Cresta Launches Agent Operations Center: Real-Time Control for Human + AI Contact Center Ops
Cresta introduced the Agent Operations Center, a unified command hub that lets supervisors watch, guide, and take over both human and AI-led conversations in real time. For operations leaders, this means tighter control over quality, compliance, and cost-without losing the speed advantages of automation.
"As AI agents handle more and more customer interactions, businesses need visibility and control in order to scale automation while still ensuring a world-class customer experience," said Cresta CEO Ping Wu. The Agent Operations Center gives enterprises that control while keeping human experts in the loop.
What Operations Leaders Get
- Centralized oversight: One hub to monitor every active conversation-human and AI.
- Risk alerts: Automatic flags for payment disputes, sensitive topics, high emotion, or potential compliance gaps.
- Instant intervention: Jump in directly, coach the agent behind the scenes, or force a smooth handoff to a specialist.
- Consistency at scale: Keep responses on brand and policy-aligned across channels and teams.
Core Capabilities Explained
- Supervision: Monitor multiple live interactions, track sentiment and context, and step in when the stakes rise. This reduces rework, escalations, and downstream complaints.
- Guidance: Agents-human or AI-can request help. Supervisors can reply through the AI to the customer or instruct the agent privately, keeping the experience smooth.
- Forced Handoff: Seamlessly transfer a conversation from AI to a human without forcing the customer to repeat themselves. This protects CSAT during edge cases and high-risk moments.
Why This Matters for Operations KPIs
- Quality and compliance: Fewer policy misses and stronger auditability.
- CSAT/NPS: Fast, precise interventions on sensitive issues.
- Cost to serve: AI handles the straightforward work; humans focus on exceptions.
- FCR and AHT: Better routing and timely support reduce handoffs and handle time.
- Automation coverage: Expand AI safely with supervisors watching the right moments.
The AI Supervisor: A New Role for the CX Floor
The launch formalizes a new position: the AI Supervisor. These are seasoned experts who oversee both human agents and AI agents, stepping in at key moments to keep outcomes accurate and on brand.
- Core skills: Policy judgment, risk assessment, coaching, familiarity with LLM behavior, and quick decision-making.
- Daily work: Watch live queues, act on alerts, guide agents, approve edge-case actions, and coordinate forced handoffs.
- Coverage model: Schedule by line of business and risk profile; set clear authority levels and SLAs for intervention.
"We think human-in-the-loop is the future of the contact center," said Philip Kolterman, CIO of Brinks Home. "I think we'll look back and say this is where we first talked about that."
Implementation Checklist (First 90 Days)
- Define risk rules: List scenarios that require alerts (payments, cancellations, compliance triggers, vulnerable customers, high emotion).
- Set intervention thresholds: When to coach quietly vs. message the customer vs. force handoff.
- Map integrations: CRM, ticketing, knowledge base, and QA systems for context-rich supervision.
- Create playbooks: Standard responses, approval matrices, and escalation paths for common edge cases.
- Staff and train AI Supervisors: Policy refreshers, tool fluency, and real-time decision drills.
- Pilot and measure: Start with a controlled queue, track CSAT, AHT, compliance rate, and automation coverage.
- Close the loop: Feed learnings into bot updates, knowledge articles, and training content weekly.
Governance and Audit Readiness
Every intervention should leave a trace: who acted, what changed, and why. Build policies for AI behavior, supervisor approvals, and post-incident reviews. This protects customers, your brand, and your regulatory posture.
What This Means for Your Operation
AI can handle volume. Humans handle judgment. The Agent Operations Center ties both together with real-time control, so you can push automation further without sacrificing quality or trust.
To explore the platform and its capabilities, visit Cresta.
Upskill Your Team for the AI Supervisor Era
If you're standing up AI oversight roles, get your team fluent in the tools and tactics that make supervision effective. Practical training shortens the learning curve and reduces risk in live environments.
See role-based learning paths here: Complete AI Training - Courses by Job.
As Wu put it, this redefines how humans and AI work together in the customer experience center. With experts supervising both human and AI agents from a central hub, you can deliver consistent, high-quality experiences with confidence.
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