Support Operations Transformation
How Semawork reduced support ticket resolution time by 75% through intelligent triage, routing, and multi-agent coordination across Zendesk, Slack, and internal systems.
The Challenge
A mid-market SaaS company was struggling with support ticket management. With 200+ tickets per day arriving via email, chat, and their helpdesk, the support team was overwhelmed with manual triage work. The company had grown rapidly, but their support processes hadn't scaled—what worked for 50 tickets per day became unmanageable at 200+ tickets daily.
Every ticket required manual triage: support agents had to read each ticket, determine what type of issue it was, which team should handle it, and how urgent it was. This manual process was slow—tickets took an average of 4 hours to reach the correct team—and error-prone—30% of tickets were misrouted, requiring manual reassignment and creating delays. Support agents spent 40% of their time on triage instead of actually resolving customer issues.
The lack of visibility made the problem worse: there was no way to see ticket patterns, identify bottlenecks, or understand which types of issues were most common. Customer satisfaction was declining due to slow response times, and the support team was burning out from the constant triage workload. The company needed a way to automate triage while maintaining quality and ensuring urgent issues received immediate attention.
- Tickets took an average of 4 hours to reach the correct team, delaying resolution
- 30% of tickets were misrouted, requiring manual reassignment and creating frustration
- Support agents spent 40% of their time on triage instead of resolution
- No visibility into ticket patterns or bottlenecks made optimization impossible
- Customer satisfaction was declining due to slow response times
- Support team burnout from constant manual triage workload
The Solution
Semawork was implemented as the orchestration layer above their existing Zendesk, Slack, and email systems. The solution automated ticket triage, classification, routing, and coordination, reducing manual work while improving speed and accuracy.
When a ticket arrives from any channel, Semawork agents automatically analyze the content using AI to determine ticket type, urgency, and required team. The system extracts key information like customer details, product, and issue description, performs sentiment analysis to identify frustrated customers, and routes tickets to the appropriate team with complete context. High-priority tickets are routed immediately with notifications to multiple team members, while routine tickets follow standard workflows.
The automation reduced triage time from 4 hours to minutes, allowing support teams to focus on resolution instead of routing. Misrouting decreased from 30% to under 5% as the AI learned from routing decisions and improved accuracy over time. Support agents regained 40% of their time, which they could now spend on actually helping customers. Customer satisfaction improved as response times decreased and tickets reached the right teams faster.
Intelligent Triage
- ✓AI-powered classification of ticket type, urgency, and required team
- ✓Automatic extraction of key information (customer, product, issue type)
- ✓Sentiment analysis to prioritize urgent or frustrated customers
Multi-Tool Orchestration
- ✓Orchestrates Zendesk ticket creation with Slack notifications
- ✓Coordinates with internal CRM to fetch customer context
- ✓Routes to appropriate team channel with full context
Detailed Support Operations Case Study
Support Team Challenges
A technology company with a support team of 15 agents was handling 1,000+ tickets per month across multiple channels including email, chat, and phone. Manual triage was creating delays, with tickets taking 4 hours on average to reach the correct team. Misrouting was common, leading to frustration for both customers and agents. Support agents spent 40% of their time on triage and routing rather than resolving issues.
The support team needed to improve triage efficiency to reduce response times and improve customer satisfaction. Manual triage was creating bottlenecks and reducing team productivity.
Solution Implementation
Semawork was implemented as an orchestration layer above Zendesk, Slack, and email systems. The system automatically triages incoming tickets, classifies them by type and urgency, enriches them with customer context, and routes them to the appropriate team. Implementation took 3 weeks, including integration setup, workflow configuration, and team training. The system went live processing all incoming tickets automatically.
The implementation focused on automating triage workflows while maintaining team control over ticket assignment and resolution. This approach ensured team buy-in and smooth adoption.
Resolution Time Improvements
First Response Time
Before automation, first response time averaged 4 hours as tickets waited in queues for manual triage. After automation, first response time reduced to 30 minutes—an 87.5% improvement. The system routes tickets immediately to the correct team, enabling faster responses. High-priority tickets receive immediate routing with notifications, ensuring urgent issues get attention within minutes.
Faster first response times improve customer satisfaction and demonstrate responsiveness. The automation ensures tickets reach the right team quickly, enabling immediate engagement.
Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR)
Overall resolution time improved significantly. Before automation, average MTTR was 8 hours. After automation, MTTR reduced to 2 hours—a 75% improvement. This improvement came from faster triage, accurate routing, and better context provided to agents. Agents received tickets with complete customer context and issue details, enabling faster resolution.
MTTR improvements by ticket type: Technical issues reduced from 12 hours to 3 hours (75% reduction), billing questions reduced from 6 hours to 1 hour (83% reduction), feature requests reduced from 4 hours to 1 hour (75% reduction).
MTTR improvements demonstrate the impact of accurate routing and complete context on resolution speed. Faster resolution improves customer satisfaction and reduces support costs.
Time-to-Correct-Team
The time from ticket arrival to reaching the correct team reduced from 4 hours to 1 hour—a 75% improvement. This improvement eliminated delays caused by manual triage and misrouting. Tickets now reach the right team immediately, enabling faster resolution and reducing customer frustration.
Time-to-correct-team improvements demonstrate the value of automated triage and routing. Faster routing enables teams to begin resolution immediately.
Customer Satisfaction Metrics
Customer Satisfaction Scores
Customer satisfaction scores improved significantly after automation implementation. CSAT scores increased from 3.2/5 to 4.5/5—a 41% improvement. NPS scores improved from 25 to 55—a 120% improvement. Customer feedback highlighted faster responses, accurate routing, and better issue resolution as key improvements.
Improved customer satisfaction demonstrates that automation improves customer experience rather than degrading it. Faster responses and accurate routing lead to better customer experiences.
Customer Feedback Themes
Customer feedback analysis revealed key themes: faster response times, accurate ticket routing, complete issue context, and professional communication. Customers appreciated that tickets reached the right team quickly and that agents had complete context. This improved experience led to higher satisfaction and reduced escalations.
Customer feedback validates that automation improves customer experience. Faster responses and accurate routing are key drivers of customer satisfaction.
Escalation Rates
Escalation rates decreased by 40% after automation, indicating that tickets were resolved correctly the first time. Reduced escalations improve customer satisfaction and reduce support costs. The automation's accurate routing and complete context enable agents to resolve issues without escalation.
Results
Before Semawork
- • 4 hours average time to reach correct team
- • 30% misrouting rate
- • 40% of agent time on triage
- • $12 per ticket handling cost
- • Declining customer satisfaction
- • 8 hours average MTTR
- • 3.2/5 CSAT score
- • 25 NPS score
After Semawork
- • 1 hour average time (75% reduction)
- • 10% misrouting rate (90% accuracy)
- • 15% of agent time on triage
- • $4.80 per ticket (60% cost reduction)
- • Improved customer satisfaction scores
- • 2 hours average MTTR (75% reduction)
- • 4.5/5 CSAT score (41% improvement)
- • 55 NPS score (120% improvement)
Technical Implementation
Tools Orchestrated
Key Features
- • Multi-agent coordination for classification, routing, and notification
- • Human-in-the-loop approvals for high-value customers
- • Continuous learning from routing corrections
- • Unified observability across all tools
- • Audit trail for compliance and analysis
Frequently Asked Questions
How did the support triage automation achieve 75% faster resolution?
The automation reduced resolution time by eliminating manual triage delays. Previously, support tickets sat in a queue waiting for manual classification and routing, which could take hours. The orchestrator automatically classifies tickets using AI, routes them to the right team immediately, and provides context from customer history. This eliminated triage delays, reducing average resolution time from 8 hours to 2 hours—a 75% improvement.
How accurate was the AI-powered ticket classification?
Initial classification accuracy was 85%, which improved to 92% after the system learned from routing corrections. When tickets were misrouted, team members corrected the routing, and the system learned from these corrections. The system also tracks classification accuracy metrics and provides insights into areas where classification might need improvement. This continuous learning ensures high accuracy over time.
How did the system handle urgent or high-priority tickets?
The system prioritizes tickets based on customer tier, issue severity, and keywords indicating urgency. High-priority tickets are routed immediately to senior support staff and trigger notifications through multiple channels. The system can also escalate tickets that aren't resolved within configured timeframes. This ensures urgent issues receive immediate attention while maintaining efficient routing for routine tickets.
What was the impact on support team workload and satisfaction?
Support team satisfaction improved because agents received tickets that matched their expertise, reducing frustration from handling tickets outside their knowledge area. The automation also reduced ticket volume per agent by eliminating duplicate tickets and routing tickets to the right person the first time. Agents could focus on resolving tickets rather than triaging them, improving both productivity and job satisfaction.
How did the system identify and handle duplicate tickets?
The system uses intelligent correlation to identify duplicate or related tickets by analyzing ticket content, customer information, and timing. When multiple customers report the same issue, the system links tickets together and routes them to the same team member. This prevents duplicate work and ensures consistent responses. The system also identifies patterns that might indicate broader issues requiring escalation.
What metrics were used to measure the 75% improvement?
The organization measured mean time to resolution (MTTR), first response time, and customer satisfaction scores. Before automation, average MTTR was 8 hours. After implementation, it reduced to 2 hours—a 75% improvement. First response time improved from 4 hours to 30 minutes, and customer satisfaction scores increased by 30%. The system also tracked ticket volume per agent, which increased by 50% without quality degradation.
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