Sept 24
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Seasoned IT leaders will agree with us when we say that providing support to in-house employees is exhausting. There are countless instances when employees reach out to IT support teams for minor queries like - “I can’t open my laptop”, “I am blocked from my account”, “I need access to JIRA” and so on. Having a comprehensive knowledge base doesn’t help either.
All these back-and-forth queries and endless resolutions result in declining productivity for both employees and IT support teams.
Adequate employee support is essential for the smooth functioning of any organization. However, no one talks about the heavy-lifting IT support teams have to do regularly. There are times when IT support teams would need to respond to 100s of emails in a single day. Self-service employee helpdesks don’t make this any better either.
That’s where the concept of conversational employee helpdesk systems powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) come in. Just like ChatGPT, conversational helpdesks provide instant support to employees based on their queries and empower them with round-the-clock assistance.
In this guide, we will explore the role of conversational employee helpdesk systems, their key features, best practices, and common challenges faced during their implementation.
Let’s begin.
A conversational employee helpdesk leverages the power of generative AI to provide personalized support to employees. These systems utilize Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms to understand and interpret the queries and requests of employees.
Such systems simulate human-like conversations, allowing employees to ask questions and seek assistance just as they would with a support representative. The integration of AI technology enables these systems to handle a wide range of support tasks, including troubleshooting, software updates, and access to resources.
A study by McKinsey shows that generative AI has the potential to automate plenty of manual tasks that are now absorbing up to 70% of the working hours of an employee. A conversational employee support platform can capitalize on the following features to change how employee helpdesks are functioning today:
These include:
Additionally, these systems automate backend workflows, streamlining processes and reducing the manual effort required for issue resolution. To develop a streamlined design, you can convert IT, HR, Finance, and teams' tasks into on-demand services offered to everyone in your company and create a breathing space for your support teams.
The adoption of technical automation is at its peak and workplaces are also going to be part of this automation wave. The same McKinsey study shows that 50% of today’s workplace activities can be automated between 2030 to 2060.
So to stay adaptive to the changing market trends and to evolve your workplace with time, investing in a GenAI-based employee helpdesk sounds like a good plan.
But the question is, how can you implement such a system?
It all comes down to how you assess your team members’ needs, which support desk you select, and to what extent you can customize the responses.
Understand the specific support requirements of your organization, including the types of queries and requests support teams frequently encounter.
For example, in the case of an IT support desk, support team members can come across questions/concerns like:
On the contrary, for an HR support helpdesk, the possible concerns can be:
So if you are unaware of the type of support your team requires, you cannot drill down to the appropriate conversational helpdesk platform.
Evaluate different conversational helpdesks based on their features, scalability, integration capabilities, and ease of customization.
Before picking up the appropriate employee helpdesk solution, make sure to find the answers to the following questions:
Tailor the chatbot's responses, tone, and branding to align with your organization's culture and employee expectations. Ensure that the chatbot is empathetic to employees, adopts a solution-driven approach, and simplifies employees’ lives with quick responses.
Think of ChatGPT for a second. Any idea why this tool became so popular within just a few months?
According to Adam Conner, Vice President for Technology Policy at the Centre for American Progress, ChatGPT’s immense success is its ability to simplify things and make them accessible to all user groups.
A conversational employee support platform follows a similar approach. The idea behind this GenAI-driven platform is to simplify things for employees without overwhelming IT support executives.
To maximize the effectiveness of your conversational employee helpdesk system, deploy the following best practices:
Create conversation flows that are intuitive, user-friendly, and capable of guiding employees to the right solutions.
To make your workflows count, make sure to look for the following features:
Regularly review and analyze employee interactions to identify common pain points, improvement areas, and automation opportunities. A great way to achieve this is by:
Continuously update and refine your conversational employee helpdesk system based on employee feedback and evolving support needs. A great way to make this happen is by creating personalized journeys.
To scale your employee support systems, you can create customized journeys like employee onboarding, training, compliance, and performance feedback journeys.
Implementing an organization's conversational employee support platform is not a one-person job! There are several challenges involved in the process, including data-related and privacy issues, or even handling employees who are resistant to leaving behind the old-school support platforms.
So if you are planning to adopt a GenAI employee support system, following are some challenges you might face, along with their corresponding solutions.
Any GenAI platform deals with a large volume of datasets to get trained with time and for making intelligent decisions. These could easily lead to storage issues. Additionally, the scope of data breaches is way too high as you deal with confidential employee datasets like personal details, financial details, etc.
Therefore, businesses must implement robust security measures to protect employee data and ensure compliance with privacy regulations. Opting for an accurate data management environment can ensure proper handling of sensitive data. Additionally, it will help you access siloed data easily for the AI and ML use cases.
Employees are familiar with using conventional helpdesk and support processes to get their queries resolved. So when they are exposed to a new way of seeking support, they might not be able to quickly adapt to it.
It is imperative to communicate the benefits of the conversational employee helpdesk system to employees. Provide training and support during the transition phase and address any concerns or misconceptions they might have to simplify the process.
A significant percentage of workplaces are now remotely operating with a diverse and distributed workforce. Hence, your responses must be personalized for employees of all backgrounds and ethnicities.
Customize the conversational employee helpdesk system to accommodate your organization's different languages and cultural nuances. Ensure that no disrespectful words or phrases within the responses might offend a particular community.
In the initial days, employees may need help to learn the nitty gritty of the conversational support platform. And if not managed well, this might result in delays, back-and-forth communication, and burned-out employees.
Invest in training and development for employees responsible for managing the conversational employee helpdesk system. Establish clear governance guidelines and ensure compliance with relevant regulations.
Conversational employee helpdesk systems like Atomicwork can transform how employee support is delivered. By implementing such tools, organizations can enhance employee support, improve productivity, and streamline support processes.
Some of the biggest benefits of these tools include:
As technology continues to evolve, the future of employee support lies in the seamless integration of AI, automation, and personalized experiences. By taking the first steps towards implementing a conversational employee support platform, organizations can ensure that their employees receive the assistance they need when they need it, fostering a positive and productive work environment.
To explore how Atomicwork can help streamline and enhance your organization’s employee support, schedule a demo today!
