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.
of respondents say AI has increased customer satisfaction
believe AI will enable 30%+ contact center reductions in the next 3 years
of companies report higher agent productivity with AI
of surveyed leaders report lower cost per contact with AI
of high-maturity companies use agentic AI, compared to…
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.
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.
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.
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.
“The way service organizations can deliver service to their customers has totally changed. AI has reached a level that allows fast, human-like support at a scale that was never possible before. AI and humans can work side by side, with AI handling the routine so humans can bring the empathy, judgment and creativity—elevating every interaction.”
Mike Brinker
Customer Service Domain Leader, Deloitte Digital
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.
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