Customer service applications are at a crossroads. Applications are mature – even over-engineered with feature bloat that users cannot or will not use. Lengthy (and expensive) deployments and technical debt in the customer service ecosystem cripple agility and innovation. Integrations that support customer journeys to the mid- and back-office are painful and don’t yield the material impact on customer satisfaction. It’s no wonder that CX scores are in decline.
AI offers a path forward. AI powers customer self-service. It guides and assists customer service teams to resolve complex inquiries. And, it takes over end-to-end processes to resolution. Yet, to realize true value from AI, you must embed AI at the core of customer applications. You cannot bolt on or separately monetize AI. These schemes make it difficult for customer service leaders to craft their AI adoption journey and realize the ROI that management and boards count on them to deliver.
Customer Service Solutions Evolve With AI At The Core
Vendors rearchitect modern customer service solutions into agentic fabrics with AI at the core.
AI will be the front-line for customer operations: AI Agents will automate a vast swath of customer operations. Complex exceptions or nuanced, low-volume work that requires a high level of domain or technical expertise will be escalated to subject matter experts or relationship managers. This leads to a more effective and specialized allocation of human capital.
Monolithic customer service applications are decomposed: Vendors deconstruct today’s applications into self-contained elements that have clear functionalities (think case management, or knowledge management) that AI agents can use.
Monetization will shift to favor consumption and outcome models. Traditional seat-based application licenses are already shifting to a combination of seat-based and consumption-based models with brackets and limits. These models will encourage AI experimentation.
The modern customer service landscape is vast, with vendors pursuing different modernization strategies. You can use the Customer Service Solution Landscape to help understand vendor options and their future visions. Contact Laura Ramos and I via inquiry to chat further about this rapidly changing landscape.
