Let’s talk about ChatGPT (or generative AI). Now that I have your attention let’s talk about the topic at hand. IT service management (ITSM) has witnessed many trends outside its core domain, and only a few have been helpful for IT. Most ITSM trends have remained just in blog posts and conference presentations as core IT practitioners carried on with their day doing things as they’ve always done them.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is the new trend taking the internet by storm, but will it be any different this time? Is the generative version of AI actually useful for IT and ITSM? Let’s find out.
Generative AI is the new trend taking the internet by storm, but is it actually useful for IT service management? This article by @yenceesanjeev explores. #ITSM #AI #GenerativeAI Click To TweetWhat is generative AI?
Generative AI is a form of AI that enables machines to generate new and unique solutions to issues. Unlike other forms of AI that rely on pre-existing data sets to make predictions or classifications, it uses algorithms to create new data based on patterns it has learned from existing data.
The potential business applications are endless, and it’s being used across different industries today. In the world of ITSM, generative AI can be extremely useful in knowledge management, an area that’s traditionally been under-prioritized by some organizations and found too hard by others.
Why should IT practitioners care about generative AI?
IT has always had more things to do than the time and resources available. The problem has never been about knowing what to do, but it’s been about actually doing it. Leveraging generative AI for ITSM can reduce the time to complete mundane tasks and unearth patterns and insights that IT practitioners otherwise overlook since they have no time.
Leveraging generative AI can reduce the time to complete mundane tasks & unearth patterns & insights that IT practitioners otherwise overlook since they have no time – @yenceesanjeev #ITSM #AI #GenerativeAI Click To TweetLeveraging generative AI tools for knowledge management
Looking beyond chatbots, many ways exist to actively integrate generative AI into existing IT processes to improve overall efficiency. There are two major problems regarding knowledge management in ITSM, and it can help with both.
Knowledge base creation
Creating knowledge base articles never makes it to the top of the priority list in most IT organizations because of the low ROI and high effort required. GenerativeAI can be leveraged to create relevant and accurate knowledge base articles for ITSM organizations in no time.
#GenerativeAI can be leveraged to create relevant & accurate knowledge base articles for IT service organizations in no time, says @yenceesanjeev. Here he details which tools to explore. #ITSM #AI Click To TweetGenerative AI tools for ITSM to explore include:
- ChatGPT – to generate step-by-step instructions
- Synthesia.io – to generate videos using AI
- Tango.us – to easily create screenshots for how-to guides.
Knowledge base consumption
Generative AI can also be used to make ITSM knowledge consumption easier and faster. It can be used to create chatbots that accurately answer frequently asked IT support questions. These bots can also seamlessly integrate into your communication channels like Slack and MS Teams. These capabilities can help free up IT practitioners to focus on more complex tasks rather than having to answer the same queries every day.
Generative AI tools for ITSM to explore include:
- Chatbase – to build a bot with your knowledge base
- Rasa – similar to Chatbase but with an enterprise focus.
Other areas to consider
While knowledge management can be a significant beneficiary, AI can also be helpful in a few other IT and ITSM areas.
Internal communication
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Canva, or SlidesAI can generate marketing content (such as newsletters, internal blog posts, posters, and presentations) to communicate within the organization. This work is not the most enjoyable activity for IT leaders and helps them save time.
Data Analytics
IT has access to a lot of data that can help them improve. However, they don’t have the time or resources to sift through them to extract insights. Generative AI tools like MonkeyLearn and AI2SQL can be used to speed up the data analysis process so IT and ITSM teams can get insights faster.
Development
Often, IT has to build internal applications or optimize existing applications. Generative AI tools like GitHub Co-pilot and Tabnine can help speed up the development process.
While knowledge management can be a significant beneficiary, generative AI can also be helpful in internal comms, data analytics, & development. Here @yenceessanjeev takes a look. #ITSM #AI #GenerativeAI Click To TweetWe’re just getting started with generative AI
Generative AI is a fascinating technology that has come a long way in recent years, no months, no weeks! New tools are launched every day, and early adopters flock toward them. The potential applications for ITSM are endless, and it’s exciting to see how it can help simplify tasks and bring new insights into various industries, including IT. It has the opportunity to impact the end-to-end workflow for IT, but the challenge now is to differentiate signal from noise. There are so many tools and possible ITSM use cases that getting distracted is easy.
If you’re already using generative AI for ITSM in some form, please let me know in the comments!
Further Reading
If you enjoyed this AI article, here are a few more AI and ITSM articles.
Sanjeev NC
Sanjeev is a Product Evangelist with Freshservice (a Freshworks product), an easy to use ITSM solution based in the cloud. Prior to working with Freshworks, Sanjeev led a team of support engineers in a high-intensity service desk environment at Capgemini.
He's also a passionate trainer and enjoys creating his own non-conventional training content that includes memes, comics, and puns. In his free time, Sanjeev can be seen reading, writing, coding or playing; all on his computer. He's currently on a mission to ensure every customer support interaction yields the best possible experience!
