Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, today released the new State of Service report, sharing insights from over 5,500 service professionals across 30 countries — including 100 from Ireland.
The report covers the priorities, challenges, and strategies shaping customer service, including how service teams are tapping AI and data to increase revenue, efficiency, and customer satisfaction amid rising customer expectations.
Key insights from the research include:
- Organisations Lean into AI to Boost Efficiencies. To scale service without sacrificing quality, organisations are increasingly turning to AI.
- 95% of service professionals in Ireland using AI say it saves them time
- 73% of service organisations in Ireland are using or evaluating AI
- 85% of service organisations in Ireland plan to increase AI investments this year
- Top 3 service use cases for AI in Ireland: Customer-facing intelligent assistants, agent-facing intelligent assistants and service responses.
- Service Organisations Double-Down on Revenue Generation. The trend of viewing service as a revenue driver instead of a cost centre is accelerating, and service teams are making investments to scale.
- 83% of organisations in Ireland expect service to contribute more revenue this year
- 68% of service organisations in Ireland expect more budget this year
- 75% of service organisations in Ireland expect more headcount this year
- Escalating Demands Pressure Service Teams. As customer expectations rise, service agents are feeling the squeeze.
- Service agents in Ireland spend an average of just 33% of their time helping customers
- 78% of service organisations in Ireland expect higher case volume next year
- 90% of service professionals in Ireland say customers are more demanding than they used to be
- Service Boosts Its Data Capabilities. Service organisations are ramping up their data integration efforts to fuel human agents and AI systems.
- 93% of service professionals in Ireland say better access to data from other teams would improve support
- 84% of service organisations in Ireland are increasing investment in data integration this year
“The power of data and AI, is enabling Irish service and field service teams to be more proactive and productive,“ said Paul O’ Sullivan, SVP Solution Engineering and CTO Salesforce UKI.
“We’re seeing a strategic shift within businesses, with teams deflecting more issues with smarter self-service, and devoting more time and energy to generating revenue.”
Methodology
Salesforce conducted a double-anonymous survey of over 5,500 service professionals between December 8, 2023, and January 22, 2024. Respondents were sourced from 30 countries and roles including service operations, service agents, mobile workers, service managers/directors, and service leadership/head of service.
Additional methodology and survey demographic details can be found in the report.
For more information:
- Read the newsroom post for more detail and analysis
- Download the full State of the Service report