56 M C K I N S EY Q UA RT E R LY CUST O M E R O P E RAT I O N S CA SE AI agents improved customer experience and reduced cost per call A large utility company handles more than seven million support calls each year, even with multiple self-service options available on its app and website. Its interactive voice response sys tem had previously resolved only about 10 percent of inquiries, leaving the rest to human customer service representatives. To improve efficiency and customer experience, the company deployed agentic conversational AI across its entire customer base (Exhibit 2). The system includes several agents: an inbound-call agent that authenticates customers, an intent identification agent that determines the purpose of the call, a call-scheduling agent that manages appointments, and a self-service agent that inte grates with back-end systems. Together, these agents now handle roughly 40 percent of all calls, resolving more than 80 percent without human involvement. When escalation is needed, custom ers are transferred with verified account details and conversation history, ensuring a seamless handoff. The new process has cut the average cost per call by about 50 percent and increased customer satisfaction scores by six percentage points, driven by shorter waiting times, more consistent handling, and faster resolution. Human representatives now manage more complex, emotionally sensitive, and higher-value issues, improving both the quality and the impact of service. Future applications could go further. A customer- issue-identification agent could monitor systems to detect service interruptions and contact customers proactively, while a coaching agent could provide real-time guidance to human representatives during live calls. In such models, AI would handle most of the routine inquiries while people would concentrate on complex or relationship-based issues, supported by continuous insights and automated follow-up. Advanced AI agents could eventually handle 80 to 90 percent of customer inquiries, documenting each interaction and initiat ing follow-up to ensure continuity and consistency. - - - - Courageous Leadership: New Workflow