Alorica’s AI Wins Big, Blending Automation with a Human Touch

IRVINE, CA – January 16, 2026 – Global customer experience (CX) firm Alorica Inc. has secured a prestigious 2026 BIG Innovation Award, recognized as an 'Innovative Organization' for its success in scaling artificial intelligence across enterprise operations. The award, presented by the Business Intelligence Group, celebrates the company's platform-driven approach, which pairs its digital innovation practice, Alorica IQ, with its proprietary conversational AI platform, evoAI, to deliver measurable improvements in both efficiency and the quality of customer interactions.

This recognition places Alorica at the forefront of a critical industry shift, where companies are moving beyond AI hype to implement practical solutions that generate tangible value. The award highlights a core philosophy Alorica calls 'human-in-command'—a model that seeks to augment, not replace, human agents, blending the best of machine intelligence with human empathy and judgment.

The Anatomy of an Award-Winning Innovation

At the heart of Alorica's win are two interconnected components: Alorica IQ and the evoAI platform. Alorica IQ functions as the company's strategic innovation engine, using insights gathered from its more than 100,000 frontline agents to guide the development and deployment of AI technologies. This ensures that new solutions are not just technically advanced but are also grounded in the practical realities of customer service.

The centerpiece of this strategy is evoAI, a seven-time award-winning conversational AI platform. Unlike many off-the-shelf AI solutions, evoAI was built in partnership with CX agents to enhance their workflows. The platform boasts a sophisticated hybrid architecture, combining rule-based systems for predictable, structured tasks with advanced neural networks that allow for more nuanced, human-like conversations. This dual approach provides both reliability and adaptability.

One of its standout features is its advanced emotional intelligence. The platform's sentiment analysis engine can reportedly detect subtle emotional cues and shifts in conversation flow with up to 96% accuracy. This allows the system to identify when a customer is becoming frustrated and requires a seamless handoff to a human agent, preserving the quality of the experience. Furthermore, with support for over 100 languages and dialects, evoAI is engineered to deliver hyper-personalized, culturally aware support on a global scale.

“This recognition validates our belief that innovation truly matters when it delivers real business outcomes,” said Max Schwendner, Co‑CEO of Alorica, in a statement. “Through Alorica IQ and evoAI, we help brands convert AI investment into significant operational value—where human expertise and intelligent automation work together to build trust, efficiency, and long-term growth.”

Translating AI into Tangible Business Value

For enterprise leaders and CFOs, the primary question surrounding AI is its return on investment. Alorica addresses this directly by publishing significant performance metrics from its evoAI deployments across industries like telecom, retail, and healthcare. The company reports that the platform has automated up to 50% of customer interactions and reduced average handle time by as much as 40% in certain use cases.

While independent, client-specific case studies are not widely public, these figures align with broader industry trends. Research from firms like Gartner predicts that by 2026, AI will handle a significant portion of routine customer service interactions, leading to substantial operational cost reductions. The key differentiator, however, lies in how that efficiency is achieved. Alorica's 'human-in-command' model suggests that these gains are not made at the expense of customer satisfaction or employee morale. By automating repetitive queries, the platform frees human agents to focus on more complex, high-value interactions that require critical thinking and emotional connection.

This strategic focus on applied AI is what sets the company's approach apart. “Innovation has always been part of Alorica’s DNA, but we specifically focus our efforts on technology that drives scalable growth for both Alorica and our clients,” noted Co‑CEO Mike Clifton. “Our teams continue to push CX forward with solutions that are trusted, secure, and enterprise‑ready to help brands modernize their operations and create more meaningful, efficient interactions with their customers.”

Navigating a Competitive AI-Powered Landscape

Alorica is not operating in a vacuum. The CX outsourcing and technology space is fiercely competitive, with rivals like Telus International, Foundever, and software giants like Zendesk all investing heavily in AI. The dominant trend across the industry is a move toward hybrid models that combine machine efficiency with human intuition. The era of seeing AI as a simple replacement for human labor is giving way to a more sophisticated understanding of AI as a collaborative tool.

In this crowded market, Alorica's clear articulation of its 'human-in-command' philosophy serves as a key differentiator. While many competitors offer AI-powered chatbots or analytics, Alorica’s integrated approach—from agent-led innovation in Alorica IQ to the agent-augmenting design of evoAI—presents a cohesive vision for the future of the contact center. The BIG Innovation Award, which is judged by experienced business executives, lends third-party validation to the effectiveness of this strategy, signaling to the market that Alorica's model is not just a concept but a proven driver of business performance.

The Human-Centric Future of Customer Service

As AI becomes more integrated into daily life, questions around ethics, data privacy, and the human impact of automation are growing louder. The future of customer experience will likely be defined not by the company with the most powerful AI, but by the one that deploys it most responsibly. This involves ensuring transparency, mitigating algorithmic bias, and safeguarding sensitive customer data.

The 'human-in-command' principle directly addresses these concerns by keeping a person in the loop. It acknowledges the current limitations of AI in understanding complex human emotion and context, positioning technology as a powerful assistant rather than an autonomous decision-maker. This approach may also prove crucial for employee retention in an industry known for high turnover, as it empowers agents with better tools and more meaningful work.

Ultimately, Alorica's award-winning strategy reflects a broader maturation of the AI industry. The focus is shifting from pure automation to intelligent augmentation, creating a framework where technology enhances efficiency while preserving the essential human touch that builds lasting customer loyalty.