Centrical Launches AI Role-Play Simulations and Coaching to Close the Frontline Readiness Gap

NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Centrical, the Performance Intelligence Platform for frontline teams, today announced the launch of AI Role-Play simulations and coaching, a breakthrough solution that combines realistic practice with Centrical’s performance ecosystem to transform how frontline employees build, apply, and sustain critical skills.

Now available in early access, AI Role-Play addresses a persistent challenge for enterprises: the growing gap between training completion and real-world job readiness.

Frontline teams are under increasing pressure as AI reshapes customer interactions and roles grow more complex. Industry research shows that 60% of new hires leave before reaching full productivity, while managers spend only 8-12% of their time coaching. Traditional training approaches fall short because they treat learning as a one-time event, leaving employees unprepared for the demands of AI-enabled work. High-impact, continuous skill development is critical to frontline success.

Centrical AI Role-Play closes this gap by giving employees access to realistic, on-demand practice environments where they can build confidence and master behaviors before interacting with real customers—and continue refining their skills as they grow in their roles or their roles evolve.

“At Centrical, we believe sustainable performance improvement requires continuous, personalized development embedded in the flow of work,” said Gal Rimon, CEO and Founder of Centrical. “AI Role-Play represents a major step forward in how organizations prepare and develop frontline teams. 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.”

Turning On-Demand Practice Into Consistent Performance

Centrical AI Role-Play immerses employees in lifelike conversations with AI personas that act as customers. Powered by multi-agent AI, each simulation evaluates behaviors against the organization’s own success criteria and operating procedures, delivering immediate, personalized feedback and clear, actionable next steps aligned to real-world performance expectations.

Employees can practice critical skills such as objection handling, empathy, compliance, and product knowledge in a risk-free environment, building the muscle memory needed to perform consistently when it matters most. The solution also enables managers to practice difficult coaching and performance conversations, helping standardize coaching quality across teams.

The Centrical Advantage: Orchestrated, Not Isolated

Unlike standalone practice tools, Centrical AI Role-Play is fully integrated into the Centrical Performance Intelligence Platform. This creates a closed-loop system that connects performance gaps directly to targeted practice, coaching actions, and ongoing reinforcement.

When employees struggle with specific behaviors or fall short on key performance indicators, Centrical automatically orchestrates the development loop by delivering relevant role-play scenarios in the flow of work. Results feed directly into coaching workflows, competency frameworks, and personalized learning paths, while gamified missions and challenges reinforce practice over time.

“Frontline roles are changing fast, and organizations need ways for employees to build readiness continuously, not just complete training and move on,” said Michael Rochelle, Chief Strategy Officer and Principal Analyst at Brandon Hall Group. “What stands out about Centrical’s approach is how it embeds AI-driven role-play into the flow of work and activates practice based on individual performance signals. This gives frontline teams a safe, applied environment to rehearse real scenarios, build confidence, and improve consistency, without the pressure of graded assessments or heavy operational overhead.”

Key Features:

• Multi-Agent AI Design: Distinct AI personas act as customer, evaluator, and coach, enabling realistic conversations with contextual cues.
• Closed-Loop Performance: Role-play insights connect directly to KPIs, coaching workflows, and gamification to drive measurable impact.
• AI-Powered Scenario Creation: Build new scenarios in minutes using internal data or Centrical’s simulation libraries, aligned with playbooks and standard operating procedures.
• Scalable and Customizable: Deploy globally with role- and industry-specific content across sales, customer service, and leadership teams.

AI Role-Play simulations deliver value across the complete employee lifecycle:

• Recruiting: Evaluate candidates through simulation-based assessments
• Onboarding: Reinforce processes and reduce time to proficiency by 20-40%
• Certification: Ensure readiness for live interactions with objective scoring
• Development: Address performance and skills gaps with targeted practice
• Change Management: Launch new products and processes with confidence
• Growth: Enable upskilling, cross-skilling, and career mobility
• Manager Coaching: Practice coaching conversations and get structured feedback
  

“As AI reshapes frontline work, there is a real risk that interactions become scripted and transactional,” said Jim Davies, Analyst and Executive Partner at Actionary. “What’s compelling about Centrical’s AI Role-Play simulations is that they 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. 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.”

Measurable Impact Across the Entire Organization

Organizations using AI role-play simulations typically see:

• 20-40% faster time to proficiency as employees master real scenarios before going live in production environments
• 30-50% reduction in coaching time spent on repetitive drills, allowing managers to focus on high-value development
• 5-15% improvement in key metrics such as sales conversion, CSAT, and first-call resolution
  

For employees, AI Role-Play provides the confidence and readiness needed to handle complex customer interactions from day one and beyond. For managers, it delivers standardized behavioral evaluations and reduces administrative burden. For the business, it accelerates onboarding cycles, increases productivity, and delivers more consistent customer experiences.

Available Now for Early Access

Centrical AI Role-Play is available now in early access, with a phased feature rollout continuing through Q2 2026.

To learn more about Centrical AI Role-Play simulations, visit https://centrical.com/resources/ai-role-play-launch/.

To register for the Demo Day event on February 25, visit https://centrical.com/events/turn-practice-into-performance-closing-the-ai-readiness-gap-for-frontline-teams/.

About Centrical

Centrical is the Performance Intelligence Platform that helps enterprise frontline teams unlock human performance and organizational agility in an AI-enabled workforce. Built for sales, service, and CX teams, Centrical orchestrates performance, engagement, and growth across employees, managers, and leadership at all stages of the employee lifecycle.

For employees, Centrical turns performance signals into personalized guidance and development in the flow of work. For managers, AI-assisted coaching and performance insights expand manager spans, while reducing administrative burden. For leaders, Centrical provides actionable insights into performance drivers—enabling faster decisions, smarter interventions, and greater agility.

Founded in 2013, Centrical serves global enterprises across 150 countries and 40 languages and is recognized as a leader in Workforce Engagement Management by Frost & Sullivan and QKS Group. Centrical has offices in New York, Tel Aviv, and London, and customers include leading multinational enterprises such as TP, DHL, Deutsche Telekom, and two top five U.S. banks.  

For more information about Centrical, please visit www.centrical.com.

For inquiries, contact:

Simone Somekh
press@centrical.com

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