Founder and CEO, Prosodica
October 16, 2025
For years, customer service strategy has followed a set of tidy, logical rules. Humans handle the complex; automation handles the simple. Older customers prefer people; younger customers prefer machines. Automation scales; humans personalize. Follow that logic to its end and you reach an uncomfortable conclusion—humans have no long-term role in customer service. The problem is, that conclusion is wrong. There's a deeper reason humans remain indispensable in service interactions: having a real person in the conversation changes the way customers behave. When people perceive that they are being listened to by another human, they respond differently—often more politely, more patiently, and with greater openness. In some situations, the very fact of interacting with a person is what makes the service experience successful.
Psychologists have long shown that anonymity changes behavior. When people feel unseen, they act in ways they never would face-to-face—more blunt, more hostile, less restrained (Suler, 2004). Theories of deindividuation and social identity explain why: anonymity weakens self-awareness and the social norms that guide civility (Reicher, Spears & Postmes, 1995). Customers say things to an IVR that they'd never say to another human being. This is the principle behind why we ask agents to introduce themselves by name—to establish personal accountability. The lesson is simple: people act differently when they know another human is present, even if the cue is subtle.
This principle extends directly into customer service. Consider Alorica's AloriCares program, a recruiting initiative launched to hire U.S. veterans and military spouses, providing them with meaningful career opportunities and support as they transition into civilian life. Participants are connected with jobs at Alorica—including remote, workfrom-home positions—and receive paid training, wellness resources, and ongoing coaching. What made the program particularly striking for customers was the way each call began. Before the connection with a representative, an announcement informed the caller that they were about to speak with a U.S. veteran or the spouse of a veteran. This simple cue of identity often changed the tenor of the interaction: callers became noticeably more patient, more polite, and more understanding. By humanizing the representative upfront, the program tapped into social norms of respect and recognition, reshaping customer behavior before a word of the service conversation was spoken.
Similar dynamics appear across industries. In Prosodica's analysis of millions of conversations, customer satisfaction is not simply about whether an issue is resolved quickly. Instead, it hinges on three factors:
Of these, the human qualities of empathy, engagement, and clarity often prove decisive. Customers are more forgiving of delays or process hurdles when they sense that the person on the other end is engaged and authentic.
Missed appointments are a costly, persistent challenge in healthcare. Automated reminders help, but evidence shows that human outreach still outperforms pure automation. A multi-clinic review found that phone calls made by staff resulted in a 13.6% no-show rate, compared with 17.3% for automated reminders (Simbo.ai, 2023).
Systematic reviews confirm the trend: hybrid reminder systems combining automation with human follow-up lower no-show rates and waiting times (Woodcock et al., 2022, BMC Health Services Research). The difference stems from perceived accountability and care—the sense that someone will notice if you don't show up.
AI systems now triage and respond to complaints faster than ever, but satisfaction still depends on human involvement. Studies show that while AI improves efficiency and consistency, customer satisfaction rises significantly when a human is visibly in the loop (Akinyemi et al., 2025, Multidisciplinary Journal). Another comparative study found that hybrid models—where chatbots manage routine queries and escalate emotional cases to humans—deliver the highest satisfaction and loyalty (Mangipudi, 2025, ResearchGate).
In a 2025 consumer survey, hybrid "AI-plus-human" voice models achieved 27% faster resolutions and higher satisfaction than fully automated or fully human systems (PhoneCall.bot, 2025). Nearly 90% of respondents still preferred humans for emotionally charged or ambiguous issues. Automation drives speed, but human presence anchors trust.
There are indeed contexts where automation outperforms humans precisely because it removes the social dimension. For example, one consumer debt collection operation observed that automated repayment reminders led to higher completion rates than live calls. In those interactions, customers seemed to spend less effort justifying their circumstances or engaging in small talk. Freed from the social pressures of a live conversation, they focused more directly on completing the transaction. This aligns with decades of research in survey methodology: respondents disclose more when interactions are computer-mediated rather than interviewer-led (Tourangeau & Smith, 1996; Kreuter, Presser & Tourangeau, 2008). Without the social pressure of a human audience, people tend to be more open and candid. So while human presence elicits prosocial behavior in many service contexts, its absence can lower barriers in others. The trick is knowing which situations call for each.
Key Insight: Removing human presence can reduce social pressure and increase candor in sensitive transactions like debt repayment or stigmatized disclosures.
Smart service organizations will stop asking only "What can AI automate?" and start asking "How does activating my customer's humanness improve outcomes?" That reframing yields distinct design principles:
The future of service isn't about choosing between humans and AI. It's about understanding that the presence or absence of a human changes how customers behave. Sometimes that presence elicits patience, trust, and cooperation; sometimes removing it encourages candor and efficiency. Organizations that learn to design for both will outperform those that don't. Automation can scale and streamline4but only humans can make interactions feel accountable, empathetic, and fair. That's the real competitive edge. AI will continue to take on tasks at scale, but it will never erase the human effect. And for the moments that matter most, that effect remains vital.
"AI will continue to take on tasks at scale, but it will never erase the human effect. And for the moments that matter most, that effect remains vital."
Mariano Tan is the Founder and CEO of Prosodica, an AI-powered speech and interaction analytics platform that helps organizations create better conversations. With more than three decades of experience in customer operations and enterprise technology, he draws on Prosodica's technology and data from millions of analyzed conversations to explore the intersection of AI, workforce transformation, and the human side of service. At Prosodica, Mariano leads a mission to make professional conversations more empathetic, data-driven, and effective across industries.
This article was featured in The Insights Hub4Prosodica's destination to unlock deeper insights and explore expert perspectives on AI, customer experience, and the future of conversations.
