FORECASTS FASHION FOOLS
What will the next decade of Customer Experience look like?
Predictions, forecasts…it’s a risky business.
To celebrate CCP’s 10th anniversary,we’ve unpacked our crystal ball and come up with 10 predictions for the future of Contact Centres.
We know. Making predictions can be a fool’s game. It’s also said that, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
We didn’t quite dream our predictions. Who would dream about Contact Centres?? (Just us then!). But with our many years of collective experience, we’ve given it our best shot.
Agree? Disagree? We’d love to know what you think.
Here goes…
01 | Prediction: Contact Centres will become AI-first
AI isn’t tomorrow. It’s here. And bots are increasingly becoming embedded in Contact Centres. Reshaping operations. It’s not ‘if’, or even ‘when’. It’s how. How far, how fast. How we communicate.
02 | Prediction: Synthetic conversations will be mainstream by 2030
Claims voice will die are wildly exaggerated. Rather than IVR or deflecting to cheaper channels, machines will take the strain. Supporting customers who prefer to talk and even encouraging deeper revelations. But humans will still need humans, and AI will spot when they do.
03 | Prediction: Outsourcing will become your change engine
You’d expect us to say that. But hear us out.
BPOs will adapt, or risk being left behind to die. To meet the tech challenge, they’ll already have transformed people and culture to become ‘engagement platforms’. Instead of seeking partnerships to cut costs, brands will use them to adopt AI. To overcome limitations, reduce risk and give them a competitive advantage.
04 | Prediction: Compliance will target memory, not just security
Red-tape is no-one’s idea of fun, but without it, what do we have? CHAOS.
Regulation will extend way beyond GDPR, FCA, payments or healthcare. We’re talking AI ethics, explainability and corporate memory – including how customer intelligence is stored, secured and used. Overlook regulation and you can kiss goodbye to continued success.
Quite right too. Lest we end up with “Surveillance CX” and “Emotional Hacking”.
05 | Prediction: Memory will be the new currency
Speaking of memory, CRM will make way for CIM – Customer Intelligence Management. Finally, everything will be joined up. AI will drive better data unification, touchpoint integration, context and preferences management.
06 | Prediction: Hyper-personalisation and service anticipation will be non-negotiable
With CIM, hyper-personalisation and predictive CX will soon be the norm. And brands that fail to scale fast enough will find it hard to win back customers as they silently slip away for better experiences elsewhere.
07 | Prediction: Tech giants will hijack your customer – and set the rules
Will they even be your customer anymore? According to Gartner, in just a few years 70% of customer journeys will begin with Alexa, Siri, Gemini and the like. From entry points to service queries, these ecosystems will essentially auction customer loyalty inside their platforms. Failure to engage and optimise for Big Tech gateways could leave even the biggest brands out in the cold.
08 | Prediction: Your customer data will testify against you
Don’t forget. That corporate memory you’ve been developing – the one that enables you to deliver next level service – it’ll remember everything.
Your data will speak for itself… and possibly against you.
So you’ll need to check your bias and treat data not just as a tool but a witness. Ideally to your excellence, not your downfall.
09 | Prediction: Two-thirds of seats will disappear
The next ten years will see dramatic shrinkage of the Contact Centre footprint. Humans will be displaced by synthetic voice, agentic AI and proactive automation.
Human interactions will be refocused on the complex and premium, demanding special kinds of humans.
10 | Prediction: Geography won’t matter; cost and revenue will
Supported by tech, we’ll see a shift to a global, distributed model. Where humans and AI mesh together as a node in a network across time zones, languages and service lines to deliver high-value, revenue generating CX at low cost. And maybe that super agent will become extinct too.
So there you have it. Have our forecasts fashioned fools? Only time will tell.
One thing is certain, Contact Centres will look very different ten years from now.
It’ll be a wild ride, and the path far from straight, but we’re already firmly in the age of AI. Those setting Contact Centre strategy have a dizzying array of opportunity, pitfalls and real risks to navigate – from technology to organisational change.
We’re here to help. To make sense of it all and guide you through all things Customer Contact. From strategy to tactics, transformation to continuity, roadmaps to incremental improvements.
Just ask the Panel.
Having made our predictions, we asked notable voices in the industry for their thoughts. Unsurprisingly, it sparked A LOT of debate. Especially on the loss of two-thirds of seats.
But that’s good, debate is healthy. It helps us to refine our ideas as we look ahead to the next decade of customer contact.
You can read the thoughts of Peter Ryan, Mike Havard, Dave Rickard, Nerys Corfield, Martin Newman, Steve Morrell, Sandra Thompson, and Mark Gait on the link below.
Want to know more about how we can help?
Or tell us why you think we’re crazy?! Get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.