In 2024, artificial intelligence, particularly Generative AI, became buzzwords across industries as businesses grappled with how the technology would change how they worked.
In 2025, South African business leaders anticipate the technology will mature into a practical tool that shapes industries, enhances customer experiences and redefines efficiency.
Experimentation to practical application – Warren Hawkins, Managing Director of Euphoria Telecom, says 2025 will mark the transition of AI from the experimental stage to production-ready solutions that address real-world challenges.
“Businesses will refine their use of AI to focus on areas where it excels, such as data analysis and automation, while recognising its limitations and the irreplaceable value of human interactions,” he says.
AI powered customer service – “AI-powered virtual agents who can have conversations with you across multiple voice and chat channels, at the level of an expert, will significantly change customer service in 2025,” says Ryan Falkenberg, CEO of CLEVVA. “These virtual agents are not the frustrating chat or voice bots we have all had to deal with. They are highly capable conversationalists that can get your specific request, query or complaint resolved without you having to be transferred to a live agent."
“The incredible advances being seen with Conversational AI, and in particular Generative AI means more companies can now employ a virtual agent to service their customers directly,” he adds. These virtual agents can handle the high volume, rule bound calls that clog up most contact centres, while human agents can be freed to focus on the more complex, emotionally-laden calls that really impact customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
AI in the workplace – Caroline van der Merwe, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer for Jem HR, says generative AI and automation will drive the biggest changes in the HR sector in 2025.
“In 2024, AI and generative AI reached fever pitch, but we expect that in 2025, reality will hit in terms of what AI can actually do. HR technology specialists and employers will look beyond ChatGPT to realistic AI, and will also start building on past digitisation and automation of HR processes to find AI use cases that deliver real business value.”
Van der Merwe says that fears of AI replacing workforces are starting to abate, and the concept of AI assistants or “co-pilots” is gaining traction.
Falkenberg adds that these co-pilots will be integrated into the world of work and change how staff are supported in the workplace.
AI also offers opportunities for the deskless workforce. Van der Merwe says this could be as simple as scheduling shift workers more efficiently so that they reduce travel time or monitoring safety on site.
Shaping consumer expectations –AI will change things in 2025, “but not in the way that people think it will”, comments Charlotte Koep, CEO at insurtech Root Platform.
“AI has raised expectations across the board – from the way we communicate and operate to the baseline user experience. Technology providers will need to rethink how they meet user expectations. The kind of experience they're getting with AI – like text prompting and other almost 'invisible' parts of customer service – will become the norm, and will have to be incorporated into tools and services beyond customer interaction,” she says.
Elevated social commerce – Around 41% of local consumers surveyed by PWC for its Global Voice of the Consumer 2024 study said they often buy products directly through social media. Businesses can use AI to help them capture some of those sales, suggests Joshua Shimkin, Head of Marketing at Peach Payments.
“Existing AI tools are already helpful to particularly smaller merchants that may not have software developers on board to develop bespoke AI tools,” he continues. “AI solutions already exist to offer personalised product recommendations, enhance customer service and support, create dynamic and targeted content, streamline shopping experiences, help customers discover new products and automate repetitive tasks like invoicing.”
Examples of AI tools that are used by some of Peach Payments’ smaller merchants, for example, include Google Lens and Pinterest Lens to facilitate visual searches, ManyChat, Zendesk and Freshdesk to manage customer service, Brandwatch and SocialSprout to keep an eye on brand reputation management, and Copy.ai, Pixlr, Opus, Riverside, Canva, ChatGPT and Gemini as assistants and to create content.
As AI evolves to meet consumer and business expectations, it will redefine how people work and interact. The businesses that unlock AI’s greatest value in 2025 will be the ones that have identified specific, high-value applications where the technology excels to support staff, drive efficiency and improve service.
