The Salesforce study

Artificial intelligence in customer service increases the value of people (and business)

83% of customer service teams in Italy use or plan to introduce AI-based solutions soon, and 77% of companies plan to increase investment in this area by the end of the year

by Gianni Rusconi

7 May 2024

AI, Machine learning, Hands of robot and human touching on big data network connection background, Science and artificial intelligence technology, innovation and futuristic.

5' min read

Increasing efficiency and raising the quality of customer service, thanks to technology: this is certainly not a new concept for many organisations, indeed, and this is because the digital transformation of an organisation has among its objectives also the task of facilitating the work of those who manage (and represent) the front office of a company. What is 'new', however, is a factor called artificial intelligence, a factor that is rapidly revolutionising models and procedures and is becoming progressively more important in the economy of customer service activities.

The Salesforce survey

A very detailed insight into how algorithm technology is high on management's agenda is provided by the sixth edition of the 'State of Service' survey conducted by Salesforce. The study analysed the responses of more than 5,500 customer service professionals active in 30 countries (including 200 in Italy and about half in Europe) to understand the challenges and strategies that are shaping and in some ways reshaping the world of customer service, including how service teams are harnessingartificial intelligence and data not only to improve customer satisfaction but also to generate efficiency and increase revenues. Among the evidence that emerged, the most relevant can be considered the following: 83% of customer service teams in Italy use or plan to introduce AI-based solutions soon, and 77% of companies plan to increase investment in this area by the end of the year. Furthermore, 63% of Italian companies expect customer service to contribute to increased revenue during 2024.

It is certainly an important topic that of the value produced by the customer service function in terms of business, and the percentage of companies tracking the turnover generated by customer service and support activities, which has risen from just over 50 per cent in 2018 to over 90 per cent at present, says as much. "Measuring the sales of the customer service area," explains Domenico Rossi, Head of Service Cloud & Field Service at Salesforce, "is a trend that confirms how this area of the organisation has targets to reach, linked to the creation of a relationship of trust with the customer also aimed at promoting the brand's services and products. This is a process that has been underway for years and that the pandemic has further accelerated, while at the same time technology has increased the ability to manage the conversation in a business context'.

AI applied to customer service

Artificial intelligence applied to customer service, says the study, can double the turnover of companies and, if we look at Italy, as many as 63% of companies expect their teams to contribute to turnover growth by the end of the year, with seven out of ten companies planning to increase both the budget to be allocated to this function and the number of staff in it. Investing in people, observes Rossi, is one of the key steps in the evolution of customer service, precisely because the contribution provided by the human worker remains fundamental in a scenario where the pressure on service agents (and their managers) is constantly increasing as customer expectations rise. Indeed, 70% of Italian companies expect a higher volume of cases to be handled over the next twelve months, while 89% of service professionals are of the opinion that customers are now more demanding than in the past.

It is therefore easy to understand, as the Salesforce manager further emphasises, why the increased complexity of handling requests (and complaints) requires advanced tools to increase the efficiency of this process. AI - and this is affirmed by 95% of Italian professionals who already work with these tools - saves time by answering simple questions and creating 'self-help' forms and consequently frees up space to concentrate on more rewarding and more valuable work, such as building customer relationships and solving complex cases. "Approximately 60 per cent of customers," adds Rossi, citing another study by the American multinational, "prefer to use AI-driven self-service systems as an alternative to the classic call for assistance, while the remaining 40 per cent of cases, where the level of the problem is higher, are handled by the customer service representative with the help and support of technology. Eventually, the role of these figures will evolve towards even greater specialisation, offering new opportunities for professional development to young talents working in this field'.

The ability to use AI, in other words, will become an element of value and differentiation for customer service professionals and not only a substantial added value related to the application of this technology, the three main use cases of which that will decree its status as a fundamental driver of change are (in order) increasing the quality and timeliness of customer service responses, creating offers and recommendations on how to handle requests, and providing virtual assistants to interact with consumers/end users.

The role of managers

In this phase of important transition, a decisive part will obviously also be played by customer service managers, who are called upon, like their teams, to make a substantial change of pace and whose approach to AI can be considered to be in great evolution. In general, confirms Rossi, 'there is more and more interest in this innovation tool, and there are a minority of figures who are sceptical and remain tied to old ways of managing the function; the majority, on the other hand, want to understand how to use artificial intelligence and experiment with its capabilities, with the intention of bringing its advantages to the ground with respect to their own specific needs. It is a well-defined trend, also because the AI wave also impacts other business areas related to customer service, starting with marketing, and consequently customer service cannot lag behind but must understand how to capitalise on its benefits, which are measurable very quickly'.

In order for this design to find concreteness, however, companies cannot and must not neglect the 'data' factor, because the cornerstone of an effective customer service always remains the availability of a secure and structured information set. "Data," concludes Rossi, "are the fuel of AI engines, and the better quality this fuel is, the better AI-based systems work and become more precise and accurate. However, customer databases are not always adequately connected and shared between the various company departments, and it is for this reason that they need to be normalised and organised, eliminating all redundancies and duplications". The indicators coming from the study, in this sense, seem comforting: 75 per cent of Italian companies have confirmed an increase (by the end of 2024) in investments for the integration of the data that feed the artificial intelligence systems dedicated to customer service.