Last night, Fin Labs New York hosted a conversation we've been wanting to have in public for a while.
Our VP of Customer Support, Declan Ivory, sat down with George Dilthey, Head of Support at Clay, for an honest, unscripted look at what it actually takes to use AI across the entire customer lifecycle.
A few ideas that resonated most with the room:
→ "Qualify everywhere" — Clay doesn't just qualify customers at sign-up. They've extended that logic to every touchpoint: support queue, growth strategist handoffs, even Fin conversations. Ask for a demo mid-support chat and the same qualification workflow routes you to the right person instantly.
→ Flip your metrics — George's team now treats high first contact resolution as a signal that Fin should be handling something. If it can be solved in one interaction, why is a human involved?
→ Path to 95 — Fin's own CX team is targeting 95% automation, currently at 84%. The goal isn't hitting 100%, but finding the threshold where AI handles everything it should, freeing humans for consultative, high-context customer work.
George put it well: "We're not thinking about what is this person's role versus this person's role. We're just able to help the customer in the best way possible."
The companies getting the most from AI aren't only using it to respond and resolve tickets. They're rethinking what a customer relationship looks like when an AI agent has full context and the ability to act.
Thanks to George and the Clay team for being so open about the real journey. You can find the full recording of their conversation below.