Gen Z and millennials are turning to YouTube and Reddit over traditional contact center support channels to resolve service issues.
However, these aren’t the only third-party channels. Online LLMs – like ChatGPT and Gemini – are also places where customers are increasingly flocking to enjoy low-effort service experiences.
With the integration of these LLMs with mobile devices, that trend will likely only increase.
These are some of the key takeaways from new research led by Patrick Quinlan, Senior Director of Analysts for the Gartner Customer Service and Support Practice.
Within the study, Gartner predicts that by 2028, 70 percent of customer service journeys will start and end with conversational, third-party assistants on mobile devices.
In a recent interview, Quinlan discussed how customer service teams can confront these trends. Here are some of the key takeaways.
Compete or Embrace: Your Two Options
To prepare for a future of third-party customer service experiences via GenAI in mobile devices, Quinlan suggests that customer service leaders must answer a key question: do I compete with these third-party GenAI experiences or embrace them?
“If they choose to compete, they will need to enhance their mobile app experience to support conversational interfaces and ensure these tools can leverage knowledge data to effectively resolve issues,” he said.
Alternatively, if the brand chooses to embrace the change, Quinlan recommends that brands strive to bolster their public knowledge sources and make them more accessible to LLMs.
In either case, the Gartner man stresses that customer service teams should evolve their omnichannel strategies to omni-modal strategies.
“An omni-modal strategy enables customers to communicate with a company through a single digital channel using their preferred mode of communication,” he continued. “That mode could be text, voice, video, image, or any combination.”
Gartner is not alone in calling for this change, with CCaaS provider UJET advocating for a single-channel service experience that blends modalities, AI, and human agents.
Indeed, UJET co-CEO Anand Janefalkar discussed this concept in a CX Today article: Legacy Thinking and Process Don’t Work for AI-Powered CX
The “Embrace” Route Brings Several Difficulties
The embrace route, where a company makes its knowledge base more accessible to mobile smart assistants, is perhaps the easier route.
Also, it allows companies to integrate seamlessly into an increasingly popular, low-effort experience.
Yet, Quinlan cites several concerns around data security, analytics insights, and brand control. He noted:
It is entirely possible that a customer could defect from a brand because they received an incorrect answer from a third-party – without the company ever knowing.
Knowledge management is critical to mitigate this risk, ensuring the knowledge base contains the most accurate and latest data.
Quinlan also recommends “implementing stringent security measures to protect data integrity.”
“By carefully managing these dynamics, businesses can capitalize on third-party capabilities to improve service efficiency without compromising their brand or customer trust,” he concluded.
With Solutions Come More Questions
The more you dig into this conversation and debate, the more questions arise. For instance: how do we adapt infrastructure to the growing use of conversational GenAI and third-party service interactions? And how will the development of AI agents impact these interactions?
Ultimately, brands must consider how they can leverage their mobile app architecture and customer data, as per Quinlan.
“As mobile devices become central to customer interactions, businesses should embed service workflows directly within their apps, creating a seamless and integrated user experience,” he said.
This approach not only aligns service delivery with the customer’s mobile journey, but it also allows for personalized interactions based on the data held within the app.
Considering such approaches is critical as the capabilities of smartphone assistants will only get better, and soon they’ll likely be navigating self-service experiences for customers, performing multi-step tasks autonomously.
Moreover, it’s not just smartphone assistants. Consider the recent news that Google is experimenting with a tool for its search engine that will call customer service on behalf of customers. Machine customers are the future.
As Quinlan concluded: “Although it’s early to predict the full impact, customer service leaders should prepare for a future where third-party AI systems manage more sophisticated interactions, potentially increasing service volume through third parties and elevating customer expectations for seamless service.”
For more on the topic of machine customers, check out CX Today’s article: Why Aren’t Customer Service Teams Ready for Machine Customers?
