ServiceNow research reveals Irish consumers lose 284 million hours per year to poor customer service

ServiceNow, the AI control tower for business reinvention, has released new research highlighting the gap between AI’s potential and how service is being delivered. The CX Shift: Customer Expectations in the AI Era found that customers in Ireland collectively spend more than 284 million hours on hold each year, despite the improvements made possible by AI.

The research, conducted with ThoughtLab, surveyed 34,000 executives, service representatives and customers globally, including 1,210 respondents in Ireland. The results reveal that poor customer service costs every Irish consumer the equivalent of 8.8 hours a year – more than a full working day – spent dealing with issues such as long wait times, repeating information or navigating slow systems. While organisations are investing in AI, outdated systems are preventing many from turning those investments into the faster, smoother experiences customers expect.

In Ireland, the real bottleneck is the systems behind the service

Service representatives, particularly those in Ireland, are constrained by their work environments and slowed by fragmented systems and processes. Ireland has one of the lowest rates of time spent on customer issues in EMEA, second only to France at 42% and equal with Sweden at 43%. That means the majority of their time is absorbed by administrative work, system-hopping, and chasing information.

In comparison to the rest of EMEA, Ireland fares worse than all other countries individually and the regional benchmark in both system use and data consistency. One in three (31%) service representatives relies on five systems to resolve a single issue, and 60% say inconsistent customer data is a major challenge — much higher than the respective EMEA averages of 20% and 43%.

Consumers are paying a hidden productivity tax

Across EMEA, the research found that customer issues take an average of three to four days to resolve — even in sectors designed for speed, such as banking (2.4 days) and telecommunications (3.0 days). In manufacturing, resolution times stretch to nearly a full working week (6.6 days). Even in the technology sector, known for being early adopters of platforms and technology, fewer than one in five (18%) customer service issues are resolved within an hour.

In Ireland, nearly half  (46%) of consumers rate current customer service as average, poor or terrible. Meanwhile, 49% say they would switch to a competitor after a single poor or slow experience.

“Consumers across EMEA are losing entire working days to service experiences that should take minutes. The root cause isn’t a lack of AI investment — it’s that most CRM systems were built to record interactions, not resolve them. That’s the shift we’re driving: CRM as a system of action, not a system of record,” said Shakira Talbot, Group Vice President, CRM EMEA at ServiceNow.

AI is gaining trust, but empathy remains the gap

In Ireland, nearly half (46%) of consumers say AI has improved customer service. Over a third (35%) report gains in speed, efficiency, and convenience, and almost one in two (48%) say AI has improved after-hours and 24/7 support. Yet speed alone isn’t enough. One in two (50%) consumers in Ireland cite lack of empathy as a top frustration. Channel preferences play an important role in this gap: while 78% prefer phone support, 66% attempt self-service first — but 44% say current chatbots fail to understand their questions or concerns.

“Customers want to feel heard and resolved, not just routed. But that can’t happen when AI and human agents operate in different systems with different views of the customer. The organisations getting this right are the ones connecting their entire operation — front office to back office — on a single platform. That’s when CRM stops being a digital filing cabinet and starts being a revenue engine,” added Talbot.

Irish executives are misaligned with what customers value

The research also reveals a persistent perception gap between what customers want and where senior leaders are focused. Nearly half (47%) of customers in Ireland are frustrated by being transferred between departments, yet just one in five (21%) Irish executives – the lowest proportion across EMEA and much lower than the regional average of 29% – recognise it as a significant issue. Lack of empathy, another top Irish customer frustration, stands in stark contrast. While a similar proportion (50%) report it as a frustration, almost one-third (29%) of Irish executives prioritise it – the highest share in the region.

AI must unify systems before it can transform service

At the root of these challenges are fragmented systems that aren’t built for today’s CRM needs. In line with the rest of the EMEA region, fewer than half (44%) of organisations in Ireland have integrated data across silos into a single source of truth, while less than a quarter (22%) have enterprise-wide AI strategies that break down departmental barriers.

Closing the gap requires AI that unifies data, workflows, and teams — enabling CRM to evolve from a system of record into a system of action. The research shows that when organisations connect service environments, they can free frontline teams to focus on empathy, clarity, and trust. Without this shift, AI investments underperform, frontline teams remain constrained, and customers continue to bear the cost through slow, frustrating experiences.

Download the full report: https://www.servicenow.com/content/dam/servicenow-assets/public/en-us/doc-type/resource-center/white-paper/wp-cx-shift-study-customerexperience-ai-era.pdf  

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