Policies vs. Flows: Why Policies are the Future?

In the realm of customer support, traditional flows have been the go-to approach for managing interactions—linear, rigid paths designed to handle specific scenarios. While they serve a purpose, flows can be cumbersome, complex to set up, inflexible and hard to maintain. The future lies in policies or AI agents, a more dynamic, adaptable approach. Here’s why:

1. Ease of Use – Policies allow anyone to write instructions in natural language, making it easy for non-technical users to define and refine customer interactions. No need for complex flowcharts or scripting—just clear, straightforward language that anyone can understand and manage.
2. Fully self-serve – As policies are written in natural language, every non-technical CX manager can write, test and modify policies. 
3. Time to Implement – Every business already has Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place. With policies, you can quickly translate these existing procedures into automation. It’s as simple as copy and paste, saving valuable time and resources compared to building intricate flows from scratch.
4. Flexible and Personalized Customer Experience – Unlike rigid flows, policies allow for more flexibility and personalization. They adapt based on real-time context, ensuring customers receive a tailored experience that feels natural, not mechanical. This approach makes it easier to handle exceptions and provide unique, customer-centric interactions.
5. Opens Up Opportunities for Experiments – Policies enable businesses to experiment more freely. In the future, Policies will power A/B experiments with multiple versions of a policy, comparing their performance across key quality metrics to identify the most effective approach. For instance, in refund scenarios, our customers can experiment with different policies to see which one results in higher customer satisfaction (CSAT). However, we may also find that it’s worth sacrificing a few CSAT points if it means significantly reducing the amount of refunds given.

Whether it’s testing new approaches to drive revenue, improving retention, or refining upsell opportunities, policies make it easier to iterate and optimize. You can quickly tweak and test different strategies without needing to rebuild complex workflows.

By shifting from traditional flows to policies, businesses can create a more agile, user-friendly, and personalized approach to customer support. Policies offer a future where companies can easily adapt, scale, and innovate, providing better customer experiences while driving growth.

Kodif Policies are a universal solution that can be applied across both Copilot and email automation.

However, for scenarios that are high-stakes, sensitive, or carry significant risk (such as compliance-related interactions, payment issues, or security concerns), rule-based flows provide the precision needed. Flows allow businesses to set strict, predefined paths that the AI must follow, ensuring consistency and minimizing the chance of error. This is crucial for maintaining trust and accuracy when the stakes are high.