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How AI Is Solving Major Challenges in Customer Support

· 7 min read
Chat Aid
Chat Aid
Content Marketing Team

Customer service has come a long way. Not too long ago, you'd sit on hold forever or deal with chatbots that were about as helpful as a broken umbrella in a rainstorm.

Now, we've got AI-powered agents, real-time chat, and 24/7 support that actually works.

But here's the thing: your customers are only getting pickier.

They don't just want quick answers anymore; they want personalized, instant, around-the-clock support that solves their problems. Oh, and sometimes in their native language too.

No pressure, right?

For all the tech out there, customer support still has significant challenges to overcome. From drowning in support requests to navigating multiple time zones, let's break down what needs fixing in customer support today, and where AI is helping (or at least making things interesting).

Major Challenges AI Can Solve in Customer Support

1. Prioritizing Customer Needs: Volume and Turnaround Time

Ticket volumes these days are insanely high.

More people are reaching out than ever before, and they all want answers yesterday.

According to recent surveys, 75% of customer support professionals say they're dealing with more requests than they can handle.

For companies trying to keep customers happy, these high volumes and the need for faster turnaround times are serious hurdles.

How AI Helps:

AI is well-equipped to solve this problem. It can scan through all incoming tickets, identify keywords and emotions, and determine which ones need immediate attention.

Urgent problems get moved to the front of the queue, while routine inquiries are handled efficiently or bumped down the list.

As AI handles the triage, human agents can focus on providing thoughtful responses to complex cases where the human touch makes all the difference. This improves both turnaround time (TaT) and overall customer satisfaction (CSAT).

2. Supporting Remote Teams Across Time Zones

We've all been there: it's 1 a.m., you're trying to solve a last-minute issue, and customer support is unavailable because, well, it's 3 a.m. in their time zone.

For companies operating globally, logistics can be a nightmare. Ensuring quick and consistent responses across time zones isn't easy.

Onboarding also becomes challenging, and setting the right context, documentation, and sharing knowledge is another huge pain point when teams work across different time zones.

How AI Helps:

With AI-powered chatbots handling the night shift, companies can provide customers with the help they need without making them wait for business hours.

Whether it's booking an appointment, checking an account balance, or rescheduling a delivery, AI can handle routine requests immediately.

AI responds instantly to common questions and can schedule callbacks or transfer information to daytime support teams for follow-up, ensuring customers don't face unnecessary delays.

With virtual agents managing the night shift, companies can optimize their human resources. AI can handle initial customer queries, perform basic troubleshooting, and maintain conversation flow so that when live agents come online, they have everything they need to pick up where the AI left off.

3. Delivering Personalized Support at Scale

Everyone appreciates personalized service, but most customer service interactions feel about as personal as a robocall.

You call in with an issue, you're transferred multiple times, and like a broken record, you explain your problem repeatedly to different agents.

You and I both are fed up with it.

We deserve better. We want service that feels personal and acknowledges our history with the company.

There's often no continuity, no memory of past issues, and no personalized touch. When customer support doesn't remember who you are, it feels robotic, impersonal, and as if nobody cares.

How AI Helps:

AI changes this dynamic by making personalization at scale a reality. By analyzing data from purchase history, support tickets, and other interactions, AI can create experiences that feel genuinely relevant and personal.

A good example would be when you reach out to a support desk, and it immediately recognizes you:

"Hey Alex, thanks for being a loyal customer with 3 orders in the last 4 months! I see you recently had an issue with your delivery. How can I help you today?"

This level of personalization transforms the support experience from transactional to relationship-building.

4. Providing Multilingual Support

For all the talk about being "global," most companies still struggle to support customers in their native languages.

It's a classic problem: you've got a customer in Spain who's fluent in Spanish, but your support team might not be equipped to handle this.

An Intercom study mentioned that even though 88% of support teams say they offer support in multiple languages, only about 28% of customers actually experience it.

Hiring, training, and maintaining a large team fluent in every language your customers speak is costly and complex. So, most organizations try to get by with limited options, and that's where the cracks start to show.

How AI Helps:

With advanced AI translation models, companies can now offer support in multiple languages without having to build out massive multilingual teams.

AI tools provide real-time, localized support, translating requests and responding in a customer's native language in seconds. Whether someone's speaking Mandarin, Spanish, or Arabic, AI can bridge the language gap effectively.

Instead of a generic, one-language-fits-all approach, AI enables companies to connect with customers on their terms, in their language, making global customer service both practical and cost-effective.

5. Enabling Multimodal and Enhanced Interactions

Not everyone wants to – or can – type out their problems and wait for a generic response.

Many customers need more than a text-based chat, especially those with accessibility needs. And even when text-based solutions are available, they're often not enough.

If you're trying to install a screen protector with nothing but written instructions, you're likely heading for frustration.

And that's just a screen protector – imagine trying to troubleshoot something more complicated!

This is a significant limitation in traditional customer support. It's designed for quick text exchanges, which is fine if you want to know about a store's return policy. But what if you're trying to troubleshoot something that requires visual assistance?

How AI Helps:

AI solves this through its multimodal capabilities. It can handle text, images, and videos, making support more accessible and engaging.

It can analyze a photo of your device and provide step-by-step instructions, or even pull up a quick video tutorial tailored to your specific issue.

This visual approach makes complex troubleshooting much easier to understand and follow, dramatically improving the customer experience for technical issues.

6. Enabling Scalability Without Breaking the Budget

When customer service demand skyrockets, so do the costs.

Traditionally, scaling up meant hiring more agents – which means more training, more systems, and of course, more money.

And let's be honest, most customer service budgets aren't exactly overflowing.

Hiring enough agents to cover all bases takes time. By the time new hires are trained and ready, the surge could be over, yet the costs remain.

How AI Helps:

AI enables you to handle massive volumes of interactions simultaneously without a proportional increase in costs.

It handles repetitive questions, triages basic requests, tackles common issues, analyzes sentiment, and does much more without requiring additional staff or significant budget increases.

This balanced approach lets companies expand their support capabilities without constantly expanding their teams. Not only does this mean faster response times, but it also allows human agents to be more effective and engaged with the complex issues that truly need their attention.

The Path Forward: Human + AI Collaboration

Customer service has come a long way, but there are still significant challenges to overcome – from overloaded ticket queues and language barriers to delivering personalized, accessible interactions at scale.

AI is addressing these challenges head-on, fixing what traditional methods cannot. By handling routine tasks efficiently, AI frees up human agents to do what they do best – provide empathy, creativity, and that extra level of care that builds lasting customer relationships.

The future of customer support will always be a blend of AI and human interaction, designed to meet the high expectations of today's customers.

It's time to make your customers feel understood, valued, and most importantly, loyal.

Explore how Chat Aid can transform your customer support experience