Each week, I speak with business leaders who have invested significantly in AI and CRM, yet still see customers waiting on hold, repeating information, and leaving frustrated. Our latest research quantifies this: poor customer service in EMEA costs consumers 9.2 hours annually, more than a full working day. While AI can address these issues, applying it to fragmented systems only worsens the experience. The real solution is to rethink the systems supporting service, not just the technology layered on top.

Frontline customer service agents often lack the necessary tools and information, with only a third of organizations reporting their agents are truly empowered, according to ServiceNow’s annual CX Shift report. Despite investments in technologies like AI, many businesses undermine these efforts by failing to unify their organizations within a single CRM system.

Addressing this challenge requires a fundamental shift in CRM usage toward a connected enterprise, where departments share information effectively and CRM functions as a system of action across the business. Moving away from siloed approaches reduces customer frustration and repetition. Every customer interaction, whether proactive or reactive, can either build or erode loyalty.

The Cost of Disconnection

The research surveyed 17,335 executives, service representatives, and consumers across EMEA. It found that 47% of customers would switch brands after a single poor or slow service experience. Even in sectors where quick resolution is critical, such as banking and telecoms, issues can take three to four days to resolve.

A critical gap remains between insight and action, as businesses struggle to translate AI investments into improved customer relationships. Too often, organizations layer AI onto fragmented CRM systems, expecting a transformation that does not materialize. Siloed workflows and disparate data only accelerate negative customer experiences.

Half of the surveyed executives report deploying end-to-end CRM platforms that support the entire customer lifecycle. However, what is needed is an AI-driven service powered by CRM data, enabling seamless, efficient customer escalation.

Connected Enterprise Is the Foundation, Not Just a Goal

Notably, 76% of EMEA organizations expect progress in the next three years to result from a connected enterprise approach, compared to 51% who expect it from AI adoption alone. A truly connected CRM is increasingly viewed as the operational foundation for enhanced customer experience.

Traditional CRM systems, which most organizations have used, were designed primarily for the front office. They capture customer requests but often do not manage fulfillment, resolution, or back-office actions, which are handled by separate systems. This fragmentation forces customers to repeat themselves, as no single system provides a complete view.

Current expectations require a new approach. Sellers, service agents, field technicians, and back-office teams should operate on a unified AI-powered platform, sharing a single customer record in real time. Customer issues raised through chat should be tracked, escalated, fulfilled, and resolved without requiring the customer to repeat information.

When CRM is implemented in this manner, businesses experience stronger customer loyalty, increased agent productivity, and improved cost efficiency.

The Agent Experience Is Part of the Customer Experience

It is essential that agents have access to the right tools and data, which requires rethinking how information is shared across the organization. In most organizations, agents are hindered by fragmented systems and disconnected tools. The research found that 79% of EMEA service agents must log into three to five separate systems to resolve customer queries, and inconsistent data across these systems remains a significant challenge.

Service agents prefer to focus on complex customer issues where human assistance is essential, rather than compensating for fragmented systems. By adopting integrated systems, agents are freed from switching between platforms, administrative tasks, and searching for information across departments. Instead of investing in automation without a strategy, organizations should reimagine CRM as a connected engine that unites teams, data, and processes, enhancing the service agents provide.

When organizations implement CRM effectively, the benefits extend beyond improved service interactions. A connected, service-led CRM strategy saves time for both customers and employees, transforming fragmented touchpoints into cohesive journeys that foster trust and long-term loyalty. Customers are more likely to deepen relationships when they feel recognized and understood at every stage. Internally, teams gain shared data visibility, enabling faster decisions, more effective AI use, and meaningful human engagement where it matters most.

AI Delivers When the Plumbing Is Right

However, few organizations have integrated customer data across touchpoints to create a unified view. Only 43% of EMEA organizations surveyed have achieved this, and just 23% have broken down silos to enable seamless AI strategies that connect departments.

This highlights the need for an approach that connects data across cloud environments, departmental tools, and legacy systems, providing AI with a complete customer view before taking action. In this model, AI agents act autonomously, coordinate across departments, and operate continuously without waiting for human input.

This is the difference between AI that resolves a billing dispute at 2:00 AM without human intervention and AI that simply accelerates the same flawed experience customers already face.

Service as a Growth Engine

Organizations that implement connected CRM effectively are discovering what the cost-center perspective overlooks: when service has full visibility into the customer relationship, it becomes a revenue driver.

In practice, this allows service agents to identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities in real time. They can create quotes, manage renewals, and escalate commercial opportunities on the same platform used for service requests. Service and sales become integrated, enabling the agent who resolves an issue to also strengthen the customer relationship.

A connected, service-led CRM strategy not only reduces the nine hours EMEA consumers lose annually to resolution friction but also builds trust and encourages customers to strengthen their relationships rather than switch brands.

Curbing Repetition, for Good

When repetition is the issue, the solution can be straightforward. By establishing a connected enterprise where customer information is shared across all channels and applications, agents are empowered to deliver effective service. A single interface with a comprehensive information streamlines work. In this model, service becomes a growth driver by enhancing productivity, insight, and competitive advantage across the organization.

Investing in AI to accelerate flawed processes will not yield results. Business leaders should instead reimagine CRM as a system of action across all channels, ensuring agents can deliver, and customers no longer waste valuable time with each interaction.

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