Conversational assistants become essential to collaboration, customer interaction as autonomous AI agents emerge to take action and make decisions, new research says
STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE) – Enterprises are integrating more AI features into collaboration and communications systems for more effective teamwork and customer engagement, making strategic technology choices to enhance their future competitiveness, according to new research from global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group.
AI is not just modernizing but transforming how enterprises collaborate and communicate. This research provides the fundamentals for preparing to use conversational AI, including AI agents, for collaboration inside and outside an enterprise.
The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Collaborative AI and Communication, produced by ISG Software Research, provides the rankings and ratings of over 50 software providers and their products to support effective employee, partner and customer interactions. The research finds that many companies are embracing features powered by GenAI and agentic AI as they build systems to unify geographically dispersed workforces and engage more closely with customers.
“AI is not just modernizing but transforming how enterprises collaborate and communicate. The technology expands the boundaries of what is possible so companies can significantly increase workforce productivity,” said Mark Smith, partner and chief software analyst, ISG Software Research. “This research provides the fundamentals for preparing to use conversational AI, including AI agents, for collaboration inside and outside an enterprise.”
AI is helping organizations meet the communication and collaboration challenges posed by hybrid work, data protection regulations and changing customer experience demands, the research finds. With edge computing capabilities and conversational and agentic AI, collaboration software is quickly evolving to deliver more automation and intelligence. Enterprises are seeking scalable platforms that maintain high performance, ensure compliance and provide balanced participation between in-person and remote attendees.
Despite advancements in collaborative AI suites and platforms, many organizations still use fragmented communication technologies, the research finds. For effective collaboration across multiple locations, enterprises need more integrated and intelligent tools. ISG predicts that through 2027, one-fifth of enterprises will use agentic AI with communications and collaboration software to guide employees through workflows.
AI is also rapidly improving communication platforms, often called communication platform as a service (CPaaS), the foundational layer for interacting with customers. As consumers expect more interactive experiences, these platforms have begun to include advanced AI that goes beyond basic chatbots, including AI meeting assistants that can perform real-time language translation, the research finds.
Conversational AI tools enabled by GenAI are revolutionizing question-and-answer interactions, ISG finds. Conversational AI can guide workers and customers toward information that is not otherwise easily accessible. ISG predicts that by 2028, automated systems will keep two-thirds of customer interactions within self-service by using improvements in conversational AI and knowledge retrieval.
