More technology also means higher expectations

Technology not only transforms what an organization can do. It also transforms what customers and citizens expect from it. A few years ago, it might have been normal to wait several days for a response, provide our information again when switching channels, or remember on our own that a policy was about to expire.

Today, it's much harder to accept. Technology has changed our benchmark for what constitutes good service. If we can make a transfer in seconds, we expect speed. If a company stores our information, we expect it to recognize us. If it knows our history, we expect not to have to tell it who we are again. If it can analyze our behavior, we expect relevant offers.

And if it knows that a product or service is about to expire, we begin to expect it to anticipate that expiration date.

Technology doesn't just create new capabilities for organizations. It creates new expectations for people.

Every new capability carries a new promise.

An app promises ease of use.

Data promises knowledge.

Automation promises speed.

Analytics promises anticipation.

Artificial intelligence promises understanding and personalization.

And omnichannel promises continuity.

When an organization incorporates these technologies, even if it never explicitly states so, it is modifying the promise it makes to its customers.

That's why it's especially frustrating when a company has our data and asks us again for information it already knows; when it offers multiple channels but none of them know what happened on the previous one; or when it promotes a digital service as immediate and, when something goes wrong, forces the customer into a slow and traditional process.

The greater the technological capability an organization demonstrates, the less tolerant the customer is of experiences that seem to ignore that capability.

Technology also makes relationships more fragile.

This transformation has a significant consequence for organizations. Expectations are rising faster. A company can invest years in building trust and lose some of it during a single interaction that contradicts the customer's expected experience.

An order that doesn't arrive when promised.

An application that crashes at a critical moment.

A system that doesn't recognize a regular customer.

A recommendation that demonstrates the organization didn't understand their needs.

A complaint where the customer has to explain the same problem multiple times.

Or an automation that prevents reaching a person precisely when the situation becomes exceptional.

Technology can make a relationship extraordinarily efficient when everything works correctly. But that same efficiency amplifies the contrast when something goes wrong. That's why digital transformation can't be evaluated solely by adoption, transactions, or cost reduction. It must also be considered in terms of experience, trust, and loyalty.

The Digital Frontier helps us understand this new expectation.

At the Centro Nacional de Consultoría, we call the Digital Frontier the space that the Internet actually occupies in people's lives: what activities we carry out exclusively in person, which ones we combine between physical and digital channels, and which ones we develop entirely online.

The difference in activities performed exclusively online is just one percentage point: 38% in Colombia and 39% in Chile.

But in activities that combine the traditional and digital worlds, the difference increases to six points: 27% versus 33%. This difference is especially important when we talk about service. Because a customer who moves between channels doesn't evaluate the app, the office, the contact center, the delivery, or the chatbot separately. They evaluate the organization.

Expectations Travel with the Customer

A person can buy online and make a complaint in person. They can start a request in an app and continue it by phone. They can receive an AI-generated recommendation and then need human assistance. When they switch channels, their expectations don't reset. They carry with them what the organization already knows about them, what was promised, what happened previously, and the service standard they experienced at other touchpoints.

Herein lies one of the biggest challenges of omnichannel. It's not enough to simply allow customers to reach you through different channels. Information, context, and the service promise must also be able to travel between them.

The Digital Frontier helps us understand how this movement occurs and where an organization needs to strengthen the continuity of the experience.

Data Raises Expectations Even Higher

There's one particularly sensitive element: data. Every interaction allows organizations to learn more about their customers. They know about purchases, transactions, preferences, inquiries, complaints, digital journeys, previous responses, and, increasingly, behavioral patterns.

This knowledge has enormous value. But it also generates a responsibility.

If an organization knows more about me, I expect that knowledge to translate into better service. I don't necessarily expect them to use all my data. I expect them to use responsibly the data relevant to the purpose of the relationship to avoid friction, understand my needs, and offer me relevant experiences.

That's why data quality is no longer just a technological issue.

Incomplete, outdated, fragmented data across systems, or data used without sufficient context can lead to incorrect decisions and deteriorate the experience.

And with the arrival of artificial intelligence, this demand increases even further. AI amplifies the capacity. And also the expectations.

Artificial intelligence allows us to recognize patterns, personalize interactions, anticipate needs, and automate decisions on a scale that was previously impossible.

But the greater this capability, the greater the expectation.

If a system can anticipate that I'm likely to need something, why wait for the problem to arise?

If it can recognize that an interaction is causing frustration, why automatically continue the same process?

If it knows I'm a returning customer, why treat me as if it were my first time?

And if automation fails to resolve my situation, why can't it recognize this and transfer the context to a human?

As we've discussed in this series, the competitive advantage won't necessarily lie in having more artificial intelligence, but rather in ensuring it better understands when to intervene, recommend, automate, listen, or hand the conversation off to a person.

Technology transforms service into an organizational capability.

This explains why digital transformation cannot be left solely in the hands of IT. An experience depends on development and UX, but also on operations, logistics, service, marketing, analytics, in-person channels, suppliers, and the people who ultimately respond when something extraordinary happens.

The digital promise can begin on a screen and end with a delivery.

It can begin with a recommendation and end with a complaint.

It can begin with artificial intelligence and end with a human conversation.

Therefore, service quality increasingly depends on the entire organization's ability to properly adopt technology.

It's not simply about having tools.

It's about transforming technology, data, and knowledge into better decisions and better experiences.

From Understanding More to Serving Better

Here, the capabilities we've developed at the Centro Nacional de Consultoría converge. Digital Adoption allows us to understand how people incorporate technology and what their capabilities and barriers are.

Digital Frontier allows us to identify how they distribute their activities across digital, in-person, and blended channels.

UX allows us to recognize where technology facilitates the experience and where it introduces new friction points.

CX allows us to understand the complete experience and the moments that define the relationship.

Service Evaluation and Loyalty allow us to identify shortcomings, measure their consequences, and understand the organization's ability to regain trust.

And understanding the different stakeholders allows us to broaden that perspective beyond the customer: employees, suppliers, partners, citizens, and other actors also experience an organization's technological capabilities and build expectations around them.

The relevant question is no longer just: What technology does our organization have?

It's: Are we transforming all the capabilities that this technology provides into a better experience for people?

Because every new technology increases what an organization can know, anticipate, and solve.

And, precisely for that reason, it also increases what people expect from it. Technology enhances an organization's capabilities. The real challenge is ensuring that the service lives up to that new capacity.