AVOXI, a global leader in cloud voice software for contact centers, today released new research showing AI voice has moved firmly into enterprise production, with 55% of organizations already using AI voice agents and 92% using or planning to use them in the next two years. The findings come from AVOXI’s third annual State of International Voice for the Contact Center Report, developed in collaboration with Metrigy.
Deployment, however, is not keeping pace with enterprises’ global operations. Organizations with customers in an average of 37 countries have production AI voice deployments in an average of only 17 countries. The gap is even bigger among large multinational enterprises: despite 71% of organizations with more than 10,000 employees already using voice AI agents, those that operate in 50 or more countries have only deployed it across an estimated 25-30% of their geographic footprint. Security and compliance concerns are the leading barriers to broader deployment, cited by 61%, followed by data sovereignty and privacy requirements at 51%.
AI Voice Reshapes Customer Interactions
AI voice is already being used across a broad range of customer interactions. Among organizations using AI voice, 81% apply it to authentication and identity verification, 69% to transactional tasks such as payments and order status, and 68% to real-time agent assistance.
For most, AI is augmenting rather than replacing contact center agents. Sixty-seven percent of AI voice users say the technology helps agents focus on more complex or empathetic cases, while 17% report replacing Tier 1 agents entirely.
“The fact that 67% of enterprises are using AI to augment their human agents, while separate Metrigy research found that 73% of companies believe AI agents can handle more than customers are comfortable entrusting to them, tells us something important about the healthy tension enterprises must navigate when it comes to voice AI,” said Barbara Dondiego, CEO of AVOXI. “Enterprises have an opportunity to be deliberate about where AI adds value, where human expertise matters most and how they build the voice infrastructure to support both as they scale globally.”
Global AI Expansion Puts Voice Infrastructure to the Test
In addition to security and compliance concerns, as well as data sovereignty and privacy laws, local-language speech-to-text limitations and telephony or SIP infrastructure gaps are each cited by 37% of organizations, adding to the regulatory and technical challenges enterprises face as AI voice expands across markets.
Global AI expansion is also putting pressure on enterprises to simplify complex voice environments. Sixty percent of organizations still use six or more voice providers, while 87% are either actively consolidating providers or evaluating consolidation.
Hybrid environments also remain the dominant model, with 56% of organizations operating a mix of cloud and on-premise infrastructure. Enterprises expect the share of contact center calls handled in the cloud to increase from 55% today to 64% within three years.
Outbound AI Raises the Stakes for Trust
AI is already embedded throughout the outbound calling lifecycle. Among those organizations using AI for outbound calling, 77% of organizations use AI during active outbound campaigns, while 74% use it for post-campaign activities.
Getting customers to answer the phone when a company calls remains a challenge. Caller ID being flagged as scam or spam, and navigating compliance and privacy laws, are tied as the leading obstacles to outbound connect rates, each cited by 57% of organizations. Low answer rates from unfamiliar numbers follow at 53%.
Voice Security Risks Shift with AI Adoption
Voice interception and eavesdropping rank as enterprises’ most frequently cited security concerns at 38%, followed by insecure VoIP API integrations at 36% and telephony denial-of-service (TDoS) attacks at 35%.
The threats organizations cite most often, however, are not necessarily those they consider most operationally risky. Robocalls and caller ID spoofing rank fourth among enterprises’ most frequently cited concerns at 33%, yet 35% of organizations rate them as high-risk, the highest operational risk severity measured in the survey. Security priorities also vary significantly by company size, with 78% of organizations with more than 10,000 employees identifying insecure VoIP API integrations as a top concern, compared with 21% of organizations with 1,000 to 2,500 employees.
“Every new market adds additional complexity to AI voice deployments,” said Dondiego. “Enterprises have to account for local regulations, number connectivity, network performance, security and the realities of the voice ecosystem in each country. The voice infrastructure decisions enterprises make now will shape how effectively they can scale AI across global operations.”
The 2026 State of International Voice for the Contact Center Report is based on a survey of 200 IT, contact center and CX leaders from multinational companies across seven industries.
Download the 2026 State of International Voice for the Contact Center Report.
About AVOXI
AVOXI delivers international cloud voice software solutions for contact centers and other mission-critical enterprise communications. AVOXI’s software platform leads the industry in proactive automation, intelligence and analytics, featuring 40+ integrations with CX and AI applications, to provide unmatched global voice service and virtual numbers in 160+ countries. Multinational enterprises orchestrate voice through AVOXI’s platform to unlock enhanced customer experiences and streamline IT operations. www.avoxi.com
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