Moving from experimental AI to autonomous action at scale
En el cruce entre la escala humana y la inteligencia artificial, dos empresas que habitan extremos opuestos de la cadena de servicio al cliente han decidido unir sus fuerzas. Konecta, gigante del outsourcing con 109.000 empleados en 28 países, y NiCE, arquitecta de las plataformas que esos empleados utilizan, anunciaron una alianza Global Platinum para incrustar agentes de IA autónomos en el tejido operativo de la atención al cliente. La apuesta no es la automatización total, sino la augmentación profunda: máquinas y personas trabajando en secuencia coordinada, cada una haciendo lo que mejor sabe hacer.
- La industria del BPO enfrenta una presión creciente para demostrar que la inteligencia artificial puede pasar del experimento piloto a la producción real y a escala global.
- La alianza integra la plataforma CXone y el motor de IA Cognigy de NiCE directamente en la infraestructura operativa de Konecta, creando agentes digitales capaces de ejecutar tareas sin intervención humana.
- El diferencial no es tecnológico sino contextual: los agentes se construyen con el conocimiento específico de cada industria —regulaciones financieras, restricciones de telecomunicaciones— que Konecta ha acumulado en décadas de operación.
- El estatus de Global Platinum otorga a Konecta acceso anticipado a nuevas capacidades de IA y soporte de co-innovación con los equipos de ingeniería de NiCE, acelerando el tiempo de despliegue para sus más de 500 clientes.
- La alianza redefine el rol del outsourcer: no como proveedor de mano de obra reemplazable, sino como amplificador inteligente que combina escala humana con automatización autónoma y cumplimiento normativo.
Konecta, con sede en Madrid y 109.000 empleados distribuidos en 28 países, y NiCE, desarrolladora de plataformas para centros de contacto, anunciaron una alianza estratégica Global Platinum orientada a incorporar inteligencia artificial autónoma en las operaciones de atención al cliente a escala industrial. El acuerdo integra la plataforma CXone de NiCE y su motor de IA Cognigy en la infraestructura propia de Konecta, con el objetivo de desplegar agentes digitales que no solo conversan, sino que ejecutan tareas, coordinan sistemas y resuelven problemas sin intervención humana.
Mariano Castaños Zemborain, responsable de las operaciones latinoamericanas de Konecta e impulsor interno de la alianza, subrayó que el valor diferencial reside en la especificidad: un agente diseñado para servicios financieros opera bajo reglas distintas a uno construido para telecomunicaciones. Konecta aporta ese conocimiento sectorial acumulado; NiCE aporta la plataforma. La combinación permite soluciones preconfiguradas que reducen drásticamente los tiempos de implementación y garantizan cumplimiento normativo desde el primer día.
Jeff Comstock, responsable de producto en NiCE, describió la alianza como el puente que muchas empresas necesitan para pasar de los proyectos piloto a la producción real. La promesa concreta incluye mayor velocidad de retorno sobre la inversión, escalabilidad operativa sin incremento proporcional de costos, consistencia en cada interacción y reducción del riesgo regulatorio.
El estatus de máximo nivel con NiCE otorga a Konecta acceso anticipado a nuevas capacidades de IA y colaboración directa con sus equipos de ingeniería. Para los más de 500 clientes de Konecta —muchos de ellos empresas Fortune 500 en sectores como banca, seguros, retail y automotriz— esto significa agentes inteligentes listos para desplegarse con conocimiento sectorial incorporado. Los 109.000 empleados de Konecta no desaparecen del esquema: supervisan a los agentes digitales, gestionan excepciones y sostienen las relaciones humanas que aún importan. La alianza es, en esencia, una apuesta por el futuro augmentado del servicio al cliente.
Two companies that operate at opposite ends of the customer service supply chain have decided to merge their capabilities. Konecta, a Madrid-based business process outsourcing giant with 109,000 employees across 28 countries, and NiCE, a software company that builds the contact center platforms these employees use, announced a Global Platinum partnership designed to embed autonomous artificial intelligence directly into the work of handling customer interactions at scale.
The deal centers on integrating NiCE's CXone platform—a cloud-based contact center system—with its Cognigy artificial intelligence engine into Konecta's own operational infrastructure. The result, both companies say, is not another chatbot, but something more ambitious: digital agents capable of executing tasks without human intervention, assisting human agents in real time, and coordinating across multiple systems to solve customer problems autonomously.
Mariano Castaños Zemborain, who leads Konecta's Latin American operations and championed the alliance internally, framed the partnership as a shift in what artificial intelligence can do in customer service. By combining NiCE's software platform with Konecta's deep knowledge of how businesses actually run their operations—the workflows, the regulatory requirements, the industry-specific constraints—the two companies can deploy AI agents that are not generic but tailored. A digital agent built for a financial services client operates under different rules and constraints than one built for a telecommunications company. Konecta's role is to encode that specificity at scale across its global client base.
The partnership promises four concrete benefits. First, faster return on investment: Konecta will offer pre-built, standardized solutions that cut implementation time dramatically compared to custom-built systems. Second, operational scalability: the ability to automate high-volume processes without proportionally increasing costs. Third, consistency: every customer interaction, whether handled by a human or an AI agent, follows the same intelligent logic. Fourth, compliance: the digital agents are trained on the regulatory requirements of their specific industries, reducing the risk that automation creates legal exposure.
Jeff Comstock, who oversees product and technology for customer experience at NiCE, described the partnership as a bridge between experimentation and deployment. Many companies have tested artificial intelligence in customer service but struggle to move from pilot projects to production at meaningful scale. This alliance, he suggested, solves that problem by linking real-time information directly to autonomous action. The result is faster resolution of customer issues, lower cost per interaction, and more coherent experiences across touchpoints.
Konecta's elevation to Global Platinum partner status—NiCE's highest tier—grants the company early access to new AI capabilities as they emerge, direct support for co-innovation with NiCE's engineering teams, and the technical knowledge required to integrate these tools into its own platform. For Konecta's more than 500 clients, many of them Fortune 500 companies in telecommunications, financial services, insurance, automotive, and retail, the partnership means access to AI agents that are not only intelligent but also compliant, industry-aware, and ready to deploy.
The alliance represents a shift in how artificial intelligence is being commercialized in business process outsourcing. Rather than selling AI as a standalone product or service, both companies are embedding it into the operational fabric of customer service delivery. The AI does not replace the business process outsourcer; it amplifies what the outsourcer can do. Konecta's 109,000 employees will work alongside these digital agents, supervising them, handling exceptions, and managing the human relationships that still matter in customer service. The partnership is, in effect, a bet that the future of customer service is not fully automated but deeply augmented—machines and humans working in coordinated sequence, each doing what it does best.
Citações Notáveis
By combining the platform with Konecta's operational capacity and sectoral expertise, we are creating a new standard for customer experience transformation, allowing clients to achieve faster ROI with more secure and efficient results.— Mariano Castaños Zemborain, CEO Konecta Latam
We are helping organizations move from the experimental phase of AI to implementation, linking real-time information with action through autonomous AI, resulting in faster resolution, lower cost per service, and more coherent customer experiences.— Jeff Comstock, President of Products and Technology for Customer Experience at NiCE
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does this partnership matter now, rather than five years ago or five years from now?
Because the technology finally works at scale. You can build a chatbot in a weekend. But building something that understands regulatory requirements, coordinates across multiple systems, and actually executes tasks autonomously—that requires both the software platform and the operational expertise to deploy it safely. Konecta has the expertise. NiCE has the platform. Neither had the other.
What does "agentic AI" actually mean in this context? Is it just a new word for automation?
It's more than that. Traditional automation follows a script—if this, then that. Agentic AI can observe a situation, make decisions about what to do, take action, and then adjust based on the outcome. It's the difference between a vending machine and a person who works at a store. The vending machine does one thing. The person can handle unexpected situations.
Who benefits most from this—the companies using Konecta's services, or Konecta itself?
Both, but in different ways. Konecta's clients get faster implementation and lower costs. Konecta gets to offer something competitors can't easily replicate—AI agents that are already trained on industry-specific rules and ready to deploy. That's a competitive moat.
What's the risk here? What could go wrong?
The obvious one is that the AI makes mistakes at scale. If a digital agent mishandles a customer interaction, it could do so thousands of times before anyone notices. The other risk is that customers don't want to interact with AI, even if it's good. Some people will always prefer talking to a human. The partnership assumes that's a minority.
How does this change what Konecta's 109,000 employees actually do?
Some roles disappear—the most repetitive, rule-based work. But new roles emerge. Someone has to train the AI agents, monitor them, handle the exceptions they can't solve, and manage the relationship with the customer when things go wrong. The job changes, but it doesn't vanish.
Is this the end state, or just another step?
Another step. Right now, the AI is still supervised. A human is always in the loop somewhere. Eventually, the loop might close entirely for certain types of interactions. But that's years away, and it assumes the technology keeps improving and customers accept it.