And Microsoft's now written the oldest rule in the book into software. Its case management agent sends the customer a set number of follow-up emails, and if nobody answers, it marks the case resolved. Silence counts as fixed.
I'd love to be sniffy about that, but I can't. I've run service desks where three chases and no reply meant closed, and I've signed off the reports that counted them. Microsoft's just stopped needing a person to do it.
The customer is about to stop being the one who waits
But the customer's about to get an agent of their own. And it doesn't go quiet. It answers every follow-up in seconds, it's never on its lunch break, and it's read the terms and conditions, which makes one of us.
So the case that closed itself on silence comes straight back open. The cancellation that used to take forty minutes on the phone takes four seconds. And every subscription that only survives because people forget it's there gets found.
A faster way of doing the old thing
So most of the AI being bolted onto customer service right now is a faster way of doing the old thing. It's a cheaper way to wait people out, built for a customer who's about to stop being the one who waits.
The only service that'll survive an agent on the other end is one that finishes the job. Everything else just gets argued with, politely, forever.