Not so long ago, artificial intelligence (AI) was mostly just fodder for science-fiction flicks, but it has become a very real part of the way we live and work. Driverless cars transport people and packages, while robots vacuum floors, wait tables, and do the heavy lifting in warehouses. Meanwhile, virtual assistants help us shop, keep us organized, and facilitate our conversations.

Yet, these innovations are just the tip of the AI iceberg.

Behind the scenes, companies are using AI to harness the power of big data and automate processes, predict IT problems before they happen, and empower chatbots to deliver customer service. Those same capabilities make AI in ITSM a fast-growing trend that represents new opportunities for your business to keep customers and employees happy.

An AI-powered ITSM platform can propel your business ahead of competitors. However, AI in ITSM is an investment that takes time and resources to plan and execute. Before diving in, it’s important to understand the basics of AI, the use cases of AI in ITSM, and the impact it can have on your customers and your organization.

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How Can AI Be Applied to ITSM?

 

IT Service Management (ITSM) encompasses all the processes and activities involved in designing and supporting the end-to-end delivery of IT services. That includes everything from running a service desk to managing apps and devices to building IT infrastructure.

AI can play a supporting role in all these efforts. That’s why leading ITSM software providers are increasingly building AI capabilities into their platforms. 

Role of AI in ITSM

ITSM software organizes and optimizes IT service delivery into one platform. If that platform includes AI capabilities, it can also automate many IT services, helping your IT department save time and prevent costly errors. 

AI and automation techniques can be applied to ITSM in different ways, including incident categorization, intelligent ticket routing, and building a knowledge base. More advanced solutions — like Freshworks Freddy AI — can even turn your knowledge base into an IT customer service chatbot.

What Is AISM?

AI Service Management (AISM) is simply the application of artificial intelligence technologies in ITSM. These technologies include:

  • Machine learning (ML): a type of AI that uses algorithms and statistical models to enable computers to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to do so, and “learn” to do this more accurately over time

  • Natural language processing (NLP): a type of machine learning that enables computers to interpret, comprehend, and generate language in a way that mimics how humans communicate

  • Virtual assistants (VA): AI-enabled technology that leverages ML and NLP to understand and respond to queries in an unscripted, human-sounding way

The fact that AI in ITSM has earned its own acronym underscores the increasing importance of intelligent automation in IT service delivery. 

Mukesh Mirchandani, Senior Vice President of Global Solution Engineering at Freshworks, summarizes AISM like this: “In our view, AI equals automation. AI equals deflection. AI equals a reduction in contract volume.”

AI Trends in IT

ML, NLP, chatbots, and other AI technologies have already made their mark in e-commerce, automotive, and customer service departments across industries. Now IT departments are beginning to leverage the same technologies to better serve their customers (end users).

According to a recent report by The Hackett Group, “Technology leaders are realizing that it is time to modernize their IT service management (ITSM) capabilities by introducing intelligent automation enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of process data and AI for technology operations (AIOps)." 

AISM often starts at the IT service desk, boosting agent productivity, but it doesn’t end there. IT managers and network engineers also rely on AI insights to build increasingly complex hybrid computing environments with advanced automation, well-integrated tech stacks, and optimized workflows.

As noted in a recent Freshworks report on AI and automation, “The role of IT as we know it is changing and moving from a support function to a business enabler. CEOs not only trust technology leaders to be strategic business partners but also to drive organizational change with technology-driven initiatives.” And AISM is helping them do just that.

Use Cases for AI in ITSM

There are many potential applications of AISM, which can be divided into two overarching buckets: 

AI experiences and context can yield process improvements across ITIL modules—from incident management and problem management, to project management and change management. AI technologies impact three actors across your organization:

AI & Agent

IT agents are often overloaded with routine tasks, such as ticket assignments, troubleshooting basic issues, and onboarding employees. AI-enabled technologies boost productivity by automating Tier I problems so agents can focus on resolving complex Tier II and Tier III issues. It does this by enabling:

Knowledge management

AI-powered knowledge management lets your team build a repository of solutions to common IT problems. When a user submits a ticket, the system looks for an available entry or searches the cloud to suggest a relevant solution. If the resolution is simple, the ITSM software automatically points the user in the right direction for self-service or leverages a chatbot to walk them through it.

Intelligent knowledge bases also help IT agents provide consistent, efficient service by providing them with the information they need to provide each service based on documented workflows and ML-derived contextual insights.

Intelligent prioritization and routing

A primary goal of ITSM is to align business goals with IT service delivery. AI-enabled incident management tools help accomplish this by deciding which tickets are most urgent and putting them at the front of the queue. It also routes tickets to the agent most suited to handle them, based on skills, experience, and availability.

Sentiment analysis

User satisfaction and experience have become the key metrics in measuring service desk success. AI-enabled sentiment analysis leverages NLP to help agents predict end users’ mood and tone at the time of raising tickets depending on their word choice and previous CSAT survey results. This information can be used to automatically prioritize tickets and helps agents respond appropriately to improve CSAT. 

Predictive maintenance

ITSM solutions include asset management capabilities and integrate with other business applications, such as machine monitoring tools and facilities management databases. AI for service desk agents can use alerts from these systems to create tickets automatically if a  particular infrastructure goes down or begins to deteriorate. In some cases, it can even auto-remediate the problem without human intervention using native capabilities or third-party tools.

AI-enabled predictive maintenance tools can also inform the relevant users who might be affected and create a problem ticket for root cause analysis. This way, users know what to expect, and IT can take corrective actions before an issue impacts business operations. They can also find ways to prevent the problem from occurring again in the future.

Proactive change management

Change management minimizes risk and impact. ML gauges the potential risk and prompts change managers to execute a back-out plan if the potential risk exceeds the reward. ML also helps inform change evaluation and scheduling.

AI & End User

In the digital age, technology is essential for almost any job. If your employees can’t use the software and devices they need to do their jobs, it affects their productivity and their satisfaction with IT. AI helps improve their tech support experience by providing:

Personalized conversations

Chatbots and virtual agents ensure real-time, consistent, and personalized interactions with end users. For Tier I queries, AI can help them quickly find their own answers and solve their own problems 24/7 from any location. It does this by searching the knowledge base for solutions. If not available, it can suggest solutions from the cloud and create new articles that can be stored in the repository.

If users need help solving complex Tier II and Tier III queries, intelligent routing can ensure they reach the right agent the first time. This eliminates frustration and shortens wait times, which improves customer satisfaction.

Classification of incident vs service request

End users often get confused about the difference between an incident and a service request. Incorrectly tagging a ticket creates more work for IT agents, which means a longer time to resolution for the user. AI technology identifies the ticket type based on its past learnings and classifies it for the service desk agents, helping users get results faster.

Service item auto-approval

When end users place any service request, ML checks for the service item availability and approve automatically without any human intervention. Approval is handled based on the priority, past history, and impact of the requested item. This way, users get what they need quickly, without having to jump through hoops or wait for a human agent to help.

AI & Management

IT managers and decision-makers also get a helping hand from AI in ITSM, which helps guide process improvements and streamline workflows via:

Workflow optimization and automation

Good managers anticipate problems, identify common issues, and provide their teams with the information they need to solve them efficiently and effectively. AI can help them do this. 

For example, AI-enabled ITSM solutions automatically identify common types of tickets that tech teams receive. Then it analyzes how these problems have been best solved in the past to create resolution workflows for agents to follow. It also determines which problems can be solved by bots and deploys automated workflows across channels whenever possible.

Root cause analysis

AI doesn’t just help management determine how to solve common problems. It can also help them determine the root cause of these problems so they can take corrective action to avoid them in the future. 

Strategic decision making

Predictive analytics tools analyze past results and forecast future projections for revenue, customer satisfaction, and resource planning. This helps management make informed decisions about budgeting, hiring, and expense management. It also provides insights on agent and service desk performance, which they can use to continually improve operations and customer service.

Predict SLA/contract violations

ML analyzes previous trends to identify any future SLA violations and notify management before they happen. This is done depending on the ticket volume, seasonal workload, infrastructure failure, and resource issues. This way, contractual agreement is maintained and customer issues are resolved on time.

Support agile development

AI can transform app development and IT infrastructures by shortening the life cycle of software development and integrating that software into the tech stack. It can also help managers prioritize and manage development projects based on business goals and available resources.

The Power of AI-First Experiences

If there’s a problem that can be solved 100% by an AI experience, that means your cost to serve customers can be significantly lowered (as an AI-powered experience).

The market is currently flooded with AI-powered summarization and auto-complete tools. Mirchandani points out, though, that “AI-first experiences” take AI-based solutions to an entirely different, more sophisticated level. With AI-first experiences, complex decision-making, and rapid execution become embedded in the very systems involved in running the business.

“You can execute analyses, builds, and deployments (that typically take days or weeks) in a matter of minutes,” Mirchandani explains. This can be transformative for your IT service operations with a significant impact on efficiency, costs, and customer experience.

“For example, imagine your AI analyzing the most common types of IT tickets logged, organizing the data for you, identifying the most common types of tickets, and automating the resolution using a bot flow. Now, take that one step further, and imagine the AI then deploying the bot flow across the company’s messaging channels.”

Or look at cases where you experience a surge in tickets yet require fast response times. For example, when extreme weather conditions cause mass flight cancellations, airlines receive thousands of customer service calls to rebook passengers.

Mirchandani expounds, “AI enables you to see the influx of tickets in real-time, construct a bot flow, and automatically rebook customers on future flights. This would take humans hours to build and deploy; AI can do so in minutes.” This is just one of the various possibilities for deploying the technology to improve operational performance and better satisfy customers.

Inhibitors vs Accelerators of AI Adoption

AI is the future of ITSM, but not every company is ready to take the plunge. What stands in the way of AI adoption, and what paves the way?

Inhibitors

Accelerators

Benefits of Using an AI-Powered ITSM Platform

There are many ITSM AI use cases, each of which provides significant advantages for your organization. Here’s how AI benefits ITSM:

Faster Resolutions

Your IT department may not work around the clock, and human agents can only do one task at a time. Bots can serve multiple customers at once, anytime, from anywhere. 

Global analytics firm Elsevier uses Freshservice ITSM to support 9,500 employees across 65 locations. Their 700-agent tech team relies heavily on knowledge management functionality, including automatic categorization and the ability to smart search for self-service. As a result, service desk agents now boast a 67% first-line resolution and 92.8% first-contact resolution. 

Service Assurance Manager Kevin Tomes explains, “This was made possible with a heavy focus on getting knowledge out of tech support heads and into the hands of the users and agents.” 

Enhanced Agent Productivity

With chatbots handling Tier I support and AI providing context to agents, fewer agents can accomplish more work faster. This frees up IT resources for more strategic, big-picture projects. 

For example, golf apparel manufacturer TaylorMade uses Freshservice to enable self-service and 100% automate repetitive tasks like password resets. This has cut IT response time in half despite a 250% increase in ticket volume. This has given them more time for bigger projects, which they also manage via Freshservice. Multiple agents can add or review project details and keep everyone on the same page.

“Our SLA agreement was hovering around 60%-70% before Freshservice,” says Ali Chitsaz, senior manager of client experience at TaylorMade. “Our average now is in the high 90s% … We are now routing things much more efficiently than before. We’re getting to a point where someone makes a request and our only response to them is ‘it’s done.’”

Improved Customer Satisfaction

AISM yields faster resolution times and a more consistent user experience than traditional ITSM, which means happier end users. 

Case in point: Cheetah Digital marketing firm uses Freshservice ITSM and the Freddy AI chatbot to automate IT services and improve the end-user experience. Early on, many employees still preferred to visit the IT service desk in person, but within a year, user adoption grew 34%, and employee satisfaction with IT reached 95 to 99 percent. Other employee-facing departments, including HR and finance, have been so impressed with IT’s results that they have also begun using Freshservice to manage their services as well.

Proactive ITSM

AI & ML helps businesses be proactive in identifying potential incidents, deflecting trivial issues affecting customer satisfaction, and improving IT processes and performance.

For example, ADvTECH, Africa’s largest private education provider, uses Freshservice to automate workflows, provide self-service, streamline IT operations, and automate change management approvals. They also glean intelligent insights across key performance metrics, which they use to better understand pain points, make data-backed decisions, and continuously improve service delivery. This information has led them to expand their support teams, improve training, and increase the limit of tickets handled per agent from 10 to 100. 

Improved ROI

AI in ITSM helps agents save money because IT agents are more productive, solve problems faster, predict problems that result in less downtime, and develop apps faster. This all saves time and money.

Calculate the potential savings for your organization using the Freshservice ROI calculator. 

Improved Customer Satisfaction

AISM yields faster resolution times and a more consistent user experience than traditional ITSM, which means happier end users. 

Case in point: Cheetah Digital marketing firm uses Freshservice ITSM and the Freddy AI chatbot to automate IT services and improve the end-user experience. Early on, many employees still preferred to visit the IT service desk in person, but within a year, user adoption grew 34%, and employee satisfaction with IT reached 95 to 99 percent. Other employee-facing departments, including HR and finance, have been so impressed with IT’s results that they have also begun using Freshservice to manage their services as well.

Proactive ITSM

AI & ML helps businesses be proactive in identifying potential incidents, deflecting trivial issues affecting customer satisfaction, and improving IT processes and performance.

For example, ADvTECH, Africa’s largest private education provider, uses Freshservice to automate workflows, provide self-service, streamline IT operations, and automate change management approvals. They also glean intelligent insights across key performance metrics, which they use to better understand pain points, make data-backed decisions, and continuously improve service delivery. This information has led them to expand their support teams, improve training, and increase the limit of tickets handled per agent from 10 to 100. 

Improved ROI

AI in ITSM helps agents save money because IT agents are more productive, solve problems faster, predict problems that result in less downtime, and develop apps faster. This all saves time and money.

Calculate the potential savings for your organization using the Freshservice ROI calculator. 

Checklist for Evaluating AI ITSM Tools

Leading ITSM tools are increasingly incorporating AI into their solutions, but they’re not all the same. When shopping for AI-enabled ITSM, what should you be looking for? 

Are You Ready for AI?

If you’re ready to future-proof your business with AI customer support, consider the following steps to prepare your organization:

The Future of AI in IT

The future of AI has already started. Forward-thinking business leaders are preparing their businesses, teams, and data for AI and investing in solutions that let them leverage ML, NLP, virtual assistants, robotics, and other forms of AI. 

Digital transformation is powered by innovative technology, which is managed by IT. Shouldn’t their service management be smart and transformative as well?

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