Did you know that 76 percent of chatbot users report frustration with their current chatbot?<\/p>\n
With that kind of number, it\u2019s not surprising that many companies are hesitant to invest in chatbots as part of an IT Service Management (ITSM)<\/a> strategy. However, that same study from TeamDynamix and CIO.com<\/a> found that when conversational AI chatbots are used, more than 61 percent of users could effectively resolve their issues without having to put in a ticket or contact support \u2013 that\u2019s vs. only a 35 percent resolution rate when traditional chat is used.<\/p>\n So, what is the difference between conversational AI chatbots<\/a> and traditional chatbots?<\/p>\n Simply put, traditional chatbots aren\u2019t inherently smart. They lack the \u201cbrain\u201d or natural language processing (NLP)<\/a> that conversational AI chatbots have.<\/p>\n Instead of understanding a person\u2019s intent when a question is asked \u2013 a traditional chatbot is programmed to follow a very linear path and any deviation from that path (usually due to the inputs from an end-user or customer) can cause that chatbot to fail. And when a chatbot fails it\u2019s often a frustrating experience and adds to the ticket volume of your IT service desk.<\/p>\n According to that same market study, few companies are satisfied with their current chatbots. The study found that traditional chatbots have a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of negative eight\u2014far from a ringing endorsement\u2014and 65 percent of those surveyed said their solution is not widely adopted by their customers. The addition of conversational AI, however, makes a huge difference\u2014 using a conversational AI chatbot increased the adoption rate of the overall chat solution from 16 percent to 50 percent.<\/p>\n It’s unsurprising then that 75 percent of respondents said they planned to migrate to a new chatbot software in the next 12-24 months.<\/p>\n When you combine automation, self-service and conversational AI \u2013 you can have a positive impact on IT resource drain and improve the experience of your customers and end-users.<\/p>\n Conversational AI chatbots are intelligent software applications that can simulate human conversations and perform tasks such as answering questions, providing information and performing transactions.<\/p>\n Conversational AI leverages natural language processing and understands intent. While they do need to be trained, with conversational AI you can facilitate more complex conversations and resolve issues through actions vs. the traditional chatbot’s question\/answer limited dialog path.<\/p>\n Because conversational AI chatbots understand intent<\/a>, they are much more effective when it comes to assisting customers and end-users. For example, when using traditional chat if you say \u201cMy password broke\u201d it would likely respond with something like \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I don\u2019t understand that. Please type your issue again,\u201d and continue down that path with a final response that might give you links to 3-5 FAQ articles that it thinks might help resolve the issue \u2013 leaving it to the customer to further seek out a solution to the password problem.<\/p>\n When you have conversational AI, if you were to say \u201cMy password is broken\u201d it can inform your intent and know that what you mean is your password isn\u2019t working and needs to be reset. The response from the chatbot is then something like, \u201cI can see you\u2019re having issues with your password. I\u2019ve sent a reset password link to the email on file.\u201d<\/p>\n On the backend, the chatbot can pull the email address needed from the system where it\u2019s stored and automatically send a password reset email \u2013 resolving the issue within the conversation in seconds versus sending the customer links and having them do the work to request the link.<\/p>\n By integrating conversational AI chatbots into your\u00a0ITSM<\/a>\u00a0processes, you can achieve several benefits, including:<\/p>\n By adopting conversational AI chatbots as part of your ITSM strategy, you can significantly improve self-service adoption, customer satisfaction and problem-resolution time \u2013 all while cutting costs and reducing the drain on overburdened IT resources.<\/p>\n When looking to implement a new conversational AI chatbot, you\u2019ll want to make sure it has these three critical capabilities to set your business or organization up for success:<\/p>\n While any conversational AI chatbot requires training to be successful, the tool you choose should come pre-set to answer the most common IT questions.<\/p>\n \u201cAny conversational AI platform should have a clear understanding of what 80% of requests to the bot will be,\u201d Andrew Graf, chief product officer at TeamDynamix, said. \u201cThankfully, that\u2019s easy to do because we have tens of millions of service request data points that help refine what\u2019s being asked of an organization, so the platform can come ready to go out of the box. And, over time, it will improve through self-learning.\u201d<\/p>\n Before using TeamDynamix conversational AI,\u00a0Bowdoin College<\/a>\u00a0used an AI chatbot from a different provider.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The college is a long-time user of the TeamDynamix ITSM platform and has derived a great deal of value from the platform\u2019s integration and automation capabilities, Jason Pelletier, senior director of client services and technology said. So, when campus leaders learned that TeamDynamix was launching a conversational AI tool that can integrate with hundreds of enterprise systems, it seemed like a natural choice to switch.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The connectivity is being managed through an integration hub that offers hundreds of pre-built connectors to enterprise systems. If you have a specific solution that is not in the library, there is a connector concierge that will build this for you. Connectivity is ready to go for systems like Workday, HRIS, Salesforce and the Active Directory.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBeing able to integrate the bot with backend systems is very exciting,\u201d Pelletier said. \u201cWith TeamDynamix, we have one platform for ITSM with a chat tool that can integrate with our enterprise systems, and then from there we can build automation \u2013 this is something we could never have done with our previous solution.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The capabilities of the conversational AI tool allow for simple, drag-and-drop workflow and automation building. You can easily create integrations between various programs\u2014with no special coding knowledge required. The no\/low-code nature of the solution offers a rapid time to value and endless use cases.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Pelletier and his team have taken advantage of this integration and automation capability to create special use cases for their AI chatbot.<\/span>\u00a0For example, a<\/span>ll employees at Bowdoin receive replacement computers every four or five years, and this is something the organization tracks within the TeamDynamix asset management module. Employees have traditionally reached out to the IT support team to ask when their computer is eligible for replacement.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, the bot can answer this question automatically with a\u00a0<\/span>tailored personalized answer. By integrating the chat with the asset management system, the query will take the users\u2019 information from SSO to then identify and look up their asset records. Once retrieved, the chat can then take that information back to the chat window.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe are answering questions faster, with accurate personalized data,\u201d Pelletier said. \u201cWhen a\u00a0<\/span>customer<\/span>\u00a0has a question about their equipment, the chat is integrated back into our asset system so that it can give full details to the user.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n TeamDynamix conversational AI has enabled IT staff to offload much of the work they do in answering peoples\u2019 questions to the bot, allowing them to focus on more important tasks.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just scraping the surface right now,\u201d Pelletier said. \u201cEventually, I think we could have the bot handle up to 30 percent of the questions our help desk staff are getting now.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Not only does the bot reduce the workload for IT support staff; but it also creates a better and more equitable experience for students.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSome people are outgoing, and they have no problem in coming to our Tech Hub to get technical support,\u201d Pelletier explained. \u201cOthers have no problem communicating by email. But there are also many users with a language barrier or another reason why they might feel uncomfortable interacting with an actual person. There are also some users who are night owls and need support late at night when we\u2019re closed.\u00a0<\/span>The chatbot allows us to meet users where they are and give them the assistance they need\u2014whenever, wherever and however they might want it. If we can relieve even some of the stress they might feel, that enhances their experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThe Problem with Traditional Chatbots<\/h2>\n
The Benefits of Using Conversational AI Chatbots<\/h2>\n
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3 Critical Chatbot Capabilities<\/h2>\n
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Chatbots in Action<\/h2>\n