Today’s customers expect quick, accurate, and accessible support—regardless of whether they’re talking to a human or a bot. Czech tech company Daktela, in collaboration with research agency MNForce, conducted a survey among 1,000 Czech consumers to understand how they perceive customer service and whether they are open to communicating with AI.
The findings show that companies still make frequent mistakes that cost them trust—and revenue. The most common customer pain points include:
Yet nearly 80% of respondents would prefer to get a response from an AI bot within 3 minutes rather than wait 3 days for a reply from a human. And over half of them would choose a bot if it meant receiving an answer in 3 seconds instead of 3 minutes.
Over half of common customer service issues stem from support teams being swamped with repetitive inquiries—such as checking order status. AI offers an effective way to ease these pressure points without compromising the customer experience. Artificial intelligence can help sort out the busiest time over peaks so that the customer doesn't know anything. "We offer small and large businesses a free email analysis and AI bot setup to save them time in their daily routine. Our AI EmailBot will learn how to respond to what based on previous email communications over two days. It can correctly assess which queries require review by a live human. After training and testing, it can handle thousands of emails in 1 minute," says Jiří Havlíček, CEO of Daktela, adding: "AI bots can also handle repetitive tasks by linking to the company's system. This allows marketers to handle the onslaught of clients before peaks without any problems."
Less operators, more music
AI bots will therefore not only save costs, but also give operators more time to deal with important communications. These bots don’t just reduce operational costs—they also free up human agents to focus on the more complex, meaningful conversations that build customer trust. Still, many companies remain hesitant about integrating AI into customer interactions. There’s a concern that automation might frustrate customers even more, especially if they’re already unhappy.
To explore this further, Daktela partnered with MNForce to conduct market research involving 1,000 Czech consumers, focusing on their experiences with customer support.
The results of the MNForce survey show that Czechs are experiencing poor customer care more and more often. The findings revealed that poor customer service is a growing frustration for many. Ideally, if every company delivered seamless support, there’d be no need for AI in communication. However, in cases where bots provide a level of service equal to that of a human, most customers still lean toward speaking with a real person. If all companies offered flawless and exemplary care, AI bots would not be needed in customer communication.
Where customer care is excellent and bots can do everything a human can, customers prefer a human operator. In total, 60.9% of respondents prefer a human operator, 28.2% of respondents do not care who they communicate with and only 11% of respondents prefer a robot.
I'd rather wait three minutes for an email from a robot than three days from a human
In response to the question: 'Would you rather wait 3 days for an email from a human operator or 3 minutes for a robot to respond?', 79.5% of respondents voted for the robot, while only 11.8% voted for the human.
Three minutes from a human or 3 seconds from an AI?
Another question asked whether customers prefer a human operator or a robot, assuming that the operator finds relevant information in 3 minutes and the robot in 3 seconds. In this case, 53.8% of respondents would prefer a fast robot assistant. Only 31.4% would prefer the slower handling by a human operator. So the time factor plays a big role in the decision between a live and an artificial operator.
The survey showed that customers do not cling to human operators at all costs. They want their request resolved quickly and with high quality. "We can say that with the prospect of faster turnaround of their customer care requests, customers' preference for AI bots is increasing. This is something that AI can help with. Its main advantages are prompt processing, zero waiting time and non-stop operation," comments Jiri Havlicek, CEO of Daktela, which supplies AI bots to companies, on the results.
About Daktela:
Daktela is one of the largest SaaS companies in the Czech Republic, currently operating in seven markets and several others through partners. Daktela's core business is the development, delivery and full operational support of an application to unify customer communications and manage the customer experience. Daktely's software is used by more than 1,600 companies of various sizes worldwide. The biggest benefit is that within a single platform, companies handle communications via phone, email, web chat and social media. In the Czech Republic, Daktela came to prominence as a co-author of Smart Quarantine as part of the COVID19CZ initiative and the 1221 information line.
The company currently has over 170 employees in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Great Britain, Hungary, Serbia and Romania. Daktel was founded in 2005 by then 28-year-old software experts David Hajek and Richard Baar as a telecommunications start-up. In 2021, private equity fund Sandberg Capital, one of the most important investors in technology companies in the region, invested in Daktela. The fund is now the majority owner of Daktele, with a minority stake split between its founders. For more information, visit www.daktela.com and www.sandbergcapital.com.
Media contact:
Mgr. Martin Šemík
PR agency: surikata PR s.r.o.
martin.semik@surikatapr.cz
+420 731 472 400
