Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

Visionaries in the field of artificial intelligence in customer service see radical changes on the horizon, with a tipping point lying just a few years in the future. And if the prognostications of these experts—Zendesk partners Rick Nucci of Guru, Mike Murchison of Ada, and Mikhail Naumov of DigitalGenius—come to pass, AI will upend how customer service teams work in ways that will have far-reaching ramifications for companies across the globe.

The customer support agents in tier 1 provide general product support across one or more products. This includes things like helping customers set up their accounts, resolving billing issues, helping them understand how the product works, and any other help customers need to use the product.

Data shows that, for global businesses, providing support in multiple languages is well worth the effort. Nearly three quarters of people search online in their native language, which means that if you’re only communicating in English, for example, you’re probably losing customers and adding layers of inefficiencies for your agents.

Customers want personalized support, but they also want quick support. These are two needs that don’t always go hand-in-hand. When a customer reaches out for support, the agent typically needs a plethora of information to tailor the support to said customer. The agent might even need to reach out to different departments for added details.

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Offering omnichannel customer service is the core of any organization’s support strategy. But, in some cases it’s not possible for agents to do everything, and it’s critical that there is a plan in place for assigning agents to channels. There are two methodologies for channel assignment: a shared agent model and a dedicated one. In a shared model, agents handle some or all channels simultaneously. In a dedicated model, agents are focused on a single channel.

The warnings say robots are coming for our jobs, but it’s more accurate to say they—AI-supported automation, that is—are taking over tasks that should be automated anyway. Taking the rote functions out of a customer service agent’s job is the perfect way to leverage AI, but support roles must evolve parallel with the technology.

Feedback in business is crucial to growing and improving. It’s beneficial for any business to take a closer look at what is working and what could use improvement on a regular basis. But how do you do that? Where do you start?

Reflecting the importance of providing excellent self-service to manage rapid growth and satisfy customers, you might want to launch tier 0. What is tier 0? It’s the self-service tier; the support available to customers that does not require directly interacting with a customer advocate. This includes the knowledge base available in an online help center, the product training that is available to customers, as well as assistance that is available in the product’s user interface.

There are two things many support teams struggle with when it comes to knowledge management: knowing exactly what their customers need help with, and how they can keep their help content fresh. Though it’s tough for them, it’s even tougher for customers. Nearly 81% of customers want to solve their problems on their own before reaching out to an agent, but 40% say that help center searches don’t generate the help they’re looking for.