The work needs hands, not systems
Anything physical, anything on a phone call, anything that needs a person in a room
AI coworker
Out of scope
No API, no route in
A person is the right answer
A person is the right answer
AI coworkers vs outsourcing
Both are ways to buy capacity for work nobody on your team wants to do. One ramps over months and eventually walks out with the process in its head. The other is deployed in your own cloud and writes the process down.
Get a demoOUTSOURCINGCapacity that has to learn your processRamps over months, then rotates and ramps againThe process lives in a person's head and a training deckCoverage is a shift pattern, and you pay for the hours
versus
AI COWORKERThe process written into your own systemsBuilt in sessions, then tuned running beside your teamThe process is written down rather than rememberedCoverage is a property of the deployment, not a rota
Outsourcing and added headcount buy you people who learn your process and hold it in their heads. An AI coworker encodes that process into your own systems instead — which is why this comparison turns less on cost per hour and more on what happens when someone leaves.
Three differences that decide it
Three places the two products genuinely diverge. Everything else is a feature list.
See all comparisons →A BPO team learns your process over months. A coworker is built against it in sessions
In a person’s head and a training deck, or written into something that does not resign
Coverage stops being a shift pattern and becomes a property of the deployment
What buyers actually compare on
Hourly rate is the number on the page. These are the ones that decide it.
Ramp timeContinuityCoverage hoursQuality driftWhere data goesAccess controlCost modelScales upScales downHandles exceptionsDocumentationLanguage coverageJudgement callsWho is accountable
It does not resign, and it does not take the process with it.
The two failure modes of outsourced work are attrition and drift. Neither one applies here.
Outsourcing
MONTHS TO RAMPCoworker
BUILT, THEN TUNEDProcess is
WRITTEN DOWNData stays
IN YOUR CLOUD
MONTHS TO RAMPCoworker
BUILT, THEN TUNEDProcess is
WRITTEN DOWNData stays
IN YOUR CLOUD
When people are the better answer
Judgement is the job
Negotiation, escalated complaints, and anything where the relationship is the work
Honest answer
AI coworkerIf the value is human judgement, hire for it.
See where this fits →You need the capacity next week
A BPO can put people on a queue considerably faster than we can build a coworker for it
Your ops leadWe need cover from Monday.
AI coworkerThen staff it, and build this in parallel.
AI coworkers and outsourcing, compared
The cost question first, since it is the one that starts the conversation.
Usually for high-volume repetitive work, and usually not for work that needs judgement. The honest comparison is not an hourly rate against a subscription: it is the whole arrangement including ramp, management overhead, quality checks, and the cost of losing the process when the team rotates. We do not publish pricing yet, so ask for a number against your actual volumes.
It handles the exceptions you can describe, and escalates the ones you cannot with the context already gathered. A BPO team improvises instead, which is sometimes exactly right and sometimes how errors get into your systems quietly.
Language is rarely the constraint here. Reachable systems and a describable process are. If the job is responding in six languages against your own records, that suits a coworker well.
The opposite is the usual outcome. Building a coworker forces the process to be written down, exceptions included, and most teams find the resulting map is the first accurate documentation the process has ever had. That artefact stays yours whether or not you keep the coworker.
Frequently, yes. Teams point the coworker at the volume and keep people on the judgement calls and the escalations. That split is usually better than either extreme and often cheaper than both.
“The problem with outsourcing a process is that the process leaves with the person who learned it.”
Handoverteam rotation: month 14
The new team needs training on the exceptions.
again✓ Written down, not rememberedPut an AI coworker
inside your own cloud.
Bring the queue you were about to staff. We will show you the other option.
Get a demo