Epos Now scales customer support and improves customer satisfaction with their AI Agent
Epos Now, a leading AI-driven point-of-sale and embedded finance platform, operates in 10 countries, including the US, and supports 80,000+ SMB locations. They empower underserved merchants in retail and hospitality globally, driving their success and enabling them to compete with industry giants.
Epos Now faced increasingly complex support challenges as they scaled, so they leveraged Ada’s AI customer service platform to launch Sidekick, their innovative AI Agent. Since its launch, Sidekick has saved over 60,000 human labor hours each month in the year since launch, automated 65% of support demand, increased CSAT by 15%, and streamlined support processes — all while empowering their customer service team to focus on more strategic tasks.
Solving the complexity of B2B customer service
For B2B companies like Epos Now, customer service challenges are nuanced due to the nature of their product offerings. As Ismail Ostrilski, Head of Operations, explains, "Our product is an operating system for businesses. We support over 65 verticals, and offer a rich feature depth. This comes with a level of complexity but also a significant learning curve." Customers often need guidance to identify which features of the platform will be most beneficial to their unique business operations, creating a demand for high-touch, personalised support.
As a provider of financial services, Epos Now prioritizes building trust with its customers, a commitment that naturally generates a steady stream of customer service inquiries. This necessitates continuous, high quality support.
Epos Now found that many customers sought more than just technical help — they needed detailed, multi-step guidance to run their businesses efficiently. Whether managing a small shop or a global enterprise, customers often turned to less efficient channels like phone calls, preferring human interaction to navigate complex challenges. Epos Now’s customers frequently bypassed existing long-form support documentation, seeking human interaction instead.
The challenge was clear: how could Epos Now deliver the same personalized experience their customers had come to expect through more scalable, automated channels?
“We realized our customers needed more than just technical support—they wanted personalized, step-by-step guidance to run their businesses efficiently. Leveraging over 13 years of data from 80,000+ locations, we're uniquely positioned to help SMBs succeed. By integrating AI across multiple use cases—from customer service and business insights to pricing analysis—we provide 24/7 assistance without interruption. Our goal with AI is to help us bridge the knowledge gap and empower merchants to thrive in their businesses."
To solve this challenge, EposNow implemented their Sidekick to handle complex inquiries in real time, delivering instant, seamless support across channels. Sidekick pulls from various sources, including EposNow’s extensive knowledge base and system integrations, to provide customers with accurate, up-to-date information. This setup ensures that customers receive precise answers, whether their queries related to payments, inventory management, or other operational needs, all without needing human intervention.
Epos Now operates in highly regulated sectors, such as payments, where even simple queries can have multiple interpretations—whether it's about payment processing, billing, or B2B transactions. These layered complexities, combined with the broad range of industries Epos Now serves—from restaurant owners troubleshooting in kitchens to retail managers handling inventory—made it nearly impossible for old-school IVR systems or scripted chatbots to handle inquiries effectively. Given the diversity of their customer base and the complex inquiries they receive, scripting responses was not scalable and quickly led to diminishing returns.
With Sidekick, Epos Now guides customers through complex processes with the same precision and personalization that once required human intervention. This shift has been crucial as they continue to scale and expand their business. To meet the diverse needs of their customers, EposNow is also enhancing its omnichannel support, ensuring that the quality of customer service keeps pace with their rapid growth.
Embracing generative AI for omnichannel support
As Epos Now adopted an omnichannel approach, they recognized the need to support businesses across different countries, languages, and time zones. Not only did they need to be present across all channels, but they also needed to provide 24/7 support to ensure businesses could access help whenever they needed it, no matter where they were located. Whether it’s a restaurant owner troubleshooting in the kitchen or a retail manager handling inventory on the go, providing omnichannel support became essential.
"We recognized that our customers needed support on demand, whenever and wherever it suited them. With that in mind, we expanded our support across chat, social platforms, and even WhatsApp, giving customers the flexibility to reach us through the channels most convenient for them."
One of the most exciting avenues Epos Now is exploring is voice support, a channel growing in importance as customers increasingly seek more natural, conversational interactions with businesses.
This omnichannel strategy has not only improved customer satisfaction, it optimized the workflow for frontline agents. "The goal is to streamline the support experience for both customers and our team by ensuring agents focus on real issues, not repetitive conversations," Ismail adds.
"Generative AI has helped us realize the potential of offering instantaneous, personalized support across every channel, supporting both our customers and their end-users."
Empowering the support team with strategic focus
Sidekick didn’t just automate customer inquiries at Epos Now; it transformed the roles within their support team. Instead of hiring additional resources, Epos Now elevated existing employees who were already adept at delivering excellent customer service, training them to manage and optimize their AI Agent. This allowed the team to shift away from handling routine queries and focus on more strategic roles like tier 2 and 3 support, as well as internal product development.
“The professional development opportunities for our team have been impressive; they've shifted from routine tasks to managing and fine-tuning our AI Agent. We're seeing real improvements in efficiencies and a noticeable bump in our customer satisfaction scores.”
Over time, the team specialized in monitoring AI conversations, refining customer workflows, and ensuring their AI Agent was continuously aligned with product updates. This shift allowed Epos Now to better serve customers while empowering their staff to take on higher-level responsibilities.
By transitioning out of handling repetitive tasks, the team could start delivering more value to customers while also generating significant time savings for the business.
Delivering quality impact and maximizing time savings
Epos Now’s adoption of Sidekick has had a significant impact on efficiency, delivering substantial time savings while enhancing customer service. Within weeks, customer satisfaction (CSAT) on chat interactions rose by 15%, and overall call demand dropped by 22% to 25% as more customers shifted to channels automated by their AI Agent, like chat and email. With a 50% to 60% average automated resolution rate, Epos Now dramatically reduced the need for human intervention in routine queries.
"Sidekick provided a level of operational leverage that we couldn't have achieved with traditional methods, and has given us the flexibility to focus on strategic growth initiatives while keeping our customer service top-notch."
Sidekick played a pivotal role in Epos Now’s success, enabling the company to keep pace with its rapid expansion while maintaining high service standards. With their AI Agent, Epos Now can streamline operations and save 60,000 human labor hours each month so that the team can reinvest their time in R&D and other higher-value tasks.
"Technology continues to evolve, but by partnering with Ada, we’ve been able to stay ahead of the curve, riding the wave of innovation while ensuring that our service levels remain exceptional.”
The combination of significant time savings, enhanced efficiency, and improved customer satisfaction highlights the ROI of their AI Agent, Sidekick. Epos Now not only streamlined its operations but also set the stage for sustainable growth, all while elevating the customer experience.
Conclusion
“Our partnership with Ada has been instrumental in transforming our customer service operations," said Richard Nolan. "By leveraging Ada's AI technology, we've significantly enhanced efficiency and customer satisfaction. Sidekick handles a large volume of inquiries around the clock, allowing our team to focus on more complex issues. Moving forward, we're excited to deepen our collaboration with Ada to explore new AI innovations that will further personalize the customer experience and streamline our services. We're committed to staying at the forefront of AI in customer service, and we believe this partnership will continue to set new industry standards.”