CX evolution from tech perspective

Over the past 12 months, my co-founders and I had the privilege of speaking with more than 400 CX professionals. First and foremost, the CX community is amazing! Everyone we chatted with was insightful and generous with their knowledge. Second, we took advantage of these conversations and conducted an analysis on the CX tooling companies use. Third, we found that many insights on companies CX tooling can be gained simply by visiting their help pages. It really makes the learning process easier!

In this article, I want to share the four stages of customer support organization from a tooling perspective.

Firefighting Stage - At the firefighting stage, customer support organizations are reactive, with support teams only responding to customers' requests as they come in. The primary focus is on resolving issues as quickly as possible, with little emphasis on tracking or analyzing customer interactions. At this stage, the most important tools are those that can quickly and efficiently intake incoming requests, such as ticketing systems and basic internal agent tooling.

Discovery Stage - In the discovery stage, customer support organizations shift from being reactive to proactive. The focus is on identifying and addressing popular customer issues. Most companies improve discoverability for customers to find answers to their questions. At this stage, it becomes essential to write clear knowledge base articles and expose them at the right time and place. These tools help support teams handle low-hanging fruits and enable customers to find answers to common questions.

Full Self-Service Stage - In the self-service stage, customer support organizations focus on empowering customers to solve their own problems. The goal is to provide customers with the resources they need to resolve their issues independently, without the need for direct support. At this stage, critical tools include knowledge bases and chatbots. Additionally, companies at this stage build 2-3 self-service flows that are integrated with internal systems. These tools allow customers to quickly and easily find the information they need to solve their issues, freeing up support teams to focus on more complex problems.

Scaling Stage - In the scaling stage, customer support organizations focus on improving efficiency and scalability. The goal is to support a growing customer base while maintaining the same level of service quality. At this stage, low-code platforms and AI automation tools are essential. These tools help support teams manage a large volume of customer interactions while maintaining a high level of service quality.

In conclusion, the four stages of customer support organization from a tooling perspective are firefighting, discovery, full self-service, and scaling. Each stage requires a unique set of tools that enable support teams to effectively handle customer interactions and provide a high level of service quality. By understanding the requirements of each stage, customer support organizations can select the appropriate tools to support their growth and success.