Forrester Sees Human Expertise as a 2027 Customer Service Differentiator
As artificial intelligence becomes more common in customer success and service, automation alone may no longer distinguish one brand’s customer experience from another’s. Forrester’s 2027 predictions point to a new challenge for service leaders: designing interactions that work for both human customers and the AI assistants increasingly acting on their behalf, while finding ways to make human expertise valuable and measurable.
The forecasts build on a shift that took place in 2026, when customer operations moved from AI-assisted service toward AI-first execution, according to Forrester. The firm says AI has shown it can resolve issues and coordinate workflows at scale, contributing to gains in retention, efficiency and service delivery. At the same time, deployments focused on individual use cases sometimes revealed organizational problems. More automation, the analysis cautions, does not automatically produce better customer experiences.
Personal assistants may enter service channels
Forrester predicts that personal AI assistants will become the primary customer service interface for 10% of consumers in 2027. The firm cites its Retail Topic Insights 1 Survey, 2026, in which 35% of online adults in the US, 41% in the UK and 49% in Hong Kong said they had used assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to research or shop for products in the previous year.
Using an assistant to research a purchase is not the same as delegating a complete task, and Forrester expects that transition to take time. But as consumers’ trust in and use of assistants grows, the firm anticipates that some will turn to them for customer support. That could increase traffic through channels such as chat and voice, including activity initiated by an assistant rather than a customer interacting directly.
Forrester advises service leaders to test their support channels with personal AI assistants and check that those assistants interact with company systems as intended. The recommendation has implications for the connections between service channels, customer knowledge, identity verification and operational workflows. Testing entire journeys, rather than isolated tools, can help organizations identify where an external assistant might encounter friction or trigger an unintended response.
Companies prepare for service bots to interact
A second forecast anticipates that 20 global B2B companies will create autonomous service networks that work across systems. Forrester points to an insurance company’s complaint about a back-office dental services organization using a bot to call its contact center and file 30 claims in one session. The example illustrates how automated requests can put pressure on processes designed primarily for human callers.
Forrester expects such encounters to encourage service teams to deploy bots that can manage bot-initiated requests. Potential tasks include filing claims, managing warranties, scheduling work orders and creating service tickets. B2B environments may be particularly suited to these interactions because they often involve governed workflows and contractual obligations. The firm recommends that leaders consider emerging protocols for AI-agent interactions as they plan how to handle requests made or supported by bots.
Human service could become a paid differentiator
Forrester’s third prediction is that a dozen brands will move away from pricing based on automation and begin monetizing human interaction. As AI agents take on more customer success and service inquiries, brands may find it harder to distinguish their experiences. The firm also warns that AI costs can rise without operational and financial oversight.
In response, organizations may start selling services built around guaranteed access to human experts and concierge-like interactions, or experiences augmented by photorealistic avatars. Forrester’s forecast is not simply that companies will add more human support. It points to a need to define what customers receive and how the value of that service will be assessed.
That approach could bring commercial scrutiny. Forrester expects customers to seek measurable outcome metrics, contract reviews tied to those measures, and options to downgrade, cancel or pay less if an experience falls short of stated expectations. Service leaders considering premium human support will therefore need to connect the promised experience to clear standards and accountability.
Design for people and the agents acting for them
Taken together, the predictions frame customer service as a coordination challenge as much as an automation challenge. Companies will need engagement channels, knowledge, authentication and workflows that can interact smoothly with external assistants, while preparing for possible increases in service volume. At the same time, they will need a reason for customers to choose their experience when automated capabilities become widely available.
Forrester’s central message is that competitive service in 2027 will depend on combining machine efficiency with human expertise, empathy and trust. For customer success and retention teams, that means treating automation as one part of the experience—not a substitute for sound operations or meaningful human connection.
