The Future Beyond Customer Support
AI Takes the Lead.
Hey Readers 👋
Welcome back to another edition of New Economies which is rooted in my experiences working in venture. We’re living in extraordinary times—the most exciting era ever for technology, with groundbreaking trends emerging constantly that will redefine how we live and work in the future.
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As we know, AI is advancing at a staggering pace, spawning thousands of new startups that are changing the way we live and work—and it’s not going to slow down anytime soon.
Over the past few months, we have reported how AI is making an impact across the workplace, including teams working in Sales and Legal. We also mapped out the characteristics of AI unicorns, detailing what it takes to build one in today’s technology market and more recently, we published The Ultimate Startup AI Handbook—a resource that every founder needs.
Throughout this edition, we take a closer look at how AI is going to impact customer support, the improvements it can make and the hundreds of startups disrupting this $90 billion opportunity.
The question on many minds is: how far will AI go in solving customer support inquiries without human intervention? And in the future, will we even know if we are speaking to a human or not? We take a closer look.
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We've all experienced it—those lengthy, frustrating automated customer support calls that seem to miss the mark entirely, leaving us even more frustrated than when we started. In fact, 80% of customers say they're likely to switch to a competitor after a negative experience. On the flip side, a seamless and satisfying customer journey can transform a one-time buyer into a loyal, lifelong champion.
With 30% of all venture funding going into AI startups, there is an enormous opportunity to help enterprises who spend billions of dollars annually improve their customer experience journey, making it automated, seamless, and efficient—something many of us dream of. We take a closer look at the opportunities that lie ahead but first, if these AI chatbots do replace customer service call centers, what will happen?
Why Call Center Jobs Will Disappear
Brand loyalty is the cornerstone of successful companies. If a customer has a negative experience and leaves, the chances of winning them back are slim. In today’s fast-paced world, we expect customer support agents to respond quickly to our issues.
Many customer service representatives work from call centers in countries such as: Argentina, Poland, South Africa, and the Philippines—each home to over three million citizens employed in these roles, making them global leaders in the industry. However, with the rapid advancement of AI, these jobs are experiencing a profound transformation.
When we spoke with companies for this edition to understand why they favor AI chatbots over human agents, two key reasons emerged: first, chatbots operate without human emotions, and second, they are never late, don’t require sick leave, and can deliver faster response times compared to human workers. So what are the benefits of adopting AI within customer support teams?
What is AI Customer Support and why they are important
AI customer support agents help ensure service teams always have enough support to handle increases in service channels and evolving customer needs. They can take simple, routine tasks off human reps' plates, and provide them with extra support to increase efficiency and build customer trust and satisfaction.
Here's a look at some of the benefits they provide:
Decrease costs: AI can reduce customer service costs by automating routine tasks and inquiries, allowing support teams to address more issues with fewer resources. This also improves resource allocation, enabling the team to concentrate on higher-value work.
Improve customer loyalty, driving NPS scores: Quick and convenient service is essential for building customer loyalty. AI agents and chatbots provide 24/7 support, reducing wait times and boosting satisfaction.
Personalize experiences: AI can provide agents with customer insights, giving them the information needed to tailor solutions to each customer's specific needs.
With this in mind, we take a closer look at the latest startups who are supporting companies with their customer support.
The AI Customer Support Startup Landscape
To help navigate this evolving landscape, we created a market map that highlights 50+ early stage startups who are moving the ecosystem forward with customer support platforms.
We have organized the startups into the following categories:
AI Agents: Agents supporting with customer support.
Build Your Own: Build your own customer support agents.
Onboarding customers: Automate the customer onboarding process.
Analytics: Analytics on internal performance and customer opportunities.
Customer Success: Customer feedback platforms.
Integrations: Integrations for customer support.
Vertical Platforms: PropTech, Health, E-commerce, and Finance.
*Disclaimer: Some of these startups may fall into multiple categories.
As the landscape evolves and AI becomes smarter, it will become harder to understand if we are talking to a human or, AI agent—and those with more complicated needs, may need more assistance.
We believe as the ecosystem develops, platforms who are building across one sector will then be able to launch additional sectors as their product matures. And finally, as customer service teams becomes smarter on how they develop a customer brand and engagement strategy, it’s hard to think that they will not need as many physical team members involved as before.
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