What a real platform includes
- Multi-agent orchestration across inbound, outbound, and expansion
- Shared memory across email, chat, voice, and CRM
- Human-in-the-loop approvals on any drafted action
- Deterministic guardrails on tone, claims, and pricing
Red flags in vendor demos
- Only one channel actually works in the demo
- 'Agent' turns out to be a template + variable substitution
- No writeback to your CRM until phase 2
The 30-day evaluation
Point the platform at one real segment. Measure reply rate, meeting-set rate, and CRM hygiene delta against your current baseline. If the numbers aren't up in 30 days, they never will be.