Business · South Africa
AI Growth Meets Reality Gap in South African Customer Service
TechCentral · 2026/02/27
Summary
A recent report by CallMiner highlights an interesting trend in the business world. While many tech companies are quickly adopting artificial intelligence (AI) to improve customer experience (CX), traditional manual processes for handling customer interactions are still growing fast. This means that despite the excitement around AI, many businesses continue to rely on older, human-driven methods to manage their customers. The gap between the promise of AI and what is actually happening on the ground is getting wider. Companies may be cautious about completely switching to AI, or there may be challenges in fully integrating AI into everyday customer service. As a result, the customer experience landscape is a mix of new AI tools and traditional manual work.
OnABudget takeaway: For consumers and small business owners, this means AI is not yet replacing all customer service jobs but is likely to improve some services over time. Businesses should keep an eye on AI developments to see how it can help reduce costs and improve customer interactions.