In a studyconducted by Parature, a whopping 97% of respondents find customer service very important in choosing brands over their competitors. Customer service in earlier times meant handling queries over phone or appearing cheerful, but now it is a 24/7 task. Thus automation is increasingly being adopted in customer service as it is available throughout the week and not just during the working hours of weekdays. Customers want instant solutions and do not want to wait for working hours. However, while automation eliminates human error and reduces response time, it also does not allow customization. According to marketing research conducted by Accenture, four-fifths of respondents claimed that they prefer solving problems with customer service agents than software tools as most of the latter are not effective enough. Therefore, a top futurist speaker from Google claims that while billions of jobs will be lost of reshaped by technology and automation, customer service is not one of them.

Source: http://customerthink.com/beyond-automation-the-downsides-of-humanless-customer-service/