Sitting in traffic the other day, I tuned off my Peter Frampton Spotify channel and started to listen to New York area local AM radio. The president of a mortgage business came on in an advertisement. He ended his pitch with the tag line "I promise you the best service humanly possible".

This caught my attention. At one time I would have viewed this as a very positive statement. But is this still the case?

Consumers consistently cite the "indifference of one person" as a key reason they leave a supplier relationship. (Source: TARP).

The contact center industry has long counted on non-human software applications to attempt to emulate human interaction. This could be as simple as "if-then" routing schemes to sophisticated avatars which emulate human engagement (just "Ask Jenn" at Alaska Airlines -http://www.alaskaair.com/content/about-us/site-info/ask-jenn.aspx)

Customer experience becomes an interesting proposition when we introduce the "Internet of Things". This will involve connecting upward of 8 billion devices that become new potential points of service.

Perhaps the "best service possible" in the future will comprise less human involvement, as "things" replace "humans". By knitting together these "things" with smart algorithms, service can become far more predictive than reactive.

We're seeing the beginning of this trend now. Most human interaction into contact centers come after all other forms of service have been exhausted.

"The Best Service Possible Based on the Combined Capabilities of Our Software and Things You Bought From Us, and as a Last Resort, Our Human Staff".  A mouthful, but perhaps coming to an interaction near you soon!

What do you think?