Hey there,

Many support leaders are ready to embrace AI with open arms. In fact, our recent survey of more than 1,000 support professionals told us 69% of support leaders are planning to invest more in AI over the coming year – and 38% already have.

And why wouldn’t they? These leaders are keen to capitalize on the efficiencies AI brings. But what about their support teams? Something else we noticed in the survey results was an “ AI readiness gap”: more than two-thirds of support leaders are confident that customers are ready to deal with an AI chatbot, while less than half of support practitioners feel the same. That’s a big difference in excitement levels of managers versus their teams.

So what can you do as a support leader? The first step is acknowledging your team’s concerns. They’re understandably anxious about their job security, their role in the future world of customer support, and how customers will react to this brand new technology. After all, if things go wrong, they’re the ones on the front lines. Start by letting them know how important they are to your business, and talk through their concerns – like Daniel Bunton, Head of Customer Support at Cleo:

“We were quick to pledge that no one would lose their job as a direct result of AI, which instantly calmed fears. We outlined what we thought would happen – that hiring would slow, that the tickets our team worked on would tend to be higher in complexity, and in turn, our people would naturally become a more elite team.”

Then it’s time to get excited about the future. AI is already creating a wide range of new roles, responsibilities, and career opportunities within customer support. Show your team what could be gained from adding AI, and help them prepare for this new world. Our VP of Customer Support, Declan Ivory, recommends focusing on three key areas:

Building troubleshooting skills: As AI handles the simple, repetitive queries, support reps will deal with more complex issues that require in-depth troubleshooting.
Becoming subject matter experts: CS reps have traditionally taken a generalist approach, but as queries become more complex in nature, there will be a call for more specialized knowledge across various areas of your product.
Having a curiosity mindset: As your team develops a new way of working, it’s important that everyone is open to trying new things, getting things wrong, and asking lots of questions about the way things have traditionally been done.

It’s an exciting time to work in customer service,

Niamh OConnor Editor Intercom Content team

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