Customer service & support
Ticket triage & prioritisation
Incoming enquiries are sorted, prioritised and assigned directly to the right person.
Lever 2 of 5 · Scaling with AI
Growing, even when
positions stay vacant.
Growth that does not stall at the next unfilled position. Automation in customer service, back office and onboarding gives you the capacity of an additional position, without a single new job advert.
- is how long it takes today to fill a position
- Avg. 167 days
- is how long it takes today to fill a position
- vacancies in Germany, end of 2025
- 1.26m
- vacancies in Germany, end of 2025
- proven use cases in the catalogue
- 100+
- proven use cases in the catalogue
Starting point
More orders would be possible. But who is going to handle them?
- 167 days
is how long a position stays vacant on average. That is how long the work piles up.
Source: Federal Employment Agency, vacancy duration 2025
- 1.26m
vacancies in Germany at the end of 2025. Everyone is looking for the same skilled people.
Source: IAB job vacancy survey, Q4 2025
- 36%
of companies cannot fill open positions, in mid-sized businesses over 40%.
Source: DIHK Skilled Workforce Report 2025/2026
- 83%
expect negative consequences of the skills shortage. And it is not getting better.
Source: DIHK Skilled Workforce Report 2025/2026
Before / after
From recruiting risk to plannable capacity.
The lever does not replace anyone on the team. It provides the capacity of an additional position, without depending on a successful hire.
Today
Customer service
tickets pile up when a position stays vacant
Back office
invoices, orders and dunning tie up fixed capacity
Onboarding new employees
happens on the side when there is time
Knowledge transfer
is lost when employees leave
Capacity planning
gut feeling, often only reactive once overloaded
With AI automation
Customer service
triage & self-service take over the base load
Back office
largely automated, the team only reviews exceptions
Onboarding new employees
structured, digital onboarding assistant
Knowledge transfer
documented in a central knowledge base
Capacity planning
plannable across locations and teams
What the lever is worth
The calculation behind this lever.
The classic route (filling a position) against the ivato route (freeing up capacity). Set the steps to fit your company. We will recalculate with your real figures in the initial consultation.
In numbers · Worked example
- Recruiting costs (€4,500 per position)≈ €4,500
- Recurring personnel costs in year 1≈ €65,000
Costs avoided in year 1 (example)€69,500
Instead of an average of 167 days of vacancy: go-live in 8-12 weeks. A one-off investment with a fixed scope instead of recurring personnel costs, independent of the labour market.
Example calculation using figures from past projects. No guarantee.
Use case catalogue
A selection from 100+ proven use cases.
Not every use case suits every company. In the initial consultation we choose together the four use cases with the greatest economic leverage for you.
Customer service & support
Self-service portal
Customers find answers, status and documents themselves, around the clock.
Customer service & support
Multilingual support bot
Frequent questions are answered instantly in several languages, difficult cases go to the team.
Customer service & support
Complaint routing
Complaints land with the right person immediately and are tracked until resolved.
Customer service & support
Proactive customer communication
Customers learn about status and appointments before they have to ask.
Administration & back office
Automatic invoicing
Invoices are generated from order data and go out without manual work.
Administration & back office
Digital order processing
From receipt to confirmation, the order runs through. Your team only reviews exceptions.
Administration & back office
Document capture
Receipts, forms and delivery notes are read and cleanly transferred into the system.
8 of 29 use cases
A selection from the ivato catalogue of 100+ proven use cases across all five levers. The catalogue keeps growing. If something is missing, tell us: if needed, we will design a new use case for you.
Why now
The labour market will not get easier on its own.
Every month a position stays vacant, the additional work carries on in the existing team. This is not a one-off bottleneck but a running cost factor.
And the situation is worsening structurally: by 2039, 13.4 million people in the workforce in Germany will reach retirement age, almost a third of the entire workforce.
- 36%
of companies have difficulty filling positions
- 83%
expect negative consequences of the skills shortage
- 13.4m
people in the workforce will reach retirement age by 2039
- 1.26m
vacancies at the end of 2025
Sources: DIHK Skilled Workforce Report 2025/2026 · Federal Statistical Office, workforce reaching retirement age by 2039 · IAB job vacancy survey Q4 2025 · Federal Employment Agency
Your starting point
Where do you start, and how do you put this lever to work in your company as quickly as possible?
Four building blocks that build on one another. You decide where to join, depending on what you already know and how much you would like to do yourself.
- 01Do it yourself · online
Digital self-check
Start here ifyou would like to check for yourself first where you stand.
Guided, thorough and convenient online: you receive your maturity level, the ranking of all five levers and an automatic evaluation with a business case.
After your evaluation we will get in touch personally, because every path is individual. Then continue to strategy consulting or straight to implementation.
- 02Guided · analysis
Strategy consulting
Start here ifit is still open where your biggest lever lies.
Together we analyse where your greatest potential lies and which use cases work first, as a quantified business case.
Depending on scope, up to 80% eligible for funding (up to €5,600 grant per year). We handle the administration.
- 03Guided · delivery
Implementation
Start here ifyou already know your lever, or are coming from the self-check or consulting.
We implement the prioritised use cases: four use cases, fixed scope, go-live in 8-12 weeks.
Depending on the federal state, funding of up to €50,000 can be used for implementation. We check this for you.
- 04Guided · monthly
Ongoing support
Start here ifyour solution (or your own system) should keep growing in the long term.
Our AI and strategy advisors are at your side every month: advising, implementing, developing further. We also rebuild and extend your existing in-house systems.
Not sure where to start? In the free initial consultation we will find the right starting point together.
Arrange an initial consultation →Success Stories
Results from practice.
01 / 07
10×
more output at the engineering firm
Engineering firms & expertsAI & knowledge
Explosion protection with AI: An engineering firm achieves ten times more than before.
- Problem
- Expertise and documentation depended on a few specialists.
- Approach
- An internal AI knowledge and process solution prepared enquiries and documents.
- Result
- The firm can handle ten times more work; approval and responsibility remain with the specialists.
Scaling with AI
View case →Selected clients
350+ companies and public institutions have already delivered projects with us.
By industry
Selected approaches from more than 25 years of industry experience.
All industries at a glance →- Utilities & suppliers
- Mechanical & plant engineering
- Industry & series production
- Family businesses
- Property management & real estate
- Building services & electrical
- Solar & energy technology
- Tax advisors & lawyers
- Engineering firms & experts
- Banks
- Agencies & consulting
- IT system houses
- E-commerce & info business
- Medical technology
- Longevity & clinics
- Pharma & pharmacies
- Travel & hotels
- Trade fairs & events
- Public transport & aviation
- International groups
- Family offices
- Universities & higher education
- Business clubs & VIP
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions about this lever.
Your question is not here? In the initial conversation we take 30 minutes for your specific topic.
Not necessarily, but it makes you less dependent on recruiting success. Many companies simply need fewer new positions to handle the same volume of work.
The lever does not replace a working recruiting process. It reduces how often you have to hire at all, and makes new employees productive faster through a digital onboarding assistant.
Yes. Ticket triage, self-service portals and proactive communication are among the 20 use cases of this lever and work directly in customer service.
That is up to you. If you would like to check for yourself first, start with the digital self-check. If it is still open which use cases bring the biggest lever, strategy consulting is the right start. If you already know your priority, go straight to implementation. Afterwards we can support you monthly if you wish.
That depends on the chosen scope of use cases and is discussed transparently in the initial consultation, on the basis of a fixed scope instead of an open-ended number of hours, often partly subsidised through funding.
Ready to find out where your greatest potential lies?
A 30-minute assessment of your topic, personal and without obligation.