The world of work has undergone a seismic shift over the past few years. In 2019, when we last reported on the state of work, the biggest challenge that customer support teams faced was misalignment. Fast-forward to today, and the picture is vastly different: a pandemic disrupted the way that we work and an economic downturn is forcing everyone to improve performance with fewer resources.
Customer support teams in particular are feeling the squeeze. With the uncertainty of financial markets and the economy, customer loyalty is no longer guaranteed. In fact, according to Salesforce’s ‘State of the Connected Customer’ report, 48% of customers expect a certain level of support to maintain their loyalty to companies. Yet many service organisations aren’t set up to perform at their best.
In our latest State of Work report, we set out to examine how customer support teams can drive productivity in today’s turbulent environment. Our findings revealed that most support teams are missing out on crucial opportunities to embrace more progressive, efficient ways of working. They’re not leveraging the potential of automation and AI to transform their work, and it’s time for that to change.