Why it Matters
The introduction of ‘conversational IT support’, exemplified by Salesforce’s Agentforce IT platform with Slack, provides omni-channel comms. This supports the trend IBRS predicts for the future operations of internal help desks. The transition may take 5-6 years to become the ‘standard’ mode of operation, but it is coming.
Traditionally, IT support has often been characterised by tickets, email exchanges, and phone calls. Conversational IT support shifts much of the ‘baseload’ tier 2 support to AI-driven conversational (natural language) interfaces, initially through chat but increasingly through voice. This approach is intended to provide immediate, automated responses and resolutions for common IT issues.
The long-term impact on internal help desks and support staffing will be significant. While it is an extension of ITSM and support desk automation that has been evolving for more than a decade, the addition of conversational agents on top of well-understood, repeatable, and common remediation and support requests can be viewed as ‘the final mile’ of this journey.
Examples of areas where conversational agents will have early impacts include: automated password resets, software access provisioning, basic troubleshooting, guiding users through standard configurations, and interactive ‘how to’ support for core business solutions.
Proponents suggest this could lead to faster resolution times for end-users and free up human IT staff to focus on more complex, strategic issues that require human ingenuity and problem-solving. Agentforce, for instance, emphasises cutting costs and empowering IT teams to resolve issues more quickly.
Interestingly, there is already an upswell of use of voice-conversations with ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini by users seeking to perform their own self-help. So this trend is already happening through ‘business lead AI’ at best, and ‘shadow AI’ at worst.
However, the efficacy of conversational IT for help desk support services heavily relies on the underlying agentic access to enterprise support data and documents from CMDBs, HR systems, etc, as well as being orchestrated consistently and accurately. While the promise is a more efficient and effective support environment, a conversational agent put over weak support processes will simply automate what’s not currently working well, leading to user frustration. Getting tier 1 support and help desk services running smoothly is imperative before looking at agentic AI, though the business case for improving services can benefit from including agentic efficiency claims.
Who’s Impacted?
- CIOs and IT Directors: Responsible for IT strategy, budget management, and operational efficiency. They will evaluate the cost savings and productivity gains from automated support.
- Head of IT Operations: Focuses on the daily functioning of IT services and help desk performance. They will be keen on the potential for reduced ticket volumes and faster resolution times.
- Help Desk Managers: Directly oversee support teams. They will need to manage the transition from traditional support models to a hybrid human-AI model and retrain staff for more complex tier 2 tasks.
- Line of Business Leaders: Benefit from improved employee productivity due to quicker IT issue resolution, reducing downtime and streamlining access to necessary tools. Be involved in shaping ‘how to’ and ‘best practices for’ guides for the agentic AI to leverage.
Next Steps
- Review tier 1 support service maturity: Conduct a thorough assessment of existing IT support metrics, including resolution times, ticket volumes, and end-user satisfaction.
- Be sceptical and pragmatic when creating business cases: Evaluate the vendor’s claims of efficiency and cost reduction against internal operational data and industry benchmarks.
- Skills and role transitions: Plan for potential workforce adjustments and retraining programs for existing IT support staff, shifting their focus toward complex problem-solving and AI supervision.
