For years, service desk success has been measured by how much it can reduce human interaction. Self-service, shift-left, automation and knowledge management are often summed up, somewhat dehumanizingly, as “call deflection,” which have all been used to make support more efficient.
The next step in this evolution is, of course, AI. AI is assuming responsibility for many of the routine interactions between consumers and IT. Password resets, status inquiries and service requests are increasingly being handled through automation, virtual agents and generative AI.
As these transactional service desk interactions disappear, a question emerges: Which conversations will still require a human?
The future of IT support will not be defined by the volume of human interactions, but by the value of interactions that remain.
Efficiency isn’t the same as value
Although we’ve spent decades trying to reduce service desk contacts, some of the most meaningful service experiences happen when consumers connect with a knowledgeable, empathetic person at a critical moment.
The real question isn't how quickly we can remove humans from the support experience. The real question is when human interaction creates value that technology cannot.
AI can certainly improve efficiency by reducing effort and accelerating response times. But good service management isn't solely about efficiency; it's about helping consumers achieve desired outcomes. Achieving outcomes often requires context, judgment, empathy and trust — qualities that remain deeply human.
AI gives answers, but humans deliver confidence and trust
The more organizations invest in AI, the more important human skills become. Not because AI fails, but because AI allows people to focus on the situations where empathy, judgment and critical thinking create the greatest value.
AI won't eliminate human-to-human support. It will increase its value.
AI handles:
- Information: How do I do this?
- Routine support: Help me install this software.
- Transactions: Reset my password.
Humans provide:
- Confidence: Help me understand what this means.
- Judgment: What should we do next?
- Trust: Can I rely on this solution?
As AI takes on routine interactions, human conversations shift toward helping people understand, decide and move forward with confidence – especially in complex, high-impact situations.
Why empathy and judgment become strategic
As AI assumes responsibility for transactional interactions, the human interactions that remain are increasingly relationship-based. In those moments, empathy, judgment and critical thinking become strategic capabilities, which are most valuable when work shifts from processing transactions to delivering outcomes.
If AI is solving the “typical,” the work that remains is ambiguous, emotionally charged, business-impacting or unusual. In these situations, empathy is not a “soft skill,” but a business skill.
Many service and support issues involve choices rather than answers. Questions like “Should we implement a workaround?”, “Should we accept the risk?” and “What is the best course of action in this situation?” require balancing of risk, urgency, cost and business impact. They require judgement.
Critical thinking allows people to move beyond symptoms and understand causes. The future service desk agent will spend less time answering questions, and more time asking the right questions.
The role of good service management
Good service management is what determines where AI should be used, where humans should be involved and how the two work together to create value. Without effective service management, organizations tend to treat AI adoption as a cost-cutting tool, which is a mistake. With effective service management, AI becomes a capability that helps consumers achieve outcomes.
As AI becomes more prevalent at the service desk, the need for good service management increases, keeping focus on value and outcomes, not just on efficiency.
Consumers use services because they need outcomes: being able to do their job, achieve a business objective or serve customers. They do not use services for the sake of resetting passwords, placing a service request or having a conversation with a chatbot.
Be the future-ready service desk agent
The future service desk agent will spend less time processing transactions and more time helping people achieve outcomes. To prepare for that role:
- Learn how to work with AI, not against it: Leverage AI to find and recommend knowledge articles, summarize tickets and surface patterns. Learn how to create effective prompts and recognize when AI is wrong or incomplete.
- Strengthen critical thinking skills: Practice asking better questions, challenging assumptions, using systems thinking and developing practical problem-solving techniques.
- Learn the business of the business: Understanding how the organization creates value, its business priorities, key business processes, customer expectations and organizational risks is critical. The more a service desk agent understands business impact, the better their decisions become.
- Become outstanding communicators: Analysts that can explain a complex situation simply and confidently creates differentiated value for the consumer.
- Build empathy and emotional intelligence: AI can provide information, but people provide reassurance. When consumers are frustrated or anxious, empathy helps build trust.
The question isn't whether humans will still have a role in support.
The question is whether support organizations are preparing their people for the conversations that only humans can have. As AI takes on more of the consumer interactions with IT, the remaining human-to-human conversations may be fewer, but they will matter more than ever.