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The lead up to 2020 is a very exciting time for customer service. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) continue to get smarter, more connected and more integrated into business, service agents have more opportunities to get to know their clients and generate higher levels of customer value.
But these technologies are also changing consumer expectations and the way brands interact with customers, with face-to-face and call time diminishing in favour of online support services.
Here are five ways digital technologies are shaping this era of smarter customer service and how they can help you stay competitive:
Thanks to the growing accessibility (and acceptance) of AI and IoT, Trailblazers such as KONE are using the technology to transform field service into a more attuned, proactive and connected experience.
Leading manufacturers are already using these technologies to detect impending faults in their products and flag nearby engineers to resolve the issue before a customer notices anything wrong. It’s an easy service win no brand can afford to ignore, and as customers begin to expect pre-emptive service as standard, we can soon expect even greater developments in AI and IoT.
Digital technology has a phenomenal impact on the way we communicate and engage with the brands we love, but it also means that we’re talking less. As consumers, the internet has changed our expectations of what a service experience should be – and in almost every case, that involves being fast, convenient, and unintrusive.
People expect 24/7 real-time customer support, and are increasingly choosing digital self-service support. It lowers support costs, allows for wiser distribution of resources, and gives customers what they want, when they want it.
According to Gartner, 85% of customer-brand relationships will be managed without human interaction by 2020, showcasing customer independence.
A product of automated workflows and AI, chatbots are stepping in to add more power to the 24/7 self-service revolution.
Our Second Annual State of Service Report found that 54% of consumers and 80% of business buyers expect companies to respond to them in real-time, but due to resource limitations, this isn’t always possible. However, with an AI-powered chatbot, service teams can automate constructive responses to simpler customer queries, while people only step in if complications arise.
In 2017, our partners at IBM helped Autodesk speed up customer response times by 99% with a Watson AI-powered Virtual Agent. According to Gartner, virtual customer service agents have also been shown to reduce the volume of call, chat and email enquiries by up to 70%. While only 2% of businesses were using chatbots in 2017, Gartner predicts that this will jump to 25% by 2020.
By aligning sales and service teams, brands can create a smooth, rapid, and personalised experience for the customer. At Salesforce’s Intelligent Sales and Service Forum 2017, we were inspired by Zip Water’s customer service solution. The company recognised that it needed to take a customer-centered approach and change its management process from the top down.
For Zip Water’s technicians, this also meant getting access to full customer histories, allowing them to understand their clients better and carry out services more efficiently.
In addition, personalising service queries gave sales and service representatives more opportunities to generate greater customer value and even upsell appropriate products.
The automation of procedural back office tasks is long overdue. Salesforce Service Cloud has simplified the most complex customer service processes, but without it, many service teams remain suffocated by repetitive administrative tasks.
As process automation continues to gain traction and customers get increasingly used to the superfast, personalised customer service it enables, the sector is expected to attract significant local investment – with one estimate suggesting that it will reach $870 million by 2020.
For more insights on the trends shaping customer service, check out our State of Service Report.
