Agent assist is software that helps human agents in real time by surfacing relevant knowledge, suggesting replies, and guiding next steps inside the agent workspace.

It reads the conversation, retrieves approved content, proposes actions or replies, and lets the agent accept, edit, or trigger a workflow.

Chatbots handle simple requests end-to-end. Agent assist supports a human during live interactions. Copilots cover broader tasks like drafting, search, and reporting.

Choose agent assist when conversations are complex, policy-sensitive, or require empathy and judgment. Use chatbots for repeatable, short workflows.

Average handle time, escalation rate, first-contact resolution, CSAT, backlog, and time-to-proficiency for new agents.

Vendors use per-seat, per-ticket, per-resolution, or hybrid pricing. Model total cost, not just license: implementation, maintenance, data governance, and scale.

Include licenses, setup, integrations, ongoing tuning, content governance, monitoring, analytics, and vendor flexibility over time.

Tight embedding with your helpdesk or CRM (e.g., Zendesk, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Intercom, Genesys), plus SSO, RBAC, and access to your knowledge sources.

Knowledge base articles, internal docs, past tickets, product guides, and CRM records with clear permissions and freshness rules.

Ground answers in approved content, require citations where possible, add guardrails, and keep humans in the loop for sensitive actions.

Yes. Many platforms detect language and translate both ways while letting the agent review edits before sending.

Teams typically start with a narrow pilot in a few weeks once data access, permissions, and success metrics are defined.

No. It augments humans. Agents review suggestions and handle exceptions, complex reasoning, and rapport.

Baseline KPIs, define success criteria, start with one channel or queue, capture agent feedback, and compare outcomes to the baseline.

Unowned knowledge bases, missing permissions, no feedback loop, unclear success metrics, and skipping a staged rollout.

Use SSO, RBAC, data masking, logging, and vendor attestations such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001. Limit training data to approved sources.

Yes. Many solutions can create or update tickets, launch playbooks, or update CRM fields directly from the suggestion panel.

Yes. It can propose chat replies, draft emails, summarize calls from transcripts, and guide next actions across channels.

Prefer standards-based integrations, exportable content, clear APIs, and portable prompts and workflows.

Accurate retrieval, quality guardrails, human-in-the-loop UX, analytics, feedback capture, and native integrations with your stack.