Conversational IT Support 101

IT support teams are responsible for providing unparalleled support to employees - correct?

Well, yes, but the question is, to what extent? While providing support is the #1 key responsibility of all IT support team members, only a handful are doing that without getting burned out!

The reason is the need for a convenient employee support system. Most organizations have tried everything - email-based IT support, self-service portals, and a detailed knowledge base. But none of them worked.

For email-based support, IT teams have to deal with 100+ emails from employees on a daily basis, stating minor and significant concerns. Self-service portals don’t make this situation any better either, as they are generally inflexible and difficult to navigate for employees who are not technically sound. And for knowledge bases, well, most employees don’t have the patience to go through these comprehensive resources and apply them in practical scenarios.

So, what’s the way out? We believe it’s conversational IT support.

The popularity of ChatGPT and other GenAI-driven platforms is proof that everyone values convenience, context, and personalization. A conversational IT support platform offers just these, where a ChatGPT-like bot responds to employees' questions and resolves their queries empathetically.

What is conversational ITSM?

Conversational ITSM introduces an interactive, empathetic, and user-friendly approach to IT support. It utilizes everyday AI technologies, such as chatbots and virtual assistants, to provide real-time responses and assistance to employees. Conversational ITSM aims to enhance the user experience, improve efficiency, and optimize IT support processes.

Benefits of conversational IT support portals

Maintaining a productive workflow is one of the employers' key challenges today!

Whether your IT support team is dealing with 100s of queries in a day, or your employees are wasting their valuable time on understanding how to solve technical challenges - the result in both cases is the same. There is a huge productivity pit that you need to fill.

Generative AI has the potential to grow workforce productivity by 0.6% within 2040. By combining GenAI tools with the right technologies, achieving optimum productivity is not a far-fetched dream.

Let's explore some of its key advantages:

Improving employee experience is no longer difficult

Conversational ITSM offers a more intuitive support experience for employees. By leveraging natural language processing and understanding, conversational AI chatbots can understand user queries and provide relevant and personalized responses.

This eliminates the need for employees to figure out how to use complex support portals or wait for assistance from IT helpdesks. With conversational ITSM, employees can get immediate and accurate support, leading to higher employee satisfaction.

Increase efficiency and build effective processes

Conversational ITSM automates routine support tasks and provides self-service options for employees. Chatbots can handle common IT requests, such as password resets, software installations, and system troubleshooting.

This frees IT support teams to focus on more complex issues and strategic initiatives. By streamlining support processes and reducing resolution times, conversational IT support portals improve the overall efficiency of existing processes.

Save excess operational expenses

Conversational ITSM can significantly reduce the cost of IT support operations. By automating common support tasks, businesses can minimize the need for additional support staff and reduce operational expenses.

How to implement conversational ITSM within an organization?

Implementing conversational ITSM within your organization is fairly simple if you follow the right steps and, more importantly, use the right tools.

Here are some critical steps to successfully implement conversational ITSM:

Choosing the right conversational AI platform

It all depends on the conversational ITSM platform you pick. Look for a platform that offers:

• Advanced natural language processing capabilities
• Integration options with existing IT systems and workplace tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams
• The level of customization also matters. For example, the solution you pick should allow you to personalize workflows and employee journeys so it can be scaled for multiple use cases
• The level of complexity also matters. If the employees cannot grasp the tool and require a lot of training, it will only delay internal activities.

Integrating conversational AI with existing tools and applications

To maximize the effectiveness of your conversational IT support initiatives, it is essential to integrate the conversational AI platform with your existing tools like Notion, Slack, Teams, JIRA, Google Workspace, Sharepoint, and so on.

This allows the chatbot to access relevant data and respond accurately to employee queries, ensuring a seamless and efficient support experience.

For example, let’s say your existing knowledge base is in Notion. If the GenAI platform you select can integrate with Notion, it can then scan through the pages within seconds and point out relevant, actionable responses related to an employee’s query.

Training and customization

To ensure that the conversational AI chatbot understands and responds appropriately to employee queries, training and customizing the system is crucial. Train the chatbot using historical support data and real-world scenarios to improve its accuracy and understanding.

Customize the chatbot to align with your organization's IT processes, terminology, and branding guidelines. Regularly update and refine the chatbot's training data to optimize its performance.

Real-world use cases of conversational ITSM

AI adoption has been going strong for the past few years. McKinsey’s report on the AI trends of 2023 shows that 55% of organizations adopted AI. Now, consider all the benefits you can enjoy with this AI adoption at your workplace.

AI can help businesses with critical use cases like password reset, knowledge management, service request management, etc., with zero involvement from IT support teams.

Conversational ITSM can make all of these happen:

Password reset

This has to be the most requested query from employees! While IT support teams spend a lot of time resolving the “I forgot my password, send me a reset link” issue, it can be automated easily.

A conversational ITSM tool can send a temporary password to the employees and guide them to change the password after logging in.

Knowledge management

Conversational ITSM lets employees access knowledge base articles and self-service options through chatbots. Employees can ask questions, search for relevant information, and receive instant answers, eliminating the need to navigate through support portals.

Chatbots can also proactively provide relevant knowledge base articles based on employee interactions, improving self-service adoption and reducing support tickets.

Service request management

Managing service requests can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. Conversational ITSM automates service request management by allowing employees to submit and track requests through chatbots.

Employees can request hardware and software installations, access permissions, and other IT services and receive real-time updates on the status of their requests. This streamlines the request fulfillment process and improves employee satisfaction.

Best practices for successful implementation of conversational IT support initiatives

Implementing conversational IT support initiatives will take time. However, the outcomes will be worth it. That’s precisely why the same report by McKinsey shows that more than two-thirds of respondents have said that their companies plan to increase their AI investments.

Here are a few best practices that can simplify conversational ITSM implementation in your organization:

Designing conversational flows

Design conversational flows that are intuitive and user-friendly. Break down complex processes into simple, step-by-step interactions. Use prompts and suggestions to guide employees through the conversation and ensure clear communication. You can even create a prompt library and segregate it based on use cases to ease employees’ jobs.

Develop a continuous improvement and iteration plan

Monitor the chatbot's performance and collect employees’ feedback to identify areas for improvement. Regularly update and enhance the chatbot's training data and conversational flows based on user interactions and evolving IT support needs.

Monitor the right set of metrics

When defining metrics, be sure to keep your goals in mind. For example, suppose your goal was to reduce employee onboarding time. In that case, the relevant metrics can be - no. of employees onboarded at a particular time, no. of queries resolved, reduced onboarding time, and so on.

Overcoming challenges in conversational ITSM

Adopting an AI-driven conversational support platform is not all hunky and dory! Especially when you have a distributed workforce and rookie team members dealing with GenAI for the first time.

Here are some of the most common challenges and solutions:

Data privacy and security

Employees can type any type of data in the chatbox. This could include sensitive information like their contact details, contact numbers, social security numbers, etc. Hence, if your data protection systems are not solid, the possibility of a massive data breach will always be there.

Due to data overload, GenAI models often lean on third-party data storage platforms. If this storage partner is unreliable, the possibility of a data breach increases further.

As a solution, ensure the conversational AI platform adheres to strict data privacy and security standards. Implement encryption and secure data storage practices to protect sensitive employee information.

Language and cultural variations

To support a diverse workforce, your conversational IT support platform should be able to respond in multiple languages.

Consider cultural variations when training the chatbot. Regional language models and cultural nuances are incorporated to ensure accurate understanding and response generation.

Lack of expertise, governance, and compliance

Since GenAI is revamping itself daily, it is normal for your IT teams to get overwhelmed easily. They need to know the latest compliance guidelines to manage the ITSM platform.

Invest in training and upskilling IT support teams. Establish transparent governance to ensure the chatbot operates within legal and ethical boundaries.

User adoption and change management

Finally, employees can be a bottleneck in the implementation of conversational ITSM. employees are familiar with a particular way of raising complaints; sudden changes can leave them stressed and nervous.

Implement a comprehensive change management strategy to drive user adoption of conversational ITSM. Educate employees about the benefits and functionality of these tools and provide ongoing support and training.

Final thoughts

Conversational IT support has the potential to revolutionize IT support operations and enhance employee experience. By leveraging conversational AI technologies, businesses can streamline support processes, improve efficiency, and empower employees with instant, personalized assistance.

Successful implementation of Conversational ITSM requires careful planning, choosing the right platform like Atomicwork, integrating with existing IT systems, and adopting best practices.

Overcoming challenges such as data privacy, language variations, and user adoption is crucial for maximizing the benefits of conversational ITSM. Embrace conversational ITSM's power and unlock the automation's potential in IT support.

To explore Atomicwork, schedule a demo!