January 20, 2026 • 5 min read
Centrical Introduces AI Role-Plays to Transform Contact Center Coaching
Director of Content & Market Research
January 20, 2026
Centrical has launched AI Role-Play Simulations and Coaching, a new performance management solution for contact centers.
The solution allows contact centers to simulate customer interactions in a safe environment, where service reps can make mistakes.
In doing so, Centrical aims to enable reps to practice common service scenarios, apply critical customer service skills, and reach proficiency faster.
“AI Role-Play represents a major step forward in how organizations prepare and develop frontline teams,” said Gal Rimon, CEO and Founder of Centrical.
“Employees gain confidence through realistic practice, managers receive consistent behavioral insights to guide their coaching, and leaders see measurable improvements in the outcomes that matter most, from efficiency to customer satisfaction.”
Some contact centers already use specialist AI tools to scour conversation transcripts and simulate interactions. Yet, as Rimon suggests, Centrical hopes to differentiate by placing the solution among a portfolio of quality assurance (QA), gamification, and learning and development (L&D) solutions.
Within this connected environment, brands can track and replicate challenging service scenarios to elevate performance not only for new reps, but for experienced advisors as well.
For instance, coaches can simulate real interactions similar to those that an individual rep has struggled with, per data from the QA system. They may then model a different way to handle these conversations in a role-play setting.
As such, the rep may feel more confident handling similar interactions in the future, enhancing the possibility of a positive conversation and lowering stress levels.
Additionally, contact centers may model hypothetical scenarios they expect reps to encounter. For example, they could simulate customer questions around a new product line to test familiarity with features, pricing, and availability.
In this scenario, Centrical’s solution can ensure reps feel confident before a campaign goes live, not three days into it.
Other possibilities include using simulation-based assessments in recruitment to identify top candidates, as well as in employee development programs to certify new skills.
Yet ultimately, this is a solution that, as part of a broader performance management strategy, aims to train a rep’s muscle memory, so they can engage in more successful contact center conversations.
How do AI Role-Plays Work?
Centrical’s solution features an AI evaluator alongside an AI customer, which helps isolate tricky conversations that each specific rep might benefit from working through.
Additionally, there’s an AI coach, trained on the individual contact center’s success criteria and operating procedures, which provides feedback at the end of each role-play.
The insights that the AI coach unearths connect to rep KPIs, inform future coaching simulations, and influence personalized gamification “missions” to ensure feedback moves the needle. It’s not one-and-done.
Users may also build their own scenarios, leveraging customer conversation transcripts. Alternatively, they can take inspiration from Centrical’s simulation libraries.
The libraries include common industry-specific service scenarios and provide simulations for sales and leadership teams, not just service pros.
For instance, coaches may utilize the solution themselves to practice development conversations, receive instant feedback, and better relay key messages to their teams.
What Are the Benefits of AI Role-Play Simulations and Coaching?
Centrical has made bold claims about the impact AI Role-Play Simulations and Coaching can have on a contact center’s performance.
For instance, it suggests new service reps can reach proficiency 20-40% faster as they experience scenarios before interacting with real customers.
The vendor also states that contact centers can chop coaching time by up to 50%, while boosting sales conversions, customer satisfaction, and first call resolution by 5-15%.
While Centrical self-reports these numbers, Jim Davies, Analyst and Executive Partner at Actionary, believes this is a “compelling” solution to support reps beyond live call–assistance AI use cases.
“[The simulations] extend far beyond post-hire training, creating a realistic, risk-free environment to evaluate, develop, and refine human skills across the entire employee lifecycle, from recruiting through ongoing growth,” he said.
“By giving candidates, new hires, and experienced employees a consistent way to practice decision-making, empathy, and problem-solving, organizations can build confidence and mastery earlier and sustain it over time.”
“The result is a workforce that takes greater ownership, communicates more clearly, and delivers interactions that feel productive, respectful, and genuinely human,” concluded Davies.
Our Take: The Next Step Is Customer Avatars
While Centrical AI Role-Play is now available in early access, with a phased roll-out planned until July 2026, it could soon advance the solution further with AI avatars.
In role-play scenarios, Centrical can go beyond generating human-like voice or text, using highly expressive avatars to convey sentiment more effectively.
A 2025 study from the Universitat Politècnica de València underscored how these avatars can “support emotional recognition” and “strengthen the effectiveness of VR (virtual reality) training.”
As such, they may help reps put themselves in the customer’s shoes, provide more empathetic service, and forge better customer connections.
Over time, these AI avatars may adapt to the individual rep. For instance, they may present feedback in a way that aligns with how they best learn, whether that’s through discussion, visualizations, or simple bullet-point recommendations.
That next level of personalized assistance, for both employees and customers, is one of the latest contact center trends, which may have a profound impact on the space.