Choosing the Right AI for Your Helpdesk: Why a Built-In Solution Might Not Be Enough
4 Mar 2025
4 min read
Imagine this: you’re exploring AI-powered automation for your customer service, and your helpdesk conveniently offers an AI solution. It seems like the obvious choice, right?
It’s certainly a reasonable place to start. But have you taken the time to compare it against what’s available in the market? With so many AI-powered options – chatbots, virtual assistants, agent assist tools, and even customer service integrations from platforms like Klaviyo – it can get overwhelming fast.
This article will help clarify the capabilities of helpdesk AIs, their limitations, and why specialist AI solutions like DigitalGenius might be a better fit for your needs.
Understanding Helpdesk AIs
In the race to integrate AI, most major helpdesks now offer some form of automation. Zendesk acquired Ultimate, Gladly incorporated Thankful, and Salesforce rebranded Einstein as Agentforce. Platforms like Intercom, Gorgias, Dixa, and Kustomer have also developed their own AI tools.
Common AI applications in helpdesks include:
Knowledge Base Querying: AI searches a knowledge base or connected systems to provide answers, either for customers or internal agents.
Agent Assist or Co-Pilot Tools: These summarize conversations, suggest responses, and improve agent efficiency.
Analytics and Insights: AI detects patterns in customer interactions, identifying trends and sentiment.
AI Agents: Often chatbots, these attempt to resolve customer issues autonomously.
Knowing which of these applications matters most for your business is key. Consider:
If you handle many repetitive customer queries, knowledge base AI can be helpful.
If you prioritize human interactions but want to enhance efficiency, agent assist tools are ideal.
If you seek deeper customer insights, analytics and insights AI are crucial.
If you want personalized, dynamic responses to customer issues, AI agents are the best choice.
Many companies want all of the above, but prioritizing the right solution from the start is essential.
The Limitations of Helpdesk AIs
While helpdesk AIs offer basic automation, they often struggle with complexity. Let’s take a common scenario: a customer asks about a delayed order. An effective AI agent should:
Validate the order number.
Check warehouse dispatch status.
Retrieve carrier tracking data.
Assess delay severity and offer a resolution (refund or replacement).
Process the refund or initiate a reorder.
Helpdesk AIs may handle simple versions of this process but often fail in complex cases – such as partial deliveries, missing items, or conflicting tracking data. Many still require human intervention in 50%+ of cases.
Moreover, flexibility is another challenge. Businesses have different policies for refunds, replacements, and escalations. A rigid helpdesk AI may struggle to adapt to these nuances.
Misleading Metrics: Automation & Deflection Rates
Some helpdesk AIs advertise high automation rates, but what do these numbers really mean? The reality is:
“Automation rate” is not standardized – it may count partially handled cases, chatbot deflections, or even unanswered inquiries.
Chatbots can create more tickets – a customer who would normally search a FAQ might ask the chatbot instead, increasing workload.
Deflection rates can be misleading – some customers leave satisfied, but others abandon interactions out of frustration.
Generative AI also has a tendency to over-answer – even when it lacks the correct information – leading to potential customer dissatisfaction. The key is balancing AI automation with effective human escalation when needed.
Speed vs. Quality in AI Deployment
Many AI solutions promise quick setup, but rapid deployment often sacrifices quality. A simple automation may fetch a tracking link for a "Where is my order?" inquiry, but what if the package is delayed? Without deeper logic, such interactions add little value.
A more robust AI requires thoughtful implementation – testing different scenarios, ensuring brand consistency, and optimizing responses. Investing time in quality ensures better long-term automation success.
Where Specialist AI Solutions Go Further
Generic vs. personalized responses
Helpdesk AIs, and many AI plugins are great at responses to generic questions. These are questions where it doesn’t matter who you are or what circumstances you are in. If you ask “How much is Next Day shipping in Canada?” the answer is the same no matter who’s asking the question.
If you ask, “What is happening to MY order” or “Why have I not got my refund yet?” that is specific to you, and if I asked the same question, the answer should be different.
Taking the refund question, a helpdesk AI may give a generic answer such as “When you return an item, it typically takes 3-5 days for a refund to be issued, and a further 3-5 days for it to appear in your account.” That answer is correct, but isn’t specific to the customer or their situation.
Proactive responses
The next-level of AI agents is being able to proactively solve problems for customers. This means, rather than waiting for them to contact you about a late shipment, for instance, you can contact them proactively. This could be simply informing them, or even offering a solution if a package has been irretrievably lost.
This is very powerful, but something that helpdesk AIs struggle to handle at this time.
Industry expertise
If your helpdesk is not dedicated to ecommerce, you may find what you can do with its AI is limited. Helpdesks that work across industries will naturally focus on things that are common to all industries, and may lack the depth of specialist platforms.
If you are looking into this long-term, you will want to look at the track record of different platforms with dealing with AI.
Channels
An AI Agent should be able to work across multiple channels, and not just chat. Being able to resolve emails, answer questions over social media, and even voice are all possible channels to deploy an AI Agent and deliver a joined up experience to your customers.
We all hear how customers’ expectations are changing. It’s not enough to just have customer service available on email to truly elevate your CX, and customers are expecting you to be where they are – on-site, in-app, social media and so on.
If your helpdesk is only handling a couple of channels well, then it is unlikely to be able to use AI effectively in every channel you want. If you are happy with the channels you’ve got, then it may not be such a worry.
Onboarding
If you are dipping your toe into AI, you may find that you are able to self-start and automate in a couple of days. But as you start getting into more complex areas, will you have the support necessary to push things as far as you can?
If your helpdesk provides great support, then you may well be OK. If it’s a challenge to get through to a product expert now, then it could be worse when it comes to a new product. Specialist AI platforms have built their onboarding just for AI, and many offer dedicated support to get you up and running.
Breaking the Helpdesk AI Ceiling
We speak to lots of ecommerce brands who have tested out their helpdesk AI and we find a similar story crops up a lot.
Once things are set up, the initial results look promising, and brands are seeing some good automation levels and CSAT scores. But then, they reach their limit.
The AI struggles to deal with more complex situations because of a lack of deep integrations. Other use cases beyond the initial basic ones are difficult to set up successfully. The handover to agents can be hit or miss.
This is what we call the Helpdesk AI ceiling.
For some brands, the limitations involved are acceptable. But for those aiming to scale automation further and embed a longer term strategy, a specialist AI provider like DigitalGenius is a better choice.
What DigitalGenius Offers
DigitalGenius integrates seamlessly with your existing helpdesk while connecting with third-party platforms (ecommerce systems, carriers, payment processors, etc.) to deliver deeper automation.
Unlike basic helpdesk AIs, DigitalGenius provides:
Advanced, case-specific AI agents that can handle complex interactions.
Proactive customer service by detecting and addressing issues before customers reach out.
Greater flexibility and customization, adapting to your business’s unique needs.
Want to see how DigitalGenius compares to your current helpdesk AI? Schedule a custom demo with our team today.
