Level up your IT process automation with predictive intelligence

IT process automation might sound a bit like doing something that’s already been done: automating your automated processes.

But with ServiceNow ITSM Pro, such automation is all about using advanced machine learning capabilities to streamline processes and workflows, to make work easier and more fulfilling. And to ultimately ensure happier agents and even happier IT service desk users, at lower cost. Here’s how!

 

Four predictive intelligence frameworks

 ServiceNow ITSM Pro comes with four predictive intelligence frameworks that, once implemented, will take your ITSM to a next, machine learning environment.

1. Classification – Without predictive intelligence, incoming requests are forwarded for resolution by a human on the service desk. With predictive intelligence, such human intervention is no longer necessary. Text data is classified in a certain category, assignment group or priority and immediately forwarded to the right resolution group.

 

2. Clustering – This is not so much about actual IT process automation, rather it’s about answering the question as to which (parts of) processes are best suited to be automated for predictive intelligence? In fact, for any successful streamlining of your service desk, it is essential to know the type and volume of incidents. With clustering, machine learning algorithms review all incidents and cluster them according to type of incident or request. In case of a password reset, for example, the system will recognize that, say, one-third of all requests regard passwords. If this particular request would be automated, it would therefore immediately mean one third less calls to your service desk!

 

3. Similarity – Once agents receive an incident, it’s up to them to find a satisfactory answer as quickly as possible. In some cases, this will be easy. For other incidents or tickets, less so. Yet, both your agents and customers are best served with a quick time to resolution. With predictive intelligence, your agents simply click on ‘similar incident resolutions’ and they immediately get to see a record of almost similar incidents and how they were solved in the past or are currently being solved. The system searches for answers not only with an exact word match, but does so based on similarity. As a continuous, self-learning model, the similarity framework can be programmed to be updated at set time intervals.

 

4. Regression – Of course, it is essential to know what your investments in automation are actually delivering in terms of efficiencies and cost reduction. The latest ServiceNow Quebec update allows you to predict numerical fields. This enables you to identify and measure things like the exact costs for any incident, how much time is needed to resolve an incident and what the SLA percentage is. All such information makes it easier to plan resources and comply with your ITSM budget.

 

 

Deciding on what to implement when

Although it could be argued that it is logical to implement all four frameworks, we see that the overall goals of any client should, in first instance, be leading. For instance, if an organization is looking to significantly cut back the time spent on resolving tickets, it makes sense to ensure maximum automation. This can be done by focusing on the classification and similarity frameworks first.

However, if customer experience is a prime goal, it makes more sense to focus on the  classification and regression  frameworks. Together these can boost customer satisfaction: their problem is quickly understood and solved. And if not immediately resolved, the customer is informed on the expected time to resolution.

 

The power of AI – the Virtual Agent

Putting in place predictive intelligence frameworks first will help you make more impact with Virtual Agent, the AI-powered conversational chatbot that makes it easy for users of your service desk to get their issues resolved even faster. This self-service feature uses advanced and intelligent natural language capabilities to understand what is being said.

So, for instance, if a user says: ‘I can’t log into my computer’ the Virtual Agent understands that there possibly is a problem with a password. The bot will ask if the user needs a password reset. Or a user might have a problem with his software. The Virtual Agent will then present a selection of knowledge articles to help the user solve the issue and automatically generate an incident if the problem has not been resolved.

 

The power of getting automation just right

All predictive intelligence—and by extension features like the Virtual Agent—is based on historical incidents and data. Maximizing the power of machine learning to streamline your service desk is therefore inextricably tied up with the quality of your data. Yet, we see organizations struggling with creating true business value after switching to ServiceNow Pro simply because they have omitted to fully check their data quality.

Similarly, we see that many organizations are unaware of the many value-adding features on the ServiceNow platform. We like to make the comparison with e.g. an iPhone, which you’re probably using for some years already. Since its purchase, your iPhone has remained the same in outer appearance only! Its capabilities and features have, in the meantime, grown and improved exponentially. Features, that, for most users, remain undetected and unused.

The same is true for many users of the ServiceNow platform. The time needed to tidy up data and to find out which functionalities best fit IT and business goals requires time and manpower. Something that is often lacking within an IT department.
 

 

Maximizing the benefits of ServiceNow Pro

Adopting predictive intelligence takes your ITSM process maturity to a higher level. But, to fully benefit from such intelligence, it is essential to have your basic data up to scratch and know which Pro features can support and optimize your IT process automation. Partnering with a ServiceNow professional will help you make it possible to finetune these processes to fully match your strategic goals and make it measurable via Performance Analytics.

Such a partner can help you to realize the maximum value of your ITSM license. In this way, at the end of the day, you’ll not only be able to accurately measure to what extent you have succeeded in meeting your KPIs. But it will also enable you to tweak your workflows for further IT process automation optimization where necessary, as an ongoing iterative process.

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