Dive Brief:
- Forrester predicts that AI will slash the number of customer service jobs in half by 2030.
- Organizations that receive a high volume of lower-complexity inquiries will see the greatest reduction in staff, according to a report from the analyst firm released last month. Contact centers that receive higher-complexity inquiries will still face staff cuts but at lower rates.
- “There are humans today doing jobs that don't require the level of intelligence that a human has,” Max Ball, principal analyst at Forrester, told CX Dive. “That work is going to go away, so the number of agents is going to go down, and over time the automation is going to get more and more sophisticated.”
Dive Insight:
As AI proliferates, there’s no question that it will reshape the contact center. However, the timeline and severity of the technology’s impact on the workforce is up for debate among experts.
While Forrester predicts dramatic cuts to the contact center workforce, Gartner expects that among those organizations that expect to severely reduce contact center headcount due to AI, half will drop such plans by 2027.
There is some agreement, however. Contact centers with high-volume, lower-complexity cases are expected to see the most severe headcount reductions. Customers inquiring about the balance of an account, for example, don’t need human support.
Forrester shared a model of one such company with 1,000 customer service representatives. In four years, the number of representatives could be reduced to 40. However, the analyst firm predicts contact centers to hire new roles, including relationship managers and subject or industry experts.
Even for contact centers serving higher-complexity cases, there will likely be a smaller workforce, as AI automates aspects of tickets or can take over functions like saves.
“There can be parts of it that can be automated,” Ball said. “So that 10 minute transaction becomes an 8 minute transaction. That will make a difference.”
Most contact centers aren’t laying off workers, however.
“Headcount cuts are the exception, not the rule,” Eric Keller, senior director analyst in Gartner’s customer service practice, wrote for CX Dive.
Turnover is already high, so companies can allow for attrition to reduce headcount, Ball said.
“Many average contact center turnover is something like 30%. Comcast has a 100% annual turnover,” Ball said. “What's going to happen is somebody will leave their job and they won't be able to get another one.”
