The Future of Service: Elevating the human experience

Andy Haas

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01 May 2019

4 minute read

The customer service landscape is rapidly evolving with technology disruptors, societal changes, and demographic trends requiring service leaders to contemplate what the Future of Service looks like.

Demands on all aspects of service continue to grow, be it omnichannel service, in field, in person, and/or via contact centres. Reducing costs, growing revenue, improving customer experience, and cultivating talent remain top of mind for executives. However, the strategic importance of service as a critical asset to differentiate firms from their competitors continues to be a major priority.

The mission of customer service continues to evolve beyond issue resolution. As the driver of a company's main relationship touchpoints with customers, the service organisation shapes experiences, drives choices, and reinforces perceptions and beliefs. In doing so, customer service functions transform from being cost centres to being customer retention and profit centres.

Deloitte’s view of the Future of Service is based on our work with hundreds of global service organisations, thought leaders, and technology-enabling alliances. We believe a series of disruptive forces are likely to profoundly change the way service is delivered in the future, and we think about them in five major themes.

DISTRIBUTED COMPLEXITY

Service segmentation will continue to proliferate
It’s not just what is simple vs. complex, but also high-value vs. low value, high-risk vs. low risk, and emotionally involved vs. automatic
How complexity is defined and handled will be a critical strategic element

PERSONALISED AND PROACTIVE

Customers will mandate that service is tailored to their own uniqueness
Employees will demand they can do their job faster with a more personal touch
Customers will want to be provided with insights via data analytics that they otherwise would not know
Successful customer experience execution will require a coordinated effort between field service, sales, marketing, and other functions

INTEGRATED ECOSYSTEMS

Ecosystems will need to be connected and integrated to be person to person, tech to tech, etc.
How service is delivered is likely to change due to the gig economy, outsourcing, and partnerships
Cloud will continue to be a major force in how things are connected and scaled

WORKFORCE REDEFINED

New skills like a hospitality mindset and tech fluency will be required, impacting screening, training, and internal mobility
New tools like intelligent knowledge management and sentiment analysis will change how service professionals do their jobs

AI OMNIPRESENCE

AI will become a core business requirement
Various levels of maturity (RPA, Cognitive, ML) will need to be considered to satisfy business and customer needs

Read more about the themes and how to start preparing for the Future of Service and watch our video below on elevating the human experience.

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