AI Could Put Call Centre Jobs on the Line: Will the Highlands Lose Out Again?

28th October 2026

Artificial intelligence may transform customer service, reducing the need for large teams of telephone operators. For communities that once attracted call centres to replace lost industries, the consequences could be particularly significant.

For decades, call centres offered an important source of employment in parts of Britain where traditional industries had declined. They provided office jobs, regular wages and opportunities for people who might otherwise have needed to move elsewhere to find work.

The Highlands and Islands were among the beneficiaries. But the technology that helped bring customer-service jobs to remote communities could now threaten their future.

Artificial intelligence can answer routine questions, check account information, arrange appointments and guide customers through standard procedures. Increasingly sophisticated voice systems can hold conversations rather than simply directing callers through a menu of numbered options.

For businesses, the attraction is obvious. If an automated system can deal with thousands of enquiries without requiring a human agent for each conversation, operating costs could fall considerably.

For employees, however, the implications are less comfortable. Will AI simply help staff do their jobs more efficiently, or will companies eventually need far fewer people?

The industry is already changing
The evidence suggests that the transformation has begun, although predictions of the immediate disappearance of human customer-service workers remain premature.

A Gartner survey of 321 customer-service and support leaders, conducted in October 2025, found that 20% reported reducing agent numbers because of AI. Meanwhile, 55% said their staffing levels had remained stable despite handling higher volumes of customer enquiries. Gartner also found that 42% of organisations were recruiting for specialist positions associated with AI.

These findings suggest that AI is currently being used both to improve productivity and, in some businesses, to reduce staffing. The balance will depend on how quickly the technology improves and how employers choose to use it.

The easiest tasks to automate are usually repetitive enquiries with straightforward answers. Checking delivery dates, resetting passwords, confirming appointments and providing standard account information are obvious candidates.

More complicated cases are different. A customer disputing a bill, experiencing financial hardship or trying to resolve a technical problem may need a person who can listen, exercise judgement and take responsibility for finding a solution.

Even where AI handles the first conversation, human agents may still be needed when things go wrong.

The likely outcome is not necessarily the disappearance of every call centre. It could instead be a much smaller workforce handling a larger proportion of difficult cases.
How the Highlands attracted call centres
The story has particular relevance in the Highlands.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise records that BT established a computer help-desk operation at Thurso Enterprise Park in 1991, creating around 30 jobs. Other businesses followed, with contact-centre and technology operations developing in Inverness, Forres, Alness and Dingwall.

The strategy was especially important in communities where other industries had declined. Thurso, for example, had experienced employment changes associated with the rundown of Dounreay's nuclear research activities. Call-centre work offered an alternative source of jobs without requiring employees to leave the area.

Forres became a significant centre for customer-service and business operations. In 2000, a major Capgemini operation opened there and employed around 850 local people within a year, according to HIE's historical account.

Further developments followed. In 2017, when a major contract moved away from Capita and more than 100 Forres jobs were at risk, HIE worked with the incoming contractor, Kura, to retain the site and protect the existing workforce.

These were not simply office jobs appearing by chance. They reflected a deliberate economic-development strategy that used local skills, suitable premises and public-sector support to attract employers to places that needed employment opportunities.

The Highlands also demonstrated that work could be delivered remotely from customers. A call handler in Thurso could provide support to someone in London without either person needing to travel.

That advantage has not disappeared. But AI changes the economics of the arrangement. An employer that once needed hundreds of local employees may increasingly be able to serve the same customers with a smaller team supported by automated systems.

Where are Britain's call centres concentrated?
The industry has historically been concentrated in areas with large working-age populations, established business operations and access to employees with the necessary skills.

Glasgow and Edinburgh have been important Scottish centres, alongside locations such as Dundee. Across the wider UK, significant contact-centre activity has developed in Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Belfast and other urban areas.

The Highlands followed a different pattern. Rather than relying on a single large urban labour market, employers established operations in several towns, sometimes with assistance from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

That geographical spread brought jobs to communities which might otherwise have struggled to attract large employers. It also means the consequences of any contraction could be felt in several local economies rather than concentrated in one city.

The position is changing, too. Some operations now undertake IT support, cybersecurity, digital services and other technical work alongside customer contact. Capgemini's Highland operations, for example, have expanded into more specialised technology services rather than remaining focused on traditional telephone-based work.

This distinction matters. A company may continue operating in the Highlands even if it needs fewer telephone agents, provided it can develop other services that require local staff.

Could AI take the jobs elsewhere?[/b]
One of the unusual features of AI is that it can reduce the importance of location.

In the past, a company might have chosen the Highlands because wages and premises were relatively affordable, while local employees were available to handle calls. It could not easily avoid employing people because the work itself required conversations with customers.

Now, if an automated system can deal with much of that work, the company may need fewer employees wherever its operation is based.

The potential consequences extend beyond call centres. Banks, insurance companies, energy suppliers, telecommunications businesses, retailers and public services all handle large volumes of routine enquiries.

Some may reduce recruitment gradually through staff turnover and unfilled vacancies. Others may reorganise their operations or move employees into more specialised roles. Redundancies are also possible where businesses decide that automation has made existing staffing levels unnecessary.

There is no reliable basis for predicting exactly how many Highland jobs will disappear. Much will depend on the type of work undertaken, the reliability of the technology and the willingness of customers to use automated services.

But the possibility deserves attention now, rather than after major employment decisions have already been made.
The next challenge for Highland development
The lesson is not that attracting call centres was a mistake. At the time, these businesses created valuable employment and helped diversify local economies.

The challenge is that economic-development strategies must adapt when the technology underpinning an industry changes.

For the Highlands, that means encouraging employers to develop work that is harder to automate, including technical support, cybersecurity, software services, specialist administration and other skilled digital activities.

It also means helping existing employees acquire new skills before their current jobs disappear. Training is useful only if it leads to realistic opportunities, so employers and training providers need to identify the skills that businesses will actually require.

Caithness has a particular interest in this debate. Communities that have lost traditional industries cannot afford to assume that newer employment sectors will remain unchanged indefinitely. Digital connectivity offers opportunities for remote working, but it does not guarantee that every job currently delivered through a telephone or computer will continue to exist.

There is also a question for government. If businesses gain substantial productivity improvements from AI, how should the resulting benefits be shared? Higher productivity can support economic growth, better services and higher wages. But if it mainly produces fewer jobs and greater profits, communities that depend on those jobs may bear a disproportionate share of the adjustment.

The human voice may become a premium service
There is an irony in the development. Call centres originally helped businesses replace expensive, dispersed customer-service arrangements with centralised operations. AI may now allow them to centralise even further, while employing fewer people.

Yet the complete removal of human contact could prove unpopular. Customers may tolerate an automated assistant for checking a delivery or changing an appointment, but expect a human being when a substantial sum of money is involved or a serious problem needs resolving.

Businesses that get the balance right may retain loyal customers. Those that make it almost impossible to speak to a person risk damaging their reputation.

For workers, the central issue is whether human judgement and experience will remain valuable enough to support substantial employment, or whether they will be needed only for a smaller number of exceptional cases.

The Highlands once benefited when businesses discovered that telephone work could be delivered successfully from remote locations. The next task is to ensure that communities do not lose those opportunities simply because the technology has moved on.

AI may not close every call centre, but it could change how many people each one employs. For the Highlands, preparing for that possibility is part of protecting the next generation of jobs.