Artificial intelligence (AI) dominated outsourcing conversations in 2024, reshaping business strategies across industries. According to the State of Outsourcing in 2025, AI and automation powered most new outsourcing deals, driven by efficiency goals, scalability, and cost savings. However, even with AI integration bringing measurable productivity gains, new challenges arose with maintaining customer satisfaction.

AI’s Role in Outsourcing Growth

Outsourcing providers leaned heavily on AI to deliver speed and accuracy in customer support, analytics, fraud detection, and workflow automation functions. Enterprises began treating AI as a tool to cut expenses and a driver of innovation, from real-time chatbots handling thousands of inquiries simultaneously to predictive analytics helping firms anticipate customer demand. AI has clearly become a central pillar in outsourcing engagements.

The expansion was especially notable in fintech, e-commerce, and customer service-driven sectors, with AI delivering consistency across regions and time zones for global businesses pressured to scale quickly. But its rapid adoption also revealed cracks in the system, chiefly impacting how customers perceive and experience service.

A Dip in Customer Experience

Despite the efficiencies AI offered, customer experience metrics took a step back in 2024. The ISG Star of Excellence CX Insights Report showed that CX satisfaction scores fell by over 3% year-on-year, a concerning trend for industries where customer trust is the cornerstone of growth. Generative AI (GenAI), the most hyped among emerging technologies, received the lowest satisfaction ratings. 

The gap wasn’t about technology’s capabilities alone. Instead, it reflected how outsourcing firms deployed AI, often rushing to adopt automation without fully aligning it with customer needs. And so, as a result, clients and end-users alike questioned whether AI-first models could deliver quality support.

When AI Undermines Experience: The Klarna Example

A striking example came from fintech company Klarna, which introduced generative AI to its customer service operations. While the system delivered round-the-clock support and reduced wait times, it struggled with empathy and problem-solving depth. Customers expressed frustration over responses that felt scripted or lacked the nuance of a human agent.

The Klarna case illustrates a key lesson: speed and efficiency are insufficient. In industries like financial services, where reassurance and trust are vital, AI-only approaches risk eroding customer confidence rather than building it.

How Providers Are Responding

Leading outsourcing providers recognized these risks and have begun refining their strategies. Instead of pursuing automation at all costs, many are adopting hybrid delivery models that integrate AI with human oversight.

Under this model, AI is deployed to handle repetitive, data-heavy tasks, such as verifying account details or processing routine transactions. At the same time, human agents are positioned to manage complex, sensitive, or emotionally charged interactions. The balance preserves efficiency while ensuring empathy and judgment remain at the core of customer engagement.

Other strategies providers are investing in include:

  • Building feedback mechanisms that allow AI tools to learn and adapt from real-world customer interactions.
  • Upskilling employees to work alongside AI, so they can seamlessly step in when issues escalate.
  • Applying user-centric design principles to AI interfaces, ensuring responses feel natural, empathetic, and easy to understand.
  • Offering clients detailed AI performance transparency, they can measure value without compromising service quality.

Reliasourcing’s Human-AI Partnership

The industry consensus emerging from 2024 is that AI is an amplifier, not a replacement. While it can increase efficiency and lower costs, it cannot replicate human workers’ emotional intelligence, adaptability, and contextual awareness. Outsourcing firms that succeed in 2025 will combine the strengths of both: AI’s scale and people’s ability to connect.

Our leaders echoed this perspective in our recent feature in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, which highlighted how some outsourcing companies approach AI with a people-first mindset. Reliasourcing described AI as a co-pilot: a tool to enhance, not replace, employees’ work. 

Co-Founder and Head of Growth and Strategy Amir Borsok said, “Whether with chat support for real-time troubleshooting and onboarding, with voice tools for transcription, or language features such as accent tuning and translation, AI continues to enhance our agents’ capabilities with assistive features.” 

Co-Founder and CEO Yoray Ofek further emphasized that AI’s value depends on how it is used, underscoring that “businesses that learn to harness AI strategically will unlock new levels of efficiency and insight… but like any tool, it’s only as valuable as how it’s used. I believe AI should amplify human talent, not replace it.”

Such examples show that successful integration depends on adopting AI and ensuring people remain central to the process.

Looking Ahead

As outsourcing moves deeper into 2025, AI-driven solutions will remain central to growth strategies. However, the experience of 2024 reminds us that efficiency gains must not come at the expense of customer trust. Providers that strike the right balance between automation and human service will set the new benchmark for excellence.

The State of Outsourcing in 2025 makes this clear: the next wave of outsourcing is not about choosing between AI and people. It’s putting both at the forefront and ultimately, integrating them to create lasting value for businesses and better customer experiences.

About Reliasourcing

Reliasourcing is a premier outsourcing solutions provider in the Philippines. We deliver tailored services that help businesses across industries achieve operational efficiency and scalability. With a focus on customer experience and innovation, Reliasourcing continues to be a trusted partner in unlocking potential through outsourcing.

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