Indian e-commerce start-up Dukaan‘s CEO, Suumit Shah, has terminated most of his customer support staff as an AI-powered chatbot outperformed them significantly. The decision was deemed essential as the chatbot achieved response times in minutes compared to the staff’s two-hour turnaround.
In a viral tweet, the 31-year-old entrepreneur from Bangalore, who specializes in assisting traders with online product sales through digital storefronts, announced the staff reduction.
Shah stated, “Due to this AI chatbot, we had to layoff 90% of our support team. It was a difficult choice, but a necessary one.”
Additionally, the CEO highlighted that the AI technology enabled the company to achieve an almost instantaneous response time of 44 seconds, drastically improving efficiency.
The entrepreneur highlighted in his tweet that his company’s customer support expenses were reduced by 85% due to technological intervention. In contrast to his team’s resolution time of two hours and 13 minutes, the chatbot achieved a remarkable three minutes and 12 seconds.
Shah justified his decision to downsize, emphasizing that startups are now prioritizing profitability over striving to become unicorns in the current economic climate of the country. He acknowledged that while it may be less glamorous, it allows the bills to be paid. Customer support had long been a challenge for the company, and he saw fixing it as an opportunity.
In his tweet, the Dukaan founder shared the journey of successful experimentation with AI and stressed the reality of the customer support struggle, which ultimately led to the layoffs. However, he concluded the tweet by inviting applications for other positions in his company. Currently employing 60 individuals, only three are part of the customer support team, drastically reducing the monthly budget for that department to a mere $100.
“P.S. We’re hiring for multiple roles at Dukaan,” he tweeted, followed by an invitation to those passionate about AI, e-commerce, and product design to reach out and apply.
