- Gartner Identifies Three Trends That Will Shape The Future of Customer Service
- Automation, AI assistants, and the quest for customer value in service will transform customer service and support by 2028, according to Gartner, Inc.
The top trends driving the transformation of customer service and support are:
Executive Pressure for Limitless Automation
- Automation to receive inbound volume: AI will manage service inquiries with human intervention only where necessary.
- Automation to proactively prevent issues: AI will predict service issues before they occur. Service and support will embed AI into products to identify and respond to high-risk customer behaviors and resolve issues before they escalate.
- Automation to improve efficiency: To operate effectively at scale, organizations will automate core operational tasks such as data cleansing, records management, knowledge creation, and governance.
“Embracing automation will become essential,” said Fager. “Customer service leaders must respond by shifting from people management to AI leadership. By adopting an automation-first approach, but also developing human talent, leaders can drive long-term value creation.”
Customers’ Increasing Use of AI Assistants for Service and Support
- Operational Costs: By reducing the effort required to raise requests to near zero, AI assistants will likely enable customers to raise requests at a much higher rate.
- Increasing Loyalty: If customers start automating their interactions through the use of third-party AI, organizations will have to adapt to handle interactions with nonhuman customers. This prevents opportunities for value enhancement and reduces the quality and quantity of voice of the customer data that can be gathered.
“Widespread adoption of AI assistants by customers poses a cost risk that could undermine any gains made by customer service automation,” said Fager. “To manage AI-assisted interactions, customer service leaders must assess their role in the customer journey. AI assistants act as both a channel and a customer proxy, requiring responses similar to human customers. Leaders must adapt to serve both human and AI assistants effectively.”
Customer Service and Support Moves Increasingly Upstream
“Successful teams will shift from reactive human requests to proactive customer experience orchestration. The focus of customer service will move from managing demand to value creation, with AI supporting human agents and freeing them for expanded roles,” said Fager. “Leaders must prioritize collaboration and value addition across the enterprise, strategically distributing service capabilities and maintaining overarching vision and governance.”
