AI Support Agent
An AI support agent is software that handles support interactions autonomously, from reading tickets to investigating issues to drafting responses. Unlike chatbots, AI support agents connect to production systems.
Read definition →Support operations glossary
Support Operations Glossary
Definitions for the metrics, workflows, and investigation concepts B2B support teams use to measure speed, quality, escalation load, and technical diagnosis.
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
CSAT measures customer satisfaction with a specific support interaction, typically on a 1-5 scale collected via post-resolution survey.
Read definition →First Response Time (FRT)
First Response Time measures how long a customer waits between submitting a support ticket and receiving their first human response. It is the most visible support metric from the customer's perspective.
Read definition →Incident Management
Incident management is the process of detecting, responding to, and resolving service disruptions. In B2B SaaS, incidents often surface first through customer support tickets before monitoring alerts.
Read definition →Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR)
Mean Time to Resolution measures the average time from when a support ticket is created to when it is fully resolved. For B2B technical support, MTTR is the primary metric that drives customer satisfaction and retention.
Read definition →Net Promoter Score (NPS)
NPS measures customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your product (0-10 scale). Promoters (9-10) minus Detractors (0-6) equals your NPS.
Read definition →Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
Root cause analysis in support context is the process of identifying the underlying technical reason for a customer-reported issue, rather than just addressing the symptom.
Read definition →Service Level Agreement (SLA)
An SLA defines the committed response and resolution times for different ticket priorities. SLA breaches result in service credits, penalty fees, or contract termination in B2B agreements.
Read definition →Support Automation
Support automation uses software to handle parts of the support workflow without human intervention. This ranges from chatbots answering FAQs to AI systems investigating technical issues by querying production databases.
Read definition →Support Escalation Rate
Support escalation rate is the percentage of tickets that get escalated from frontline support to engineering, senior agents, or management. High escalation rates indicate that L1 agents lack the tools or data to resolve technical issues.
Read definition →Ticket Investigation
Ticket investigation is the process of diagnosing the root cause of a customer-reported issue by querying multiple internal systems — application logs, databases, billing platforms, bug trackers, and monitoring tools.
Read definition →Tiered Support Model (L1/L2/L3)
A tiered support model organizes support teams into levels: L1 (frontline agents handling initial contact), L2 (senior agents with deeper technical knowledge), and L3 (engineering teams handling the most complex issues).
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