Off-the-shelf AI voice bots work until they don’t. Here’s where most plug-and-play voice bots break:
1.Context
They answer individual questions well, but they lose the thread of a real conversation. Humans don’t talk in isolated prompts. Businesses feel this immediately.
2.Business Logic
The moment your policies, exceptions, or workflows get complex, the bot starts guessing. And guessing with voice is dangerous.
3.System Access
Off-the-shelf bots usually can’t securely talk to your CRM, scheduling system, billing, or internal tools. So, they answer, but they can’t act.
4.Learning
Most of these bots don’t actually improve over time. They repeat the same mistakes call after call.
5.Trust
One bad voice interaction damages trust far more than a bad chat message.
This doesn’t mean off-the-shelf voice bots are useless. It means they’re a starting point, not the finish line.
In the next part, I’ll break down what custom voice AI actually looks like in the real world. Follow to keep up.
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