5 Reasons You Need a Conversation AI Chatbot on Your Self-Service Portal

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, companies are constantly seeking innovative ways to improve their IT Service Management (ITSM) processes in order to better serve customers and clients. One such cutting-edge solution is the use of conversational AI-powered chatbots.

These intelligent conversational AI chatbots have the potential to revolutionize the way IT support is delivered by automating routine tasks and providing instant assistance to users. In this blog post, we will explore the top 5 reasons why adding a conversational AI chatbot to your self-service portal can vastly improve your service management and delivery.

What Are Conversational AI Chatbots?

Conversational AI chatbots are intelligent software applications that can understand and respond to user queries in natural language. Their primary role in IT Service Management is to provide quick, efficient support to end-users by resolving common issues, answering questions and guiding users through various processes. By incorporating conversational AI chatbots into your self-service portal, you can significantly enhance the overall user experience and streamline your IT support operations. You can also deflect tickets, requests and calls/emails from your IT help desk.

It is important to note the distinction between conversational AI chatbots and traditional chatbots.

When talking about traditional chat, we mean a chatbot experience that has a limited conversation path. It can take inputs and guided dialog paths to return answers in a simplified question/answer format – similar to what you’d get if you searched a knowledge base or FAQ – there aren’t many actions a user can take from the conversation with a traditional chatbot.

 Traditional chatbots don’t fare as well as those built on conversational AI. In fact, a recent market study from CIO.com found that nearly 76 percent of chatbot customers report user frustration with existing solutions. However, When conversational AI is used, the study shows more than 61 percent of respondents could effectively resolve problems vs just 35 percent when traditional chat is used.

Common Issues with Self-Service Portals

Self-service portals are designed to empower users to find solutions to their IT issues without requiring direct intervention from the IT support team. However, many organizations face challenges in delivering an effective self-service experience due to:

  1. Poor user interface and navigation
  2. Outdated or irrelevant knowledge base articles
  3. Lack of personalization and contextual understanding
  4. Inability to handle complex queries or escalate issues efficiently
  5. Time-consuming manual processes for ticket submission and resolution

These issues can lead to increased frustration for users and higher reliance on traditional support channels, negating the benefits of a self-service portal.

Top 5 Benefits of Adding a Conversational AI Chatbot

Now, let’s delve into the key advantages of integrating a conversational AI chatbot into your self-service portal.

  1. Enhanced User Experience – By providing instant, accurate responses to user queries, conversational AI chatbots can significantly improve the overall user experience. For example, a conversational AI chatbot can quickly guide a user through password reset procedures, reducing the need for manual intervention from the IT support team.
  2. Reduced Resolution Time – Conversational AI chatbots can resolve common issues in a matter of seconds, drastically reducing the resolution time for IT support queries.
  3. Increased Efficiency and Cost Savings – By automating routine tasks, conversational AI chatbots can free up valuable time and resources for your IT support team. This allows them to focus on more complex, high-priority issues. According to Gartner, chatbots can reduce IT support costs by up to 30%.
  4. Scalability and 24/7 Availability – Unlike human support agents, AI chatbots can simultaneously handle multiple queries and operate around the clock, ensuring uninterrupted support for users across different time zones.
  5. Continuous Learning and Improvement – Conversational AI chatbots are built on machine learning algorithms, which means they continuously learn and improve their ability to understand and respond to user queries. This results in better, more accurate support over time.

Tips for Implementing Conversational AI Chatbots

As you start to identify the right conversational AI tool for your organization, you’ll want to plan for the implementation of the new tool, as implementing conversational AI chatbots in your ITSM processes requires careful planning and execution.

Here are some best practices to follow:

  1. Define Use Cases: Identify the specific use cases for chatbots in your ITSM processes, such as incident management, password resets or software installations. If you plan to expand to use cases outside of IT (for Enterprise Service Management), then you’ll want to plan for those use cases as well – things like PTO requests, benefits enrollment, etc.
  2. Choose the Right Platform: Select a chatbot platform that aligns with your organization’s ITSM processes and integrates with your existing IT systems.
  3. Train the Chatbot: Train the chatbot to understand the language and context of your IT systems, and to respond to user queries accurately and efficiently. This part is critical to the success of your chatbot user experience.
  4. Monitor Performance: Monitor the chatbot’s performance regularly to ensure that it is meeting user needs and achieving the desired business outcomes.
  5. Continuously Improve: Continuously improve the chatbot’s performance by analyzing user feedback, identifying areas for improvement and updating the chatbot’s algorithms and training data.

Incorporating a conversational AI chatbot into your self-service portal is a smart investment that can significantly enhance user experience, reduce resolution times and cut down on IT support costs. By leveraging the power of conversational AI, you can transform your self-service portal into an efficient, user-friendly support tool that meets the needs of today’s digitally savvy users.

If you’d like to learn more about traditional chatbots vs. conversational AI, check out: Chatbot Frustration and the Promise of Conversational AI.

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