Stop creating tickets and start solving issues in real-time with GenAI
Support automation is changing customer expectations. Customers expect a fast resolution to their questions, not tickets, cases, or callbacks.
Large and small organizations have invested in people, processes, and technologies to deliver customer service and support. Most technology investments have been centered around Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions. These range from popular CRM systems like Salesforce, Zendesk, MS-Dynamics, ServiceNow, Freshdesk, and Intercom. Organizations also invest in knowledge management systems, analytics tools, contact center technologies, and digital engagement tools. These tools are often integrated into the CRM system, the hub for all customer service and support data and workflows.
Conceptually, all CRM and help desk systems operate by opening a ticket or case and driving workflows around the ticket that deliver the resolution. That was until now - with GenAI Support Automation, most issues can be tackled without creating a ticket, i.e., customers get their answers immediately via self-service options such as GenAI-powered Intelligent Virtual Agents or bots. In addition, GenAI-based Agent Assist technologies also help agents drive first-call resolutions. A survey by IrisAgent with its customers suggests up to 60% of customer queries can be addressed via GenAI support automation.
This article outlines how organizations should think about adopting processes and technologies to deliver fast resolutions to customer issues using GenAI support automation. Tickets opened, and time to close tickets no longer indicate customer support success or CSAT. Instead, opening fewer tickets and addressing issues via GenAI support automation should be the new metric for success!
Contents
Rethinking Customer Support Operations
Implementing GenAI Support Automation
Frequently asked questions
Rethinking Customer Support Operations
As stated above, most support and service organizations have built their operations around CRM technologies. While self-service has also been an investment area, most support processes and metrics are centered around the number of tickets or cases reported by customers and the time taken to solve these. A typical support operation would include,
CRM system configured to accept inbound issues, classified by type/category of issue, severity, priority, and customer SLA. Each customer interaction gets assigned a ticket or case number.
Teams of support agents are then deployed to accept these inbound queries. They start their interaction by creating a ticket or case number. Most customers are given a long alphanumeric identifier as a reference when they need to reference their issue. It is mainly lost in emails or sticky notes. Super annoying, I think we can all agree!
These tickets then trigger workflows to identify and resolve the issue.
Most support and service leadership manage KPIs based on tickets opened and resolution times for each.
If the above sounds familiar, it is time to rethink! GenAI Support Automation platforms such as IrisAgent allow organizations to tackle most issues without creating a ticket, i.e., customers get their answers immediately via self-service options or agent-assist technologies. IrisAgent customers see up to 60% of customer queries addressed via GenAI support automation.
Implementing GenAI Support Automation
Over the next 2 to 3 years, we at IrisAgent believe that GenAI technologies will transform support operations. The future of service and support is automation, which works hard to solve customer issues.
Most organizations, however, still have to cope with organizational inertia - be it processes or technologies. Fortunately, GenAI has evolved - becoming more straightforward and faster to implement. It also allows a gradual transition from a ticket-centric workflow to a more self-service-oriented approach to support automation. IrisAgent has helped several organizations get started with GenAI support automation. These learnings and best practices are outlined here in one of our popular articles on Best practices for implementing GenAI Support Automation.
Thus, grab a 30-minute slot for a demo of IrisAgent and get your GenAI journey started at no cost!
Frequently asked questions
What is Support Automation?
Support automation refers to using technology and automated processes to streamline and enhance customer support and service operations. It involves using various tools, software, and systems to assist customer support teams in delivering efficient and practical assistance to customers.
What is GenAI self-service?
GenAI, short for Generative Artificial Intelligence self-service, is a category of artificial intelligence that focuses on creating or generating content, data, or other outputs that are not directly copied from existing data but are instead generated by the AI system itself to answer customer queries without the need for human assistance effectively. Generative AI systems can produce new and original content by learning patterns and structures from large datasets during training - such as past ticket patterns of existing issues in CRM or a particular domain.
What is Agent Assist?
Agent-assist is a process enhancer that offers a critical helping hand to support agents with access to relevant information, personnel (Subject Matter Experts) or process flows that make agents more productive.
What are the key technologies used in Agent Assist?
Key technologies that come together include collaborative tools such as team messaging. Search technology for information retrieval from knowledge bases, scripting/low code/no-code tools for guided conversations, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU), and generative AI for suggested responses. Analytics and gamification techniques to drive Agent behavior.
