Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly making its presence known in the service industry. In this artilce Jeroen Boks, CIO of TOPdesk discusses how AI is going to influence the role of the traditional service desk employee and improve the user experience. AI is aspirational. Machines that perform like human is great in theory, but more complete automation in many traditionally man-powered processes is still needed.
Perhaps the greatest example is the chatbot. As you likely know, a chatbot is a machine that has a “conversation†with humans via text, audio or dialogue box (like on a website).
AI-powered chatbots use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to better understand the intent of the human and provide a more natural, near human-level communication during the interaction. The technology basically recreates a human without, well, a human managing the process.
Gartner predicts that half of all medium to large enterprises will utilize AI-powered chatbots by 2020Opens a new window . Given that context, AI is going to influence the role of the traditional service desk employee. It will likely also improve the user experience.
AI is aspirationalOpens a new window .
AI-powered chatbots do exactly what you tell these systems to do. There is no divergence here unless you “teach†them to do something differently.
Even though AI is aspirational as an overall concept, granularly in reference to chatbots, this technology can help with mundane labor-draining tasks of the service desk. Employing this capability can make your processes more efficient, and can let you get on with the business of addressing tasks that can’t be handled by a machine.
Chatbots are excellent for some task minutia. They thrive on taking on tasks that are generally repetitious. However, creativity is not part of this technology’s DNA. Anything required beyond standard, routine task – anything that might require actual reasoning and deduction – is likely best handled by a human.
So, as the use of service management solutions continues to rise so do the potential uses for AI approaches in the sector. Because of this, there are advantages to how AI can help improve the operations of your organizations. But AI is a broad and far-reaching concept that’s often misunderstood and difficult for those that don’t work with the technology to understand its full capabilities.
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AI interest is high, but the ability to execute upon it is low.
The return on investment of AI is not always clear. In fact, as many as one-third of organizations say they lack the budget needed to move their AI aspirations forward, Information Week reports. Additionally, despite the desire for AI initiatives to reduce manual processes, many tasks must still be carried out by talent in the organization.
Lack of expertise is usually the cited culprit as a barrier to AI initiatives rolling out. Likewise, as many as a quarter of business leaders interviewed said they lack a defined business case for moving forward while as many as half of these same leaders said they “have no idea†what to expect from AI for their businesses.
The future of artificial intelligence in service management
The broad unrealized concept of AI is part of its problem. Much of what we thought we knew about AI is now standard practice. For example, once machines have been taught to do something, that’s then just the way things are. As we move forward with machine progress – things that were previously undone – a new current state of normal is achieved. Thus, as machines learn and do, what they do is not longer seen solely as AI, but just what the machine is capable of doing.
That point made, machine learning – often conflated with AI – will automate more previously manual processes. This means that certain jobs will be minimized in favor of new ways of doing things. A colleague of mine, Leo Kranenburg, recently spoke with Jeroen de Haas and Paul Verkaik from IPsoft, developers of the AL driven “AmeliaOpens a new window .†Amelia, the bot, is a digital service desk employee. “She†is designed to handle many of the most mundane user tasks for many organizations.
These two developers cite historical reference as a current marker when defining AI. Essentially, AI is (or has been) about making machines behave like people, the concept popularized by John McCarthy. For them, the natural intelligence of human beings, placed within a machine, is possible and the goal — meaning machines ultimately will be able to reason, “think,†interpret and recognize emotion to act accordingly.
In so doing, humans will be better able to focus on creative tasks. AI-powered machines will be able to pick up the leftover tasks, they claim; humans will be left to move the big rocks.
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AI rises in awareness
AI concepts continue to rise on the spectrum of the current human conscious. The concept is commonplace, AI is part of our human conscious. While on the rise, AI is still not commonplace nor is its capabilities fully known.
While this will continue to change, in the near term, most of us working with machines will no longer wonder if we are working with AI – this will just be fact. AI will be inextricably linked to the business operations of almost every enterprise.
So, while human will be left moving the big rocks, AI will be used to accomplish things less desirable work, at least not without a huge level of human investment. The more we use and encounter AI, the more our view on how we work with it will change, too.
AI in ITSM
ITSM still requires considerable human interaction between the end user and the service desk, but as self-service tools become easier to use and deploy, the more this is going to change. AI will enable service desks to assist anyone who logs in and needs assistance at any time.
AI will change the role of services desks. Dedicated IT, HR or facility manager service desk employees will become a thing of the past, replaced by customer-oriented service desk employees who are the contact point for all services within an enterprise. Anything beneath their capabilities will be handled by machines.
The benefit of artificial intelligence is that it is systems-driven so there are fewer mistakes than would be made by humans in data-driven scenarios. If a process involves creative complexity, the best approach is likely a human. So, while AI is on the rise it will ultimately be embraced through out all of industry. Service desks within these organizations are no different.
Thus, while currently aspirational, AI is becoming more fully embraced. At its very basic, the technology can free up individuals from repetitive tasks, creating more room for innovation and creativity throughout the organization. Innovation and creativity are where people excel, and can help your organization excel in technical areas that are currently consumed by technicalities.
AI is increasingly making its presence known in the service industry, as we’ve discussed. Machine learning has huge potential to help societies automate previously manual systems. Through this, new economies will be developed and work (and workers) will evolve. Certain jobs, eventually, will become minimized and even discontinued in favor of new process and “ways of doing things.â€
In closing, let’s take a look at a macro-level example about the potential impact of AI on our societies. As the world has seen in recent decades, civilization has experienced an important shift from a farming-based society to one more urban-based where industry has thrived. That has given way to a more globally focused and connected economies that are web-connected. The age of the machines is at hand, but unlike the days of the Industrial Revolution where machines were used to drive production of goods, we are (exiting the information age) entering the experience age. AI will drive this, especially in service management.
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For service managers, eventually, chatbots are going to continue to be programmed to be more “intelligent†and will likely become an even more beneficial tool for improving user experience. Likewise, in service management, machine learning will continue to improve response times for the benefit of service managers and the organization they represent, helping to recognize when there is an above average number of calls logged or an unusual number of calls about a specific issue needing to be addressed. This technology expansion, ultimately, will mean the ability to help service desk teams act upon any outstanding issues.
AI-based technology too will become better at helping service desk teams find the most appropriate workarounds and solution that benefit humans, service desk employees will be able to focus more on the overall customer experience in ways that machine learning likely never could. So, while AI is maturing, excitement surrounding likely needs to be tempered. AI is a theory, the purpose of it to make possible machines learn from “experience†and adjust to new stimuli.
Machines that perform like human, great in theory, so they can perform human-like tasks, but more complete automation in many traditionally man-powered processes is still needed.