OREANDA-NEWS. August 27, 2015. Customers today expect companies to interact on their own turf, in whichever digital channel they inhabit. This omni-channel behavior, fueled by an explosion in new technologies, first grabbed marketers’ attention and sparked huge growth in marketing across email, mobile, social, and web.

Now, the customer service industry is following suit — and it’s causing a seismic shift in the approach to service.

Based on a Salesforce Research survey of more than 1,900 customer service leaders worldwide, the “2015 State of Service” report examines this transformation. Here’s a quick look at four prominent findings from our research:

  • Omni-channel customers drive a service sea change. More than one third of high-performing service teams are already delivering customer service via mobile apps with an expected 67% growth over the next two years.

  • Agent empowerment is a mark of top teams. Top teams are 3.4x more likely than underperformers to say their service agents are completely empowered to make customers happy.

  • Proactive service emerges, fueled by smart technology. Top-performing teams are already working toward providing more proactive service for customers; more than half of high performers saying they’re able to predict customer service needs over 80% of the time.

  • The changing customer mindset triggers a surge in self-service. Online communities and self-service portals are on the rise, with high performers ramping up use of these functionalities by 89% and 115%, respectively, over the next 12-18 months.