When it comes to trying new things, I admit—I tend to be a bit conservative. It’s not the shining “newness” that persuades me; it’s effectiveness. Show me something that works better, faster, more efficiently, and you’ve got my attention. Whether it’s a bullet trains, AI automation or digital humans.
I’m not swayed by trends for the sake of it. I’m swayed by results.
And there’s a historical lesson here that’s all too relevant.
The Tale of Horses and Railways
In the 19th century, when railways were first introduced, the general public was skeptical. Railways were loud, smoky, and intrusive. Many believed horses were far superior—smoother, quieter, more graceful. Horses, after all, had served humanity for thousands of years, and they were, without question, the “politer” choice.
But the effectiveness won as it always does.
A single train could transport hundreds of passengers in a fraction of the time it would take dozens of horses. And it was scalable. You could build a railway network across a country, but good luck breeding horses fast enough to meet the demands of industrialization.
There’s a striking similarity in today’s world when it comes to customer service.
Some say human agents are the “politer” choice—more empathetic, better at dealing with complex emotions, and frankly, nicer to talk to. I get it. Who doesn’t appreciate a friendly human help when you’re frustrated with a service?
But the effectiveness argument remains undeniable. Let’s take a bank as an example.
A customer service representative in a bank handles approximately 20–30 customer interactions per day. Now, if you’re serving a customer base of 2.5 million, and assuming around 5% of those customers contact support monthly, that amounts to 125,000 interactions per month. With each CSR handling roughly 1,000 interactions per month, you would need around 125 CSRs just to keep up with demand. That’s before factoring in training costs, sick days, union negotiations, and the inevitable human errors that creep into daily operations.
Conversely, a well-trained AI-powered chatbot can handle thousands of interactions per day, with perfect memory retention, zero sick days, and 24/7 availability. It’s not about replacing humans; it’s about using humans where they provide the most value—creativity, strategy, empathy in nuanced situations—while allowing technology to handle the repetitive, process-heavy tasks.
The luxury of horses and humans
So, what happened to horses? They didn’t vanish; they evolved into a luxury. An elegant, beautiful hobby and sport. Horses are no longer the backbone of our transportation system, but rather a cherished experience. And perhaps that’s where human-led customer service is headed.
The future of transport is hyperloop, not hyperhorse. The future of repetive corporate tasks is AI – efficiency will drive progress. It always does.
— Tomas Malovec, Founder of Born Digital
