The Hive Think Tank Panel Discussion moderated by Kate Leggett (Forrester) with panelists: Allan Leinwand (ServiceNow), Nitin Narkhede (Wipro), Jason Smale (Zendesk), Dan Turchin (Neva). The future of customer support is AI-driven virtual agents. Soon, we’ll interact conversationally with bots that know who we are, how we’re impacted, and what we need. Soon, the capabilities of virtual agents will far exceed those of today’s best human agents. We’ll receive support that is more reliable than friends, more accurate than social media, and less frustrating than waiting on hold.

1. The Future Of Customer Support – AI
Driven Automation
November 30, 2016

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Source: September 12, 2014 “The CIO’s Blueprint For Strategy In The Age Of The Customer” Forrester report
Customers Control the Conversation
That They Have with Businesses

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What Are Your Customer Expectations?

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Source: June 27, 2014 “What Drives A Profitable Customer Experience” Forrester report
Good Customer Experiences Impact Top
Line Revenue
Retention
loyalty
Enrichment
loyalty
Advocacy
loyalty
The likelihood that a
customer will keep
existing business
with the company
The likelihood that a
customer will buy
additional products
and services from
the company
The likelihood that
a customer will
recommend the
company to
others

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Employees Who Are Satisfied With Their
Technologies At Work Have Higher
Retention
Base: Global information workers who work in customer service and support
Source: Forrester’s BT Telecommunications and Mobility Workforce, 2016 Final
46%
57%
26%
30%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Employees are happy to work at my company I often recommend my company as a good employer
Satisfied
Not Satisfied

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Customer Service
Intelligence - robots,
automation, robotic
process automation
(RPA), cognitive
technologies, and
machine learning can
be used to provide
better customer
service experiences
Believe cognitive
computing will tip in the
next 5 years
83%
Source: June 22, 2016: The Future Of White Collar Work: Sharing Your Cubicle With Robots

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Effectiveness
Emotion
Ease

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Source: January 5, 2016 “The Future Of Customer Service”
It’s About Valuing Your Customer’s Time
53% will abandon online
purchases if they can’t find
a quick answer
For 73%, valuing their time
is the most important way
to provide good service

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Customers Self-Serve As A First Point Of
Contact
Phone
Base: 4473 US adults (18+) Forrester Technographics, Customer Lifecycle Survey 2, 2015
Help or FAQs
on a company
website or
mobile website
Voice self-
service
Virtual agents
Communities

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Email
Structured knowledge management
can only go so far

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Knowledge Must Evolve From Dialogue
To Cognitive Engagement

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Courtesy: Nuance
Use Cognitive Computing To Make Self
Service, Agents And Employees-
Smarter

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Effectiveness
Emotion
Ease

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Service Intelligence Reads and
Categorizes Email Inquiries, And
Recommends Answers

15. RPA Standardizes Service Delivery

16. Recommend the
right knowledge
Pinpoint the
right offer
Recommend the
right next step
Streamline the
service process
Connect
customers to the
right agent
Route work to
back office
Understand the
customer
Optimize service
tech routes
Identify the
right hire
Identify the
right training
Categorize
service tickets
Analytics Fuel Prescriptive Advice

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Effectiveness
Emotion
Ease

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Speech (And Text) Analytics Help With
Issue Categorization And Analysis

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Emotional Analysis Help Optimize
Service Interactions

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Facial Analysis Helps Surface A
Customer’s Frustration

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But, Intelligence Will Change The Face
Of Human Jobs

22. Thank you
forrester.com
Kate Leggett
Vice President, Principal Analyst
kleggett@forrester.com
Twitter: @kateleggett