How AI Tools Boost Helpdesk Productivity

 

IT teams are continually tasked with "doing more with less." Yet they spend a massive amount of their limited time performing routine technical support tasks, including software installations, account provisioning, and updating patches. What if these routine tasks could be automated and/or performed by artificial intelligence tools, freeing up IT support teams to spend more time on higher-value, more complex, and strategic tasks? 

By embracing AI helpdesk tools, IT teams can automate repetitive, often-mundane IT processes, while increasing agent productivity, optimizing IT resources, and ultimately saving time and money.

5 Specific IT Support Challenges AI Can Help Solve 

AI represents a great resource for your IT team in performing its function. Before we describe specific AI tools and how they can help your helpdesk technicians work smarter (not longer), let’s explore the five biggest IT support challenges that AI can help you with. 

1. The complexity of IT support issues: Dealing with technical issues requires your team to combine a deep understanding of incoming problems with immense troubleshooting skills. Developing that know-how and skillset is a challenging, time-consuming process for all IT support agents. 
2. The high volume of tickets: The amount of work, and the variability of incoming requests, makes the life of your IT support team a constant challenge, forcing you to manage an unpredictable workload and evolving levels of stress. 
3. Repetitive, monotonous IT support tasks: Your support agents can feel frustrated and overwhelmed by the pure volume of repetitive tasks on their daily plates. The repetitive nature of the work also creates challenges around agent engagement and churn/turnover. 
4. Resource constraints: Not having the right resources, including tools, training, and support, can hinder agents’ ability to efficiently resolve user issues. 
5. The demanding nature of the IT support function: There’s constant pressure on teams to meet SLAs, productivity goals, evolving customer support expectations, and more. The urgency around "doing more with less" just never seems to stop. 
   

3 Specific AI Tools and How They Help 

Artificial intelligence isn’t a single solution: it can be deployed in different ways and in multiple contexts to add value. In the specific context of IT support, here’s how AI can help your agents and users:

 

 

This AI capability begins with users describing their IT issue, either in text or through a voice prompt. A generative AI tool then deploys NLP (natural language processing) to understand the user’s issue before searching its knowledge base to offer AI-assisted troubleshooting tips and self-service solutions. 

 

As the AI gets smarter through more user interactions and machine learning, its ability to resolve issues improves over time. End-users benefit because they don’t need to wait for a helpdesk agent to resolve their issues. In turn, helpdesk agents can reduce redundant workloads and handle more complicated, nuanced issues, while generative AI tackles the routine resolutions.

 

A use case for AI-generated troubleshooting. Let’s assume an end-user is installing a software update and encounters an error message during installation.

 

The user then seeks assistance from their IT helpdesk. The end-user submits a brief description of the error message via the company’s portal. AI-generated tips are presented while the user waits for a helpdesk agent to connect.

 

By the time the agent connects, the troubleshooting instructions have successfully helped resolve the installation issue. The agent verifies the resolution and provides additional assistance if needed.

 

 

This AI capability allows IT support agents to create AI-assisted automated scripts that can run on multiple devices without user interaction. Agents simply type a prompt that tells AI what they want to accomplish with the script, such as software installation, patches, or configurations. The AI scripting tool then produces the relevant script and applies it to individual devices or groups of devices.  

A use case for AI-powered scripting. Let’s assume a user is experiencing sluggish performance while browsing websites on a company workstation. She reaches out to a support agent, who quickly deploys an AI-powered scripting tool to generate a customized script, one tailored to address and resolve the specific problem reported by the user.  

 

This AI capability offers IT support agents a conversational, AI-powered interface that understands agent queries in plain text and provides relevant assistance in real-time. Agent queries might include: (1) "What is the status of this device?" or (2) "How can I fix this issue?"

The chat assistant begins by identifying the agent’s intent via the agent’s query, then searches its vast knowledge base or training data for an appropriate response.  

A use case for AI-powered chat assistance. Let’s assume an IT agent is in a remote support session with an end-user. Through an AI assistant, the agent can deploy a device health check in order to rule out basic root causes for issues, like retrieving real-time data on CPU usage. 

Based on the device health check and the CPU usage, the agent is equipped with actionable insights to address issues like processes or applications consuming extensive CPU resources. In doing so, the chat assistant saves the agent time, facilitates daily activities, and accelerates resolution of user issues.

Integrating AI into IT Helpdesk Support 

As you can see from the AI tools and use cases described above, artificial intelligence is a great resource for enabling your IT support team to work smarter. As AI continues to evolve its capabilities, you and your IT support team should be carefully considering how it can make your lives easier.