5 ways AI is improving customer service workflows and efficiency
AI is transforming customer service by automating repetitive tasks, improving workflow efficiency, and assisting agents with real-time insights
TL; DR: AI is playing an increasingly important role in modern customer service
AI is helping businesses optimize customer service workflows by reducing manual tasks, improving response accuracy, and enabling faster resolutions to customer queries. AI-powered tools such as chatbots and AI agents can be used to automate routine actions, analyze conversations in real-time, and surface the most relevant information for each interaction, giving both customers and agents more predictable, consistent, and efficient support experiences.
What is AI-powered customer service?
AI-powered customer service refers to the use of AI tools like chatbots, AI agents, and large language models (LLMs) to automate and/or assist customer interactions at every stage of their journey. These innovative tools can resolve routine queries on their own or help agents respond faster by analyzing data, detecting intent, and recommending answers in real-time.
How does AI help streamline key support workflows?
According to recent research by Freshworks, technology complexity is becoming one of the biggest sources of frustration in the modern workplace, with the average worker now having to contend with 15 different digital tools and four communications channels every day. For frontline customer service agents, navigating this level of complexity can have a significant impact on their ability to deal with customer issues and queries in a timely manner, resulting in poor service and negative experiences.
Fortunately, there’s a growing number of AI-powered customer service solutions that businesses can use to simplify and streamline many of the processes that have traditionally slowed customer service teams down. Implementing these tools not only helps remove repetitive steps and reduce errors; it also ensures each request follows the optimal path from creation to resolution, resulting in the high levels of customer service every business strives for.
Below are five ways that AI is helping businesses streamline their key customer support workflows:
Intelligent routing and prioritization: AI tools can analyze request content, customer history, sentiment, and urgency to route issues to the right team automatically. This greatly reduces misrouted tickets and improves time-to-resolution.
Automated ticket classification: Manual categorization of tickets often leads to inconsistent data and delayed workflows. AI solves this by assigning categories, priorities, and required skills with high accuracy based on historical patterns.
Self-service and automated resolution: AI-powered chatbots and knowledge engines can be used to resolve common questions before they even reach an agent. This reduces ticket volume and allows agents to focus on more complex issues.
Automated CRM updates and workflows: AI can capture details, enrich contact records, and trigger follow-up workflows without manual input. This keeps the CRM up to date and ensures processes remain consistent.
Omnichannel workflow management: AI supports fluid transitions across email, chat, messaging apps, and voice channels by automating repetitive tasks and ensuring information moves with the customer.
AI-powered customer service platforms like Freshdesk Omnichannel and Freddy AI make these capabilities accessible without complex setup, helping teams adopt AI quickly and expand as value grows.
How do agents benefit from AI?
While much of the heavy lifting done by AI takes place in the background, it also provides numerous direct benefits to frontline agents, helping them cut through complexity and deliver the highest levels of customer service possible. Examples include:
Real-time agent assistance: AI can identify customer intent, sentiment, and knowledge gaps on the spot and suggest helpful replies, articles, or steps to agents in real-time
Generative summary creation: Instead of reading full tickets or long conversation histories, AI can provide agents with condensed summaries that highlight key issues and customer needs.
Surfacing key information: AI retrieves the most relevant articles, past cases, or CRM records instantly, removing the need for manual searching.
What outcomes can businesses expect?
Businesses that adopt AI in their customer service operations typically see improvements across a wide range of areas, including call-handling efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction metrics. While results vary depending on factors such as sector and implementation type, some of the most consistent outcomes include a reduction in average handle time (AHT), higher first-contact resolution (FCR), increased agent capacity, improved CSAT scores, lower operational costs, and more consistent data from automated categorization and CRM updates. These improvements also compound over time, enabling teams to scale without proportionally increasing head count.
How to get started with AI-powered customer service
Introducing AI into customer service doesn’t require a full technology overhaul. Most businesses start small, focusing on the areas where automation and AI have the fastest impact. A typical five-step starter plan looks something like this:
Deploy automation for repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as ticket categorization, routing, and CRM updates, helping to free up agent time for more complex tasks.
Implement AI-powered self-service tools such as chatbots to deflect common issues before they reach agents and gather structured information to answer future queries.
Integrate AI inside the agent workspace to surface context, generate summaries, and recommend replies in real-time, resulting in more first-time resolutions.
Explore adoption of advanced generative AI tools to assist with drafting responses to customers, suggesting next steps based on conversations, and speeding up complex interactions.
Measure improvements in handling times, resolution rates, and agent productivity to guide future expansion.
AI-powered customer service platforms like Freshdesk and Freddy AI make all these capabilities accessible without complex setup, helping teams adopt AI quickly and expand as value grows.
FAQ
Q: Can AI replace customer service agents entirely?
A: No, while AI excels at handling routine tasks and providing fast responses based on available data, it can’t handle complex issues or understand the nuance involved with most human-to-human interactions.
Q: What industries benefit most from AI-powered customer service?
A: AI-powered customer service can benefit almost every sector, but a few industries stand to gain the most, thanks to high inquiry volume, repetitive support tasks, and strong ROI from automation. These include, retail & e-commerce, banking & financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, insurance, travel & hospitality, SaaS & tech support, utilities, and automotive.
Q: How can AI help improve agent satisfaction and reduce staff turnover?
A: AI-powered tools can greatly reduce the complexity agents face every day, helping them surface key information faster and provide customers with answers they seek at the first time of asking. According to Freshworks research, over 38% of all employees considering leaving their jobs blame complexity as the driving force behind their decision. Technology that helps reduce this complexity represents a win-win for all involved.
