The Contact Center Gurus

Escape the AI Graveyard: Why Most Bots Fail & How to Build AI That Actually Resolves

Episode Summary

Most AI projects don't fail because the technology isn't ready. They fail because companies skip the fundamentals. In this episode, Darren Prine sits down with Mike Schulman of Yellow.ai — a veteran of 1,100+ enterprise AI deployments — to break down why most contact center AI ends up in the graveyard and what it takes to build AI that actually resolves.

Episode Notes

Every contact center has an AI graveyard. Failed chatbots. Pilots that never scaled. The root cause is almost never the technology — it's a lack of AI readiness, unclear use cases, and AI that was built to respond rather than resolve.

In Episode 5 of the Contact Center Gurus Podcast, host Darren Prine is joined by Mike Schulman, VP of Channel Sales at Yellow.ai, for a no-hype breakdown of what separates the AI implementations that work from the ones that get shut down.

Mike has been in the room for over 1,100 enterprise AI deployments across 85+ countries. He knows exactly where the line is.

What they cover:

• Why 60–70% of companies aren't even at AI readiness level one yet — and what that means before you evaluate any vendor
• The difference between generative AI and agentic AI, and why most vendors are using the term "agentic" incorrectly
• Why AI resolution rates went from 5% in 2022 to 60–80% today — and where they're headed in the next two years
• The "build once, deploy many" approach that lets CX teams own the platform without writing a single line of code
• Real case studies: Waste Connections (25,000+ monthly calls automated, $3.5–4M saved) and Feral Gas ($14.5M in net new business from end-to-end order automation)
• How to pick your first use case, show ROI fast, and build from there

Key Insight: The companies winning with AI right now didn't go all in on day one. They picked one or two high-volume, repetitive use cases, showed value fast, and expanded from there. That's the playbook.

About Yellow.ai: Yellow.ai is an AI-first customer service automation platform with 1,100+ enterprise deployments across 85+ countries. Named clients include Sony, Domino's, Hyundai, Waste Connections, and Randstad.