Smart Customer Service

SmartCustomerService.com aims to assist organizations in enhancing their customer service. The platform offers news updates, insightful analyses, and articles focused on the newest strategies and technologies in customer service and support. Key topics covered include ways to simplify customer service processes, reduce expenses, boost productivity, increase revenue, and effectively adapt to evolving customer behaviors, attitudes, and expectations.

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Articles

The Agentic Curmudgeon

1 week ago | smartcustomerservice.com | Max Ball

Walking the vendor floor at Enterprise Connect 2024 was like watching a parade of magic tricks—impressive demonstrations that left me wondering what was happening behind the curtain. Booth after booth proudly displayed agentic artificial intelligence solutions that promised autonomous customer service agents capable of independent reasoning, strategic planning, and adaptive problem-solving. The demos were slick, the marketing materials glossy, and the promises grandiose.
Battling 'Botenfreude': The Power of People and Policy

3 weeks ago | smartcustomerservice.com | Dan Miller

The word "schadenfreude" describes the emotional experience of pleasure in response to another's misfortune. In the world of automated customer care, I propose we use the term "botenfreude" to capture the pure joy people feel when they encounter or read of the inevitable failure of a chatbot or voicebot. Who among us can't recite the story of the bot that sold a 2024 Chevy Tahoe for $1? Or the New York automated agent that told tenants they don't have to pay rent?
Agentic AI: the Value vs. the Buzz

1 month ago | smartcustomerservice.com | Max Ball

One of the great joys of being an analyst is having the time to look at new buzzy technologies and form opinions on whether they will be useful for contact centers. Then I get to spend time talking to folks about how the technology will make a difference in the contact center. The latest hot new thing is agentic artificial intelligence. This is a real and exciting technology, bringing the ability to act to AI.
Pre-Employment Assessments Address Call Center Retention

2 months ago | smartcustomerservice.com | Leonard Klie

As call centers worldwide face an ongoing challenge hiring and retaining top-performing customer service representatives, JOBehaviors, a pre-employment behavioral assessments provider, is offering a Call Center Customer Service Agent Assessment. The high turnover rate in the call center industry comes at a steep cost. According to industry research, hiring, training, and replacing a single CSR can range from $7,500 to $10,000.
Have Your Agent Call My Agent? Not So Fast.

2 months ago | smartcustomerservice.com | Dan Miller

Here's the dream scenario (as seen on TV). A busy knowledge worker tells her smartphone to find an Italian restaurant that is pet-friendly and to text the result to her dining companion. Jump cut to the couple sitting in front of a chic Italian restaurant with their dog. Message: your voice and your smartphone are all you need to search, shop, and complete transactions. At least that is one of the scenarios that gets us from the opening scene to the coda.
Many Exciting New CCaaS Tools Are on the Horizon

Feb 14, 2025 | smartcustomerservice.com | Max Ball

The development environment is the window to companies' software package souls. If you understand how to build applications on a piece of software, you have also learned how it works. Turns out there is no lack of windows to the soul of a contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) system in 2025. As generative artificial intelligence (genAI) and large language models open new opportunities and capabilities for CCaaS systems, the vendors are adding tools to their offerings.
Mixed Outlook for Automated Voice Agents for Customer Service

Jan 23, 2025 | smartcustomerservice.com | Dan Miller

If you take recent coverage of agentic artificial intelligence at face value, you'd conclude that AI-informed agents that talk are already employed widely for customer care. It starts with the ubiquity of voice assistants. The venerable Siri got a serious upgrade for Mac and iPhone users who activated Apple Intelligence.
Tips for Navigating Business Software Pricing Changes in 2025

Jan 17, 2025 | smartcustomerservice.com | Rebecca Wettemann

If you've been watching the market, you've probably noticed some changes in pricing models for enterprise software. While value-based pricing is already making its way into vendor strategies, the coming year will bring even more dramatic changes as demand fluctuates and vendors race to monetize their artificial intelligence workloads. For savvy chief information officers and customer experience (CX) leaders, it's an opportunity to optimize your spending and maximize value.
Companies Need to Set AI Agent Interaction Policies and Procedures

Dec 4, 2024 | smartcustomerservice.com | Dan Miller

An individual [name redacted] turns to one of the new "Cancel My X" apps. You know, the ones with names like Trim, Hiaitus, Bobby, Hubby, or Subby… whatever. He asks his personal virtual assistant (bot) to cancel one of many streaming services, which the bot dutifully tries to do. As an example of the power of voice AI, the bot calls into the service's contact center.
Is it Time to Close Your Voice Channel?

Nov 22, 2024 | smartcustomerservice.com | Donna Fluss

Some companies are considering eliminating their voice channels to reduce contact center operating costs, believing it's less expensive to support digital inquiries and easier to automate those interactions. Unlike phone conversations, there is no need to transcribe requests that arrive via digital channels. However, completing interactions in some digital channels, such as email, is often more expensive than a call in the long run.