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Any company's success can often be expressed in a single word, and that is called ‘ROI’. A solid business strategy ensures your company's profitability by taking all the required measures. And effective time management is one of the critical elements of that strategy. If you are a service desk manager, you won't disagree with me when I say that in business, time is money. Although it is a famous saying of Benjamin Franklin, time is one of the most valuable things in the corporate world. When it comes to the IT industry, every second matters, and sometimes 24 hours are insufficient for us to complete our routine, time-consuming tasks and processes. Being an IT service desk manager, I have always felt that you limit your prospects if you are not making the most of your working hours. Thus, IT employees must guard their time because the world is evolving so quickly, and several tasks need our attention at the same time. Unfortunately, the majority of millennial employees in the corporate sector are overburdened with tedious activities that leave them unproductive and burned out. In most organizations, employees have to spend around 30-45 minutes of their office hours resolving IT-related issues like password changes, software installations, printer configurations etc.If your remote employee come across an issue with his/her Outlook account, and he/she have to wait an entire day for an IT support agent to resolve it with remote access.Employees often experience these scenarios at service desks, which are huge pain points.   

Recently I came across the statistics of Clockify published in 2021, which state that almost 90% of workforces are overwhelmed with tiresome, recurring tasks and processes. That's shocking, right? Therefore, I think that proper time management is necessary for every organization if they want to thrive in every industry. Because when you have a clear understanding of where your workplace is falling short will give you the confidence to become more organized and effective. Of course, when employees don't get the right support at the right time, it often affects employees’ performance. Eventually, it hinders your organization's ROI – regardless of the size of your organization. Employees can complete their routine and repetitive activities more quickly when you give them the appropriate and cutting-edge equipment or technology. In my view, the organization must invest in robust technology like service desk automation to tackle workplace challenges. If you are looking to supercharge your service desk ROI, this article is for you.

What is Service Desk Automation?

Every service desk focuses on simplifying employees’ regular tasks and processes and helps organizations increase ROI and boost customer services. But if your organization is still relying on outdated technology or traditional service desks, you won’t be able to meet the particular requirements of employees. When employees at a traditional service desk have to wait long for the right support, they cannot do their regular tasks or processes. As a result, many employees claim they must wait to create tickets via phone calls or emails for a long time. A traditional service desk frequently causes staff to become frustrated, and this will reflect in their overall performance. If your organization wants to avoid such scenarios, you must search for cutting-edge solutions that can offer seamless employee support if they want to stop these significant problems. Service desk automation can be useful here. Using cutting-edge technologies like machine learning (ML) and conversational AI, routine and tiresome repetitive processes and workflows can be automated through the service desk automation process (AI). Service desk automation enables support agents to be in a centralized location to efficiently address employee complaints so they can concentrate on tasks with a high return on investment. Automating your service desk may offer complete employee support without training IT helpdesk agents/employees on workflow configuration.   

Service Desk Automation Benefits To Consider

Service desk automation allows your organization to streamline the entire support process without the need for human-agent interaction. Below are some of the key benefits of implementing service desk automation at your organization.   

1. Auto-resolve employee queries within seconds
   
   Service desk automation allows your organization to auto-resolve technical and non-technical issues like ‘access request denial’, ‘issues with VPN connectivity’, ‘laptop configuration’ etc within 10-15 seconds. It allows employees to have human-like interaction with conversational chatbots that works within collaborative platforms like MS Teams or Slack- where employees spend most of their time in this new post-pandemic era.
   
   
2. Minimize the scope of errors and inconsistencies
   
   In a traditional service desk, most tasks were performed manually. As a result, there is a huge chance of making mistakes. Service desk automation allows chatbots to automate tasks and processes, making the entire process quick and impeccable.
   
   
3. Provide personalized employee support
   
   Every employee's top expectation from their employer is bespoke and quick support. Global organizations have used the traditional service desk for a long time to handle service requests or resolve incidents. Service desk automation offer conversational virtual assistants to employees as soon as they sign in. Chatbots address employee issues by providing the best-suited solution within 10-15 seconds, providing them with L1 support.
   
   
4. Provide the right information at the right time
   
   Employees are expected to use the service portal to search for relevant information whenever they need clarifications on their leave policy, dress code, medical policies etc. But if the service desk frequently fails to provide the right information when employees are in need, the employee would quit the service portal/service desk. If you have ever experienced such issues, your organization still relies on the traditional service desk. Here service desk automation can help you. An automated service desk allows employees to access the right data at the right time in a single location without any intervention via robust knowledge management.
   
   
5. Human-like learning
   
   Conversational AI capabilities in service desk automation provide your team with the same level of support as a human service desk agent. The technology is built to enable learning and adaptation as you continue interacting with the system. After several interactions with the chatbots, the support desk will assess the user's preferences and potential areas of need. To make the dialogue seem genuine, it never asks the fundamental screening questions twice. The platform will keep making users-specific suggestions based on how the algorithm interprets the service desk interactions. This offers the assistance offered to your staff a completely new level.
   
   

How Service Desk Automation Ideas Helps You Get Business ROI?

I hope now you have a better idea about the concept of service desk automation. I have compiled a list of some of the best suggestions for enhancing your business ROI.   

1. Implementing smart chatbots
   
   Earlier, employees always seek the assistance of an expert when they experience difficulties accessing IT or HR-related documents, technical issues like setting up printers, resetting accounts, configuring laptops etc. This can be avoided by service desk automation.
   
   Employees can start communicating with the conversational chatbots feature of a modern service desk integrated with collaborative channels. Your employees receive first-level assistance (L1) from these smart chatbots, who respond to their problems in 10 to 15 seconds by offering the most appropriate solution to the employee's queries. As a result, employees can perform better without waiting for 2-3 hours for a dedicated agent to resolve their case.
   
   Read: Best IT chatbots to watch out for in 2023
   
   
2. Create tickets invisibly
   
   Many employees are opposed to the ticketing system, but some are unsure how to use it. Instead of using a conventional or manual ticketing system, most employees prefer phone calls or emails to file their pain points. An automated service desk makes ticketing an invisible process because most employees do not want to leave their collaborative platform. Now, employees can create tickets, check the status of their tickets, and speak with an agent straight within MS Teams and Slack, thanks to the conversational AI interface of an AI-powered service desk. The employee will be informed once the problem has been resolved and the ticket has been closed.
   
   Read: Invisible ticketing system is a must-have for service desks in 2023
   
   
3. Automating everyday tasks and processes
   
   There can be no debate about the fact that each employee has to perform various tasks throughout the day. When it comes to the HR department, HR professionals have to deal with routine tasks like recruiting, sending welcome emails, onboarding and offboarding, providing data on employee benefit supports, work policy, conducting feedback surveys etc. On the other hand, your IT support team is expected to devote a significant amount of time and energy to tasks like "checking the VPN status," "configuring a new laptop," "resetting an Outlook account," "gathering reports and insights," etc. It sounds like an easy task, but trust me, it can take tremendous time, energy, and patience to handle these everyday tasks manually. Service desk automation can streamline these time-consuming and tiresome regular duties and processes, enabling staff to carry out daily tasks and processes more effectively. As a result, they can focus on serious issues.
   
   Read: Routine task automation can help organizations to boost employee productivity
   
   
4. Automating knowledge base
   
   An organization's knowledge management system is key to streamlining its employee support service. Robust knowledge management ensures that the right employee is provided with the right and personalized solution. However, conventional knowledge management techniques will not maximize your company's ability to capitalize on your knowledge. Their approach is to provide staff support through insufficient, time-consuming, and generally ineffective resources. Automating your service desk can streamline the knowledge management process. If an employee has a question, he/she can enter it on the chatbot within the collaborative channel. An integrated knowledge management tool will provide articles, videos, handbooks, user manuals, user guides, and so forth within seconds. As a result, employees won't need to look at data all over the place.
   
   Read: Investing in Twitter-Age knowledge management is the new normal
   
   
5. Automating onboarding process
   
   In my opinion, one of the most critical HR processes for every organization is employee onboarding. A successful onboarding process helps create a positive impression of the organization in the minds of new employees, doesn't it? And, of course, the entire process can influence engagement and retention in the long run. Giving new hires the information, they need to perform their jobs effectively is a crucial part of the onboarding process.
   
   Even though the number of tickets you receive from employee onboarding processes may not be very high, since these processes involve multiple departments, it is important to prioritize the onboarding process. Therefore, the HR department should consider onboarding with rigorous planning, implementation, and analysis to ensure they are handled appropriately. Most businesses struggle with high staff turnover rates because they are unable to offer new employees a stable and structured environment. Automating your onboarding process can speed delivery, minimize support expenses, and increase cost-effectiveness. Automation centralizes all the information new hires require in one location and handles simple activities like password resets and accessing documents regarding benefits, policies, etc., without the intervention of a service desk representative.
   
   Read: An ultimate guide to employee onboarding in 2023
   
   
6. Engage effectively with dedicated agents
   
   One of the service desk automation concepts is to assure the availability of live interaction with knowledgeable agents. It is recommended that this option be reserved for employees who have exhausted all other options. The conversational chatbot of an automated service desk will immediately send your case to a dedicated service desk agent for L2 support or L3 in real time if your employees are dissatisfied with the first-level support (L1) delivered by the intelligent chatbot. When employees are better equipped to express their problems and receive satisfactory answers, they work 2X more, and this will result in the overall ROI of your company.
   
   Read: Things you need to know about Rezolve.ai’s chatbot-to-expert live agent
   
   
7. Automating feedback
   
   Automating the service desk can facilitate gathering customer feedback and make it simpler to track. Utilize service desk automation to design and send employee engagement surveys with less manual intervention and integrate them into your regular procedures. Additionally, employee input is gathered and analyzed automatically, free from the unconscious bias that comes with human-led, manual analysis. You can find areas for development in your business with these automatic findings, giving your staff a sense that their input is valued.
   
   Read: Employee feedback is an essential element of modern service desk  
   
   

Conclusion

In short, if your company is not looking at your service desk automation options, you could lose out on a highly productive team and loyal customers and decrease your business profitability. As a service desk manager, my recommendation to CEOs and CIOs is to invest in service desk automation since it can help companies automate time-consuming tasks, reduce errors, save money, and improve employee engagement and happiness.

Your team may maximize ROI with the help of Rezolve.ai, an affordable and effective AI-powered service desk solution of the modern era.   

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