Customer service is undergoing its most profound reinvention in decades—an AI-first future where every interaction is faster, smarter and deeply personalized. Learn how to translate these advances into measurable ROI while delivering elite customer experience at scale and enhancing workforce effectiveness.
What’s shaping the new era of service?
Service leaders are moving toward AI-first service transformation. Findings from the Deloitte Digital 2026 Global Contact Center Survey, to be published later this year, shed light on key forces shaping this Future of Service. Based on perspectives from 600 global organizations and 3,000 consumers, these findings signal how AI, data and experience-led transformation are redefining service delivery.
73
%
of respondents say AI has increased customer satisfaction
43
%
believe AI will enable 30%+ contact center reductions in the next 3 years
64
%
of companies report higher agent productivity with AI
39
%
of surveyed leaders report lower cost per contact with AI
48
%
of high-maturity companies use agentic AI, compared to…
24
%
of low-maturity companies use agentic AI
Service has reached an inflection point. Organizations no longer have to choose between efficiency and experience. Advances in agentic AI and orchestration go far beyond chatbots and task automation to enable end-to-end service models that span contact centers, digital channels, field service and in-product support, fundamentally changing how enterprises connect with customers and generate business.
Tomorrow’s service organization is built on human-AI collaboration. AI handles routine and data-intensive work and serves up relevant information, while humans focus on judgment, empathy and complex problem-solving. Organizations that redesign roles, metrics and governance for this collaboration can transform service from a cost center into an engine for growth and trust.
Unlock measurable service value
01
Drive service efficiencies
01
Drive service efficiencies
With multi-agent AI service platforms that orchestrate interactions and workflows, organizations can generate financial returns while simultaneously enabling enhanced customer experience and workforce effectiveness. Investing in AI capabilities can unlock transformational efficiency gains across contact center and field service operations.
02
Enhance customer experience
02
Enhance customer experience
Today’s AI can engage in natural language conversations, resolve complex requests and operate alongside human agents to monitor calls, surface insights and assist with next-best actions. The impact is measurable: hyper-personalization, always-on elite service, faster issue resolution, higher conversion and retention, and more consistent service quality—which, combined, can result in increased loyalty.
03
Create new value
03
Create new value
AI evolves service from cost center to value generation with potential to drive significant new revenue growth. During service interactions, autonomous agents and AI copilots identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities, allowing organizations to better retain, expand and monetize relationships. AI can continuously analyze customer interaction history and profile data to anticipate what customers need next, fueling smarter, more insightful interactions to earn repeat customers.
“Service delivery has entered a new era. With AI now capable of providing rapid, human-like support at unprecedented scale, organizations can rethink how they serve their customers. By taking over repetitive tasks, AI frees people to focus on what truly matters: empathy, critical thinking, and creativity—raising the quality of every interaction.”
Peter van Tilburg
Customer Service Leader, Deloitte Digital Netherlands
Achieving scalable AI
Realizing the ROI of AI requires fundamentally rethinking the service technology architecture and making key decisions around technology, risk, data, and workforce roles. Additional findings from the not-yet-published 2026 Global Contact Center Survey reveal service leaders’ top considerations and barriers to implementing and scaling AI.
Get in touch
Peter van Tilburg
Peter is an internationally experienced technology strategy, sales and delivery expert which is underpinned by 20 years of experience working on various CRM, Digital and Cloud related client engagements in different industries across Europe. In March of 2018 he joined Deloitte Digital after a 12,5 year period with Accenture where he was leading Accenture’s Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow and Pega business. Today he is the sponsoring partner for Deloitte’s Customer Solutions practice in The Netherlands. Next to his sponsoring partner role, he is a principal solution architect and delivery lead serving clients in Energy, Resources and Industrial Products industries. In the course of his career Peter gained significant experience in Financial Services, High-Tech, Telco and Consumer Goods industries serving clients such as Air France KLM, Barclays, FrieslandCampina, Liberty Global, NN Group, Novartis and Philips.
Robert Collignon
Robert is Director in the Customer Strategy practice with a focus on the insurance and wealth management industry. He has over 20 year experience both as a consultant as well as in working for FSI industry organisations. His passion is to design and deliver winning strategies, brands and customer propositions which benefit organizations and contribute to a better society. Typically this involves business model innovation, digital transformation, new venture design, partnership strategies, digital technology (data management, marketing automation), operating model design and proposition design. Prior to joining Deloitte Robert was the global Head of Brand & Customer Strategy at an insurance organization, he is one of the proud founders of GoBear (www.gobear.com) - a successful FinTech in the financial services industry in Asia and author of ‘Pensioen voor Dummies’.
Franklin Heijnen
The combination design and technology should make our lives more easy, should make us smarter and should bring more beauty and joy into the world. From 1997 I have been involved in digital projects. I use design thinking and service design to co-create better experiences for customers, citizens and employees. Also I teach and coach teams on these topics. Furthermore, I always bring my camera as I’m an enthusiast street photographer.
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