Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), renowned as the #1 AI-driven CRM platform, has unveiled its latest “State of Service” report, revealing transformative insights from over 5,500 service professionals across 30 countries, including a focused group of 100 professionals from Singapore.
In the context of rising economic pressures and uncertainties, the Singapore Business Federation’s National Business Survey highlighted that revenue growth (76%) and cost reduction (62%) remain top priorities for business leaders. Aligning with these priorities, Salesforce’s comprehensive report underscores how service teams are leveraging AI and data to enhance revenue generation, efficiency, and customer satisfaction in response to escalating customer expectations.
Key Insights for Singapore
Service Professionals Focus on Revenue Generation: A significant shift is occurring as service teams increasingly view service as a revenue driver rather than a cost center. Notably:
- 77% of service professionals anticipate increased budgets.
- 71% expect a rise in headcount this year.
AI Adoption to Enhance Efficiency: To scale service without compromising quality, service teams are turning to AI:
- 90% of service professionals are currently using or evaluating AI technologies.
- 90% plan to boost AI investments this year.
- Top AI use cases include automated summaries and reports, intelligent customer-facing assistants, and enhanced service responses.
- 97% of professionals using AI report time savings.
Rising Customer Expectations: As customer demands intensify, service agents face increased pressure:
- 65% expect higher case volumes next year.
- 81% acknowledge that customers are more demanding than before.
Enhanced Data Capabilities: There is a significant push towards data integration to empower both human agents and AI systems:
- 72% believe that better access to data from other teams would improve support.
- 87% are increasing investments in data integration.
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Gavin Barfield, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Solutions at Salesforce ASEAN, emphasized the transformative role of AI in customer service. He stated, “Service teams cannot afford to miss the moments in the overall customer journey to build stronger relationships and loyalty. Generative AI will allow agents to provide a smoother and more personalised customer service experience, freeing up time to focus on relationship building. At the same time, data and AI are enabling service teams to demonstrate their ability to drive revenue growth through greater efficiency and upsell activities. AI is helping customer service agents be more efficient by reducing administrative tasks, which frees up time for them to focus on delivering personalised customer experiences and revenue generation. This will fundamentally shift the role of service teams within businesses from cost centers to profit centers.”
About Salesforce
Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, empowering companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way through the power of CRM + AI + Data + Trust on one unified platform: Einstein 1. For more information visit: www.salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM).
