Spotlight: Zac Hodgkin @ Panther

How did you get into customer support?

My customer support journey started in college when I worked as a network technician at my university. I mostly helped people with their network and phone connections, but I got to travel all over campus, meeting all sorts of cool faculty members and helping them out with old phone lines and more modern network problems. I got a huge thrill from troubleshooting and helping people solve their issues. Ten years later, seeing customers pumped about support is still super amazing.

Are there any customer support trends in 2025 you are keeping an eye on?

No matter where you look, the elephant is AI, so it’s not super surprising that AI is also making waves in customer support. It’s been great to work with tools like Pylon to navigate the waters as they are super receptive to both the AI landscape, customer needs, and our feedback. It will be interesting to see whether or not the public accepts more agent-driven support. It’s probably going to be pretty dependent on the product and quality of agents, but we’ll see how it unfolds!

What's a mistake you made early in your career, and what did you learn from it?

My biggest mistake was when joining jobs, I would silo my interactions within the support team. It didn’t even cross my mind to meet with people across departments to understand how they interact with the product and or their impact on the organization. Turns out, you can learn something new from everyone, and your network is your strongest asset. So my advice is to schedule time with as many people in as many departments as possible when starting a new job, especially early on in your career.

What do most people get wrong about customer support?

One of the biggest misconceptions about support is that it can be treated as an afterthought, or just another cost center for the company. In reality, customer support is a goldmine of insights and opportunities when approached strategically. Support teams are on the front lines, hearing directly from customers about their pain points, needs, and wishlists. When you capture and leverage this data effectively, it becomes a powerful driver for customer loyalty and business growth. Great support isn’t just about resolving issues; it’s about building relationships, creating customer love, and using those insights to improve your products, services, and overall customer experience!