The next wave of AI agents is here: Are you ready to implement it?

AI agents are continuing to reach new heights in 2025. Powered by generative AI, these advanced bots are now capable of handling complex interactions and demonstrating empathy, marking the next leap in intelligent automation. The impact is clear: According to our data, AI agents are improving problem-solving, data analysis, and customer satisfaction.

And with customer interactions expected to increase fivefold and two-thirds of CX leaders preparing for smaller teams, the urgency for adopting AI agents has never been greater. Consider DiscoverCars: Faced with rising CX demands, it leveraged its AI agent, Carla, to scale support without adding staff. This strategic move saves the team 110 hours per week and $138,000 annually, while also increasing customer satisfaction by 5 points.

It’s no wonder 63 percent of human agents now view AI agents as an essential part of their team. But like any new teammate, AI agents need proper onboarding to succeed—and many CX leaders are unsure where to begin. To set you up for success, we’ve identified five essential steps to prepare your operations for the next wave of AI agents.

1. Use your knowledge base to instantly automate FAQs

Start simple with AI—just like any new hire, it shouldn’t tackle the most complex tasks on day one. Instead, begin with straightforward, high-volume questions that are overwhelming your team. This approach drives quick ROI and gives you valuable insights to fine-tune your automation strategy before scaling to more advanced use cases.
Analyze your ticket data to find your most frequently asked questions.

Instantly automate responses by connecting your AI agent to your knowledge base—a key resource for both new human agents and AI agents. With direct access to this information, AI can clear repetitive inquiries from the queue, driving automation to 30 percent. The result? Faster responses and more time for your human agents to focus on high-value interactions.

Prepare your knowledge base for AI by crafting clear, concise, and well-structured FAQ content. Focus on one question per article and keep it between 100-500 words to minimize AI hallucinations and ensure accurate, reliable responses.

2. Teach your AI agent your brand

Collaborate with your brand team to train your AI agent in your company’s unique voice. Create a style guide and bot persona to ensure AI represents your tone in every interaction. One common mistake we see is teams launching AI agents without a clearly defined voice, leading to an inconsistent customer experience. To build trust and create a seamless journey, your AI agent should always sound like the same voice, regardless of where or how customers interact with it.

To make your AI more relatable, consider giving it a name and personality. In fact, 68 percent of consumers say they’d engage more with AI agents if their interactions felt more human-like. However, transparency is key—always let customers know when they’re interacting with AI—think: “Hi, I’m Chloe, your virtual assistant.”

3. Upskill your human agents into AI supervisors

For sensitive topics like legal or policy questions, structured conversation flows give you precise control over your AI agent’s responses, ensuring accuracy and consistency. And by letting AI handle a wider variety of questions, you can increase automation to 40 percent, freeing your team to focus on more strategic work–such as overseeing AI itself.

For instance, empower senior agents to shape conversation flows by crafting responses and refining them based on performance insights. This not only improves AI accuracy but also helps agents develop new skills and transition into AI supervision roles.

Take Carla, DiscoverCars’ AI agent. She’s not just streamlining support but also transforming roles within the team. “Before I was purely a customer support agent,” says Guleysha Hasanova, Automation and Helpdesk Manager at DiscoverCars, “Now, I’m on the backend overseeing Carla as the person carrying out our automation projects. I have a lot of freedom, and I’m really proud of the work I’m doing.”

4. Enable AI to handle more complex tasks

Once your AI agent is efficiently managing common questions, it’s time to give it a promotion. Equip your AI agent with key data to handle more complex and nuanced interactions independently. By connecting AI to your key business systems, you can automate half of all your customer interactions—that’s a lot of time back for projects that really move the needle.

Work with your security team to ensure a secure, compliant setup. AI is only as powerful as the data it’s given—and with deeper insights, it can go a step further in helping customers. That includes processing refunds, sending personalized reminders, and recommending products based on past behavior. Personal touches—like acknowledging loyalty status or warmly welcoming customers back—also make AI feel more human, providing a better customer experience.

5. Build a plan for continuous improvement

Continue to enhance AI agent performance with regular analytics reviews. Track clear, actionable metrics like drop-off rates, average handle time (AHT), and bot satisfaction scores. Use quality assurance (QA) software to spot issues, surface gaps, and refine service quality, pushing automation to 60 percent.

As part of your AI agent’s development plan, identify opportunities where it can better serve your customers. Explore new channels, use cases, languages, and markets to maximize its impact. With continuous improvements, you can automate over 80 percent of customer interactions—reserving your human agents for only the most important, meaningful work while accelerating response times for a more seamless customer experience.

AI agents are your next great hire

The CX leaders who will continue to lead in the year ahead are those boldly embracing AI across their operations. And customers are already noticing the difference—70 percent see a clear distinction between companies that leverage AI effectively in customer service and those that don’t.

There’s no time to waste. See how inviting Zendesk AI agents onto your team can help you automate over 80 percent of customer interactions.

Looking to further prepare your CX for the AI revolution? Don’t miss out on the other articles in this series:

• Accelerate your CX in 2025: A 5-step AI readiness checklist
• Agent copilots: The essential ingredient for AI success in 2025