Find out exactly what is billed
Ask your vendor in writing what counts as a resolution, what happens when a customer replies after an answer, and whether a handoff to a person is charged. Definitions differ, and the difference is where surprises live. Save the answer next to your contract.
Put a hard cap on it
A cap is a monthly limit after which the AI stops or asks before spending more. If your tool offers one, set it below the amount you would be upset to see on an invoice, and write down who may raise it. If it offers no cap, treat that as a risk and review usage weekly instead of monthly.
Estimate from your real tickets
Take last month's ticket count and the share you expect the AI to fully answer, then multiply by the per-resolution rate. Run it three times: a quiet month, a normal month and your busiest one. The busiest result is the bill you need to be comfortable with.
- Quiet month, normal month and busy month, each with its own number
- The share the AI answers is a guess until you test it on real tickets
- Add seats and any base fees, which do not change with volume
Watch the trend, not the invoice
Look at AI usage weekly for the first two months. A rising line tells you early, while an invoice tells you a month late. If usage climbs faster than ticket volume, check whether the AI is answering things it should have left alone.
Decide what happens at the limit
Choose in advance: does the AI pause and send tickets to people, or does it keep going and bill overage? Both are valid. What is not valid is finding out when it happens. Tell the team which one applies so nobody is surprised by a sudden rise in manual tickets.