The Gartner Customer Service and Support Predictions for 2024 Explore the Transformative Impact of AI…

By 2027, 30% of the Fortune 500 will consolidate postpurchase tasks such as expansion, service, success and renewal into a unified customer-facing employee role, according to Gartner, Inc.

Generative AI (GenAI) promises to automate greater portions of customer service agent roles, creating employee capacity that will allow customer service and support leaders to experiment with new talent management approaches. In order to maximize the value of AI investments, increase employee efficiency, and meet business demands, some organizations will merge postpurchase tasks such as service, success and renewal, into a single role.

“As the lines between postpurchase services begin to blur, service, sales and success leaders will battle for ownership of the customer relationship,” said Emily Potosky, Senior Director, Research, in the Gartner Customer Service and Support practice. “Service and support leaders must move fast in order to maintain their influence and avoid their function being subsumed by another.”

Gartner predicts that customer service and support leaders will also be impacted by governments who may impact organizations who have digital-only ambitions.

By 2028, the EU will mandate “the right to talk to a human” in customer service interactions.

GenAI is accelerating the shift towards self-service, and a number of organizations are experimenting with hiding or entirely shutting down their assisted channels. In response to growing consumer backlash against AI-generated service, Gartner predicts the EU will adjust its consumer protection laws, requiring organizations to provide access to a customer service employee.

“The EU has a reputation as a standard-setter when it comes to consumer protection,” said Potosky. “If the EU takes this step, organizations that rely too heavily on generative AI-assisted service could need to scramble to boost their assisted service offering, despite many leaders currently promoting the cost-savings of a digital only-strategy.”

Additional information is available in the complimentary Gartner eBook Customer Service Leadership Predictions in 2024.

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