Customer service workers were among the first on the AI chopping block, but now some enterprises are backtracking amidst a consumer backlash and concerns over quality.
Analysis from Gartner earlier this month found that human workers will remain an essential component for customer service activities despite the sharpened focus on AI adoption in this domain.
The consultancy said half of companies that expected to “significantly reduce” customer service workforces will abandon plans by 2027, and a key factor is the inability of the technology to pick up the slack.
According to Gartner, many companies are struggling to achieve ‘agent-less’ staffing goals, which highlights the acute challenges of transitioning to AI-driven customer service strategies.
In a poll of customer service and support leaders, Gartner found 95% plan to retain human workers as much as possible. In doing so, however, they hope workers will ultimately help “define AI’s role” in this business function.
“This approach ensures a ‘digital first, but not digital only’ strategy, avoiding the pitfalls of a hasty transition to an agentless model,” the consultancy said.
Simply put, this means customer service workers won’t be going anywhere - at least for a while - as enterprise efforts to ramp up AI in this area have fallen flat.
Kathy Ross, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner’s Customer Service & Support practice, said the future will likely see a fusion of both human workers and AI agents in this domain.
“While AI offers significant potential to transform customer service, it is not a panacea. The human touch remains irreplaceable in many interactions, and organizations must balance technology with human empathy and understanding,” Ross said.
“A hybrid approach, where AI and human agents work in tandem, is the most effective strategy for delivering exceptional customer experiences.”
Two-tier customer service isn’t off the cards
The u-turn by some enterprises follows a period of bullish outlook on the potential for AI to usurp human workers in customer service roles. Klarna, for example, has been highly vocal on this matter, having cut hundreds of jobs and replaced workers with AI.
This strategy appeared to be working for the company. In early 2024, Klarna revealed AI assistants were doing the work of around 700 people and the company had delivered significant cost savings as a result, with revenue-per-employee also improving.
CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has been among the most outspoken on the success of the strategy, but has since calmed the rhetoric. During a session at London Tech Week earlier this month, Siemiatkowski also appeared to be backtracking on the prospect of a fully automated future in customer service.
Notably, however, this wasn’t a complete u-turn by the Klarna chief exec, who echoed the findings of the Gartner study in terms of a fusion of human and agentic AI customer service.
Siemiatkowski said he envisages the future of customer service as somewhat of a two-tier affair, whereby ‘VIP’ customer service interactions involving human staff will be a paid-for luxury. Those unwilling to pay will have to contend with automated agents.
There does seem to be an appetite for this style of customer service, at least among Brits. According to a recent survey from digital analytics platform, Quantum Metric, 40% of respondents said they would be willing to pay a monthly fee for human interaction rather than using self-service options or interacting with AI agents.
More than half (54%) said they feel complaints or queries are only properly resolved when speaking to a real person, underlining the appetite for premium customer service options amid a period of AI replacement.
MORE FROM ITPRO
-
Data storage is dead, long live data managementAnalysis Pure Storage's flagship announcement at its annual conference was the Enterprise Data Cloud, but what makes it a "paradigm shifting" new approach to data storage and management?
-
Sneaky cyber espionage network exploits IoT devices and home office routersNews Researchers at SecurityScorecard have issued a warning about a new China-linked threat campaign, dubbed 'LapDogs', targeting IoT devices and home routers.
-
‘I don’t think this is on people’s radar’: AI could wipe out half of entry-level jobs in the next five years – and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks we're all burying our heads in the sandNews With AI set to hit entry-level jobs especially, some industry execs say clear warning signs are being ignored
-
‘A complete accuracy collapse’: Apple throws cold water on the potential of AI reasoning – and it's a huge blow for the likes of OpenAI, Google, and AnthropicNews Apple published a research paper on the effectiveness of AI 'reasoning' models - and it seriously rains on the parade of the world’s most prominent developers.
-
Questions raised over AI’s impact as studies tout conflicting adoption outcomesNews Two reports highlight the difficulty of judging the impact of AI on jobs, productivity, and wages
-
Sick and tired of spreadsheets? Perplexity’s new tools can help with thatNews Perplexity Labs is available now for Pro subscription users
-
Meta faces new ‘open washing’ accusations with AI whitepaperNews The tech giant has faced repeated criticism for describing its Llama AI model family as "open source".
-
Agentic AI is coming for customer service jobsNews A report from Cisco shows the agentic AI shift is coming “faster than anyone anticipated”
-
“Public trust has become the new currency for AI innovation”: Why SAS is ringing the alarm bell on AI governance for enterprisesNews Demonstrating responsible stewardship of AI could be the key differentiator for success with the technology, rather than simply speed of adoption
-
SAS wants its AI agents to supercharge workers, not replace themSAS has announced a new agentic AI service aimed at helping enterprises deploy agents alongside domain-specific AI models.
