The practical use of AI in service management

Hello and welcome to the service management show from the team here at Eficode. In this episode, we're going to be talking about practical uses of artificial intelligence in service management. I'm joined today by Simon. I'll let him introduce himself.

Hi Gary, good to see you again. I'm Simon Bradford, I look after the ITSM or JSM team solution engineers in Eficode.

Yeah, okay cool. Yes indeed. I forgot to introduce myself; I do this every show, such an amateur. I'm obviously the IT service manager and practice lead for Eficode UK and host of this podcast. So, we just had a really good chat actually, just from here looking forward.

All we want to do today is really talk a little bit about artificial intelligence in service management in a more practical way, in the way in which it can be used to enhance your business—not necessarily the chatbot or the scary stories that you might read in the press. So, do you want to briefly talk about your history and your exposure to things like artificial intelligence?

Yeah, sure. I mean, it's an interesting conversation because when you first messaged me, asking if we could do a podcast, I thought, what should we talk about? Should we talk about service management? And then you suggested AI, and I thought, what can I say about AI? You realize that it's part of your everyday life, and you assume it's going to work for you, but you don't really think about how it's working for you.

I was thinking back to my experience working in a big telecom company where we had internal support using a chatbot. The telephony was turned off because it was easier to use the chatbot, but the only way to get good answers was to script what you wanted to say. The feedback we received was that many people found it unhelpful, which gave chatbots a bad reputation.

Fast forward to now, a lot has changed in how we look at virtual agents. I was talking to a customer from a utility company who just implemented AI. He used AI to analyze incoming requests, allowing him to categorize them effectively. This is crucial because you often have a vast amount of data, and understanding what it tells you is key.

One of the things he was doing was helping people request AWS instances for testing applications. He showed me how he could type a request into a Slack channel, and the AI would assist him in managing those requests efficiently.

The ability to change the tone of language is also important for help desk teams when corresponding with customers. You can write your response and have it shaped into a more professional format or even translated, which enhances customer interactions.

Another recent innovation is sentiment analysis. When a ticket is raised, AI can help determine the customer's sentiment—whether they are frustrated, urgent, or relaxed about their request. This is fantastic for service managers, as it allows them to prioritize tickets based on customer sentiment.