Three Trends That Will Shape The Future of Customer Service

Automation, artificial intelligence assistants, and the quest for customer value in service will transform customer service and support by 2028, according to Gartner.

"AI and rapidly changing customer expectations are driving the evolution of the customer service function," said Brad Fager, senior director analyst in the Gartner Customer Service and Support practice. "Agentic AI is driving the function toward a more automated future, meaning traditional value models focused around human-to-human interactions will shift."

In its report, Gartner identified the following as the top three trends driving the transformation of customer service and support:

1. Executive Pressure for Limitless Automation

Customer service and support leaders are feeling pressure from other enterprise leaders to adopt generative AI in their functions. Many executives believe that AI presents an opportunity for headcount reduction, with limitless potential for automation. AI will transform customer service and support in several key areas:

• AI will manage service inquiries with human intervention only where necessary.
• 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.
• 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," Fager said. "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."

2. Customers' Increasing Use of AI Assistants for Service and Support

Fifty-one percent of customers would be willing to use a genAI assistant for customer service interactions on their behalf, according to an unrelated Gartner survey. GenAI-powered smart assistants acting as machine customers could fundamentally change the relationship between organizations and their customers. This shift could affect operational costs and loyalty.

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, and if customers start automating their interactions through 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," Fager said. "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."

3. Customer Service and Support Moves Increasingly Upstream

With the growing ubiquity of connected devices and subscription models, there are now more opportunities for customers to encounter a service need, Gartner said, noting that this shift requires customer service to be integrated throughout the customer journey. Service and support leaders who focus on product usage, adoption, and revenue growth will transform their organizations from cost centers into business drivers, it said further.

"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," Fager said. "Leaders must prioritize collaboration and value addition across the enterprise, strategically distributing service capabilities and maintaining overarching vision and governance."