The demand for anytime, anywhere, personalized customer service is quickly giving rise to AI-enhanced self-service capabilities that take the form of real- time conversations facilitated by chatbots. As a type of conversational app, chatbots have Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities to respond to questions from customers, augment knowledge management for contact center agents, and automatically escalate cases to a live agent when necessary. 26% of Service professionals expect to invest in AI capabilities within 12 months to enhance their service and support centers with conversation capabilities that improve call deflection and increase first contact resolution without compromising quality of service. “To realize agents’ full value, look beyond immediate outcome measurements and invest in long-view initiatives by committing to predictive service.” Bob Furniss VP, Global Service Cloud Practice Bluewolf, an IBM Company International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) Lifetime Achievement Award recipient The State of Salesforce Service The State of Salesforce Service 2727