Eight emerging trends in Customer Service for the 2nd decade of the 21st Century

1. Customer insight propagation - customer insights will drive decisions across the organisation. Still too many decisions are made without any real customer insight but there is an increasing realisation that companies need to get better feedback and act upon it. That's why Voice of the Customer programmes are increasing.

2. Unstructured data appreciation - text analytics will become a crucial capability. Companies will increasingly identify and collect unstructured sources of data from inside and outside their organisation.

3. Customer service rejuvenation - customer feedback metrics will drive a strategic overhaul of customer service. This should lead to a move away from customer service being seen as a cost centre where savings can be made (often at the expense of future business) to a situation where the added value of great service will be appreciated.

4. Loyalty intensification - loyalty metrics will be a major element of executive dashboards. Shareholder value can be seen as no more important than customer loyalty value in judging the true value of an organisation.

5. Inter-action iPod- isation - online interactions will increasingly use touch-screens. The QWERTY keyboard will give way to an increasing number of touch-screens providing richer and quicker interface

6. Social media assimilation - social media will get absorbed into the fabric of companies. The fast rise of social media means that the subject in itself is no longer new territory for most companies but they will now seek to incorporate social media activities into the core activities of the company.

7. Digital/physical integration - experiences will blend mobile devices with retail locations. Companies will seek to blend together on-line and off-line interactions.

8. Cultural renovation - engaging employees will become a key stepping stone for engaging customers. A strong customer focused culture will be increasingly driven by improving employee engagement.

From: Temkin Group 2010/2011