Bots, Messenger And The Future Of Customer Service

In the 1970s, CFOs sat with CEOs and devised ways for upset consumers to not be able to get compensation easily. They put up automated phone systems and arcane and inflexible policies and rejoiced at how little the company had to “give up” to complaining customers. And this system worked… until social media gave every average “Joe” the same power as society’s most prominent citizens to get a company’s attention when they weren’t happy. Watching F8 last month, one couldn’t help but wonder if the future is truly as simple as opening a chat and texting what you need. Order flowers ✔ Get news ✔ Check the weather ✔ Handle customer service issues?

How many of us who have called our cable company and been on hold “forever” wouldn’t love to chat with a rep and get our issue handled in a minute (Amy Schumer would agree)? How many of us would love to chat with an airline and resolve an issue in real time? While these things sound great in theory, it’s not quite so simple. Read more at Tech Crunch.