Freshwork's Parthasarathy Discusses Why AI Agents are Crucial

Agentic AI has emerged as a crucial component in modern business strategies, enabling organizations to automate routine tasks and enhance operational efficiency. 

Led by Ramesh Parthasarathy, Senior Vice President of Technology, Freshworks is dedicated to delivering exceptional customer experiences and empowering businesses through cutting-edge AI solutions.

This exclusive interview delves into the world of Freddy AI, exploring its capabilities, development, and the significant impact it's making on industries worldwide. Discover how Freshworks is leveraging AI to redefine customer service, streamline operations, and drive business growth.

Inside Freddy AI

Why AI agents have become essential for businesses today?

AI agents are revolutionizing various industries by automating routine tasks across sales, marketing, support, IT, HR, and finance. They not only streamline operations but also enhance customer experiences by providing quick and accurate responses to common inquiries.

Thanks to recent advancements in generative AI, these agents have become more intuitive and capable of delivering a near-human level of service for repetitive tasks. While they cannot fully replace human agents, they can serve as valuable partners, freeing up human teams to focus on more complex and personalized interactions.

What drove the development of Freddy AI, and how does it differ from previous bots you’ve implemented?

Freshworks has a long history of bot technology, starting with our self-service agent, Freddy. While our previous bots required extensive manual configuration, generative AI has simplified this process significantly. Businesses can now quickly create AI agents using their existing content and documents. This not only streamlines the development process but also ensures a secure and reliable AI solution for our customers.

Can you elaborate on Freddy AI’s specific features and functionalities?

Our AI agent setup process is designed to be simple and efficient. You can upload any relevant documents, such as website content, PDFs, product catalogs, policies, or internal guidelines. Once trained on this information, the AI agent can be deployed on your preferred channel, like a website widget, WhatsApp, or Slack. This allows your customers and employees to get instant answers to their questions.

How does this align with Freshworks' overall technology strategy and business goals?

Our core business goal is to create delightful customer experiences while improving metrics like customer satisfaction and response time. By leveraging AI for automation, we're accelerating our efforts to achieve these goals. AI enables us to process unstructured data and improve our service delivery, ultimately enhancing customer interactions.

AI is often considered a buzzword, but delivering real value is crucial. What feedback have you received from beta users regarding productivity and customer satisfaction?

We have gathered metrics from our beta users that show significant improvements in productivity and customer satisfaction. The public beta of the Freddy AI Agent is yielding impressive results for early adopters in both employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX) sectors. Freddy is positioned as the industry's easiest-to-use solution, autonomously resolving over 40% of support tickets for beta users.

For instance, a US-based cybersecurity company has achieved a 52% deflection rate in employee queries, while a UK health and fitness chain reports 44% deflection in customer inquiries, both set up in minutes. Additional data shows a leading US call center at 59%, a US home medical equipment firm at 49%, and a US bank serving small businesses at 43%.

In CX, a global SaaS startup in India is seeing 38%, and an international non-profit dedicated to forest conservation has reached 50%. Even our own support team at Freshworks has achieved a 30% deflection rate, demonstrating the effectiveness of the Freddy AI Agent.

What unique business problems does Freddy AI address that weren't adequately covered by your existing products?

Freddy AI greatly improves the handling of routine inquiries, such as order management and basic troubleshooting, compared to our older systems. The focus has shifted from simply adding more features to enhancing the speed and quality of customer service.

Freddy AI can resolve 40-45% of service requests. How does this compare to traditional AI implementations, and what factors contribute to this efficiency?

The 40-45% deflection rate is a significant improvement compared to our earlier technology, which took longer to achieve similar results. The new AI capabilities allow for quicker deployment and the ability to manage ad hoc conversations, which enhances resolution rates.

Regarding security and compliance, how does Freddy AI ensure data privacy, and what measures are in place to meet security standards?

Data privacy is a top priority for us. We have a trust framework called Freddy AI Guardian that ensures secure interactions and data use exclusively for each customer. All communications are encrypted, and we have mechanisms in place to address potential issues like AI hallucinations and abusive responses, ensuring a safe environment for users.

How seamless is the integration of Freddy AI with existing Freshworks products?

Freddy AI comes pre-integrated with both our customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) products, making it easy to set up support desks without extensive integration efforts.

What focus does Freshworks place on R&D to drive innovation?

We have a dedicated team called Freddy Labs that explores emerging technologies, including multi-modal AI, to enhance our product offerings. We're working towards a future where multiple AI agents collaborate to resolve complex use cases.

How is Freshworks leveraging AI and machine learning to improve customer experiences?

Freddy AI exemplifies our commitment to integrating AI and machine learning. We're using both traditional ML models and generative AI to enhance content understanding, facilitate faster onboarding for users, and improve overall customer service efficiency. AI helps us create more empathetic and responsive interactions.