“2024 has shown us that AI is transforming the very nature of customer service work”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Perhaps most importantly, 2024 has shown us that AI isn’t just changing how we handle customer inquiries \u2013 it’s transforming the very nature of customer service work itself. Support professionals are evolving into strategic partners who combine their human expertise with AI capabilities to deliver meaningful value to both customers and businesses.<\/p>\n
Throughout the year, we’ve had the privilege of sharing insights, learnings, and real-world success stories from the frontlines of this transformation. In this roundup, we’ve selected the most impactful and insightful pieces from 2024. These stories don’t just tell us where customer service has been \u2013 they show us where it’s heading.<\/p>\n
Thanks for tuning in so far \u2013 we can’t wait for everything to come in 2025.<\/p>\n
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Off Script<\/h2>\n
Throughout the year, we shared this series of candid conversations with Intercom leaders as they explored every angle of the extraordinary AI-driven transformation we\u2019re currently experiencing.<\/p>\n
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The series kicked off with our Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Des Traynor reflecting on the moment we knew this generative AI revolution was going to be very, very big<\/a>. He offers some advice on how technology enthusiasts \u2013 and humans as a whole \u2013 can make the most of this opportunity by reframing the way we think and actively reinventing ourselves in this post-AI world.<\/p>\n The next three episodes delved into:<\/p>\n In episode five, our President, Archana Agrawal, discussed how AI is revolutionizing the economics of customer service<\/a> by challenging the traditional trade-offs between quality, speed, and cost.<\/p>\n The season concluded with our CEO and Co-founder, Eoghan McCabe, reimagining the future of customer service in an AI-first world<\/a> and offering some predictions about the biggest changes we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n While AI\u2019s future potential gets a lot of attention, there\u2019s already so much to discuss and learn about the exciting present we\u2019re experiencing right now. That\u2019s why we hosted Pioneer<\/a> \u2013 a full-day event which brought 500 of our customers to a former power station in London.<\/p>\n The event was a true celebration of the pioneers leading the way at a time of great change. These were some standout moments from the day.<\/p>\n Our Chief Product Officer, Paul Adams, announced Fin 2<\/a>, the most advanced AI agent in the industry. Fin 2 far surpasses any AI agent you\u2019ve seen before \u2013 achieving an unprecedented 51% average resolution rate straight out of the box and a 99.9% accuracy rate.<\/p>\n In his keynote address, Paul lifted the lid on exactly what it\u2019s taken to get to this point \u2013 from the journey we\u2019ve been on with generative AI, to everything we learnt from building Fin\u2019s V1, and feedback we received from our customers. He also demonstrated how Fin 2\u2019s powerful new capabilities work, so if you’re if you’re interested in the technical details, we highly recommend giving this a watch.<\/p>\n Three of our amazing customers joined us to share what they\u2019ve learned and the real results they\u2019ve got from adopting AI-first customer service, sparking lots of conversations among the audience.<\/p>\n We were delighted to discover just how much Fin is transforming their support operations, team dynamics, and customer experience.<\/p>\n Catch up on their conversations here:<\/p>\n This year, we published some in-depth guides on important topics to provide customer service leaders with all the insight they need to make informed decisions about implementing and making the most of AI. Here are our top three.<\/p>\n Growth is a crucial component of any business, and the truth is that sustainable growth is impossible without customer service. Using AI, businesses can now unlock the trifecta of better, faster, and cheaper customer service for the first time.<\/p>\n This comprehensive guide<\/a> tells you everything you need to know about the new economics of CS, including:<\/p>\n With an influx of new entrants promising powerful AI agents, choosing the right solution has become increasingly complex. So, how can you accurately assess what\u2019s out there to make the right choice for your team?<\/p>\n To make an empowered decision, support leaders need a systematic way to cut through the noise. This piece provides detailed guidance on exactly how to evaluate AI agents and test different options thoroughly to gauge their real-world performance.<\/p>\n An extensive, well-structured knowledge management system is the power source of the AI machine. Whether you\u2019re using an AI agent to interact with customers, or an AI copilot as a personal assistant for your support team, these tools need an extensive pool of knowledge to draw from so your customers get accurate, up-to-date information.<\/p>\n This guide<\/a> includes everything you need to know about effective, AI-optimized customer service knowledge management to help your team take advantage of all the benefits AI has to offer.<\/p>\n We were lucky to host many interesting guests on our podcast this year. The conversations covered everything \u2013 from nailing the art of customer experience in the age of AI, to unlocking support’s strategic potential and setting up CS teams to thrive as AI agents come onboard. Here are a few of our favorites.<\/p>\n According to Shep Hyken\u2019s latest Achieving Customer Amazement<\/em><\/a> report, companies that want to really stand out need to blow customers away by providing them with amazing experiences they\u2019ll remember. Anyone who simply \u201csatisfies\u201d their customers risks losing them to competitors who go above and beyond \u2013 a fact confirmed by nearly a quarter of respondents.<\/p>\n In this episode of the podcast, Shep tells our VP of Customer Support Declan Ivory about his research’s highlights and emerging trends shaping the future of customer experience.<\/p>\n Blake Morgan, a customer experience futurist and author of The Eight Laws of Customer-Focused Leadership<\/em>, sits down with our Senior Director of Automated and Proactive Support Ruth O’Brien to discuss the importance of customer experience and the influential role leaders play. Blake and Ruth also dig into the impact of AI on customer interactions and the need to balance automation with human touch.<\/p>\n Robert Richman, author of The Culture Blueprint<\/em>, chats with Bobby Stapleton, our Senior Director of Human Support, about the importance of aligning company culture with customer service. They discuss how a strong culture can help navigate change and maintain high levels of customer satisfaction, before spending some time exploring the role of AI in customer service.<\/p>\n You can listen to every episode of\u00a0The Ticket<\/em><\/a> wherever you listen to podcasts.<\/p>\n From reframing how we think about AI, to forging new career paths, and practical advice for getting your team onboard with new technology, we covered it all on the Intercom blog. Here are a few standout articles.<\/p>\n In this thought-provoking piece, Paul Adams shares our vision for the future of customer service, and how AI will utterly transform every aspect of the space.<\/p>\n Having a clear, well-conceived plan is crucial to get AI up and running successfully. This piece outlines four key steps to take during your first three months with AI to ensure you cover all your bases and get the best results as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n Over the past few years, customer service tech stacks have become a sprawling mess. With recent advances in AI, it\u2019s time to say goodbye to the Frankenstack and move towards a more efficient, seamless system. Here, Anthony Lopez, Director of Support Operations at Intercom, shares some advice on how to make the transition.<\/p>\n Our product and engineering teams have always been active contributors to our blog. This year was no different. We had several contributions that lift the lid on how we think about designing and building great products. Here are a few that we particularly enjoyed.<\/p>\n Director of Engineering, Ryan Sherlock, details how Intercom is evolving its database infrastructure by migrating to Vitess and PlanetScale, unlocking greater scalability, reliability, and zero-downtime maintenance.<\/p>\n Working with AI might be a new challenge but it doesn\u2019t need to be intimidating. This piece from Staff Product Designer Molly Mahar asks a simple set of questions to help you move forward with confidence as you start designing for AI.<\/p>\n The arrival of generative AI raised lots of entirely new questions for product managers as they navigated a new approach to how they work. Here, Staff Product Manager Julia Godhinho shares five important lessons we have learned so far.<\/p>\n Thanks for reading, watching, and listening during the year \u2013 we hope you’ve enjoyed the content and found it valuable. And stay tuned, because we will have some remarkable stories for 2025.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From hosting our first-ever customer service summit to launching Fin 2, 2024 has been a transformative year at Intercom. Here\u2019s a roundup of our highlights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":570,"featured_media":30993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"category":[3,4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[25315],"class_list":["post-30994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-customer-support","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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\nPioneer \u2013 Intercom\u2019s first-ever customer service summit<\/h2>\n
Announcing Fin 2<\/a><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Pioneer-Paul-Adams.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCustomer spotlight: Celebrating real-world results with AI<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Pioneer-Angelo-Livanos.jpg\")
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\nKnowledge guides<\/h2>\n
The New Economics of Customer Service<\/a><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Blog-Hero.png\")
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The AI agent buyer\u2019s guide: How to make the right choice for your support needs<\/a><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/BlogHero_3600x1680_AI-Agent-Buyers-Guide_Opt2.png\")
<\/p>\nThe ultimate guide to knowledge management in the age of AI<\/a><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2030\/04\/Knowledge-Hub_Blog-Hero-1-scaled.jpg\")
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\nThe Ticket podcast<\/h2>\n
Shep Hyken on getting ahead of the competition by providing exceptional CX<\/a><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/The-Ticket_Blog-Hero-4-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBlake Morgan on leadership’s role in creating a customer-centric culture<\/a><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Leadership_s-role-in-creating-customer-centric-culture-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nRobert Richman on how strong company culture leads to high customer satisfaction<\/a><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/How-strong-company-culture-leads-to-high-customer-satisfaction-scaled.jpg\")
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\nCustomer service on the Intercom Blog<\/h2>\n
There\u2019s no going back \u2013 the new era of AI-first Customer Service has arrived<\/a><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AI-First-CS-Paul-Hero.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe first 90 days with AI: A 4-step guide to get you started<\/a><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nFarewell to the customer service Frankenstack<\/a><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Frankenstack-blog-hero-scaled.jpg\")
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\nIntercom on Product \u2013 lifting the lid on how we build at Intercom<\/h2>\n
Evolving Intercom\u2019s database infrastructure<\/a><\/h3>\n
A new age of UX: Evolving your design approach for AI products<\/a><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Designing-for-machine-learning-molly-mahar-post.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFive key takeaways about AI product management<\/a><\/h3>\n
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