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 up to 70% of support demand, increased CSAT by 30%, 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. They were asking for detailed, multi-step guidance to run their businesses efficiently, and they frequently bypassed existing long-form support documentation, preferring human interaction to navigate complex challenges instead. Add to that the fact that 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.

The challenge was clear: how could Epos Now deliver the same personalized experience their customers had come to expect through more scalable, automated channels?

To solve this challenge, Epos Now partnered with Ada to hire an AI agent. “We were looking for a partner that was working with the newest technology available and exploring the capabilities of generative AI,” Ismail explains. “Ada stood out to us as one of the leading partners that was adopting that new technology and applying it consistently across every single channel Ada operates on.”

Epos Now launched their AI agent, called Sidekick, on messaging to handle complex inquiries in real time, delivering instant, seamless support. Sidekick pulls from various sources, including Epos Now’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.

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.

embracing generative AI for omnichannel support

To meet the diverse needs of their customers, Epos Now also wanted to enhance its omnichannel support, ensuring that the quality of customer service keeps pace with their rapid growth. 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.

“One of the biggest challenges I see us experiencing on a daily basis is trying to provide a simplified experience for our customers irrespective of the channel they’re on,” Ismail explains. The channels were working in silo, powered by a different set of technologies, and they were not necessarily integrated with a unified knowledge base—all of which presented inconsistencies with the kind of experience their customers received, subjective to the channel they reached them on.

Immediately following Sidekick’s launch on their messaging channels, Epos Now saw a 30% increase in CSAT.

the transformation of voice

To date, when a customer is having a persistent and urgent issue, they elect to pick up the phone hoping the agent on the other end of the line can help them with the same sense of urgency.

The voice support experience was propped up by an IVR system. “The IVR experience was pre-configured based on our understanding of what the customers know about their business, and trying to navigate that experience on the basis of a script down to the right stakeholder within Epos Now to provide the best experience to them,” Ismail explains.

While the rudimentary automation helped alleviate some pressure from the support team, it was ultimately not delivering the quality of experience that Epos Now wanted. Not only was it time consuming, there were also instances where a customer would end up with the wrong agent, resulting in even longer wait times.

Bolstered by Sidekick’s success on messaging channels, Epos Now decided to expand to voice support. As the first step in a staggered launch plan, the team placed Sidekick as an option in the IVR, allowing customers the option of instant support.

Within a few weeks, Epos Now saw a 15% increase in CSAT on the voice channel. Sidekick now automatically resolves 40% of all phone inquiries.

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.

Over time, the team specialized in monitoring AI conversations, refining customer workflows, and ensuring that Sidekick 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.

Even when Sidekick can’t fully resolve a customer inquiry, it still reduces the overall effort required by human agents. Thanks to the Sidekick’s ability to understand the query from the start, much of the behind-the-scenes work—like creating a case, documenting the interaction, and taking notes—has already been done by the time the customer is handed off. When it reaches a human agent, everything is already captured and organized, leaving them to simply update the case with the resolution.

And if the issue needs further escalation, the handoff includes a clear, well-documented history, making the next steps faster and more efficient for everyone involved.

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 30%, 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 60% to 70% average automated resolution rate, Epos Now dramatically reduced the need for human intervention in routine queries.

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.

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.

support rooted in empathy

Working in financial services for small business owners, Epos Now knows how important it is to lead with empathy. What was important for the team was not just to resolve inquiries quickly, but to understand why the customer was reaching out, what issue they were experiencing with their business, and how Epos Now could help them with that issue.

“We were looking for a partner that would provide us the capability to deep dive into the customer experience outside of the ability to just provide answer-based support,” Ismail says. “We wanted to understand what our customers are asking us and what kind of support they need and at the same time find opportunities within that interaction.”

This approach helps Epos Now connect with their customers on a deeper level. Not only does this help their customers more, it also creates longer, more meaningful relationships.

“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.”