This hub groups focused analyses and decision-framework materials related to the AI customer support automation playbook for SMBs. Content is scoped to operational design and planning for AI-assisted support in resource-constrained small and midsize businesses, documenting practitioner-level frameworks, scoring artifacts, and MVP planning templates rather than acting as an implementation manual.
Articles examine operational decision points across a few abstract categories: candidate prioritization and weighted scoring approaches; MVP archetypes and sprint-based planning for agent-assist, proactive automation, and hybrid routing; measurement and cost modeling using containment rate, escalation rate, average handle time, and token-cost estimates; prompt governance and versioning practices including golden-prompt repositories and prompt logs; integration and experiment readiness for common ticketing platforms such as Zendesk and Intercom; and legal or compliance constraints such as GDPR and CCPA. Discussions emphasize comparative analysis, assumptions, and trade-offs rather than prescriptive procedures.
The materials are intended for experienced growth, performance, and operations professionals seeking analytical inputs and clearer decision framing for pilot design, vendor or architecture comparisons, and governance assumptions. These pieces provide scoped perspectives, modeling templates, and experiment briefs to inform choices; they do not provide step-by-step execution guides or exhaustive coverage of implementation or legal compliance.
For a consolidated overview of the underlying system logic and how these topics are commonly connected within a broader operating model, see:
AI customer support automation playbook for SMBs — operating model and scoring matrices.
Reframing the Problem & Common Pitfalls
- Why trusting model confidence alone can sink your support automation pilots
- Why most SMBs pick the wrong AI support pilot (and how to avoid the costly mistakes)
- Estimating marginal cost per automated contact: why simple math hides big pilot risks
- Why SMB AI Support Pilots Break: 7 Operational Mistakes Teams Keep Repeating
Frameworks & Strategic Comparisons
- Why a weighted scoring matrix still fails to surface hidden escalation risk when shortlisting automation pilots
- What SMBs Miss About Privacy When Testing AI Support — Key Decisions That Break Pilots
- Zendesk vs Intercom for automation pilots: integration limits that can derail your shortlist