Time spent on customer service lines waiting to speak to a company representative to resolve an issue could soon be a thing of the past, as new research from tech giant Oracle reveals that 78 percent of brands expect to use VR for customer service by 2020, and four-in-five (80 percent) will deliver customer service via chatbots.

The drastic drop in the number of human-to-human interactions comes as consumers' preference for digital self-service ‘Uber-style' interactions extends beyond the taxi app and changes their expectations of other brand experiences. Over a third (35 percent) of brands surveyed in Oracle's ‘Can Virtual Experiences Replace Reality?' report stated that their customers preferred to make purchases or resolve an issue without speaking to a member of the sales or customer service team.

While this decision to ramp up investments in emerging tech like VR, chatbots and AI is intended to meet the new demands of their customers, this approach risks falling flat if brands can't collate and interpret the numerous data sources they have access to.

In fact, 60 percent of companies admitted that they are not currently including social media or information of previous interactions in their customer profiles. Incomplete or out of date customer profiles may miss details of preferences, purchase history or recent issues, resulting in bots and VR experiences leaving customers frustrated rather than satisfied.

"For most organisations, the use of digital technologies has become the norm both inside and outside their walls. However, when it comes to VR there is a widespread perception that adoption will be slow due to high costs and because it will take some time before brands discover its relevant applications in their own business. Our research shows there is a strong appetite for VR, but it will be up to individual brands to tap into VR in a way that meets both their needs and those of their customers", said Chantel Troskie, Customer Experience Account Manager at Oracle South Africa.