𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘇𝘇𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 — 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝟵𝟱% 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲. ❌ AI Agents are the current buzzword on LinkedIn. But when it comes to… | Andreas Horn

🚨 One of the hottest debates in Enterprise AI Tooling today
Horizontal AI vs. Vertical AI

Put simply:
• When you optimize for generality, you lose specificity.
• When you optimize for specificity, you lose generality.

After speaking with 100s of CX, Support executives, and their CIO / IT Tooling teams, we’ve seen firsthand at AptEdge why generic, horizontal AI in Support Ticketing or CRM systems falls short—and why a domain-specific, vertical AI approach unlocks real value in B2B support.

Here’s a closer look at the key differences we’ve seen between the two approaches in practice, in our segment:

🔍 Depth Over Breadth
• Horizontal AI: Handles broad, surface-level tasks like auto-tagging, routing, or generic FAQ responses.
• Vertical AI: Embeds deep expertise—understanding products, versions, custom configs, and nuanced integration issues.

📡 Rich Signal Integration
• Horizontal AI: Relies mainly on structured knowledge bases.
• Vertical AI: Analyzes tickets, bug trackers, logs, incidents, and internal, external docs—grounding every answer in your environment.

🧠 Agentic, Multi-Step Reasoning
• Horizontal AI: Suggests links or simple fixes.
• Vertical AI: Orchestrates full diagnostic workflows—analyzing data, testing hypotheses, validating results—just like an experienced L3 Support Engineer.

🧩 Native Workflow Integration
• Horizontal AI: Functions as an add-on or external layer—often disconnected from the daily flow of work.
• Vertical AI: Is embedded directly into ticketing platforms, knowledge bases, and diagnostic tools—delivering help, automation, and insight within the support team’s native environment.

🔄 Continuous Learning with Human Oversight
• Horizontal AI: Updated infrequently and siloed.
• Vertical AI: Learns from every resolved case—compounding knowledge daily—while your Support Engineers train, guide, and approve outputs within existing tools.

With Vertical AI, end users don’t “go to the AI”—the AI comes to them, working seamlessly inside the tools and workflows they use every day.

In Support, we continue to see vertical AI solutions wins—bringing precision, context, and a self-improving knowledge base that horizontal, one-size-fits-all tools can’t match.

If you’re a B2B Support team curious on how we’re putting this into action at AptEdge?
👉 Visit aptedge.io or reach out to any of our leaders and operating advisors.

Kusal De Silva, Monique Nguyen, Matt Foley, Richard Hubbard, Adam Savage, Gerald Hastie, Charles R. Coaxum, PMP, Steven Kennedy, Sean Stembridge, David Tirazona, Catharine Coleman, Chris Slaugh, Mark Roberge, Andi Vanetta Smith John Gleeson, Raghuram Madabushi, Sharath Keshava Narayana, Andrés Pérez Soderi, Ryan Gembala, Patrick Eggen.

#B2BSupport #VerticalAI #AgenticAI #SupportEngineering #KnowledgeOps #EnterpriseAI #AptEdge