The ROI of a Well-Integrated Support Stack
In today’s fast-paced world, customer support is no longer just about solving problems… it’s about delivering seamless, efficient, and memorable experiences. A well-integrated support stack isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s the secret weapon behind faster resolutions, happier customers, and a stronger bottom line.
The reality of most companies is that there’s a breakdown of efficiency when it comes to inter-team workflows that secretly eat away at its success. Different internal teams have different programs they swear by.
For example, at ABC Company, a B2B company in the SaaS space, has a poorly integrated support stack. This company’s:
Support team uses Zendesk for ticketing, request intake, and internal / external documentation around their product and support processes
Development team uses Jira for Project Management and work assignment and asks support agents to create new tickets in Jira when they’re needed
Commercial team uses Salesforce as a CRM to host client information
Data team uses Snowflake to host their backend database and Sigma to surface data in a readable format for support agents
Sound familiar? While they are using some great tools, oftentimes these programs aren’t automatically integrated to one another, trusting the accurate and timely passing of information to the employees/agents themselves. A well integrated “support stacks” fixes that!
What is a “support stack”?
On a high level, a “support stack” is the combination of different tools, programs and technology a company’s customer support team uses to ensure they provide quick and efficient support to their customers. There are many components to consider—from CRMs and project management tools to homegrown systems and help centers—but it depends on your company’s size, goals, and investment level.
While this may be confusing at times, that’s the beauty of support stack integration (plus, that’s what the CS Playbook is here for!). There’s a major opportunity for people in CX/CS to curate a truly tailored support stack that’s laser focused on their company’s goals, and in turn, benefit its bottom line.
Types of tools that could be part of a “support stack” include, but are not limited to:
Customer relationship manager (CRM) systems like Salesforce, Hubspot, Zoho CRM, and Zendesk Sell
Ticketing systems like Zendesk, Freshdesk, ServiceNow, Intercom, Help Scout, and Zoho
Project management tools like Jira and ClickUp
Documentation hubs like Zendesk Guide, Confluence, and Notion
Backend database systems that a support team uses to review order history or account details like Shopify or Snowflake
Communication channel management tools like Zendesk (Support, Chat, and Talk), Intercom, Drift and Tidio
Communications channels themselves for end users to contact your team like chat, email, phone number, social media, website and more
Internal or homegrown systems used to facilitate actions like password resets, account updates, or tools for more complex troubleshooting
Why is it important to closely integrate the tools within your “support stack”?
Efficient support is the best support, especially at scale. Time is money, right? There are two main reasons why creating a seamlessly integrated stack is highly valuable: reducing agents’ billable hours and increasing customer loyalty.
Reducing Agents’ Billable Hours:
The less time agents waste looking for information, switching back-and-forth between tabs/windows or doing manual data entry, the more tickets they can handle, the quicker their response times, and the more complex issues they can focus on.
Continuing using the Zendesk + Jira example, integrating these two tools allows your agents to create Jira tickets directly from a Zendesk ticket. Further, it allows you to “link” existing Jira bugs or enhancement requests to a Zendesk ticket directly. This bypasses an agent’s need to cross reference the information on both platforms, saving critical response time and reduces the possibility of accidental errors.
Increasing Customer Loyalty:
Whether you’re a small business acquiring your first few customers or a large enterprise focusing on successfully scaling, how you treat your customers—especially those who reach out for support—is of the utmost importance.
When a customer reaches out to a company for support, they are at a critical point in their experience journey. Since they are likely faced with an issue using your company’s product or service, the quality of support they receive, how you make them feel, and how you handled their request will likely either make them never purchase from you again or convert them into a lifelong customer. How’s that for an ROI?
From a psychological perspective, people want to feel important, heard, and supported (for lack of a better word), so if your customers get quick responses to their questions and resolutions to their issues thanks to your well-integrated “support stack” full of resources, they will be happy to do business with you again in the future.
How can different programs be integrated together?
After you’ve take the time to research and implement the various tools in your stack and make the investment to purchase them, it would be a mistake to not take the same care to ensure they are properly connected to the rest of your workflows and tools. There have been some innovative advancements in how different programs plug into each other that can take some tedious or manual work off of your agents’ plates.
Many enterprise platforms have “app” integrations. For example, Zendesk has an app marketplace full of both free and paid program extensions that are built specifically to enhance your agents’ and admins’ Zendesk experience. If you were to integrate your Zendesk instance with Jira, this allows agents to create and “link” Jira tickets to Zendesk tickets directly from Zendesk.
How is this mind-bogglingly helpful in practice? We’ll give you 3 use cases:
Use Case #1 - an end-user of your product submits a bug report that needs investigation from your engineering team. Your support agent can create a Jira ticket without ever leaving Zendesk that gets automatically added to your engineering team’s backlog, streamlining internal back-and-forth.
Use Case #2 - an end-user of your product submits a feature request. Your support agent can create a Jira ticket right from Zendesk (again, without leaving the program) that’s immediately added into your product team’s backlog for grooming.
Use Case #3 - your engineering team has a Jira ticket submitted by the support team, but they want more context. The integration allows your engineers to review the Zendesk ticket’s content right from Jira.
In short, both your support and engineering teams can get all the information they need without the software they are most comfortable with.
The Impact of Integration on Efficiency
Imagine for a minute that you work at ABC Company from the example at the top. We’d consider this a non-integrated stack, and the downsides are plenty.
On the benign side, support agents will need to have separate browser tabs open for every tool that their team and other teams at the company uses. That means the agents will spend time switching between each tab and searching within each tool for the data they need to resolve an incoming request. On the more serious end, the likelihood of information being incorrectly transferred over from one platform to the other—or completely forgotten—is significantly increased.
This results in:
Agent frustration since they have to leave Zendesk to find even the most basic information about the client or their setup of the product
If the customer reports a bug, the agent has to leave their Zendesk tab, open their Jira tab, and manually type the context from the Zendesk ticket into Jira. Each time the client updates the ticket, the agent then needs to manually update the Jira again
The process is prone to human error as agents can easily get data or information mixed up between clients or tickets
Overall, a disjointed “support stack” process takes more time, leading to higher response and resolution times as well as lower customer and employee satisfaction.
On the contrary, if ABC Company optimized its “support stack” and integrated their programs to create automated efficiencies, then this could be your new reality when a ticket comes in from an end-user:
The customer’s information is identified automatically by their name, email, phone number, or other authentication method
Data for the customer and their organization is automatically ported directly into Zendesk from Snowflake and Salesforce using a Zendesk/Salesforce native integration and a custom-built Snowflake integration
This integration pulls relevant data about the customer and their company using their email address or phone number, and/or email domain as a unique ID
If the agent needs to report a bug or link an existing feature request to a new ticket, the Zendesk/Jira integration allows them to do so without even needing to leave the ticket
In this optimized environment, this results in:
Agents who have easy access to all the data they need to resolve a question or issue without leaving the platform
An increase in collaboration between your support team and other teams as integration tools allow for easy communication between all stakholders
A decrease in response and resolution time as agents have all the data they need at their fingertips
A decrease in incorrect information being passed from the support team to your customers as the integrations remove the human error aspect
Customers who get their issues resolved faster and more efficiently
Quantifiable Ways to Measure the ROI
Investing in a well-integrated support stack can yield significant returns, both in improved support metrics and tangible financial benefits. Here’s how you can prove to upper management and the financial decisionmakers why investing in a solid support stack is a wise choice (we know that’s why you’re here!).
Improved Support Metrics:
Start by tracking key performance indicators such as Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), agent response times, and ticket resolution times.
Comparing these metrics pre- and post-integration will provide you and your leadership team a clear picture of efficiency gains. For instance, faster response times and smoother resolutions directly contribute to higher customer satisfaction, which boosts retention and encourages repeat business.
Tangible Financial Benefits:
The financial ROI of these improvements is equally compelling. Research shows that a 7% increase in NPS correlates with a 1% increase in revenue, while happier customers (as measured by CSAT) are more likely to recommend your business, leave positive feedback, and return for future purchases. On the flip side, poor customer service is costly—63% of customers will abandon a brand after just one negative experience, with that number climbing to 86% after two or three (according to a study by Empifi).
By integrating your tools and optimizing your support processes, businesses can not only save time and reduce costs but also drive customer loyalty and long-term growth.
Wrapping Up
A well-integrated support stack is more than just a toolset—it’s a strategic investment that drives efficiency, improves customer satisfaction, and directly impacts your bottom line. From reducing response times to boosting metrics like NPS and CSAT, the benefits of seamless integration are clear.
Getting started is easier than you might think. Platforms like Zendesk, Zoho, and Salesforce offer pre-built integrations that can be set up in minutes, allowing you to optimize your workflows with minimal effort. For more complex needs, consider partnering with certified experts to build tailored solutions quickly and cost-effectively. By prioritizing integration, your business can deliver exceptional support while reaping long-term rewards.