Phone support has a reputation — and not a great one. It’s seen as slow, expensive, hard to staff, and even harder to modernize. For years, support leaders have been nudged toward deflection strategies, automation-first tooling, or the simple hope that customers will choose chat instead.
But here’s the real issue: It’s not that phone support is broken. It’s that most phone experiences are.
Outdated IVRs, rigid menus, long wait times, and robotic call scripts have made phone support feel like a relic.
And in the process, we’ve turned one of the most high-touch, high-trust channels in support into a source of frustration — or worse, churn.
We’ve spent years trying to move customers off the phone. Maybe it’s time to ask: What would it take to make phone support worth investing in again?
Phone support is costly — but not for the reasons you think.
When support leaders say phone is expensive, they’re not wrong. But it’s not the channel itself that drives up cost — it’s the outdated systems behind it. Most phone support still runs on decades-old infrastructure, which makes every call harder to staff, slower to resolve, and more frustrating to navigate.
And then there’s the harder-to-measure stuff: the hit your brand takes when customers sit through a seven-option IVR menu only to get transferred to the wrong team. The cost of repeat contacts. The silent churn that follows a bad experience.
Forrester found that more than half of U.S. consumers will abandon an online purchase if they can’t get quick answers — a clear sign that support speed and accessibility aren’t just nice to have, they’re business-critical.
Phone support isn’t expensive by nature. It’s expensive when it’s done poorly — and done the old way.
Why are we still building phone trees in 2025?
Most IVRs were never built to resolve problems — they were built to handle call volume. And while they may have worked in the era of landlines and hold music, they fall short in the reality of modern support.
For the customer, that means long wait times, repeating yourself, and getting transferred (again). For support teams, it means frustrated users, low containment rates, and a system that’s barely better than doing nothing at all.
The worst part? Most teams know their IVR isn’t working — but fixing it feels like a massive lift. Engineering resources are scarce. Setup takes weeks. And the best you can hope for is... a slightly better phone tree?
These moments don’t just frustrate customers — they chip away at loyalty, one call at a time.
If traditional IVRs represent the worst of automated phone support, resolution-first AI is what turns the entire experience on its head.
Instead of forcing customers through rigid decision trees, Assembled’s voice AI listens like a real agent would. It understands natural language. It asks follow-up questions. And it integrates with your existing systems to actually do things, not just collect info.
Think password resets, order lookups, account verifications — resolved in full, without human intervention.
And when a handoff is needed? Our AI brings the right agent in with all the relevant context, reducing handle time and eliminating the “can you repeat that?” frustration.
With Assist, we give customers immediate access to the information they need — no push-button IVR, no wait time.”
Ryan Moore, VP of CX at DailyPay
Assist AI Agent for Voice isn’t a point solution bolted on after the fact. It’s built on billions of real support interactions, not demo data. It’s trusted by teams that live and breathe CX. And it’s designed to go live in hours, not weeks — with no heavy engineering lift.
Resolution-first phone support doesn’t just improve CSAT. It restores trust in the channel. Because the real win isn’t just fewer calls, it’s better ones.
And when done right, AI isn’t just efficient — it’s engaging. According to McKinsey, AI-enabled customer service is one of the most effective ways to deliver personalized, proactive support that builds trust and loyalty.
What if you could cut costs and improve CX?
When leaders think about automation, the focus is often on cost savings — and rightly so. But with resolution-first voice AI, the gains go far beyond the budget. Teams that have adopted advanced AI are seeing serious impact: up to 40% lower costs and 30% higher CSAT, driven by faster, smarter issue resolution.
Here’s what the math starts to look like when AI doesn’t just answer the phone, but solves the issue:
For a 100-agent team handling 5,000 calls per week, even a 20% containment rate can unlock hundreds of saved hours per month — and the equivalent of multiple headcount in staffing cost.
Whether you’re scaling fast or trying to do more with less, that kind of impact doesn’t just justify automation. It makes it indispensable.
For years, phone support has carried the burden of legacy systems, clunky experiences, and rising costs. But the channel itself isn’t the problem. Customers still call when it matters most — when their issue is urgent, complex, or emotional.
In fact, a recent McKinsey survey found that customers across all age groups still prefer live phone conversations when reaching out for support — a reminder that voice remains a trusted channel, even in a digital-first world. That’s especially true for younger customers: over 70% of Gen Z respondents said phone calls are the fastest and most effective way to get help and explain their issues clearly.
The opportunity isn’t to deflect those calls. It’s to finally serve them well.
With resolution-first AI, phone support becomes what it was always meant to be: fast, human, and helpful. It becomes a channel that scales without sacrificing experience — and one your customers might actually prefer to use.
Because when every call counts, you can’t afford a system that just routes — you need one that resolves.
Schedule a personalized demo to see how Assist AI Agent for Voice handles real workflows — from password resets to account lookups — without the menu maze.
