What’s Shaping the Future of Customer Service and Support

Gartner’s Service Bullseye 

Gartner’s 2025 bullseye highlights adoption patterns in the customer service and support space. 

Service providers are expanding and prioritizing digital-first channels. Virtual agents for both voice and digital interactions are becoming central, alongside the use of augmented and virtual reality powered by AI. 

Another area gaining attention is the voice of the customer. Organizations are moving beyond traditional surveys and adopting analytical approaches that provide deeper insight, not only into the customer journey but also across digital and social interactions. 

When it comes to operational tools, established systems remain dependable. CRMs, data lakes, and CDPs continue to support service and operations teams and are expected to remain key components going forward. 

For customer engagement, traditional knowledge management platforms still play an important role in both service delivery and employee performance. Workforce management systems, learning platforms, and internal collaboration tools also remain widely adopted. 

On the performance side, organizations continue to invest in agent productivity. Agent assist tools are common, and unified communications platforms ensure seamless experiences within an omnichannel environment.

AI Use Cases 

The picture below illustrates the main AI use cases that CSPs have been implementing and exploring. 

AI use cases are reshaping customer service in multiple dimensions.

• Self-service: Virtual assistants and intelligent search tools are firmly established. They enhance value by improving efficiency and making support more accessible.
• Operations support: AI-driven analytics and quality assurance are critical for improving service outcomes. Emerging applications include AI agents and automated content generation.
• Assisted services: Capabilities such as quick actions and interaction summarization are widely adopted and are among the most valuable tools for customer service and support teams today. 
  
  

AI uses cases in SMP 

Several of these trends are being reflected in SMP’s current and future roadmap. 

In self-service, SMP supports agentless interactions and integrates with Virtual Customer Assistants. With agentic AI, VCAs can trigger SMP actions automatically, reducing the need for escalation to human agents. 

The new AI agents running on MCP servers that are being introduced into SMP, further strengthen automation by handling repetitive tasks, accelerating diagnostics, and enabling the from the shift from reactive to predictive care. 

Automatic summarization is another roadmap priority. Agents will be able to rely on AI-generated summaries that capture actions taken, results achieved, next steps, and resolution details. 

SMP’s vision is closely aligned with these emerging technologies. By prioritizing both innovation and efficiency, it is positioning itself to create new opportunities and stand out in the customer service space.