Introduction to Intelligent Swarming

What is Intelligent Swarming?

Intelligent swarming is the idea that one support person will work on a trouble ticket from start to finish, without escalations. This means that the support person will seek the proper resource, working towards a resolution instead of escalating it to a higher level. This is potentially aggravating to customers who have become used to speedy resolutions. By not escalating, the person working towards the resolution “swarms” with other peers around a problem until that issue is resolved.

To a certain extent, some level of swarming has been done in the past. In some instances, though, the escalation process can create a hierarchy or caste system where the upper-tier teams tend to look down on their counterparts. This upper tier, in some unfortunate cases, tends to hoard knowledge, refusing to talk to customers directly. In this situation, the customer may feel like they are going into a support black hole with no chance of regaining their lost productivity. On the other hand, lower-tier teams may be measured on metrics that are only attainable by escalating calls. With a little more effort or time, they could have resolved the issue for the customer. By doing this, customer satisfaction tends to be negatively skewed.

Intelligent swarming seeks to change that narrative. Over time, as teams build knowledge bases to help them resolve common or known issues, issues are resolved faster. In some cases, these knowledge bases are not only shared with lower-tier teams but also made readily available for the customer. By doing this, the customer is frequently able to resolve known issues on their own. Decreasing customer downtime increases customer productivity and satisfaction with the company, product or service that is offered.

Intelligent swarming serves as a new tool, focusing on resolution times as well as team knowledge. Sharing knowledge makes each person more efficient and better able to resolve undocumented problems.

Defining the Status Quo

Currently, a double-edged customer service sword exists, often increasing customers’ irritation when they call in to support and are not provided with immediate answers. The customer does not realize that this problem is new, requiring more research to understand. Intelligent swarming allows a company to maintain customer satisfaction time and again.

Earlier, we discussed how the tiered structure created a caste system. As you move up the tiers, you become less engaged with the customer. In some ways, it appears as if upper-tier teams are rewarded for not having to talk with customers. This is the current ideology drives many teams. A wall is created between each tier, as the issue is escalated. In many cases, customers have to work to overcome these walls just as much as the lower-tier team members.

Additionally, tribal knowledge can get stuck in one person’s head by the sheer existence of these walls. If that person leaves your organization and takes that tribal knowledge with them, it decreases the productivity of your teams overall. On the flip side, you don’t provide an opportunity for lower-tier team members to grow. By allowing them to gain more knowledge by working the issues to completion, these team members would receive the experience necessary to speed up the process of resolving issues faster in the future while growing professionally.