By 2026, 75% of customers who call customer service and support organizations will do so out of loneliness, not because they have a customer service issue, according to Gartner, Inc. This will affect service and support leaders’ priority of migrating customers to self-service and ensuring rep well-being.

Employees who traditionally did not have many opportunities to WFH are now used to it, like it, and wish to continue in some capacity once the pandemic is over. This is in line with most service leaders who believe WFH is here to stay post-pandemic. 81% of service leaders believe between 30-80% of their workforce will primarily be working from home two years from now.

Customer service and support leaders must scrutinize all technology investments for their ability to deliver on customer experience (CX) goals, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner identified 33 must-watch technologies on the Hype Cycle for Customer Service and Support Technologies, 2020.

In today’s uncertain and volatile environment, customer service must play a larger role in driving both customer retention and also growing customer loyalty, according to Gartner, Inc. However, most customer service organizations attempt to do so by leaning heavily on initiatives to improve service experience quality. Gartner research reveals this long-held belief is wrong, as a good service experience is not enough to make customers more loyal.

Emerging digital trends are top of mind for customer service and support leaders in 2019, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. Customer-facing artificial intelligence (AI), big data, customer activism and rising CRM costs are key priorities for customer service and support leaders this year.