E2E: From Entry Level to Executive
Sep 15, 2026 · 30 min · 10 segments
Jule Salem, Managing Director of Salem Solutions and CFO of Enable America, joins the E2E Podcast to talk about the unexpected staffing opportunity that led her to build her own company. Jules shares…
One of the things that we've seen, too, is that you were writing about call center staffing and AI years ago.
Now that we're here in 2026, we've kind of almost had a little of the end of the beginning of the big AI shock.
AI continues to be like such a buzzword, particularly in the industry that we support, contact centers.
I know myself, I'll go to different contact center conferences and, you know, just about every vendor you see is, you know, some spinoff of a latest AI technology.
And so I think one thing that I've been surprised about is often how quick organizations have been in rolling out AI technology before perhaps really understanding the effect that it's going to have in our industry that we're talking about today, staffing.
And maybe y'all in hindsight look back and think, oh, I should have been more technology forward with my own business.
But I've really stayed true to focusing on the human aspect, almost the human intelligence aspect, right? of what we do, because at the core of it, we're staffing people, right? Not widgets.
And so, you know, we're still very much leading with, you know, direct communication method, whether that's by phone or in person.
And so to get back to your question, I think my biggest surprise is just how quick folks have been to roll it out with maybe not fully appreciating how that will ultimately create a disconnect in the human element.
And I feel like contact centers really have a front row seat to the AI revolution.
And it's one place where people are saying, you know, oh, I can do all of this.
But then on the other hand, you hear people looking for that human connection.
Where do you think human talent is going to become more valuable in the contact center space in the next few years?
Yeah, so what we're already seeing on our end is the need for contact center agents is not going away, but the level of skill that will be needed is ever increasing.
I mean, I think, you know, there's often still a misconception that, oh, you know, a contact center agent, you know, they're just answering calls, entering some data points in a CRM.
But, you know, even years leading up to where we are today, We've been seeing an ever increase in not even just A, but the amount of software applications that they're having to navigate.
And oftentimes it's not only phone communication, but emailing, you know, texting, messaging.
And so the contact center role as a whole is becoming so much more multifaceted and the skill level that's needed to be successful in that type of position is Just the bar continues to increase.
And so while I think there is certainly a place for AI and technology to help on customers or in our case, oftentimes the public in these government programs to answer more general Q&A questions.
One of the things that we've seen, too, is that you were writing about call center staffing and AI years ago.
Now that we're here in 2026, we've kind of almost had a little of the end of the beginning of the big AI shock.
AI continues to be like such a buzzword, particularly in the industry that we support, contact centers.
I know myself, I'll go to different contact center conferences and, you know, just about every vendor you see is, you know, some spinoff of a latest AI technology.
And so I think one thing that I've been surprised about is often how quick organizations have been in rolling out AI technology before perhaps really understanding the effect that it's going to have in our industry that we're talking about today, staffing.
And maybe y'all in hindsight look back and think, oh, I should have been more technology forward with my own business.
But I've really stayed true to focusing on the human aspect, almost the human intelligence aspect, right? of what we do, because at the core of it, we're staffing people, right? Not widgets.
And so, you know, we're still very much leading with, you know, direct communication method, whether that's by phone or in person.
And so to get back to your question, I think my biggest surprise is just how quick folks have been to roll it out with maybe not fully appreciating how that will ultimately create a disconnect in the human element.
And I feel like contact centers really have a front row seat to the AI revolution.
And it's one place where people are saying, you know, oh, I can do all of this.
But then on the other hand, you hear people looking for that human connection.
Where do you think human talent is going to become more valuable in the contact center space in the next few years?
Yeah, so what we're already seeing on our end is the need for contact center agents is not going away, but the level of skill that will be needed is ever increasing.
I mean, I think, you know, there's often still a misconception that, oh, you know, a contact center agent, you know, they're just answering calls, entering some data points in a CRM.
But, you know, even years leading up to where we are today, We've been seeing an ever increase in not even just A, but the amount of software applications that they're having to navigate.
And oftentimes it's not only phone communication, but emailing, you know, texting, messaging.
And so the contact center role as a whole is becoming so much more multifaceted and the skill level that's needed to be successful in that type of position is Just the bar continues to increase.
And so while I think there is certainly a place for AI and technology to help on customers or in our case, oftentimes the public in these government programs to answer more general Q&A questions.
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