moves so quickly that if you wait too long, what you’ve built might already be outdated.
In addition to staying abreast of the latest developments, Dorman outlines the need to have the right governance and operational processes in place.
“Think of it like managing a human agent, where you’re monitoring quality and coaching and ensuring it has the right data,” he says.
“You also have to look holistically at the customer journey and break down those silos that prevent the tech from being effective.
“Almost every organization we speak to has these breakdowns in the touch points that customers have, and it’s just not as joined up as it should be to really take advantage of what this technology can do.”
Watch CX Today’s exclusive interview with Stuart Dorman here to learn more about Sabio’s agentic AI credentials.
You can also peruse Sabio’s full suite of implementations and services by visiting the website today.
