Keeping agents on the ticket

The problem

Agents regularly left the ticket to look things up, such as the requester's details and whether an incident was already active. Every lookup was a context switch, and context switches cost handle time.

What I built

• Context in the ticket sidebar. Zendesk Apps Framework extensions that surface live requester details, active incident status, and account telemetry directly inside the ticket view, eliminating off-screen lookups.
• Support for Zendesk Agent Workspace. Partnered with CX and product teams on the system integration behind Zendesk Agent Workspace, enabling agents to operate seamlessly across Phone, Chat, and Email within a single interface and adopt asynchronous messaging.
• Maintained and evolved the agent tooling suite from 2020 through 2024.

What changed

CS agent productivity rose 70% (internal estimate), context-switching between tools was eliminated, and agents moved seamlessly between synchronous and asynchronous channels.

"Today we launched the Zendesk Agent Workspace that enables agents to work seamlessly across Zendesk channels, including Phone, Chat, and Email, all within a single interface... Thank you for all the hard work needed on the system side to make it happen!"

— Joe Wang, Director of Engineering / Manager, Upwork

What I took from it

Support efficiency isn't just about answering faster—it's about eliminating the friction of gathering context. When an agent has everything in front of them, resolution times collapse naturally.