For me, the soul of pre-21st Century customer service can be captured in three poignant words:
“Are you free?”
These immortal customer service dew-drops I heard echoed many times via the television set on the Saturday nights of my youth when PBS would play Are You Being Served? as part of its BBC comedy lineup. “Are you free?” is one of the most used phrases in the series, a way the staff alert one another to the fact that a customer is in need of immediate assistance. “Yes, I’m free,” they usually respond, then rushing to the customer’s aid.
“Are you free?” signals the kick-off point of a larger, tried-and-tested, personalized customer service procedure that eventually ends in a sale, usually of the latest and greatest in ladies’ wear or haberdashery.
It’s classic.
Customer support is currently standing at a crossroads: One road leads to exciting automated technologies, and the other to the ‘human touch’. Recent technological advancements are many, ranging from Artificial Intelligence (AI) (and related automated tools like virtual assistants, chatbots, etc.) to real-time messaging, simulation, self-service and crypto-currency. These technological breakthroughs point toward a future with remarkable changes in the customer service landscape. Despite these advancements, the human element still rules as the best way to deliver efficient customer support. Human agents make informed judgments and offer personability, both highly desired traits in the CS ecology. In fact, the success of new support technologies is ultimately based on how efficiently they are able to assist humans working on the front lines.
Every time a customer comes in contact with your brand, whether it’s in-store or online, each interaction is a touch point that contributes to the customer experience. Consumers are demanding more, and their choices are ever expanding, which means that better service will lead to greater customer loyalty.
Which social channels do you turn to for customer support? Twitter? Facebook? Maybe even a direct message on Instagram? Over the years, social media has taken a minimalist approach to B2C support. But despite its architecture, social media remains a hot spot for customer service. In recent years, Twitter has undoubtedly become a key player; 80% of customer service requests on social media happen here, and the cost per resolution is 1/6th that of resolving through a call center. Additionally, Bain & Company found that when companies use social media to actively engage customers on service-related issues, those customers will spend 
What’s driving the enormous interest in chat bots right now? A year after Facebook’s launch of its bot platform (which TechCunch called “the new app store”) it now has 
Right now, the only news story you’ll see about Twitter is speculation who will acquire the $16B company. (Latest rumor: it’s 
The burning questions for the customer service industry today are which channels of communication are currently most relevant, and which will be most relevant down the road. In recent months, the discussion has centered around Facebook Messenger and other messaging channels.Many people are debating whether any of these platforms (Messager, Snapchat, Kik, Line, etc) can “win” the B2C communication platform war. (See 
You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back towards the technology, not the other way around. – Steve Jobs
