The Technology Advances Transforming Customer Service

National Customer Service Week (Oct. 7 to Oct. 11) is an opportunity to consider the challenges companies face and the innovations they can offer to improve customer service. One of the key challenges many companies experience today is customer expectations are at an all-time high, with 80% of customers saying the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services, according to Salesforce research.

This needs to be at the forefront for companies to keep ahead of the curve. Traditional customer service is no longer enough; customers want personal, tailored and highly responsive experiences. Offering innovation, the implementation of advanced technology and AI can be utilized to help companies combat these challenges and offer a more personalized and up-to-date approach – causing a shift from traditional customer service to an elevated customer experience. Here’s what the experts say.

Revolutionizing Traditional Customer Service

Through the power of technology, brands can now build highly personalized and extremely customer-centric experiences. But where is work still needed?

Kathie Johnson, chief marketing officer at Sitecore explains: “As customer expectations evolve, brands can no longer afford to treat customer service as a reactive, isolated function. In today’s digital landscape, organizations must deliver consistent, personalized experiences across every interaction to deliver a standout customer experience. It’s an approach many of our customers, such as United Airlines, Greene King and L’Oreal have shown works. As a result of forward-looking brands setting the standard, however, customers often now expect seamless interactions from all brands, whether in person or digitally. This expectation shift means brands must prioritize complete, end-to-end engagement at every touchpoint – whether it’s a website, chatbot, or in-store visits – it must feel connected and tailored to individual needs.

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 “Furthermore, customers are increasingly demanding personalized search and content discovery experiences. Tools such as personalized search enable unique experiences across digital properties that seamlessly suggest and predict relevant content and products in real time that mirror a customer’s preferences and history. Empowering customers with the right tools can significantly improve satisfaction and efficiency. Transforming the search and content experience doesn’t just improve customer satisfaction; it drives long-term loyalty.”

“When brands can meet customers where they are, anticipate their needs and provide seamless, personalized service, they transform one-off interactions into lasting relationships. In today’s marketplace, exceptional digital experience is the key to staying competitive and it starts by rethinking customer service.”

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Echoing the importance of customer experience, Simon Ranyard, managing director of Northwest Europe at Orange Business adds: “This year’s National Customer Service Week is a great reminder of just how crucial customer experience is. The future of customer service isn’t just about technology – it’s about blending tech with a human touch to create seamless, personalized experiences. By tapping into AI, automation and data analytics, companies can get ahead of customer needs, responding with speed and precision. But here’s the thing: technology alone isn’t enough. Trust is everything. Customers expect transparency, respect and data privacy at every step and building that trust is essential for long-term success.”

Leveraging AI and Advanced Technology to Enhance Customer Experience

Advanced technologies and AI have become the driving force powering much of customer service success. Kamil Jagodzinski, vice president of customer service at TravelPerk comments: “AI technology can transform how a business’s customer service operates, however how you adopt its capabilities is the key to its success.

“We use AI to fix real customer pain points, implementing AI to automate manual tasks and allow our employees to focus on the customer. At TravelPerk, before AI, a team of human agents would review thousands of daily customer service emails. Today over 97% of these are triaged by AI, enabling our teams to handle double the volume of customer queries versus 2023, with the same number of human agents.

“AI and tech advances make things more efficient, but we know from our research that only 9% of business travelers are happy to speak to a customer service chatbot when they need to make changes to their booking. And this feeling is widespread across industries: people still want to speak to a real human when something unexpected unfolds and they need a solution.”

From AI to chatbots, EJ Cay, vice president for U/K. and Ireland at Genesys, says: "Delivering high-quality customer service should be a priority for every business. As customer expectations grow and evolve, companies need systems that not only respond rapidly but also provide efficient and empathetic experiences. The emergence of advanced technologies, such as generative AI, has introduced new platforms to help manage and meet these expectations.”

"Take chatbots, for example. AI-powered chatbots can free up employees' time, allowing them to focus on more complex customer service issues. When chatbots are integrated with human agents, they facilitate smoother, more complex conversations and help personalize the customer journey. Our research shows that customer satisfaction increased by 61% when AI was combined with human agents, underscoring the potential of AI in the present and future of customer service.” 

Data optimization is also an important factor to consider for improved customer service, James Fisher, chief strategy officer at Qlik says: “Customers today have high expectations from brands – to deliver quick, personalized and seamless services whether they are online or in store. With access to good quality data in close to real-time, powered by AI, brands can meet these expectations and build customer loyalty.

“Retail businesses often operate across multiple locations or have complex supply chains. Having a central source for all data, from up-to-date information about stock levels to insights into when demand is likely to peak and require more employees on shift, makes it possible to make well-informed decisions and improve experiences.”

“With high expectations from customers, retailers need to be agile and empowered to anticipate and react to customers’ needs. Data, analytics and AI, alongside automation and agents, can all make this possible.” 

What’s Next in AI for Customer Service?

Integrating advanced technology and AI into your company’s customer service strategy will likely help to create a positive response from your customers and meet their expectations. The use of chatbots, AI and data optimization are all features that help to create a 24/7 tailored experience. Utilizing these features allows for a more automated approach for companies, allowing the human agents to spend more time on complex customer queries, rather than being overworked and rushed.

The combined use of advanced technology, such as AI and human agents is the way forward for companies trying to improve their customer’s experience. Meeting the customers' new expectations and demands with technology is the way forward for companies to achieve success and put themselves ahead of their competitors this National Customer Service Week.