AI is changing customer experience... "All enterprises will move toward personalized services"

Traditional customer service structures provided by large platform companies are undergoing a fundamental transformation due to artificial intelligence.

On the 18th, Sara Wang, partner at a16z Growth Fund, stated that through AI, companies are shifting their customer service approach toward “personalized, tailored reception.” She explained that consumer businesses have generally fallen into two categories.

Large platform companies like Amazon, Uber, airlines, and telecoms excel at quickly and efficiently handling large volumes of customers. However, this often results in less attention paid to individual customers. The widespread use of automated response systems, waiting queues, and simple chatbots is a direct result of this structure.

As a result, customer service has long been viewed as an “inconvenient and frustrating process” in many people’s minds. In reality, a significant amount of time is spent dealing with customer service, and many people prefer to avoid this process.

In contrast, some high-end brands or services offer a completely different approach. They remember each customer, understand their preferences, and anticipate needs in advance—what is called “personalized exclusive service.” This is not just simple inquiry handling but ongoing relationship-based service, which has traditionally been offered only to select customers due to cost considerations.

This difference is not due to the nature of the business but is a matter of money. Investing a lot of time in a single customer requires manpower and costs. Therefore, ordinary services focus on cost savings, while premium services focus on relationships.

However, AI is changing this structure. Sara Wang explained, “The time and cost spent on each customer are almost disappearing.” AI can operate continuously, remember customer history and preferences, and handle vast numbers of customers simultaneously.

As a result, companies’ considerations are also changing. In the past, it was about “how much time can be invested in this customer,” but now it’s about “what can be achieved without additional costs.”

This shift is not just about simple automation. As costs decrease, service quality is actually more likely to improve because customers inherently desire better service.

Consequently, customer service is transforming into a completely different form. It is moving away from a reactive model—responding after problems occur—to a proactive approach that anticipates issues and offers tailored experiences for each customer.

Another significant change is the blurring of boundaries between customer service and sales. Recommendations based on understanding customer preferences feel less like advertising and more like “helping,” naturally leading to purchases.

Ultimately, AI is turning customer service from a support function into a core business area. This is a trend where the “personalized customer experience,” once only possible in high-end services, is spreading to all companies.

Sara Wang commented, “This is not just about improving customer service centers, but about a fundamental change in the relationship between companies and customers.”