AI goes mainstream for delivering service desk management

Using artificial intelligence to streamline their service desk operations is something that 93 percent of businesses are planning according to a new survey.

The study conducted by IDG for Freshworks shows 61 percent of IT managers have already deployed AI at some level and 32 percent are exploring the possibilities.

"The data proves what Freshworks has been seeing with our customers for years -- they expect AI to be deeply integrated within the ITSM tools instead of it being an add-on that requires additional effort to delight their employees," says Prakash Ramamurthy, chief product officer at Freshworks. "As evident from the survey, users of AI want greater automation, reduced complexity, and a simplified approach with modern IT tools that delight businesses of all sizes. AI is no longer a futuristic concept, it's a must-have."

Nearly 70 percent say AI is either critical or very important for upgrading and modernizing their IT service desk capabilities. In terms of use cases, ITSM chatbots are the clear leader in planned or actual AI deployments.

When asked what they want to gain from implementing AI respondents cited, speed of implementation (40 percent), integration with legacy systems (40 percent), overall cost of implementation (38 percent) and training the AI bots solution to return the most accurate response (39 percent)

Respondents also want ease of deployment, 82 percent mostly or completely agree with the statement, 'We need a fast, pre-trained, easy-to-deploy AI solution to meet our needs.' While 85 percent agree that, 'The more intuitive an AI application, the more likely it will be accepted and deployed.'

The survey also looked at the number of IT service inquiries received by IT support desks each day. That number ranges from an average of 44 inquiries per day for small companies to 725 per day for large organizations.

You can find the full survey results on the Freshworks site.

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