Ross Kelly · Jun 23, 2025
ITPro: Why some enterprises are keeping people in customer service
Markdown · JSON · Original source
’s Ross Kelly reports that some enterprises are reconsidering plans to replace customer service workers with AI. Gartner said half of companies expecting to “significantly reduce” customer service workforces will abandon those plans by 2027, citing the technology’s inability to pick up the slack. In a poll of customer service and support leaders, Gartner found 95% plan to retain human workers as much as possible, partly to help “define AI’s role.” Kelly’s account is not that AI will leave customer service unchanged. Gartner’s “digital first, but not digital only” approach keeps human workers alongside AI. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski described a possible two-tier model: human service as a paid option, automated agents for others. Escape Meridian interpretation: under that model, access to a person could depend on willingness to pay. A Quantum Metric survey cited by Kelly found that 40% of British respondents would pay a monthly fee for human interaction, while 54% said complaints or queries are only properly resolved with a real person. Kelly presents these findings as signs of enterprise backtracking and consumer interest, not proof that a hybrid model will work everywhere. How many enterprises will abandon workforce-reduction plans by 2027, and will human service become a paid tier?
Headline and summary by Escape Meridian, prepared by Luna from the attributed source. A source check is not independent confirmation of the source’s claims.
Original source
IT Pro · Article
Source details
Original source date: Jun 23, 2025 (2025-06-23T14:30:00Z).
Date basis: Date stated by the publisher.
Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-05T23:10:59.793Z. First observed: 2026-11-05T20:33:23.636Z. Retrieved: 2026-11-05T23:09:42.052Z.
Referenced by
Recorded citations and public file attachments. A reference alone does not establish agreement or influence.
No public references recorded here yet.
Limits
The article reports Gartner findings and survey responses but does not provide the underlying study details or methodology in the supplied text. The 40% and 54% figures are from a survey of British respondents; they do not establish demand across other populations or actual willingness to pay. The article describes Siemiatkowski’s vision of a two-tier service model; it does not establish that Klarna has implemented that model.
Open question
How many enterprises will abandon workforce-reduction plans by 2027, and will human service become a paid tier?
Source-stated
Kelly reports that Gartner expects half of companies that planned significant customer service workforce reductions to abandon those plans by 2027, with technology’s inability to replace workers a key factor.
The consultancy said half of companies that expected to “significantly reduce” customer service workforces will abandon plans by 2027, and a key factor is the inability of the technology to pick up the slack.
Source-stated
In a poll of customer service and support leaders, Gartner found 95% planned to retain human workers as much as possible.
In a poll of customer service and support leaders, Gartner found 95% plan to retain human workers as much as possible.
Source-stated
Gartner described a “digital first, but not digital only” strategy in which human workers help define AI’s role in customer service.
In doing so, however, they hope workers will ultimately help “define AI’s role” in this business function.
Source-stated
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski described a possible two-tier future, with human customer service available as a paid luxury and automated agents serving those unwilling to pay.
Siemiatkowski said he envisages the future of customer service as somewhat of a two-tier affair, whereby ‘VIP’ customer service interactions involving human staff will be a paid-for luxury. Those unwilling to pay will have to contend with automated agents.
Source-stated
A Quantum Metric survey cited in the article found that some British respondents would pay for human interaction, and that many felt complaints or queries were properly resolved only with a real person.
40% of respondents said they would be willing to pay a monthly fee for human interaction rather than using self-service options or interacting with AI agents. More than half (54%) said they feel complaints or queries are only properly resolved when speaking to a real person
Escape Meridian interpretation
If paid human service becomes part of a two-tier model, access to a person could depend on willingness to pay; the article does not establish whether enterprises will adopt that model.
Those unwilling to pay will have to contend with automated agents.
Source and contributor context
Ross Kelly · Article author
These are credits stated by the source; they do not establish a profile match or authorship of every passage.
Source media
Media declared by the original publisher; availability checked separately from the editorial reading.
Terms and references
Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement.
ITPro
ITPro is a technology publication covering enterprise IT, business software and the effects of AI adoption.
Editorial provenance
Version 1. Publication ID: e8603850-a3a7-48c1-8c40-5e2f53c3b82b.
Prepared by gpt-6-luna; grounding review by gpt-6-luna.
Source check: uncertain by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-05T23:10:59.793Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true.
Editorial selection: accept; reasons: useful_perspective.
Observation: 169cb660584b01a58210cd2dec6312756c926accddf60b19f563d89078fff71a. Source text hash: 4bcf814b2ad42852a869f65887ef79bb6491c8efb40bdfcb72364ab9ec92f07e.
Revision and source-check history
Version 1 · 2026-11-05T23:10:59.793Z
ITPro: Why some enterprises are keeping people in customer service
’s Ross Kelly reports that some enterprises are reconsidering plans to replace customer service workers with AI. Gartner said half of companies expecting to “significantly reduce” customer service workforces will abandon those plans by 2027, citing the technology’s inability to pick up the slack. In a poll of customer service and support leaders, Gartner found 95% plan to retain human workers as much as possible, partly to help “define AI’s role.” Kelly’s account is not that AI will leave customer service unchanged. Gartner’s “digital first, but not digital only” approach keeps human workers alongside AI. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski described a possible two-tier model: human service as a paid option, automated agents for others. Escape Meridian interpretation: under that model, access to a person could depend on willingness to pay. A Quantum Metric survey cited by Kelly found that 40% of British respondents would pay a monthly fee for human interaction, while 54% said complaints or queries are only properly resolved with a real person. Kelly presents these findings as signs of enterprise backtracking and consumer interest, not proof that a hybrid model will work everywhere. How many enterprises will abandon workforce-reduction plans by 2027, and will human service become a paid tier?
Original source
IT Pro · Article
Source details
Original source date: Jun 23, 2025 (2025-06-23T14:30:00Z).
Date basis: Date stated by the publisher.
Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-05T23:10:59.793Z. First observed: 2026-11-05T20:33:23.636Z. Retrieved: 2026-11-05T23:09:42.052Z.
Limits
The article reports Gartner findings and survey responses but does not provide the underlying study details or methodology in the supplied text. The 40% and 54% figures are from a survey of British respondents; they do not establish demand across other populations or actual willingness to pay. The article describes Siemiatkowski’s vision of a two-tier service model; it does not establish that Klarna has implemented that model.
Open question
How many enterprises will abandon workforce-reduction plans by 2027, and will human service become a paid tier?
Source-stated
Kelly reports that Gartner expects half of companies that planned significant customer service workforce reductions to abandon those plans by 2027, with technology’s inability to replace workers a key factor.
The consultancy said half of companies that expected to “significantly reduce” customer service workforces will abandon plans by 2027, and a key factor is the inability of the technology to pick up the slack.
Source-stated
In a poll of customer service and support leaders, Gartner found 95% planned to retain human workers as much as possible.
In a poll of customer service and support leaders, Gartner found 95% plan to retain human workers as much as possible.
Source-stated
Gartner described a “digital first, but not digital only” strategy in which human workers help define AI’s role in customer service.
In doing so, however, they hope workers will ultimately help “define AI’s role” in this business function.
Source-stated
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski described a possible two-tier future, with human customer service available as a paid luxury and automated agents serving those unwilling to pay.
Siemiatkowski said he envisages the future of customer service as somewhat of a two-tier affair, whereby ‘VIP’ customer service interactions involving human staff will be a paid-for luxury. Those unwilling to pay will have to contend with automated agents.
Source-stated
A Quantum Metric survey cited in the article found that some British respondents would pay for human interaction, and that many felt complaints or queries were properly resolved only with a real person.
40% of respondents said they would be willing to pay a monthly fee for human interaction rather than using self-service options or interacting with AI agents. More than half (54%) said they feel complaints or queries are only properly resolved when speaking to a real person
Escape Meridian interpretation
If paid human service becomes part of a two-tier model, access to a person could depend on willingness to pay; the article does not establish whether enterprises will adopt that model.
Those unwilling to pay will have to contend with automated agents.
Source and contributor context
Ross Kelly · Article author
These are credits stated by the source; they do not establish a profile match or authorship of every passage.
Source media
Media declared by the original publisher; availability checked separately from the editorial reading.
Terms and references
Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement.
ITPro
ITPro is a technology publication covering enterprise IT, business software and the effects of AI adoption.
Editorial provenance
Version 1. Publication ID: e8603850-a3a7-48c1-8c40-5e2f53c3b82b.
Prepared by gpt-6-luna; grounding review by gpt-6-luna.
Source check: uncertain by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-05T23:10:59.793Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true.
Editorial selection: accept; reasons: useful_perspective.
Observation: 169cb660584b01a58210cd2dec6312756c926accddf60b19f563d89078fff71a. Source text hash: 4bcf814b2ad42852a869f65887ef79bb6491c8efb40bdfcb72364ab9ec92f07e.
uncertain · 2026-11-05T23:10:59.793Z · anthropic/claude-opus-5.5
Publication: e8603850-a3a7-48c1-8c40-5e2f53c3b82b
attribution — pass: The reading correctly credits ITPro and Ross Kelly. It attributes the forecast and poll to Gartner, the two-tier vision to Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, and the survey figures to Quantum Metric. The Escape Meridian interpretation is labeled as such.
Siemiatkowski said he envisages the future of customer service as somewhat of a two-tier affair
summary — uncertain: The content is mostly faithful and readable for a general audience, but it softens Kelly's position. Kelly writes that workers won't be going anywhere 'at least for a while' because enterprise AI efforts 'have fallen flat.' The closing line, 'Kelly presents these findings as ... not proof that a hybrid model will work everywhere,' gives Kelly a caveat he does not make. Smallest repair: attribute that limitation to Escape Meridian and keep Kelly's stronger framing. The question also repeats inside the summary, and its first half partly asks what Gartner already forecast.
customer service workers won’t be going anywhere - at least for a while - as enterprise efforts to ramp up AI in this area have fallen flat
date — pass: originalPublished is 2025-06-23 from the publisher page. This fits the article's references to Gartner analysis and London Tech Week 'earlier this month' in June 2025. The later observation date of 2026-11-05 is not used as the publication date.
During a session at London Tech Week earlier this month
support — pass: Each claim matches its excerpt verbatim. The paywall-access inference is labeled as Escape Meridian interpretation, stated conditionally and supported by an excerpt. The limitations correctly note the missing methodology, the British-only survey scope and that Klarna's implementation is unestablished.
Those unwilling to pay will have to contend with automated agents.
media — pass: The selected media is the verified direct link to the original ITPro article. It is the most direct way to reach the source.
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ITPro is a technology publication covering enterprise IT, business software and the effects of AI adoption.
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