The Future of Customer Service: What You Need To Know for 2025

The future of customer service starts with learning what your customers expect today — a personalized and connected experience. 

The catch? You need to focus on productivity and cost savings without compromising on quality. 

The right technology can help. As we look ahead to the future of customer service, generative AI will play an essential role in finding cost-effective ways to meet customers’ changing expectations. Here are three emerging trends you should keep on your radar as you build your customer service strategy for 2025 and beyond.  

1. Autonomous AI agents are reshaping the customer experience  

Autonomous AI agents are making customer service more efficient, personalized, and responsive. Imagine an intelligent AI assistant that can anticipate customer needs, provide instant support, and even proactively resolve issues before they escalate. This isn’t just a vision for the future; it’s happening now.

AI agents continuously learn and improve from each interaction, ensuring that the support they provide becomes more accurate and relevant over time. This leads to higher customer satisfaction scores and increased loyalty. Additionally, autonomous AI agents can work around the clock, offering support whenever customers need it, regardless of time zones or business hours.

Some service leaders may be afraid that their people lack the skills to handle these emerging AI capabilities. Other leaders may have reservations about trust and reliability. There’s also the concern that implementing AI would require a major investment in infrastructure.

These fears are understandable, and all companies should practice caution and care when deploying any technology as powerful as AI. But one thing is clear: AI agents areis already connecting, informing, and enriching every aspect of customer service. 

Companies that remain rooted in doubt and uncertainty are almost certain to be left behind — and forward-thinking organizations are getting more done using AI in a secure, trustworthy way by grounding it on a foundation of trusted, unified data. 

Tactical tip: An all-in-one platform like Service Cloud Unlimited+ can help you quickly make the most of your AI investment. 

2. Advances in field service will help attract and retain frontline workers

We found that 74% of mobile workers say customer expectations are higher than they used to be, and 74% say their workloads have increased over the past year. That can have a major impact on job satisfaction — and it’s part of the reason why attracting and retaining frontline workers is more challenging than ever.   

The right tools can help by making time-consuming tasks faster and easier to do. 

For example, Apple’s ARKit enables technicians to use augmented reality capabilities right within Salesforce’s Field Service Mobile App. They can create 3D models of spaces and take measurements from iPhones or iPad in seconds, which are then saved to Salesforce records so everyone in your business can access them. No additional work to do!

As we move into 2025, successful field service organizations will continue to improve productivity, cut costs, and generate revenue with AI while creating a better experience for workers in the field. Here’s how AI can help the future of customer service:

• Predictive maintenance: It’s always better to maintain devices instead of waiting for a major problem to occur. That’s why AI will add value in 2025 by proactively monitoring machine health, then automatically scheduling service appointments as necessary. AI will even be able to specify the required tools, appropriate technician, and length of time required to complete the job. 
• Work summaries: AI will help minimize errors and improve productivity by automatically generating work summaries both pre- and post-visit — no matter how complex the engagement. This enables mobile workers to resolve issues quickly and move on to the next job in less time.
• More options for self-service: We discovered that 61% of customers would rather use self-service tools for simple issues. With help from AI, they can book appointments and track the progress of service visits on the messaging channel of their choice. That’s a win for mobile workers, too, because it will allow them to spend less time performing administrative tasks and more time delivering great customer service in the field.

Tactical tip: Don’t leave your frontline workers behind. Help them become more proactive and productive with a complete view of each customer, including purchase details, service history, and the status of connected devices. You can integrate AI into their everyday tools with generative responses and work summaries.

3. The future of customer service puts revenue generation front and center

Companies are looking for new ways to drive growth and protect their margins, and many see service as a prime opportunity. In fact, 85% of decision makers say service is expected to contribute a larger share of revenue this year. 

In the months ahead, the lines between sales, service, and commerce will continue to blur as AI-driven cross-selling transforms customer service into a profit center. Forward-thinking organizations will pursue an end-to-end view of the entire customer journey, creating a continuous feedback loop between sales, service, and other departments within your organization. 

These leading businesses will also continue to make it easy for customers to communicate with them from any channel. One way they can do this is with Apple Messages for Business in Service Cloud, which lets customers connect with support, schedule appointments, complete purchases with Apple Pay, and more — all within the same Messages conversation. 

Let’s look at what all this means for service leaders in 2025:

• Expanded access: Customer service agents and field service workers will gain even greater access to a complete view of the customer. They can then offer tailored solutions and recommendations that align with each customer’s preferences and buying history. AI-driven recommendations based on customers’ preferences will be increasingly at agents’ fingertips, enabling them to strengthen their relationships and be more valuable for customers.
• Shared goals: Metrics traditionally associated with sales (such as conversion rates) and customer service (like resolution time) will continue to converge. All functions will focus more attention on metrics that reflect customer satisfaction, loyalty, and overall lifetime value. 
• AI-powered insights: AI is already playing a significant role in analyzing customer behavior, predicting trends, and making informed decisions based on trusted customer data. With this information readily available, agents’ focus can shift from reactive problem-solving to predictive assistance and proactive relationship-building. Teams can work together to anticipate customer needs, address issues before they arise, and offer value-added services that foster loyalty and generate revenue. 

Tactical tip: Consolidating tech investments will be the key to resilience in 2025. Consider adopting a unified platform that connects your sales, service, and marketing teams for seamless communication and data sharing among these departments. The result? More effective engagement, better issue resolution, and a more holistic view of each customer’s journey. 

Building your customer service strategy for 2025

A great strategy starts with the right questions. How can you bring your data together with the right customer service software? How can you unify the customer experience? And how can you equip your service teams to meet customers’ changing expectations while also serving the needs of the business? 

No matter how you answer those questions, your mission remains the same: to embrace the future of customer service so you can deliver what your customers demand. That’s why your organization must combine people, technology, and processes to deliver faster, more effective service at scale — with AI assisting you every step of the way.

Brenda Bown contributed to this blog article.