Artificial intelligence used to only exist in science fiction films. That’s no longer the case. Today, brands are using it to improve efficiency and productivity in all areas of business. In fact, 55% of established companies have either started making investments in artificial intelligence or are planning to do so by 2020. These investments can come in many forms, but one of the most effective is in using artificial intelligence to power chatbots.

Visionaries in the field of artificial intelligence in customer service see radical changes on the horizon, with a tipping point lying just a few years in the future. And if the prognostications of these experts—Zendesk partners Rick Nucci of Guru, Mike Murchison of Ada, and Mikhail Naumov of DigitalGenius—come to pass, AI will upend how customer service teams work in ways that will have far-reaching ramifications for companies across the globe.

Every task in your project has a life cycle—a series of stages it has to pass through from creation to completion. Manually moving tasks from one stage to another can be cumbersome, more so if many tasks in your project have a similar life cycle. Worse still, having to do it repeatedly can make even exciting tasks look mundane.

When evaluating software, it’s easy to fall back on what you’ve done in the past. Your work computer likely has Windows and the Office suite installed directly on the machine, so why shouldn’t you have software for sales, customer support, marketing, or other industries right alongside it?

Thrun, who founded the famous Google car project and is the chairman of Udacity, is bang on. If you really think about it, all of AI is basically a march towards building machines which can behave, process, and think like humans (but of course, not replace them).

In 2019, remote work is becoming more and more popular: to hire the best talent from all across the world and keep up with the competition, startups and big companies alike are building distributed teams. There are also numerous productivity tools that support organizations as well as individuals. However, transitioning from a colocated team to a remote environment can be still challenging.

If you’re looking for ways to improve your company’s customer support, you’ve likely come across a solid amount of articles and lists that tell you the things your team should be doing. These kinds of tips can be an excellent starting point for putting together an effective support approach. But it’s equally important to have an idea of the strategies you’ll want to avoid.

Running a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) company is fun. It’s usually created by a couple tech enthusiasts with a great idea and extensive coding knowledge. Getting those first few customers feels amazing, and your core focus is on making them happy. They’ve got your cell number and you’re just a phone call away for anything they need.

Customer support is a make or break service for a business that differs by region. While 24/4 live chats and support phone numbers that connect to skilled agents and managers are the most direct ways to communicate with your audience, it helps to also practice proactive support techniques.

Unsatisfied customers are three times more likely1 to share their negative experiences than happy ones. There’s also the fact that unsatisfied customers tend to cost you. It can take up to 12 positive experiences to make up for just one unresolved negative one. Angry and frustrated customers can tarnish your brand’s name, while satisfied customers mean more great recommendations and reviews for your business.