New findings from research firm Futurum predict that smart machines will handle roughly two-thirds of customer engagements within the next decade. What’s more, the research suggests that by 2030, 69 percent of decisions made during customer interactions will be made by machines rather than humans.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that there will be a rapid growth in the relationship between humans and machines over the next decade,” Daniel Newman, principal analyst and founding partner at Futurum Research, said in a statement. “Companies will have to strike a delicate balance between providing highly empathic human-like experiences with the instantaneous results that consumers have come to expect.”
Though many companies (78 percent) believe that consumers don’t want this level of machine-based interaction, Futurum found otherwise. According to the results, only 35 percent of consumers actually feel uneasy about the upcoming boost in technology. In fact, many expect to interact with tech more. For example, 80 percent said they expect to get more product deliveries completed by drones or autonomous vehicle, 81 percent say they expect to engage with chatbots when seeking service or support, and 78 percent expect to use an augmented, virtual, or mixed reality app to receive better service. Overall, consumers are open to the idea of technology helping meet their growing expectations.
“Technology will be the bridge as data, analytics, machine learning, and AI will enable machines to deliver this balance in a more humanistic way that satisfies customers and delivers increased efficiencies to the enterprise,” Newman said.
Many brands are already well aware of this trend and are preparing by investing more in emerging technology. More than 60 percent, for example, are investing in voice-based AI assistants to improve customer support and 58 percent are investing in voice-based AI, Futurum found.