Intercom

AI is rewriting support orgs faster than most teams can update a job description. Some companies have already carved out dedicated AI roles. Others are spreading the work across whoever can grab it while they rethink their entire operating model. Across the industry, a new layer of roles is emerging, all focused on one thing: making the AI system perform at a consistently high level. Titles like: AI Operations Lead, Knowledge Manager, Conversation Designer, Support Automation Specialist. So we’re curious, where’s your team today?

Customer service leaders who’ve embraced AI are telling us the same thing: AI success doesn’t come from “adding a tool.” It comes from adding new roles, new ownership, and new muscles your org has never needed before. Here’s what the leading teams are already doing: ↳ Stepping off the volume-based, tiered model ↳ Standing up roles for content maintenance and AI Agent behavior ↳ Creating specialist paths for training, tuning, and system improvement ↳ Moving human judgment upstream, where quality and strategy actually live These quotes show how real companies are making that shift. Different industries, same trajectory. Support is becoming a system you design, not a queue you manage. If you’re using the long weekend to think about your 2026 org (you’re in good company), our five-part planning series breaks down the roles, responsibilities, and operating model you’ll need to make AI work at scale. You can find the full article in the comments.

AI isn’t just reshaping support, it’s reshaping support 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴. As AI Agents take on more of the frontline volume, the job of customer service changes. Your team stops being “the people who answer questions” and becomes “the people who shape the system that answers questions.” And the roles that matter most look very different from the ones you hired for even two years ago. In Part 2 of our 2026 planning series, Intercom’s VP of Customer Support, Declan I. maps out the roles that make AI successful inside real support organizations – including ours. Inside this edition: • The four foundational functions every AI-first support team needs • Why “player-coach” managers are becoming essential • How Human Support, AI Support, and Operations work together • What changes, what stays the same, and what becomes dramatically more valuable 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟮 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄.

AI is doing more support work than humans in many organizations. That’s not a future-state. That’s right now. If this transformation isn’t reflected in your 2026 org charts and team strategy, they’ll be out of date before the year even starts. We’ve been working through that shift ourselves, and have been talking to hundreds of leaders doing the same. One thing is clear: org design for 2026 looks very different when you stop thinking of AI as a feature and start treating it as infrastructure. That shift raises a lot of new challenges. Some strategic. Some structural. And as we build more resources to support 2026 planning, we’d love to hear what’s top of mind for you: What’s your biggest planning challenge for 2026? Vote below, or add yours in the comments!

You can’t run a 2026 support org on a 2022 mindset. AI has changed how support work gets done. That shift rewrites the job: how you design workflows, how you staff, how you measure performance, and where human expertise actually creates value. But a lot of teams are still operating with pre-AI instincts: optimize queues, hire more heads, measure speed, ship minor efficiencies. If you were building your support org from scratch today, you wouldn’t start with humans and bolt on AI. You’d start with AI and design humans into the system where they deliver the highest leverage. That shift in thinking is the focus of the first piece in our new five-part 2026 planning series for service leaders. We’ve spent the past year re-architecting our own support org around AI, and working with hundreds of teams doing the same. It’s time to share our learnings. Find the full article in the comments.

Intercom is now a Shopify Plus Technology Partner. Shopify has officially recognized Intercom as a trusted way for high-growth ecommerce brands to scale support without sacrificing quality. New and enhanced Shopify features are live today: → Fin can fully resolve Shopify order questions → Multi-store support in one inbox → Shopify MCP storefront integration for Fin to help customers shop → Faster order actions without leaving the conversation And we’re continuing to invest in deeper Shopify capabilities to help merchants stay ahead of rising customer expectations and peak-season spikes. If you’re a Shopify Plus merchant, learn how Intercom + Fin can help you scale support. Link in the comments ↓

Most support leaders are deep in 2026 planning right now. And this year, one question keeps surfacing everywhere we look: If AI has rewired how work actually gets done… what should a support organization look like next year? Over the next five weeks, our VP of Customer Support, Declan I., is going to tackle that question head-on. He’s opening up how we’re reshaping our own support org for the AI era, along with the patterns he’s seeing from hundreds of other leaders doing the same work right now. Each week breaks down one of the big decisions every CS leader needs to make for 2026: ⦁ Why things must change ⦁ What new orgs look like ⦁ Who you need on your team ⦁ What these new roles really do ⦁ The systems that sustain it all You can follow along on LinkedIn, read it on the blog, or get it straight to your inbox. 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲. If you’re shaping your 2026 support plans, this is where you start 👇

In trading, timing is everything. And that includes customer support. Dennis O'Connor, Director of Support at Topstep, shares how his team manages more than 150,000 conversations each month across phone, chat, WhatsApp, email, and SMS – and how Fin helped them scale support while improving speed, accuracy, and service quality. And with Fin Voice, Topstep resolves customer questions over the phone, in real time, in multiple languages – with no delay. So when a trader calls at 2AM from the other side of the world, Topstep can still answer instantly. Since adopting Fin, they’ve: • Reached 97% AI involvement across support • Increased resolution rates to 65% • Cut resolution time in half • Delivered multilingual support, 24/7 • Raised CSAT while scaling without adding headcount Watch the full story ↓

The world of digital customer service is changing faster than ever. Make sure you keep up with insights from the latest Gartner® Report. From the rise of GenAI to an emphasis on channel-less customer experience, Gartner® covers it all. We’re also proud that Intercom is named as a digital-first specialist in the report. Fin’s 99.9% accuracy rate is unmatched in the industry. Dive in and download your complimentary copy below.

A customer asks Fin a question. Fin gives an accurate answer. But the customer doesn’t trust it. They escalate to a human, who repeats exactly what Fin said. This isn’t rare. It happens every day. The issue isn’t the AI's accuracy, but customer trust. This is a new challenge for support teams to solve. The role doesn't stop at, “how do we build a great AI agent?” but “how do we help people believe in it?” AI is a convergent force. It’s blurring the lines between product, support, operations, and experience. Support teams now find themselves responsible for answers, AND for how customers experience and adopt AI. In this clip from The Ticket, recorded live at Pioneer 2025, Ruth and Matthew Leggett, CX AI & Digital Director at The Access Group, talk about how leading companies are approaching this shift. Watch the full interview at the link below.