Relay reduced support costs by 68% and freed their team to focus on what matters most
Key metrics
cost reduction
coverage achieved
resolution rate
James Okonkwo
Head of Support, Relay
Duckie handles the repetitive stuff so our team can focus on the hard problems that actually need a human.
James Okonkwo
Head of Support
Relay is a collaboration platform that helps distributed teams coordinate work across time zones. Their support team serves a global customer base that expects responsive, knowledgeable assistance around the clock.
The challenge
Relay's global customer base meant support requests came in around the clock. Their team was burning out:
- No 24/7 coverage — customers in Asia-Pacific waited up to 12 hours for responses
- Repetitive tickets consuming 75% of agent capacity
- Hiring budget frozen despite growing ticket volume
- Agent burnout leading to turnover and knowledge loss
Relay needed to do more with the same team — or watch their support quality continue to decline.
The implementation
Relay took a phased approach, starting with their highest-volume ticket categories:
- Phase 1 — Automated onboarding questions and how-to inquiries (40% of total volume)
- Phase 2 — Added account management workflows: password resets, plan changes, billing inquiries
- Phase 3 — Expanded to technical troubleshooting with structured runbooks for common issues
Each phase was validated in shadow mode before going live, ensuring quality remained high throughout the rollout.
The results
After completing all three phases:
- 68% reduction in support costs — avoided hiring 4 additional agents
- True 24/7 coverage — customers in every time zone now get instant responses
- 89% autonomous resolution rate for covered ticket types
- Agent satisfaction up 40% — the team now works on interesting, challenging problems
The cost savings alone justified the investment within the first quarter. But the real win was the team's morale — agents who were considering leaving are now energized by the higher-quality work they get to do.
Looking ahead
Relay is building a feedback loop where insights from Duckie's conversations inform their product roadmap. Support isn't just a cost center anymore — it's a strategic intelligence source.