After a year of cost-cutting and compromises in 2024, customer support leaders are entering 2025 with a renewed focus on delivering quality at scale. Balancing growth with customer satisfaction, harnessing the promise of AI, and tackling workforce complexities are shaping the road ahead. To understand how leaders are navigating these shifts, we surveyed customer support professionals across industries at companies big and small. Here’s what we found.
After a tough year for customer experience in 2024, support leaders are shifting their focus in the year ahead. 40% of respondents ranked scaling support as the most important driver of their 2025 strategy, while 33% cited improving CX quality as their top priority. Together, these goals signal a recalibration: leaders aim to grow their operations without compromising the customer experience. Improving CX quality appeared in the top three priorities more than any other factor, reflecting a renewed commitment to delivering standout support in the year ahead.
Interestingly, cost savings are taking a back seat. Pressure to reduce costs ranked as the least of support leaders' worries, suggesting the "do more with less" mantra has run its course. Many teams have taken cost-cutting as far as it can go, and the cracks are starting to show — 2024 saw declines in CSAT and a growing recognition that efficiency without quality isn’t sustainable. As the pendulum swings back toward prioritizing customer satisfaction, support teams are doubling down on performance metrics like CSAT and NPS as benchmarks for success.
Scaling operations while improving quality is no small feat, but support leaders are embracing solutions that make it possible. From real-time agent assist tools to predictive analytics, technology is playing a critical role in bridging the gap. By aligning support operations with customer expectations and leveraging smarter tools, companies are proving that it’s not just about doing more — it’s about doing better.
AI continues to be the headline act in customer support for 2025, but it’s a story with two sides. 69% of respondents identified AI, automation, and chatbots as major trends shaping the future of support. The buzz is undeniable, and support leaders are betting on AI to revolutionize everything from customer interactions to operational efficiency. Yet, the optimism is tempered by significant challenges.
While 40% of respondents said their top goal for AI is to enhance CX, 73% flagged customer resistance to AI interactions as a major obstacle. Customers want faster, more personalized support but remain wary of AI-driven systems, especially when those systems lack human-like empathy. This tension underscores the need for thoughtful implementation: leaders who balance innovation with trust will be the ones to unlock AI’s potential without leaving customers behind.
Chatbots lead the way, with 60% of respondents focusing their AI investments on automated interactions. Copilot tools, which assist agents in real time, are also gaining traction, cited by 33% as a priority. The takeaway? AI is reshaping support, but success hinges on balancing cutting-edge technology with the human touch.
Outsourcing remains a mixed bag in 2025, with persistent quality gaps continuing to challenge customer support leaders. A striking 61% of respondents disagreed with the statement, "Our BPO vendors deliver the same quality of service as our in-house teams." While outsourcing is often seen as a cost-effective solution, the trade-offs can be significant. As one respondent put it, "Outsourced talent, while much cheaper, often doesn’t even do the bare minimum."
These quality gaps create particular friction during spikes in ticket volume, when BPOs are expected to step in and deliver but often fall short. As one leader explained, "Ideally, I would like additional FTEs to handle busy periods, but we’re stretched incredibly thin."
Customer satisfaction (CSAT) remains the top performance metric for BPOs, with 27% of respondents identifying it as their primary benchmark for outsourcing performance. However, many companies struggle to balance cost savings with consistent service delivery. Bridging this gap requires rethinking partnerships: clear expectations, structured onboarding, strict SLAs that prioritize quality over volume, and hybrid models blending outsourced and in-house expertise are emerging as the new standard.
As the demands on support teams continue to grow, the challenge for 2025 is clear: finding the right balance between cost and quality will be critical to long-term success.
Even in 2025, spreadsheets continue to haunt workforce management. Nearly half of survey respondents (47%) admitted to using spreadsheets or other manual methods to manage their teams. While spreadsheets might work for quick fixes, they collapse under the complexity of modern support operations. The result? Teams stuck in a constant state of catch-up, with managers scrambling to predict demand peaks and valleys and often relying on guesswork. This leads to understaffing during crunch times, overstaffing during slow periods, and burned-out teams across the board. And the ripple effects don’t stop there — customer experience takes a hit, with longer wait times, inconsistent support, and frustrated customers.
It’s no surprise that forecasting accuracy has emerged as the top workforce management priority for 2025, with 40% of respondents naming it their #1 focus. Support leaders recognize that getting ahead of the peaks and valleys is essential to running a smoother operation. Achieving this requires more than just effort — it demands ditching spreadsheets in favor of real-time insights and predictive capabilities. Tools that adapt to changing needs are no longer optional; they’re the foundation for workforce management that keeps operations efficient and customers satisfied.
Remote work, now a fixture of the support landscape, continues to complicate operations for larger organizations. 43% of respondents from enterprise companies identified improving cross-team collaboration as a key priority, compared to just 25% at smaller firms. Remote work has amplified silos, making alignment across time zones and dispersed teams feel like an uphill battle. At scale, cracks in communication and culture are harder to patch, leaving larger organizations struggling to maintain cohesion.
Operational efficiency has also suffered. While 36% of enterprise respondents listed reducing operational costs as a major focus, over half admitted they lack the tools to effectively support remote teams. The ripple effects are clear: overstretched teams, rising burnout, and a degraded customer experience. For many leaders, the cost of remote work inefficiencies is starting to outweigh the benefits of flexibility.
The path forward is both technical and cultural. 41% of enterprise respondents named AI tools, predictive analytics, and proactive support strategies as critical priorities for 2025. These technologies are helping foster collaboration, streamline operations, and deliver consistent customer experiences across remote environments. Yet, the key lesson remains: bridging the remote work gap requires more than just technical fixes — it demands a cultural shift, rethinking how teams communicate and collaborate at every level.
