“I’m a firm believer, and fingertips, should we choose to We’ve been talking about the and customer service and that goals are being involved earlier Fourth Industrial Revolution have done a superior job of in the customer journey, and it’s in the field, in the office, or and its impact for awhile, but strategically mapping their organizations are starting to to handle only the most difficult the truth is we’re still in the early customer touchpoints. Everyone actively identify and break down stages of what’s poised to be else is playing catch-up.” silos in order to gain a true, a radical, unprecedented era Bob Hebeisen, Senior Director of holistic view of the customer. of change. Even experts can’t Marketing, Glance Networks “Transformation is an investment predict what will come to be. But there are no shortcuts to that pays dividends; more than Thanks to the introduction, transformation. No playbook. just keeping up, it’s about getting acceptance, and normalization ahead and staying competitive of technology like AI, IoT, smart New ideas could be a smash hit devices, and more in everyday in one industry but completely in a quickly changing economic life, customer expectations and global environment.” miss the mark in another. Fleeting Marisa Hambleton, Salesforce and more redefine on a regular continue to grow at a rapid pace. trends that a business may invest MVP In fact, 75% of customers say hours into come and go. But they expect companies to use great customer service – and, in THE NEW ROLE OF THE new technologies — like AI — to turn, a great customer experience SERVICE AGENT create better experiences.* To – will never miss the mark. And keep up, businesses are investing with this surge of technologies Arguably, an even more heavily in transformation, rewriting customer standards, the interesting revelation is the planning and strategizing C-suite is taking note. change in the service agent their next steps carefully and role. Becoming increasingly constantly. Customer service, once important, today’s agents “Customer expectations for positioned as a post-sale focus, are tasked with building service are being driven by is now viewed as a strategic pillar relationships and driving in more and more organizations. revenue, replacing traditional digital-first companies like Major investments are being tasks with challenging, high-value Amazon that are on the leading made — and not just in a budget work. edge of customer engagement sense. Service priorities and 18 THE EXCHANGE FALL 2019 FALL 2019