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Rise of the Machines – Chatbots Slated to Dominate Customer Service Channels by 2027
By George Muhia, Industry Lead – Africa Digital Natives at Infobip
A survey conducted by Gartner has found that chatbots will become the primary customer service channel for about a quarter of the world’s organisations by the year 2027, having evolved over the past decade into a critical technology component of a service organisation’s strategy.
George Muhia
There can be little doubt that when designed and deployed correctly, chatbots can enhance the Customer Experience (CX) and drive positive customer emotion at a lower cost than live interactions.
However, to effectively deploy and measure chatbot performance, Customer Service and Support (CSS) leaders must create an appropriate deployment strategy based on use cases and service interactions’ complexity.
The rise of chatbots represents a major shift in the way that businesses interact with customers. By leveraging the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) and natural language processing capabilities, chatbots can provide faster, personalised, and more convenient customer service experiences.
Businesses will undoubtedly reap the benefits of chatbots over traditional service channels, including 24/7 availability, instantaneous responses, and the ability to consistently deliver a standardised reply. Multilingual capabilities allow chatbots to not only provide support across many different languages, but also communication based on regions, accents and dialects. This broadens the reach of the customer service function and enhances accessibility to key services.
Evolving role of humans
The rise of chatbots does not necessarily spell the end for human customer service agents but will rather see an evolution of their role. While chatbots will take over mundane and repetitive tasks, humans will be freed up to focus on complex issues and will step in where customers require specialised attention or to deal with sensitive situations that need human judgment, emotional intelligence, or critical thinking.
To deploy chatbots effectively, organisations will need to invest in the right chatbot building platforms that will leverage AI and natural language processing capabilities. At the same time, humans will still play a critical role in the training and supervision of chatbots. Businesses will thus need to retain the right skills to refine and update their chatbots, constantly improving their conversational abilities.
In order to deliver a high-quality CX, businesses will have to continually monitor and measure the performance of their chatbots to ensure they are working accurately, consistently and within the ethical confines of the engagements happening across their various channels. This means tracking metrics such as response times, customer satisfaction rates and conversion rates, while also making adjustments as needed to improve performance.
Advanced language models
The emergence of ChatGPT and similar advanced language models has attracted much attention, mainly due to the fact that these AI-driven chatbots have been trained on such huge data sets and have access to the entire internet. ChatGPT also rates highly on contextual understanding, doing a good job of capturing, interpreting, and understanding the context of a conversation. Being able to effectively generate responses aligned with a conversation’s history makes engagement more human-like and coherent.
What makes models like ChatGPT even more formidable is a capability called “zero shot learning”, which is the ability to generalise from limited examples or even to provide answers to topics it has not been exposed to. Hence, such advanced language models are attractive for businesses that want to leverage AI for routine transactions and free up resources for more complex issues.
However, the independence of these models raises questions about their ability to be controlled and whether at some point they will become better than human intelligence or problematic in some way. Unfortunately, there is no clear answer at this stage.
The overarching goal for the development of AI has always been for the technology to complement human beings, rather than to create a situation where it surpasses or exceeds human intelligence.
Yet, the continued development of AI systems does raise ethical questions and makes a strong case for safeguarding policies and procedures to be put in place to regulate what these AI models are ultimately able to do. Still, the optimistic view remains that the combination of humans and AI could provide solutions to even the most complex problems.
Mr. Tim Akano, New Horizons Chief Executive Officer, took centre stage at the Nigerian Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) annual end-of-year meeting on Thursday, December 18, 2025, recounting the company’s remarkable growth and reaffirming free IT training for journalists.
Tim Akano, New Horizons Chief Executive Officer, in a group photograph with NITRA Members
Speaking directly to IT media members at the company’s training facility in Lagos, Akano acknowledged the critical role journalists played in supporting New Horizons during its formative years two decades ago.
He detailed how the firm evolved from a handful of staff to one of Africa’s leading ICT skills training organisations, now employing about 500 staff across multiple training centres nationwide.
Akano Spotlights Youth Training, University Partnerships
Akano highlighted that New Horizons has trained over 500,000 youths, particularly tertiary institution students, equipping them with practical IT skills essential for Nigeria’s digital economy.
He announced recent partnerships with universities, including a new agreement with Afe Babalola University, to scale hands-on training programmes for students.
“This growth would not have been possible without the media’s support in documenting our journey,” Akano stated, pledging continued free IT skills training for media members to remain competitive in the evolving digital landscape.
Reciprocal Support Defines Long-Standing Partnership
The venue hosting the NITRA meeting underscored Akano’s generosity; NITRA Secretary Chidiebere Nwankwo secured the free facility after contacting him—a gesture consistent with New Horizons hosting multiple association events and training IT journalists since its inception 20 years ago.
Participants shared personal testimonies of Akano’s support, including veteran journalist Aaron Ukodie, whose daughter—an Accounting graduate from the University of Johannesburg—received NYSC placement and IT scholarship at New Horizons.
The Guardian’s Yemi Adeyemi recounted Akano accommodating his editor’s child for mandatory IT training after other firms declined.
Members praised Akano’s commitment to human capital development as evidence of deep appreciation for the media community that chronicled New Horizons’ success over two decades.
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has launched the NIMC Pre-Enrolment Portal to revolutionise the National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment process, enabling applicants within Nigeria and in the Diaspora to capture biodata online prior to biometric verification at enrolment centres.
NIMC
Accessible via penrol.nimc.gov.ng, the platform allows users to fill enrolment forms, schedule appointments, upload supporting documents securely, and manage personal details directly, thereby slashing congestion, minimising wait times, boosting data accuracy and enhancing overall service efficiency at centres nationwide.
NIMC Director-General and CEO, Engr. (Dr) Abisoye Coker-Odusote, spearheaded the initiative as part of the Commission’s technology-driven strategy to fortify institutional performance, aligning with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda that emphasises digital transformation, efficient public service delivery and inclusive national development.
Dr Kayode Adegoke, Head of Corporate Communications, highlighted key benefits including simplified biodata handling, confidential data protection through robust security measures, reduced physical centre visits and heightened operational effectiveness, urging all prospective enrollees to adopt the portal for a faster, citizen-friendly experience.[conversation_history]
The move underscores NIMC’s mandate under the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007 to manage the National Identity Database, issue NINs and foster a reliable digital identity ecosystem vital for national planning, with users advised to complete pre-enrolment online before heading to selected centres for biometrics.
MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF), a Pan-African film and television training institution, has announced the opening of applications for its 2026 intake.
MultiChoice
The fully funded programme is open to African graduates aspiring to become directors, filmmakers, scriptwriters, producers and storytellers.
According to MultiChoice, the nine-month accredited curriculum combines online learning with intensive in-person training, and is designed to balance theoretical knowledge with practical immersion.
MTF academies are located in Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia, and serve aspiring filmmakers from 14 African countries. Since its inception in 2018, the initiative has trained 296 filmmakers, with graduates producing more than 42 movies aired on DStv, GOtv and Showmax platforms.
Organisers said alumni of the programme have gone on to establish over 50 production companies, while many continue to work within the MultiChoice ecosystem.
Graduates have also won accolades at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, Kalasha Awards, Uganda Film Festival and Women in Film Awards.
Applications for the 2026 intake close on Feb. 27, 2026. Interested candidates can visit https://apo-opa.co/3XW53oE for programme requirements.
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