Executive Summary

The AI revolution in customer service is not about replacing human expertise—it’s about elevating it. As artificial intelligence transforms customer operations, a critical truth emerges: AI’s capability and impact depend entirely on the quality of knowledge it accesses. Without trusted, curated knowledge, even the most sophisticated AI systems deliver inconsistent, incorrect, or non-compliant responses that erode customer trust and operational efficiency.

This white paper explores how forward-thinking organizations are positioning their contact center agents for a high-value future as knowledge management specialists—curators who ensure AI systems deliver accurate, contextual, and compliant responses across every customer interaction.

The Foundation: Why Knowledge Management Is Non-Negotiable

AI systems are only as good as the knowledge they draw upon. Whether powering customer-facing chatbots or assisting human agents, AI requires a foundation of trusted, well-structured knowledge to function effectively. Without this foundation, organizations face several critical risks:

Inconsistent Customer Experiences: AI systems pulling from fragmented or outdated knowledge bases provide conflicting answers to the same questions, confusing customers and damaging brand credibility.

Compliance Violations: In regulated industries, incorrect AI-generated responses can lead to regulatory penalties, legal liability, and reputational damage.

Operational Inefficiency: When AI systems lack access to accurate knowledge, customers escalate to human agents, negating efficiency gains and increasing operational costs.

Eroded Trust: Customers quickly lose confidence in organizations whose AI assistants provide incorrect information, leading to decreased adoption of self-service channels and increased demand for human support.

Recent industry research validates this reality. According to Gartner’s 2026 Customer Service and Support Priorities Survey, 58% of service leaders plan to transition agents to knowledge management specialist roles—recognizing that improving self-service resolution requires greater focus on knowledge management.

The Transformation: From Issue Resolution to Knowledge Curation

Contact center agents possess an invaluable but often underutilized asset: deep understanding of real customer conversations, questions, and the nuances of effective answers. This expertise positions them perfectly for a new, higher-value role as AI knowledge curators.

The Evolution of the Agent Role

Traditional contact center agents have focused primarily on issue resolution—answering questions, troubleshooting problems, and processing transactions. As AI automation handles routine inquiries, the agent’s role must evolve toward:

Knowledge Validation: Reviewing AI-generated knowledge content for accuracy, completeness, and appropriateness based on real customer interactions.

Content Curation: Identifying knowledge gaps, outdated information, and opportunities to improve content clarity and effectiveness.

Quality Certification: Ensuring knowledge meets organizational standards for compliance, brand voice, and customer experience before deployment.

Continuous Improvement: Analyzing patterns in customer inquiries and AI performance to recommend knowledge enhancements.

This transformation represents an upgrade, not a downgrade. Knowledge management specialists command higher compensation, require sophisticated analytical skills, and directly influence organizational outcomes like customer satisfaction, retention, and revenue growth.

Why Agents Make Ideal Knowledge Curators

Contact center agents bring unique qualifications to knowledge management:

Customer Conversation Expertise: Agents understand how customers ask questions, what language they use, and what answers truly resolve their needs—insights impossible to replicate without frontline experience.

Pattern Recognition: Through thousands of interactions, agents develop intuition about emerging issues, common confusions, and knowledge gaps that require attention.

Practical Problem-Solving: Agents know which knowledge articles work in practice and which sound good but fail to help customers, enabling them to improve content effectiveness.

Compliance Awareness: Experienced agents understand regulatory requirements and can ensure knowledge content meets legal and policy standards.

The Business Imperative: AI-Driven Workforce Transformation

The shift toward AI-powered customer service is accelerating workforce changes across organizations. Gartner’s research reveals that more than 80% of organizations anticipate at least some reduction in agent headcount due to increased operational efficiency and self-service success from AI.

However, this is not a simple story of job elimination. Nearly 80% of organizations report they will shift frontline agents to new roles within the next 18 months, with 84% adding new skills to the agent role and adjusting their hiring profiles.

Organizations face a choice: they can view headcount reduction as a cost-cutting opportunity, or they can reinvest in their talented agents by transitioning them into knowledge management roles that multiply AI’s effectiveness.

The Strategic Advantage

Organizations that successfully transition agents to knowledge curators gain significant competitive advantages:

Accelerated AI Performance: High-quality knowledge enables faster, more accurate AI responses, improving customer satisfaction and self-service success rates.

Sustainable Automation: Knowledge curation ensures AI systems maintain accuracy over time as products, policies, and customer needs evolve.

Employee Retention: Offering career progression into knowledge management roles helps retain experienced employees who might otherwise leave due to automation concerns.

Organizational Learning: Knowledge curators create feedback loops that continuously improve both AI systems and human agent performance.

Implementing the Transformation: A Practical Framework

Successfully transitioning contact center agents to knowledge management specialists requires thoughtful planning and execution:

1. Identify Knowledge Management Candidates

Start by identifying agents who naturally excel at knowledge work:

• Those who consistently create high-quality case notes
• Agents who colleagues turn to for expertise
• Individuals who proactively identify and report knowledge gaps
• Employees who instinctively leverage technology to augment their capabilities

2. Develop Upskilling Programs

Create structured learning paths that build knowledge management competencies:

• Content creation and editing skills
• Information architecture and taxonomy design
• AI system training and performance evaluation
• Analytics and continuous improvement methodologies

3. Implement AI-Enabled Knowledge Management Tools

Deploy platforms that empower knowledge curators to work efficiently:

• AI-assisted content creation and review tools
• Automated quality checks and compliance validation
• Performance analytics that highlight knowledge gaps
• Workflow systems that democratize knowledge management across teams

4. Establish Governance and Quality Standards

Define clear standards and processes for knowledge management:

• Content approval workflows and accountability
• Quality metrics and performance targets
• Compliance review procedures
• Version control and update protocols

The Path Forward

As AI reshapes customer service operations, organizations must recognize that technology alone cannot deliver exceptional customer experiences. AI’s capability and impact with confidence requires the foundational capability of trusted knowledge—knowledge that only experienced human curators can reliably create, validate, and maintain.

Contact center agents stand at a pivotal moment. Organizations that help them transition from issue resolvers to knowledge curators will create sustainable competitive advantages through superior AI performance, better customer experiences, and a more engaged, skilled workforce.

The question is not whether contact centers will transform, but whether organizations will seize the opportunity to elevate their talent while building the knowledge foundation that AI-driven customer service requires.

About eGain

eGain is the leader in AI knowledge management platforms for enterprises, helping organizations transform customer operations through trusted, AI-ready knowledge that powers exceptional customer experiences across every channel and touchpoint.