The future of contact centers lies in hybrid models, where artificial intelligence (AI) and human agents collaborate seamlessly to serve customers. However, to get to that state also means undertaking significant planning work to ensure everything works optimally and efficiently.
Recently, Verint and Parloa partnered to introduce a new model: hybrid orchestration. Rather than simply expanding human capacity, this model incorporates AI agents as integral elements of the contact center workforce.
Crucially, these AI agents are not treated as standalone technologies, but as operational assets managed and optimized alongside human agents.
A modular architecture built for orchestration
Parloa’s AI agent technology handles multilingual voice and chat interactions, while Verint manages the orchestration: forecasting, scheduling, performance measurement, and real-time assignment of interactions. Within this system, tasks are allocated based on complexity, business rules, and resource availability, seamlessly blending human and AI capabilities.
This modular approach doesn’t force enterprises to abandon existing infrastructure either. Rather, enterprises already using Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solutions from providers such as Genesys, Cisco, or Five9 can integrate the Verint–Parloa solution without disruption.
Other leading providers, including NICE, Genesys, and Five9, are also developing orchestration capabilities, but these are typically embedded within their ecosystems. By contrast, the Parloa-Verint model distinguishes itself through vendor neutrality, supporting multi-vendor environments. However, whether this open approach results in greater flexibility or adds integration complexity remains to be seen.
What also sets the Verint–Parloa approach apart is its focus on managing AI agents with the same rigor applied to human resources. AI agents are not treated as passive automation tools, but are assigned, measured, coached, and continuously improved. This represents a shift toward hybrid workforce management, where AI and human agents are jointly scheduled, monitored, and optimized to meet service demands efficiently.
Practical implications for workforce management
Hybrid workforce management shifts traditional assumptions about staffing. Enterprises can now manage peak periods and after-hours coverage without proportional increases in human staffing. Routine, repetitive queries are efficiently handled by AI agents, leaving human agents free to focus on complex or sensitive customer interactions.
This differs from traditional Workforce Management (WFM) tools, which were primarily designed to optimize human labor. WFM focuses on scheduling, adherence, and productivity within a fixed labor model. Hybrid orchestration introduces more fluidity. It enables dynamic decision-making in real time, combining AI elasticity with human adaptability to manage demand more flexibly and at a lower marginal cost.
Teleperformance, a major global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm, has begun piloting this approach. Parloa’s AI agents handle basic inquiries, while human agents manage escalations. The aim here isn’t simply cost reduction; it’s also about improving the match between task complexity and agent capability. Early outcomes suggest potential improvements in both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency because of this.
Orchestration as a strategic management layer
Historically, contact centers managed engagement channels separately from workforce optimization tools. Hybrid orchestration consolidates these functions, creating a unified system that assigns interactions, manages escalations, and provides integrated performance analytics.
This new orchestration layer sits between front-end customer engagement and back-end operational management, enabling enterprises to control and optimize both human and digital performance in real-time. This approach is becoming a strategic requirement as enterprises seek greater modularity and visibility across their technology stacks.
From pilots to enterprise architecture
Enterprise adoption of hybrid orchestration has moved beyond pilots. Organizations now recognize these solutions as integral to managing capacity amid cost pressures and growing expectations for real-time customer support. This evolution means Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Operation Officers (COOs) are also increasingly evaluating orchestration tools based on their transparency, integration capabilities, and scalability.
The Parloa–Verint offering exemplifies this transparency by subjecting AI agent performance to the same scrutiny as human agents, including structured feedback loops and performance tuning. Such operational parity is likely to become standard as enterprises embrace hybrid workforce management more broadly.
Implications for service providers
This shift in operating models’ places pressure on service providers too. Traditional BPOs reliant on labor-based pricing, must now evolve to deliver automation and orchestrated outcomes. Going forward, differentiation will increasingly depend on providers’ orchestration capabilities, AI integration skills, and performance optimization expertise.
In parallel, this model opens the door to new commercial structures. With clearer visibility into the performance of AI and human agents alike, providers can explore outcome-based pricing, pay-for-resolution models, or even volume-contingent hybrid delivery. These structures may allow providers to improve margins while aligning more directly with enterprise value metrics, such as resolution rate, customer satisfaction, or containment.
Taking the next step toward scalable customer experience
The partnership highlights a fundamental transition in contact center operations. Enterprises must now decide not just whether to incorporate AI, but how best to orchestrate AI and human labor effectively. Success will hinge on clearly defined governance, careful management of integrations, and rigorous performance optimization. Organizations that recognize this shift early and take advantage of hybrid orchestration may well be better positioned to deliver consistent, scalable, and cost-effective customer experiences.
If you have any questions or want to discuss the evolution of AI Agents, or AI + Human orchestration in more depth, please contact us at Sharang Sharma ([email protected]) or Joshua Victor ([email protected]
