Automation is a buzzword being used in many industries. The IT Service Management industry (ITSM) is perhaps one avenue where automation is desperately needed. For many decades, the ITSM industry has revolved around reactive (not proactive) IT service desks that had to manually resolve every issue faced by internal employees. At the core of these services are ticketing systems. These systems track employee requests for IT assistance (or tickets) and the solutions provided by IT professionals. Except for the fact that many IT ticketing systems have undergone cloud adoption in the last five years, there hasn’t been much innovation in the ITSM industry.
Most companies ignore the need to transform traditional ticketing systems. However, reactive IT service desks don’t cut the bill anymore. The slow processes of opening tickets to report problems, scheduling these tickets, and then having those tickets manually resolved by IT specialists aren’t efficient anymore. Instead of involving so many people, machines, and hours into these processes, companies must consider automating certain aspects of their IT service desks. Automation promises countless benefits.
The only things preventing companies from giving their ITSM systems makeovers and equipping them with Artificial Intelligence-powered tools are some silly industry myths. These myths about AI-powered IT Helpdesks are harming the rate of automation in the ITSM industry. So, let’s dispel some common myths about automation in the ITSM industry.
Myth 1 – IT Departments Don’t Need Help or Upgrades
Working in IT has become tougher every year. The notion that IT professionals are happy with how legacy ticketing systems work is completely wrong. In a recent survey involving IT professionals, 84% of the respondents said IT work will get significantly harder in the next three years. 55% of the respondents stated that the never-ending inflow of tickets is harmfully affecting their wellbeing. IT specialists of today are overworked and underrecognized by management.
With an AI-powered ‘virtual’ helpdesk, companies can make lives ten times easier for their IT professionals. These AI-powered tools can proactively automate and assist with ticketing requests. They can improve the quality of actions IT professionals take while handling requests at the IT Service Desk via efficient scheduling, correct routing of tickets, and most importantly – by resolving mundane tasks.
Yes, AI-powered virtual IT helpdesks can easily help employees overcome non-serious issues like password resets or gaining entry to certain folders. With these systems, IT professionals can optimize their workloads and focus on important issues – not reset an employee’s password for the tenth time in a month! Companies that leverage virtual IT helpdesks can make the lives of their IT professionals ten times easier.
Myth 2 – Virtual Agents are Useless
Another common misconception is that virtual agents or chatbots don’t offer any value to IT service desks. AI-powered virtual agents act as buffers for a company’s IT department. These AI-powered tools use Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to understand employee requests and tickets to automate workflows and provide solutions within seconds. They eliminate the need to resolve redundant tasks and actions manually. Tasks like provisioning software or helping employees log-in to system networks don’t need manual labor.
Streamlining these processes with automated virtual agents and chatbots can severely reduce the volumes of tickets IT service desks receive on a day to day basis. Auto-resolving these processes also reduces wait times for employees who actually need manual assistance from Rule Technology professionals. As the important needs of employees are resolved immediately, satisfaction in the workplace also increases.
Myth 3 – Automation Will Increase IT Spending
If companies upgrade their IT Help Desks with AI-powered tools, they’re guaranteed to receive significantly higher productivity levels. These increases in productivity and operational efficiencies more than make up for the initial investments companies have to make to install these tools. Plus, the actual myth is that traditional IT departments are cost-effective. In another survey involving ITSM professionals, 96% of respondents claimed that IT costs aren’t optimized. Over two-thirds of the respondents agreed that IT services cost businesses too much.
By getting the best virtual IT helpdesk services, companies can severely reduce these expenses by –
Automation – Service desk automation will ensure helpdesks perform efficiently at all times. These tools will enable help desks to prioritize ticket requests, avoid high volumes of tickets, and provide faster response times.
AI and Analytics – AI tools, when combined with high-quality analytics, can severely reduce the amount of time that’s spent on resolving tickets in an organization. AI tools instantly identify what piece of information an employee needs. Analytics gives these AI tools information on which solutions worked the best in the past. The two can combine to optimize the IT department and drastically reduce the organization’s average spend on each IT ticket.
Boosting IT Specialists’ Performances – Lastly, these AI-powered tools boost the performances of IT professionals. These tools provide these professionals with valuable insight as they tackle complex incidents and tickets. This access to AI-recommended solutions makes their jobs much easier.
Are all of these advantages that an AI-powered virtual IT helpdesk provides worth it? Absolutely!
