The role of AI in the evolution of customer service
The ServiceNow Consumer Voice Report 2025 found that consumers opt for human-led interactions over other customer service channels, despite favouring the speed and accuracy of AI. There’s a tension: Consumers want the benefits offered by AI but still turn to human-led channels for higher levels of service.
Brands that fail to meet these consumer expectations risk losing loyalty and business. AI in customer relationship management (CRM) can transform customer experience (CX), from marketing to sales to service. On the customer service side of CRM, agentic AI is unlocking a new frontier balanced between technology and human touch. Let’s explore how AI is evolving customer service.
The growth of AI in customer service
AI in customer service is not new. Capabilities such as machine learning, pattern recognition, and AI-powered automation are well established. AI integration has opened new ways to manage customer interactions by processing masses of unstructured data at scale.
For instance, AI can extract real-time sentiment analysis using pattern recognition and predictive analytics. Unearthing customer context increases personalisation opportunities.
Our research found that 70% of consumers expect humans to pick up on their emotions, and 42% want the same from AI chatbots. By spotting trends and sentiments, AI can anticipate outcomes and make recommendations to improve CX or help prevent customer churn.
AI is supporting customers in whatever channel they choose, whether they opt for self-service via an AI agent or working with a human agent. Through natural language, AI can answer customer queries without the involvement of a human agent.
AI is also arming human customer service agents with greater context—summarising customer challenges and their history. AI goes a step further, offering suggestions to human agents on where they can help based on knowledge base information and similar interactions from the past.
With case insights more readily available, customer service agents can resolve queries faster. According to Nielsen Norman Group, support agents using AI tools can handle nearly 14% more customer enquiries per hour than agents not using AI.
The next stage in the evolution of CRM is agentic AI. The technology helps systems shift from being reactive to proactive, solving issues before they affect customers. Agentic AI can reason, plan, and carry out tasks autonomously under human supervision.
Elevating the role of the human support agent
AI in CRM is helping organisations reimagine the role of a human support agent. By streamlining the administrative back end of customer support—through use cases such as summarising customer notes—AI can free human agents to focus on delivering more empathy and building stronger rapport with customers.
Our research suggests that people prefer interacting with a human over AI in emotionally charged scenarios. For example, just 5% of consumers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) would trust AI to close a bank account after a loved one’s death, according to the Consumer Voice Report.
EMEA consumers favour using AI for repetitive tasks, such as tracking a package (14%) or scheduling a car service (13%). When balancing the people-plus-technology equation, leaders should assign roles accordingly to refocus human agents on customers.
One platform for sales and service
ServiceNow is reinventing CRM for the AI era to sell, fulfil, and service on a single platform—switching from a system of record to a system of action. Connecting sales and service in one place can help align every team in the revenue engine, reducing complexity and accelerating growth. AI can support every step of the customer journey, from first touch to final invoice.
The future of CRM is smarter and faster, creating streamlined front-end experiences and enabling human support agents to deliver superior customer service. AI in CRM will help consumers get what they want quickly, fostering a new age of customer loyalty.
Find out how ServiceNow can help you put AI to work in CRM.