Hybrid support model

An AI agent is software that resolves a customer request end to end, taking actions in connected systems rather than only answering questions. Unlike a scripted chatbot, an AI agent can look up an order, issue a refund, or update a record, then confirm the completed outcome back to the customer.

Human in the loop describes a review step where a person approves or corrects AI output before it reaches the customer. Teams typically apply it to high-risk intents such as refunds, cancellations, and complaints, then relax it selectively as measured accuracy on those intents proves out.

Routing is deciding which agent, team, or AI agent receives a contact, based on intent, language, skill, customer tier, and availability. Accurate routing is the cheapest available reduction in handle time, because a misrouted contact pays the cost of being read and reassigned twice.

Triage is sorting incoming contacts by intent, urgency, and value before they are worked, so the most consequential conversations reach the right place first. Automated triage now performs the classification step, leaving prioritisation rules and exception handling as the main human contribution.