I've got a team of seven support agents. Three in the US and four in India. Currently our model has each agent taking a ticket and owning it through to completion, only handing off a ticket to the next shift when it's an urgent matter. But we're focusing on decreasing case age. So we're investigating the adoption of a quasi-swarming concept where we have one queue and any agent can take and move a ticket forward.
I'm curious to hear from other admins with similar size teams that are doing anything similar or have tried it in the past. How do you handle potential conflicting statements between agents or agents stepping on each others toes? And ensuring that no tickets are ignored without a clear owner?
Shifting from individual ticket ownership to a quasi-swarming model in Zendesk can help reduce case age by enabling any agent to pick up and move tickets forward. To manage potential challenges such as conflicting statements or agents overlapping, teams often implement clear communication protocols through internal notes and status updates to indicate current ticket ownership. Assigning tickets temporarily, leveraging Zendesk features like collision detection, and categorizing tickets by expertise help maintain order and reduce confusion. Regular team check-ins and monitoring through reports ensure no tickets are overlooked, while defined escalation procedures keep urgent issues prioritized. These combined strategies help maintain a smooth workflow and collaborative environment, even with agents across different time zones.