The Challenge: Enhancing customer experience while reducing costs

For years, enterprise organisations have faced the same core challenge: how to enhance customer experience while driving operational efficiency. This challenge was no different for one of our customers, a global retailer. AI has already played a key role in addressing this, but now, Generative AI is taking automation and engagement to the next level – delivering even greater containment rates, improved customer satisfaction, and cost savings.   

The Syndeo Approach: Blending Generative AI with deterministic flows 

While many enterprises struggle to move Generative AI initiatives beyond the pilot phase, this global brand successfully transitioned into real-world production by taking a controlled and strategic approach. Rather than relying solely on Generative AI, they adopted a blended model – integrating deterministic AI flows with Generative AI to answer FAQs, creating a more holistic and enhanced solution. 

Deterministic AI flows provide structure and reliability, while Generative AI brings dynamic, context-aware interactions – ensuring customer queries are handled with both efficiency and intelligence.   

A key discovery was that simply “feeding” existing FAQ content from a knowledge base into a Large Language Model (LLM) with a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) pipeline was not sufficient. To unlock the full potential of the model, the underlying knowledge articles had to be curated. Instead of structuring knowledge articles as rigid question-answer pairs, content was rewritten to provide broader business context, key concepts, and process insights.   

For example, rather than answering “Why has my package not been delivered?” with a direct response, we provided detailed insights into different delivery methods, potential pitfalls, and troubleshooting steps. This gave the LLM a richer foundation, reducing hallucinations and generating more accurate, useful responses.   

The Impact: 42% increase in automation, with higher customer satisfaction 

Once this structured, blended approach was implemented, the results were immediate: 

• Containment Rate: Increased significantly from 53% to 75%. 

• ‘Not Helpful’ Rate: Dropped from 64% to just 26%. 

• More Positive Engagement: Customers found responses more relevant and actionable. 

This approach built on the foundation of an already successful Conversational AI deployment by Syndeo, proving that the key to unlocking Generative AI’s full potential lies in its integration with deterministic flows to provide structured, controlled, and reliable automation.

The Key Takeaway: Combining curated knowledge, while blending with deterministic AI will unlock Generative AI’s full potential 

• A hybrid approach works best – blending deterministic AI flows with Generative AI ensures structured, efficient responses while allowing for more dynamic, context-aware interactions. 
• Curated knowledge is key – simply loading an FAQ database into an AI model won’t yield optimal results. Thoughtful structuring of content ensures that AI can generate the most useful responses. 
• A controlled approach mitigates risk – unlike many organisations still struggling to move Generative AI out of the pilot phase, this approach demonstrates how real-world production scenarios can be successfully managed while maintaining oversight and accuracy. 

The Future: Realising the true potential of Generative AI 

This case study highlights that real AI transformation requires more than just integrating new technology – it demands a deep understanding of how to prepare knowledge for AI consumption and how to blend Generative AI into structured automation frameworks. By taking a strategic approach, organisations can ensure they unlock the full potential of Conversational AI while avoiding the common pitfalls of poorly implemented Generative AI solutions.   

Syndeo helps enterprise organisations turn AI innovation into reality. Get in touch to learn how we can help you scale AI-powered automation with confidence.