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 * Product
   
   
   What is Front?
   
    * Product overviewLearn how Front helps build stronger customer
      relationships and operational efficiency
   
    * Front in 2 minSee how Front keeps all responses fast, accurate, and human
   
   Capabilities
   
    * CollaborationWork more efficiently with next-level team coordination
   
    * Workflow automationOrganize, route, and resolve communication at scale
   
    * AnalyticsInform decisions with team performance, workflow, and customer
      insights
   
    * Omnichannel inboxManage shared inboxes for all channels in one place
   
    * Knowledge BaseResolve customer inquiries faster and unlock deflection to
      scale your support
   
    * Live chatSupport customers in real time on your website or app and
      automate flows with chatbots
   
    * Integrations & APISeamlessly connect other systems to sync customer data,
      context, and channels

 * Solutions
   
   
   Industries
   
    * B2B TechnologyWork together to deliver an unparalleled customer experience
   
    * Financial ServicesRespond faster to nuanced questions—and build trust
      along the way
   
    * LogisticsBalance high email volume with your fastest response rate yet
   
    * ManufacturingFulfill complex orders with ease—and build customers for life
   
    * Professional ServicesDeliver extraordinary client experiences at scale
   
    * TravelMake every guest, partner, and vendor feel like a VIP at scale
   
   Teams
   
    * SupportEngage effortlessly with customers across every channel
   
    * OperationsCentralize information and impress customers with ease
   
    * Inbound SalesSend quotes and close deals faster than ever before
   
    * Account ManagementManage and deliver for clients without the headache
   
    * SuccessDrive net retention by making every customer feel like your only
      one

 * Pricing
   
 * Resources
   
   
   Explore
   
    * BlogStories that focus on building stronger customer relationships
   
    * Customer StoriesSee how our customers are powering their businesses with
      Front
   
    * Front’s Support ReportSee our support team’s real data and performance
      metrics, pulled from Front Analytics
   
    * SecurityEnsure your data’s confidentiality, integrity, and availability
   
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    * Guides & WebinarsSign up for trainings, watch videos, and download
      resources
   
    * Front CommunityAsk questions, get answers, and connect with fellow Front
      users and experts
   
    * Front AcademyEnroll in courses to learn best practices and achieve your
      goals with Front
   
    * Help CenterNeed help with Front? Search for answers or browse our
      knowledge base
   
   Connect
   
    * Integrations DirectoryCustomize Front for your business with 110
      integrations
   
    * Developer PortalLearn about Front’s APIs and build your own custom
      integrations
   
    * Channel PartnershipsPartner with us to expand your services, drive new
      business, and get support
   
    * Download AppGet Front on your devices

 * Contact Us
   
   
   Get in touch
   
    * Talk to SalesGot a specific question for our Sales team? Get an answer
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AI IS COMING FOR THE SUPPORT INDUSTRY — HERE ARE 5 WAYS YOUR TEAM NEEDS TO ADAPT



Kenji Hayward,

Head of Customer Support at Front

14 June 2023 • 5 min read



How should support leaders shift focus in the generative AI wave?

Over the past 10 years, I’ve watched again and again how the advancement of new
tools transforms the way we work in the support space. I’ve used everything from
Zendesk, Forumbee, and the Salesforce tool Desk, and now our own product, Front.
While the technology changes, my focus on continually upleveling the customer
experience has stayed constant.

Support is a key business differentiator at Front. I’m proud that my team has
achieved a 100% CSAT score (compared to a 78% industry average); attained a 100%
response rate every month; and over 90% of cases are solved within support. For
us to maintain our high bar for customer care, we need to adapt to recent
advancements in generative AI. 

We know AI will completely transform the support industry, and with change comes
hard questions about shifting roles, structures, and priorities of our teams.
Here are five things that should be top of mind for all support leaders who want
to scale or maintain exceptional customer support amidst the advancements in
AI. 


FIRST AUDIT, THEN CONSOLIDATE

Tool consolidation is a no-brainer for reducing cost and context-switching, but
it will be absolutely essential to operate effectively with AI. Making sure your
systems and data can connect and talk to one another will increase the quality
of work that AI can augment and produce. For my team, having our CRM data and
internal knowledge base connected to our help desk is critical to providing
excellent customer service. For a logistics company, it might be important that
a transportation management system (TMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), or
carrier identity management software are integrated. 

The first step here is to audit your tech stack (at Front, we do this about once
a quarter). You probably dont need Notion, Guru, and a knowledge base. Outside
of obvious redundancies, a big part of tool auditing is ensuring
interoperability can these apps talk to each other and function together? Do new
tools pose any challenges integrating with current workflows? Centralizing your
knowledge and ensuring connectivity across tools will give AI the broadest
context. Make sure you have as few apps as possible and a help desk that
connects to the relevant areas of your business.


RETHINK CSAT & OTHER METRICS

The more we use AI, the more we need to be intentional about what and how we
measure our success metrics. This means assessing how to break up CSAT so you
can track how AI is performing and where you can improve. Our team does this in
Front by using tags. We built an automation to tag AI-generated convos and use
the tag filter to generate two (one AI, one human) customer satisfaction
analytics reports.

Breaking them out will allow you to bring on AI in a way that enables you to
maintain high levels of customer happiness and success. Approach it as an
experiment and pull back if you see AI CSAT scores dipping. 


SHIFT YOUR FOCUS FROM TRANSACTIONAL TO COMPLEX

AI tools will free time for support workers to focus on more complex, level
three issues like billing changes for high-value customers, debugging
integration errors with engineering, or locating delayed shipments in custom
integrated inventory management systems rather than simple tasks like finding
order numbers or resetting a password. We predict roles will shift so reps will
focus on 90% complex tasks and 10% transactional, vs. the inverse we find today.
Since transactional support will be commoditized with AI, your support team will
now be differentiated by your reps ability to resolve more intricate and
complicated inquiries. 

As a leader, your focus will also need to shift away from optimizing
transactional workflows to enabling swift resolution of the complex. Here are
some questions to start thinking through with your leadership team: 

 * How can I unlock the cross-org collaboration and coordination that is
   necessary to resolve complex customer issues? 

 * How can I escalate customer inquiries with the right context?

 * How will I think about data integration across teams and processes?  

It’s time to focus on what AI cant replace, not on what it can. 


REIMAGINE ROLES ON YOUR TEAM 

There’s no denying that some support roles will be automated, but leaders will
also have the opportunity to build out new career paths within their teams. For
successful implementation of AI, there will need to be roles that focus on
content creation and training to drive bot intelligence. A new part of the
support teams role will be determining when and to what extent to trust AI tools
and the creation of robust QA processes. Other roles might become more technical
and include data analysis or automation management. For example, support can own
the creation of automated routing to billing or account services for upsell
opportunities.  

I’ve seen support data analysts and documentation specialists taking on titles
like head of scalable support focused on merging and leading community support
and product education. At Front, we’re creating new support career paths by
adding one Support Operations Analyst (focused on data/workflows) and one
Support Program Specialist (content creation for knowledge base, community, and
internal documentation). Future plans further down the road include a Support
Ops engineer that will focus on automation/technical builds.


EXPAND SUPPORT TO INCLUDE SUPPORT OPERATIONS

This shift in responsibilities and the focus on the complex means that the scope
of support will expand into operations. I think we’ll see an emergence of
support ops teams dedicated to managing high-stakes support issues that require
thoughtful human assistance. 

At Front, we’re launching a support ops team in the fall to transition former
customer support representative roles into the new roles that focus on
delivering a better customer experience through documentation, tools, and
automation. 

This will require a big mindset shift from reactive to proactive; support teams
are so used to firefighting that we don’t step away often enough to consider
case prevention. Efficiently answering customer questions is a big win, but the
next step is helping customers find answers without their ever having to ask.
It’s a true win-win, and thats what support ops will enable.

In the age of AI in support, we’re all learning as we go. It can be daunting,
but it’s also a time of massive opportunity to uplevel your team and hit
never-before-hit goals. AI is expanding the boundaries of what we can
accomplish. We’ll report back on what we learn!

Written by Kenji Hayward

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