Why AI Agents Must Be Part of Your Customer Service Strategy​

Introduction

Customer service has hit a tipping point. The days of sitting on hold, bouncing between departments, and waiting for email replies are over. Aussie customers want answers. And that too now. On their terms, across whatever channel they choose. 

And if you can’t deliver? The answer is simple.

They will take their business elsewhere, no questions asked.

Fact is, most businesses are still playing catch-up. Traditional support teams, no matter how well-trained, can’t be everywhere at once. This is where AI agents come in. Not as replacements, but as powerful reinforcements. They handle the repetitive stuff instantly, scale on demand, and free up your human team to focus on the conversations that really matter.

At Untangled, we’ve seen first-hand how game-changing this can be. We work with businesses across Australia to bring smarter customer experiences to life. With AI powered tools like real-time call insights and intelligent routing, our clients are turning support into a strategic advantage. 

In this article, I break down the seven biggest reasons AI agents should already be part of your customer service playbook.

7 Reasons AI agents must be part of your customer service play

1. 24/7 Availability Enhances Customer Satisfaction

Let’s face it … Customers don’t care about your business hours. When they’ve got a problem, they want it sorted right now. Whether it’s midnight in Melbourne or first light in Perth, today’s consumers expect instant answers. And if you’re not there to help? They’ll find someone who is. This is where AI agents shine. They don’t clock off at 5.00 pm on the dot. They’re on call 24/7, ready to jump in with fast, accurate support the moment a customer reaches out. No queues. No wait times. Just answers.

I was reading an article about Bank of America’s virtual assistant, Erica. It’s handled over 50 million customer interactions; solving problems, answering questions, and lightening the load for human teams. And the results speak for themselves: research shows that half of support agents say the biggest benefit of AI is its always-on availability. When you’re always open for business, your customers notice, and they stay loyal.

2. Scalability to Handle High Volumes

Customer service can be a pressure cooker. Especially when the phones are ringing, chats are popping up, and emails are piling up. Peaks in demand don’t wait for you to catch up, and hiring more staff every time things ramp up just isn’t realistic. This is where smart automation steps in.

AI agents are built to scale. They can juggle thousands of customer queries at once without breaking a sweat or letting quality slip. Whether it’s the holiday rush or a product launch, these digital team members keep the wheels turning, fast, consistent, and without the overhead.

Take the example of Wayfair; the online furniture retailer. They rolled out an AI-powered assistant called Agent Co-Pilot to help with post-purchase questions, supporting their team during the busiest periods. The results? Smoother service, quicker resolutions, and a much happier support crew. In fact, AI agents can now handle more than 70% of customer queries on their own. That’s not the future, that’s happening right now … in April 2025.

3. Cost Reduction Through Automation

Customer service doesn’t have to cost a fortune. In fact, if your support team is constantly growing just to keep up, you’re probably spending more than you need to. Automation flips the script here. It delivers serious savings without cutting corners on quality.

By handing off routine, repetitive tasks to digital agents, businesses can streamline operations and trim the fat. It’s not about replacing your team, it’s about letting your people focus on the tough stuff while automation handles the grunt work. Plenty of companies are already cashing in on this approach. With agentic workflow automation, some have boosted support efficiency by up to 30%, freeing up time and headcount for more complex queries. It is pertinent to note that businesses using AI-powered agents with natural language smarts are slashing their customer service costs by 30%, all while lifting satisfaction scores. Less spend. Better service. That’s a win-win.

4. Enhanced Personalisation Through Data Analysis

Customers don’t want cookie-cutter services. They want to feel seen, understood, and remembered. The brands that win today are the ones that get personal, fast. And the smartest ones are using their data to do it. By tapping into the goldmine of customer info already at your fingertips, past purchases, browsing behaviour, preferences, AI-powered systems can deliver tailored responses and spot-on recommendations in real time. It's like giving every customer their own concierge, without the overhead. 

Amazon has a personalised recommendation engine. It drives a whopping 35% of their total revenue. That’s not just clever tech, it’s commercial impact. And it’s not just Amazon seeing results. A huge 69% of retailers using smart personalisation tools are reporting serious revenue growth. When your service feels more like a conversation than a transaction, loyalty naturally follows.

5. Improved Agent Productivity and Satisfaction

No one signs up for a customer service role dreaming of answering the same question 50 times a day. Yet that’s exactly what bogs down most support teams: repetitive, low-value tasks that drain time and energy. With digital agents in the mix, your human team gets to do what they do best, solve real problems, build relationships, and bring the human touch where it counts. That shift not only boosts productivity but makes the job way more rewarding.

The proof’s in the numbers. In companies using smart automation, 88% of agents say their main focus is building customer relationships, compared to just 75% in businesses still doing it the old-school way. And with AI chatbots trimming customer service costs by 30%, it’s not just morale that’s going up. It’s efficiency, too. Happy agents, better outcomes, and a stronger bottom line.

6. Real-Time Insights and Analytics

You can’t fix what you can’t see. And in customer service, that visibility is everything. The faster you can spot issues, trends, and opportunities, the quicker you can act. That’s why real-time insights are no longer a luxury, they’re a must.

Modern service teams need more than guesswork and gut feel. With live data flowing in from every customer interaction, businesses can make smarter calls on the fly, whether it’s tweaking scripts, flagging bottlenecks, or jumping on a rising issue before it explodes.

Dialpad’s AI-powered contact centre nails this. From live call transcription and sentiment analysis to real-time scoring, it gives you a crystal-clear view of what’s happening in every conversation, as it happens. The results? Companies that nail customer experience with tools like this are growing revenue 4% to 8% faster than their competitors. When you know more, you serve better—and it shows.

7. Consistency Across Multiple Channels

Customers don’t think in “channels”. They just want help, wherever they reach out. Whether it’s a DM, live chat, email or phone call, they expect the same answers, the same tone, and the same level of service every time. Anything less feels clunky and unprofessional. For this, digital agents are a game-changer. They keep your messaging tight and consistent across every touchpoint, so your brand voice never wavers, no matter where the conversation starts. 

Big players like Microsoft are already on board, using digital support tools through platforms like Dynamics 365 to deliver reliable, on-brand experiences across the board. And customers are warming to it, too: 78% of support agents say people are increasingly open to being helped by AI across multiple channels. The message is clear … consistency builds trust, and trust builds loyalty.

Conclusion

Digital agents aren’t some future trend to keep an eye on. They’re already here, already delivering results, and quickly becoming essential for any business that wants to stay competitive. Today’s customers expect fast, frictionless service around the clock, and they don’t care whether it’s coming from a human or a digital assistant, as long as it’s helpful, seamless, and personal.

What I have seen is a shift from reactive support to smart, proactive customer care. Businesses using AI-driven agents are slashing costs, scaling effortlessly, and delivering consistent, high-quality experiences across every channel, from chat and email to voice and video. They’re reducing pressure on support teams, speeding up resolution times, and making every interaction feel like it was tailored just for the customer.

The data doesn’t lie. Whether it’s increased satisfaction, higher retention, or faster revenue growth, the businesses that are embracing this tech are pulling ahead. And with platforms like Dialpad making these tools more accessible than ever, there’s no reason not to act.

As customer expectations continue to rise, the gap between those who evolve and those who don’t will only get wider. The winners will be the businesses that move now. Those who build smarter support systems, empower their teams, and deliver the kind of service people remember. Digital agents aren’t just helpful, they’re now a must.

Next Steps

The writing is on the wall. Customer expectations have changed for good. Speed, personalisation, consistency are not perks anymore. They are the bare minimum variables. If your service can’t deliver all that, instantly and at scale, you’re already behind. 

But here is the good news … the gap between where you are and where you need to be isn’t as wide as it seems. And the smartest brands are already closing it with digital agents leading the charge.

So, where do you start? Begin by pinpointing the repetitive, time-consuming tasks that are tying up your support team. These are your low-hanging fruit; prime opportunities for automation. Next, look at your existing tools. If they’re not giving you real-time insights, intelligent routing, and always-on availability, they’re costing you more than just time. Thy are costing you loyalty.

This is where platforms like Dialpad come into play, with smart capabilities baked in and ready to go.

You don’t have to navigate any of this alone. Untangled is already helping some of Australia’s most forward-thinking businesses redesign their customer experience from the ground up. As a trusted Dialpad partner, we bring the strategy, the tech, and the know-how to get you moving. Whether you want to test a digital agent in a single channel or roll out a full-scale transformation, we’ll guide the process end-to-end, with no fluff and no wasted time.

This isn’t about playing catch-up. It’s about leaping ahead. The organisations that move now and build smarter service into their DNA won’t just meet customer expectations, they’ll set the standard. 

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