Customer service leaders who are effective at vendor and product evaluation activities saw only a 50% increase in the likelihood that they’d achieve their technology goals, according to a survey by Gartner.

By contrast, leaders who are effective at organisational readiness activities saw a 300% increase.

The Gartner survey, conducted between December 2024 and January 2025, examined the strategies of over 200 service and support leaders regarding technology investments. The shortfall in achieving their goals is attributed to missed opportunities in evaluating organisational readiness, developing the necessary talent to manage or utilise the technology, and aligning stakeholders with the set goals.

“Rather than asking if the technology is ready for their business,  customer service leaders must ask if they are ready for this technology,”  said Eric Keller, senior director, research, in the Gartner Customer Service & Support practice. “By focusing on organisational readiness, leaders can prepare employees for change, align stakeholders to goals, and incentivise vendors as partners in achieving business outcomes.”

Three Keys to Organisational Readiness

The activities that most significantly influenced success were not primarily about choosing the right technology. Instead, they focused on the internal preparations necessary to implement and manage the technology within the organisation.

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To prepare for investments in customer service technology, successful organizations must:

• Evaluate key elements of readiness. Customer service leaders are often enamoured with slick technology features, neglecting the essential prerequisites needed to enable them. They require a structured approach to assess the necessary data, technical skills, business processes and infrastructure.
• Align stakeholders around investment goals. Vendors often position their technology as being able to “do it all”, and internal stakeholders may disagree on the most important objectives. Customer service leaders should make operational and incentive changes to align stakeholders to their goals.
• Develop talent to better manage and use technology. As technologies become increasingly complex, expertise is needed to supervise them, and frontline staff require support to fully adopt these tools. Customer service leaders need to take a larger role in developing technical talent and managing change.