Intercom has entered the copilot space, with its new AI assistant for customer support agents promising to enhance accuracy and efficiency.
Dubbed by Intercom as the “only AI assistant that can generate answers using conversation history,” the software provider claims that the Fin AI Copilot helps agents to instantly find their required solutions.
Utilizing retrieval-augmented generation and semantic search, the tool can also provide agents with expert guidance – eliminating the need for manual searches and tab-switching.
Currently available to limited customers in beta but due for general release next month, Intercom is reporting that early users are seeing a 30% increase in support agent efficiency.
The latest Fin solution from Intercom follows the release of the Fin AI Agent last year, a chatbot powered by LLMs and OpenAI’s GPT-4.
The tech firm is currently reporting that the Fin AI Agent has handled over eight million customer queries, saved 670,000 hours of work for support teams, and is resolving 42% of issues on average.
In discussing how the Fin Agent differs from similar chatbots in the sector, Bob Wallis – Senior Product Marketing Manager at Intercom – highlighted the emphasis that the company places on trustworthiness:
Unlike many other AI chatbots, Fin has no problem saying, “I don’t know” and swiftly passing the question to a member of your support team if it can’t find the answer in your support content.
“As a result, you can avoid giving your customers the wrong information, or venturing outside topics related to your business.”
Both solutions are part of what Intercom terms their “AI-first but not AI-only” approach, where the focus is on AI and humans working together to provide the best possible customer experience.
But what exactly separates Intercom’s latest AI tool from the rest of the pack? And can it deliver on those efficiency promises?
Differentiators
Varied Content Sources
Fin AI Copilot creates responses for support agents by analyzing conversation history and accessing internal knowledge and external sources such as help centers and public URLs.
Personalized and Controlled
The AI Copilot can improve customer interactions by expanding, rephrasing, or adjusting responses to suit different situations.
It is also equipped with proactive features that suggest relevant content based on customer inquiries, even before agents ask. With this tool, users are able to customize which content and conversations they can use to generate responses, making it more effective and efficient.
Conversational Answers
The solution preserves the context of a conversation with a support agent, enabling the agent to pose follow-up questions to Fin later.
Is Efficiency the New Customer Service Battleground?
With the customer service and experience sector saturated with AI-powered tech solutions, providers are looking to gain the upper hand by offering users unique benefits and features.
Intercom appears to be targeting efficiency as one of its key differentiators – a shrewd move, as efficiency has long been an area that the CX sector has struggled with.
Indeed, Gartner released the results of a survey late last year that revealed that 77% of sellers were struggling to complete tasks efficiently, despite increased spending budgets for sales technologies, training, and development.
Mckinsey also reported that business leaders were focusing on ways to “do more with less” and minimize inefficiencies in order to ease the pressure on contact centers.
Enhancing contact center efficiency not only cuts operational expenses but also improves customer experiences, boosts retention rates, and mitigates staff burnout.
Below is a list of five tactics to bolster contact center efficiency:
- Monitor Metrics Connected to Efficiency
- Streamline the Omnichannel Contact Center
- Leverage the Power of Automation
- Train and Guide Employees
- Leverage Workforce Management Tools
For a detailed analysis of these five tactics, check out the full article here.
