Mercari is an online marketplace that connects millions of people across the U.S. to shop and sell items of value no longer being used.
An increasing number of tickets prevented Mercari's IT team from addressing technical debt.
74% of IT tickets are automatically resolved with AI.
The Problem
Built for the everyday shopper and casual seller, Mercari is constantly innovating to make exchanges easier, from smart pricing to faster payments and more shipping options. The company's ultra-simple user interface has made buying and selling quick and easy, leading to its continued success.
However, due to this rapid growth, Mercari's US operations faced the challenge of having enough support staff to keep up. For the IT team, primarily driven by Alex Rust, an engineering manager, the main goal was to rapidly scale user-friendly support operations without compromising compliance.
Rust knew that due diligence was critical to future operations. He was determined to find a solution to ensure the company's continued success: "Millions of people use Mercari. We just don't have time for IT hiccups."
The Solution
In July 2021, Mercari US deployed its Moveworks chatbot. The bot uses advanced natural language understanding (NLU) to deduce — and then deliver — the best resolution to employees’ IT issues, all within Slack's conversational and familiar interface.
Via the bot, Moveworks helps employees with a vast array of tech problems: resetting passwords, editing email groups, troubleshooting devices, provisioning software, and more. The bot has profoundly impacted Mercari US, immediately winning over employees by resolving their issues within a few seconds.
Choosing Moveworks was a no-brainer. It's incredible that the AI handles the majority of employee requests so seamlessly, allowing us to focus on growth.
The Result
Today, the bot handles over 74% of issues completely autonomously. Moveworks’ machine learning approach enables the bot to continuously deepen its knowledge of Mercari’s IT environment, resolving more and more issues without intervention from the service desk.
Unlike toolkit chatbots, the Moveworks bot engages with employees conversationally with minimal IT oversight, freeing everyone from the need to remember specific keywords or dialog flows.
Employees were thrilled to have a chatbot that truly understands them, allowing them to ask questions however they like. As a result, the vast majority of employees — 94% — reach out to the bot first when they have questions instead of Slacking the IT team directly.
By taking on a growing percentage of IT tickets, Moveworks allows Mercari to scale its operations while maintaining quality service.