Customer Service Week: What It Takes to Say “I Can Help”

New Avaya research highlights the value of human expertise and the support that helps service professionals use it.

I spent six years as an agent in a contact center. I know how tough a day in that role can be, and how much patience and knowledge it takes to keep helping the next person.

I believe everyone should spend some time as a contact center agent and work in a restaurant at least once. Seeing service from that side gives you a different appreciation for the people doing those jobs.

A customer service conversation can change with five words: “I can help with that.” For the customer, those words offer a moment of relief. Someone understands the problem and knows what to do next.

What the customer cannot see is everything that makes those words possible: the colleague who shared a useful tip, the person who corrected an outdated answer, the supervisor who helped resolve an exception, and the service professional who knew which question to ask.

Customer Service Week is a chance to recognize that work, including the small acts of care that are easy to miss.

This October, Avaya's new report, Customer Experience on Their Terms, offers a timely reason to celebrate the people who provide service. It also raises a useful question for leaders: What would help those people say “I can help” with greater confidence?

What are Customers Really Asking Service Teams For?

Easy access to someone who knows how to help. In the survey's closing question, 72% selected easy access to a knowledgeable person when asked what would most improve customer service. Respondents could choose up to two items.

One word in that answer matters: knowledgeable.

A service professional brings experience, empathy, and judgment to a conversation. Putting that expertise to work also depends on what is available at the moment: accurate information, the customer's history, a clear next step, and access to colleagues who can help.

Think of someone handling a delivery problem. Knowing the refund policy is useful. Knowing that the customer has already tried to reschedule twice changes the conversation. Having the authority to arrange a workable alternative changes the outcome.

The leadership question becomes practical: where does a capable employee have to stop because information, a decision, or a person is out of reach?

Why Does a Prepared Handoff Matter so Much?

It lets the employee begin with understanding. When asked what should pass from an AI assistant to a human, 60% of respondents selected information they had already provided. 51% selected the reason they were contacting the company. They could choose up to two items.

A customer's second conversation may be the employee's first view of the problem.

That gap matters. The customer knows what they have already tried. The person receiving the conversation may need to reconstruct those steps before they can help.

A useful handoff gives the employee the relevant context and a chance to confirm it: “I can see you've already tried to change the delivery date. Let's work through the next option.”

That simple acknowledgment makes the work already done visible. It gives expertise a head start.

What Deserves Recognition During Customer Service Week?

The specific actions that made progress possible. For me, recognition matters no matter how small it may seem. A sincere thank-you for a thoughtful follow-up or a difficult conversation handled with care can mean a great deal. It tells someone their effort was seen.

Indeed's guide to celebrating Customer Service Week suggests personal thank-you notes, customer testimonials, and opportunities for teams to learn together. These become more meaningful when recognition names the contribution and its effect: “You noticed the customer was confused, checked their understanding, and helped them leave with a clear plan.”

Evidence shows recognition deserves attention beyond a single week. In a Gallup and Workhuman study published in September 2024, researchers tracked nearly 3,500 employees over two years. Well-recognized employees were 45% less likely to have changed organizations by the end of that period. The study links recognition with retention without establishing cause and effect.

Make room for the quieter contributions, too. Mentoring a new colleague or improving a knowledge article can help many future customers, even when the person doing it never appears in a customer compliment.

How Can AI Help the People We are Celebrating?

By making useful knowledge easier to apply, while keeping people responsible for judgment.

I was brought up to roll up my sleeves and get the job done, whether the task was large or small. I also value having help along the way. That might mean an extra pair of hands, or knowledge and guidance from someone with the expertise I need.

That is how I think about AI in customer service: useful assistance for the person responsible for helping the customer. That support matters as service work evolves.

In an April 2026 Gartner survey release, 85% of service and support leaders said they were adding new tasks and responsibilities to human agents. The survey covered 321 leaders worldwide.

Research also shows why support should reflect experience. The 2025 Quarterly Journal of Economics paper “Generative AI at Work” studied 5,172 customer-support agents at one company. Access to an AI assistant increased issues resolved per hour by 15% on average. Less experienced and less skilled employees benefited more; the most experienced and skilled saw small speed gains and small quality declines.

That is a reason to involve service professionals in how AI is introduced. Ask experienced colleagues to evaluate suggested answers, identify missing context, and explain when an apparently simple request needs more care. Help newer colleagues learn the reasoning behind a recommendation.

The goal is to help people become more capable. Check whether the assistance improves accuracy, understanding, and resolution as well as speed.

What Does Better Support Look Like in Everyday Service?

The right information and resources should be ready when people need them. A useful starting point is to examine how customer context, knowledge, business systems, and colleagues connect around a common request.

This is where Avaya Infinity fits. It is designed to connect customer context, AI, systems, workflows, and human expertise across the service experience. For a service professional, the purpose is practical: arrive better prepared and coordinate the next step with the right resources.

Choose one familiar journey, such as resolving a billing question. Ask the people handling it where they lose time looking for information or waiting for a decision. Their answers can help identify what to connect or improve first.

How Can Leaders Turn One Week Into Lasting Support?

Pair celebration with one improvement the team can see. Keep the activities manageable, include remote colleagues and every shift, and build on what employees say would help.

• Monday, October 5: Recognize a moment. Share a specific example of someone making a customer's day easier. Explain what they did and why it mattered.
• Tuesday, October 6: Ask one useful question. “What regularly gets in the way of helping a customer?” Give everyone a practical way to contribute.
• Wednesday, October 7: Choose one obstacle. Select a manageable issue, such as conflicting guidance or a missing handoff summary. Assign someone to move it forward.
• Thursday, October 8: Learn from each other. Let colleagues walk through a difficult case and the judgment that helped. Include the people behind the scenes.
• Friday, October 9: Commit. Thank the team, share the next action, and set a review within 30 days. Ask whether the change actually made helping easier.

The size of the celebration can vary. The specificity of the appreciation and the follow-through are choices every leader can make.

To everyone who listens carefully, solves problems, shares knowledge, and sees a promise through: thank you. I know how demanding your work can be, and I appreciate what you do.

This Customer Service Week, I hope we each take a moment to recognize someone who helped, no matter how small the gesture. Then let's ask what would help them say “I can help” with greater confidence.

Read Avaya's research - Customer Experience on Their Terms - for more on what customers expect from human expertise, AI, and connected service.

About the Research

Avaya's Customer Experience on Their Terms is based on an online panel survey of U.S. adults aged 18 and older, fielded in September 2026. The study provides directional insight into consumer experiences and preferences.