Kaizen for the AI era: How small improvements build smarter support

Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement, emphasizes the power of small, incremental changes to achieve significant long-term results, a concept that has been effectively adopted by companies like Toyota. Intercom applies this philosophy to its customer service operations through the "Fin Flywheel," a process that enhances AI-powered customer support by continuously training, testing, deploying, and analyzing the AI system. This approach ensures that Fin's performance improves with each interaction, while human support teams at Intercom are encouraged to identify and implement improvements based on customer interactions, turning them into proactive problem-solvers. By embedding continuous improvement into both AI and human processes, Intercom creates a dynamic system where learning and refinement are integral, ultimately leading to a competitive advantage.