Seventy percent of customer service and support leaders plan to dedicate the largest budget allocation to digital channels and capabilities in 2021, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. In fact, transitioning to self-service channels and bolstering digital capabilities remains a top priority for many customer service and support leaders for the year ahead.
In October-November 2020, Gartner asked more than 80 customer service and support leaders from B2B and B2C organizations to rate their 2021 priorities based the changes and challenges they encountered in 2020. Migrating contact volume from assisted to self-service channels, upgrading legacy contact center technology and automating customer service processes — all of which fall under digital channels and capabilities were rated the top three most important priorities in 2021 (see Figure 1).
“Although 2020 challenged the operations and strategy of many service and support leaders, the focus on developing a greater digital and self-service product in 2021 remained consistent,” said Jacob Joseph-David, senior principal in the Gartner Customer Service & Support practice. “To deliver on this digital promise, service leaders must progress beyond adding new channels and capabilities to making the functional transformation into a self-service-dominant organization.”