How InPost runs one of the largest voice AI deployments in Europe
Over a billion parcels a year. Behind each one is a customer who needs answers here and now. It quickly became clear that the traditional customer service model – while still essential in many situations – needed support. The key was to free up employees from repetitive tasks while providing customers with 24/7 access to assistance.
The answer was an AI voice agent that instantly verifies a customer's identity, checks a parcel's status, and opens a Locker – designed from the ground up by the InPost team.
No pilot program – just a full-scale rollout in Poland and across Europe. A synergy of InPost's experience and Zowie's technological know-how.
How did we find the perfect solution?
For years, InPost had been using scripted voicebots. However, they had their limitations – they couldn't understand the context of a free-flowing conversation. If a customer wanted to ask about several topics in a single call, the bot would fail.
The company knew what it needed. What was missing was a platform that could deliver it. The requirements were clearly defined: a conversational layer based on LLMs for natural, multi-threaded dialogue, combined with flawless execution of every business operation – from opening a Locker to filing an intervention ticket. The solution could not create dependency on a single provider and had to be ready for InPost's scale.
The decision to partner with Zowie
The key to success was the ability to translate InPost's vision into a functioning AI engine. A significant part of the engineering capabilities that the company offers today was created or refined right then. Zowie showed that their technology was not just a one-off voice solution, but a flexible foundation that could be scaled to new countries and new customer contact channels.
“None of the off-the-shelf platforms available on the market were ready to run our operation at this scale. Zowie was the partner who could build what we needed. The conversation has to sound human. When AI opens a Locker, there's no room for interpretation. Customer service done this way isn't a one-off project – it's a vision we are implementing in every market of the InPost group. We designed each of these processes internally and configure them in the engine ourselves. Zowie provides and maintains the engine.”
Scope of action
What can the AI agent do in a single conversation? Here are just a few examples:
- Check status, redirect a parcel, or change the delivery date. The action is preceded by identity verification.
- Remotely open a Locker. It can do this during a voice call.
- Resend the pickup code and provide the courier's number. Such cases no longer require intervention from an InPost employee.
- Correct a parcel's status. If the sender closed an empty Locker, the status is changed. If a question about redirection arises, the agent checks permissions and guides the customer through the entire process in the app.
- Answer questions about services. Cash on delivery, weekend delivery, locker sizes, Parcel Locker locations, or pickup deadlines. The answer is immediate, with no time wasted searching for information.
- Create an intervention ticket. The customer receives a ticket number and an estimated response time, and the case goes directly into InPost's system.
- Recognize the context of the conversation. If a customer calls from a Parcel Locker, the agent recognizes this from the background noise. It’s a detail that changes the quality of the interaction.
A significant portion of these calls ends with the issue resolved. For InPost, the measure of success is that the customer did not seek help through another contact channel. The processes operate according to a single internal standard.
When does a human step in?
Every caller first reaches the AI agent. However, calls that require human support are transferred within seconds – along with the full context of the preceding conversation.
InPost designed the process frameworks before working on behaviors. Signals indicating difficult situations, phrases requiring human judgment, language suggesting the caller needs a person – all of this is routed according to strictly defined rules.
“Some calls don't belong to AI. We made that decision early on and built the entire system around it. Escalation to a human is not a probability; it's a rule.”
Technology that can evolve
Independence from a single model provider was crucial. This allows for the use of various language models, as well as voice generation models, which emerge on average every quarter. As a result, the AI agent runs on the optimal model at any given time. When a better solution appears, InPost decides to switch, and Zowie connects the new component.
What's next?
The AI agent is a solution deployed in production in Poland, the UK, and France, where alongside the voice channel, it is also successively taking over chat support. This same technology and operational logic are being gradually scaled to other markets across the InPost Group – ultimately to be available in all the countries we operate in.
“Customer experience begins with placing the customer at the center of every decision. Every inconvenience – a parcel that hasn't arrived, a Locker that won't open, a question without an answer – must be resolved quickly and effectively, in a single contact. Regardless of whether the case is handled by AI or a human. This is the commitment we make to customers regardless of the country and the brand they know us by. A voice agent in three countries is just the first step.”
InPost designed the ideal solution for its customers. Zowie provided the technology to implement it.
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