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Ideas and news on business process automation to stay ahead of the IT game

Stories and tips on business process automation software, AI, chatbots and employee support.

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+ 11
AI chatbot for HR answering employee question with personalized information
Tue Sep 26 2023
Gaspar AI's latest feature: Personalized HR Information at your fingertips
In today's fast-paced world, we understand the importance of convenience and efficiency when it comes to accessing information about your employment. That's why we are thrilled to introduce the latest feature of Gaspar AI – Personalized HR Info. Gaspar AI is evolving to become your go-to companion for all things HR-related, offering you quick and easy access to information tailored specifically to you. \ Ever wondered, "How many days of vacation do I have left” and dreaded the whole process of asking the HR team and getting an answer days after? \ Now, imagine having a friendly, responsive HR assistant available to answer your questions and provide you with personalized information whenever you need it. Gaspar AI has once again raised the bar with its groundbreaking new feature. Whether you're curious about your remaining vacation days, sick leave allowance, or the latest time-off policies, Gaspar AI has you covered. ## Your time off, your way Gaspar AI enables you to inquire about your personal time-off details effortlessly. Simply ask Gaspar, our AI chatbot, questions like: - "How many days of vacation do I have left?" - "What is my sick leave allowance?" - "When was the last time I took some time off?" Gaspar AI will provide you with accurate and up-to-date information tailored to your specific employment situation, making it easier than ever to keep track of your work-life balance. No more digging through emails or paperwork to find the answers you need! ## Stay in the loop: know who's out of the office with ease Tired of scrolling through endless emails or spreadsheets to figure out who's out of the office today? \ Now, staying informed about your colleagues' availability is a breeze. With just a simple query to Gaspar, you can instantly access a list of who's out of the office, ensuring you're always in the know and can plan your day accordingly. ## Demystifying HR policies Understanding your company's time-off policies is essential for planning your days off effectively, but navigating the labyrinth of HR policies can be a daunting task. Gaspar AI can help you get a grip on your organization's policies with ease. Just ask Gaspar, and you'll receive comprehensive information that ensures you're always up to date with your organization's HR regulations. \ Some examples of information you can ask about include: - "What are the types of policies available for time-off?" - "Can you explain the procedure for requesting time off?" - "Are there any special policies for maternity leave?" ## Project status transparency: get a glimpse of your teammates to-do list No more digging through project management tools or bothering coworkers with questions about their tasks. With a simple request to our AI chatbot, you can now access your teammates to-do list and task status effortlessly. This feature not only fosters transparency but also promotes better collaboration, enabling you to stay in sync and work seamlessly together. Project management has never been this efficient! ## Unveiling the technology of our latest feature To offer you this revolutionary update that empowers users to effortlessly retrieve crucial HR information tailored to them, we had to take our software some steps further and perform several changes in the workflows. \ When an employee is asking a question, our internal ticketing system receives and sends the request to our AI, which now identifies that it is a question about private knowledge information sharing. We fetch the necessary data from your company’s applications and repositories. Our AI then consults ChatGPT to answer the question and sends it back to ticketing, which then provides a human-like, personalized response to the employee. Everything is hard coded so that we only give info to the specific user who is asking, based on their individual data. As for our ChatGPT integration, we only give the data it needs to answer the question, and don’t keep them. ## The future of HR assistance With Gaspar AI's Personalized HR Info, you have access to a wealth of information that is tailored to your unique needs and employment situation. This feature is designed to save employees time and reduce the hassle of HR-related inquiries. Whether you're planning a vacation or need to understand your company's policies better, Gaspar AI is here to help. \ We believe that this latest addition will revolutionize the way you interact with your HR department, making it more accessible and user-friendly: - **Efficiency**: No more digging through emails or HR documents. Gaspar AI provides quick and accurate answers, saving you time and effort. - **Compliance**: Stay compliant with your organization's HR policies by having the latest information at your disposal. - **Peace of mind**: Gaspar AI's personalized HR information feature ensures you're always aware of your time-off allowance, eliminating any last-minute surprises. Say goodbye to the days of waiting for email responses or navigating complex HR portals – Gaspar AI is your 24/7 HR assistant, ready to assist you at a moment's notice. [Schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) to experience the future of HR assistance first-hand!
Employee chatbot with Dialog management capabilities
Fri Sep 22 2023
Employee-chatbot conversations redefined with new dialog capabilities
Imagine you're at work, you want to take some days off and decide to ask the company's chatbot about it. You ask, "Hey Bot, what's the time-off policy?" The chatbot delivers a prompt response, "Your vacation days’ number depends on your length of employment, and you can take them all at once or per month." Ecstatic, you decide to dig deeper, "Great! And how are the days calculated with regards to my length of employment?" To your astonishment, the bot's digital gears grind to a halt, and it responds, "My favorite color is blue. What's yours?" You can't help but scratch your head in disbelief. It turns out, your company’s chatbot might be the best at one-liners, but when it comes to a real conversation, it's more like a comedy show than a helpful chatbot! \ \ When your employee support relies on an AI-powered platform to solve IT & HR issues more quickly and efficiently, having a chatbot that employees want to use and talk to is essential. That's why our employee support chatbot is taking a significant leap forward with its new feature – advanced Dialog Management capabilities. ## What is Dialog Management? Advanced Dialog Management is a sophisticated system integrated into our chatbot that allows for more natural and human-like interactions between employees and the bot. It is responsible for the state and flow of the conversation, and for multi-turn interactions. It allows us to control how the bot navigates between tasks, i.e., how it behaves when required to pause a particular task, switch intent, complete a different task, and then return to the original user request without losing context. Thus, it enables the chatbot to comprehend and manage complex dialogues, offering a seamless and efficient support experience. ## Why is Dialog Management important? Dialog management is essential for maintaining context and guiding dynamic conversations. It allows for flexibility and customization options and empowers the chatbot to deliver engaging and coherent conversational experiences to users. **Enhanced user experience**: Traditional chatbots often struggle with understanding nuanced queries or maintaining context during a conversation. Dialog Management bridges this gap, ensuring that employees feel heard and understood, thus enhancing their experience. **Improved problem-solving**: The chatbot can now ask and answer clarifying questions, dig deeper into the issue, and provide more accurate solutions, reducing frustration for employees. **Faster issue resolution**: With the ability to manage complex dialogues, the chatbot can pinpoint issues more accurately and provide quicker solutions. This means less downtime and increased productivity for your workforce. **Reduced help desk workload**: Help desk teams often face a high volume of routine queries. Our advanced Dialog Management allows the chatbot to handle more of these routine tasks, freeing them up to focus on more strategic initiatives. ## How does it work? Our chatbot leverages Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to understand the intent behind each user query. It uses this understanding to maintain context, ask follow-up questions when necessary, and provide relevant solutions from your internal repositories and knowledge base. ## Dialog mastery for enhanced help desk operations and experiences Advanced Dialog Management capabilities in Gaspar, our employee support chatbot, signify a major leap in providing exceptional support to your workforce. It's not just about solving technical issues but also about ensuring a positive, efficient, and user-centric experience. By investing in this technology, you're not only optimizing your help desk support operations but also empowering your employees to work seamlessly and productively. \ \ Upgrade your IT and HR support today and witness the transformation it brings to your company. [Schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) with us and see Gaspar’s human-like conversations in real time!
Gaspar AI integrates with Coda for better knowledge management
Fri Sep 15 2023
Gaspar AI teams up with Coda for excellent knowledge sharing
Knowledge is a superpower, but it's often hidden in complex and siloed systems. That's where Gaspar AI comes in – it gathers all your info and gives employees the right answers quickly, so they can get things done faster! \ \ By integrating with multiple knowledge bases, Gaspar AI deflects tickets by providing accurate information from solution articles. [Gaspar, our AI chatbot](https://www.gaspar.ai/ai-chatbot-for-employee-support), responds to employee questions in natural language on Slack, MS Teams or the Jira SM support portal. It gives them exactly the info they need in a human-like way. Should they need more clarifications, they can keep up the conversation until they have everything they want: Gaspar is highly interactive and conversational! ## Why a knowledge base – chatbot integration matters in employee support? With an integrated knowledge base and chatbot platform, companies can provide comprehensive yet efficient support to their employees. It enables businesses to make the most of their self-service platform and extend it with a chatbot that interacts with end users in real time on the communication platform of their choice. \ \ By leveraging this knowledge and making it accessible, businesses will be able to quickly resolve employee queries without having to rely on human agents for mundane tasks. Companies that have knowledge base-chatbot integration in place will find themselves better equipped to provide fast and accurate answers and swift issue resolution, leading to improved employee experience, increased productivity, and higher operational efficiency. \ \ Therefore, when it comes to AI-powered employee support platforms, the more knowledge base apps they integrate with, the better. It means that they can address the needs of most companies, guaranteeing better and effortless employee support. \ \ Gaspar AI already integrates with [Confluence](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/optimize-your-knowledge-management-with-confluence-and-gaspar-ai-integration), Sharepoint, ServiceNow, HelpJuice, Notion, Dropbox. Today, we welcome Coda docs in our Gaspar AI family! ## Coda & Gaspar AI: a powerful duo for knowledge optimization By integrating Gaspar AI with Coda, companies can effortlessly convert knowledge from their Coda documents into accurate solutions to employee support requests. Gaspar AI can also help create and optimize solution articles. ### Effortless content retrieval Say goodbye to endless scrolling through documents and folders. Gaspar AI quickly scans your Coda knowledge base and retrieves information. Our Virtual Agent uses this knowledge to resolve an internal request in seconds, providing the precise info employees are looking for, in a human-like answer. This reduces the helpdesk’s repetitive, manual work, and allows employees to go on with their work immediately. ### Knowledge enrichment Thanks to the Proactive Insights feature, companies get data about the most common employee questions and issues. They can thus identify information gaps and start creating relevant solution articles or update the existing ones, keeping the knowledge base dynamic and up-to-date. Helpdesk teams will be happy to know where to focus their knowledge base efforts, and employees will be satisfied to have accurate information. \ \ Gaspar AI's integration with Coda elevates the way businesses harness their collective intelligence, making knowledge easily accessible, organized, and actionable. It enables companies to have faster and frictionless employee support, increases efficiency and reduces manual work. Gaspar AI ensures that knowledge remains your most potent asset, ready to drive your success. \ \ Ready to give Gaspar AI a try? [Schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) and see the magic in action!
Balancing AI and Human Agents in IT Support Solutions
Wed Sep 13 2023
AI vs. Human: striking the right balance for IT support with feeling
With AI-powered solutions gaining traction in IT support, you might be concerned that we are moving towards a rational, tech-overwhelmed help desk of the future, lacking any emotional connection. \ \ Truth is, as AI takes center stage in the IT world, finding the right balance between AI-driven automation and genuine human interaction is crucial for creating meaningful employee experiences. AI has certain limitations that make human agents invaluable, and both have many advantages to offer in IT support. The question is: how do we find a balance that leverages the strengths of both AI technology and human agents? \ \ In this blog post, we will delve into the role of AI and human agents in modern IT support and explore how to strike the right balance for optimal results. ## The rise of AI in IT Support solutions AI has made significant inroads into IT support, and for good reasons: - **Speed and efficiency**: AI can process and resolve routine queries and issues at lightning speed, ensuring minimal downtime and quick resolutions for employees. - **Consistency**: AI consistently provides accurate responses, reducing the variability that can occur when relying solely on human agents. - **Scalability**: AI can handle an increasing volume of support requests without the need for additional human resources, making it scalable as businesses grow. - **Cost savings**: By automating repetitive tasks, AI can significantly reduce operational costs associated with IT support. - **Data-driven insights**: AI can analyze support data to identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement, aiding in proactive issue resolution. \ \ With this in mind, AI-based IT support solutions are particularly good for: \ - Answering users' frequently asked questions, thanks to their 24/7 availability. - Perform repetitive tasks that do not require complex reasoning, - Collect preliminary information from users and then refer them to the most appropriate human operator. - Provide basic support and troubleshooting, such as for frequent employee problems. ## Limitations of AI tools in service desk operations It's important to acknowledge that AI-powered solutions also come with certain limitations that companies need to be aware of. - **Lack of human empathy**: AI tools lack the ability to genuinely empathize with users. While they can provide standardized responses, they cannot fully understand or address the emotional aspects of user frustration or stress. - **Inability to handle complex scenarios or ambiguous questions**: AI tools excel at handling routine and well-defined tasks but may struggle with complex, non-standard issues that require human judgment and creativity. - **Dependency on training data**: The effectiveness of AI tools heavily relies on the quality and diversity of training data. If the data used is biased or limited in scope, it can lead to skewed results and inaccurate responses. - **User learning curve**: Introducing AI tools to IT support may require users to adapt to new interfaces or procedures, potentially leading to a learning curve and resistance to change. - **Cost of implementation**: While AI tools can ultimately lead to cost savings, the initial investment in developing and integrating AI systems can be substantial. Small and mid-sized businesses may face financial barriers to adoption. ## The human touch in IT support While AI offers numerous advantages, human agents bring essential qualities to the table: - **Complex problem solving**: They excel at addressing intricate and non-standard issues that require creativity, and critical thinking. - **Empathy and understanding**: Human agents can empathize with employees who may be frustrated, anxious, or upset due to technical issues, offering emotional support and understanding during challenging situations. Empathy and understanding can go a long way in improving the overall user experience. - **Adaptability**: Human agents can adapt to dynamic and unpredictable scenarios, ensuring that unique issues are resolved effectively. \ \ However, they also have limitations, which is also the reason why AI is gaining ground: \ - **Limited availability**: Human agents work within set hours, and their availability may not align with the needs of users in different time zones or those requiring assistance outside of regular business hours. - **Human error**: Despite their expertise, human agents are prone to errors, which can include misdiagnosing issues, providing incorrect information, or overlooking critical details. - **Scalability challenges**: As the volume of support requests grows, relying solely on human agents can be cost-prohibitive and may lead to longer response times and reduced support quality. - **Resource Intensive**: Training and retaining skilled IT support professionals can be resource-intensive for companies, with ongoing costs associated with recruitment, training, and employee turnover. ## IT support with emotion: striking the right balance between AI and Humans The key to optimizing IT support lies in finding the right balance between AI and human agents. Here's how to achieve it: - **Clearly defined roles**: Use chatbots as the first level of assistance to reduce the workload of help desk teams. AI should handle routine tasks, while human agents focus on complex issues and personalized support. - **Seamless integration**: Ensure that AI and human agents work in harmony by integrating AI tools into the support workflow. This integration should be transparent to employees, they should be able to move seamlessly from one channel to another and issue history should be shared. - **Regular feedback loops**: Establish feedback mechanisms to continuously improve AI algorithms and human-agent performance based on user feedback and support data. - **Use AI for proactive support**: Identifying problems before they arise can significantly improve user experience and productivity. As human agents struggle to analyze large datasets and identify patterns that could inform proactive support strategies, AI is your best ally. - **Training and upskilling**: Invest in training and upskilling your human agents to ensure they stay relevant in an AI-driven environment. - **Flexibility**: Be prepared to adjust the balance as your organization evolves and as AI technology advances. ## Gaspar AI, the perfect blend of cutting-edge AI and human expertise With Gaspar AI, you can provide seamless digital workplace support that perfectly mixes the finest aspects of human expertise with the capabilities of AI technology. Gaspar, our cutting-edge Virtual Support Agent, automatically answers employee inquiries and resolves their requests, delivering personalized solutions within mere seconds. This not only enhances employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity but also contributes to driving positive business outcomes. \ \ It blends the best of AI technology with the best of human experience: a chatbot that is trained on advanced LLMs to accurately solve employee queries, with the option to easily create a ticket which will be automatically routed to the right human agent when auto-resolution is not possible. \ \ What’s best is that it does not require any special skills from employees and service desk teams to be used: the chatbot is added on Slack, MS Teams or Jira SM support portal, employees interact with it in their everyday language, and the whole support process happens on these platforms. And if you are afraid to ask about the implementation costs, fear not! With our low-cost pricing, which offers discounts depending on the number of monthly users, Gaspar AI is suited even for small businesses that want to enter the AI-powered era. \ \ If you’d like to learn more, you can schedule a demo and explore the world of perfectly balanced and efficient IT support.
Using Artificial intelligence in an ethical way for good business and social well-being
Wed Sep 06 2023
Transforming society one AI algorithm at a time
In a world brimming with technological advancements, Artificial Intelligence stands out as one of the most transformative innovations of our time. Beyond its capabilities in revolutionizing industries and simplifying daily tasks, AI has also shown its potential for social good. From disaster response to climate change mitigation and healthcare accessibility, AI is emerging as a powerful tool to address pressing societal challenges. However, as we embark on this journey, it's essential to keep a watchful eye on the ethical considerations that come with it. \ In this blog post, the last in our [#ethicalAI series](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/paving-the-path-to-responsible-innovation-and-ethical-ai), we'll explore the inspiring examples of AI being used for social good and delve into the critical ethical considerations involved. ## AI in disaster response Disasters, whether natural or man-made, can have devastating consequences. AI has proven to be a game-changer in disaster response, aiding organizations in mitigating damage and saving lives. For instance, predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms can analyze historical data to forecast natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires with greater accuracy. This enables authorities to issue timely warnings, evacuate vulnerable areas, and allocate resources efficiently. \ Additionally, during and after a disaster, AI-powered drones and robots can navigate hazardous terrain to search for survivors and assess damage, minimizing the risk to human responders. These innovations showcase the incredible potential of AI to improve disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. ## AI in climate change mitigation The urgency of addressing climate change requires innovative solutions, and AI is at the forefront of this battle. One notable application is in energy optimization. AI algorithms can analyze vast datasets to optimize energy consumption in buildings, factories, and transportation systems. By making these processes more efficient, AI can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to a sustainable future. \ Furthermore, AI can enhance our understanding of climate change by processing and interpreting climate data, helping scientists make more accurate predictions and formulate effective mitigation strategies. AI can also assist in monitoring deforestation, tracking wildlife movements, and managing water resources, all vital components of preserving our planet's delicate ecosystems. ## AI for Healthcare accessibility Access to quality healthcare is a fundamental human right, yet millions of people worldwide lack it. AI has the potential to bridge this gap by improving healthcare accessibility, especially in underserved communities. Telemedicine powered by AI enables remote consultations and diagnosis, extending healthcare services to remote areas. \ Machine learning models can analyze medical data to detect diseases at an early stage, aiding in timely intervention. Moreover, AI can enhance drug discovery, making the process faster and more cost-effective, potentially leading to breakthrough treatments for diseases that disproportionately affect marginalized populations. ## AI changing business processes for the better In addition to its impact on disaster response, climate change mitigation, and healthcare accessibility, AI is also revolutionizing business processes in ways that promote societal well-being. By optimizing operations, enhancing customer experiences, and driving innovation, AI is not only benefiting companies but also contributing to a more efficient and ethical business landscape. ### - Streamlined operations Efficiency is the cornerstone of successful businesses, and AI is becoming an indispensable tool for streamlining operations. For instance, supply chain management, a critical component of many industries, is being transformed by AI-driven predictive analytics. Companies can use AI algorithms to forecast demand, optimize inventory levels, and identify potential disruptions in the supply chain, reducing waste and ensuring goods are delivered on time. \ Another example is AI-driven automation, which can handle repetitive, time-consuming tasks with precision. This frees employees to focus on more creative and value-adding tasks, leading to higher job satisfaction and innovation. ### - Enhanced employee and customer experiences Employee and customer satisfaction is a key driver of business success, and AI is playing a significant role in enhancing these operations and experiences. Chatbots, powered by natural language processing and machine learning, provide immediate and accurate responses to employee and customer inquiries, improving support efficiency and accessibility. ## Ethical considerations in AI for Social Good While AI offers immense promise for social good, it is not without its ethical challenges. We must tread carefully to ensure that AI developments align with human values and global well-being. Here are some crucial ethical considerations, that we analyzed in our previous #EthicalAI blog posts: ### - Bias and fairness AI algorithms can inadvertently perpetuate biases present in training data. It's essential to actively mitigate bias and ensure fairness in AI systems, especially in applications like criminal justice, hiring, and healthcare. ### - Privacy As AI collects and analyzes vast amounts of personal data, [privacy concerns](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/ai-and-privacy-preserving-individual-rights-in-the-age-of-data) become paramount. Proper data protection and consent mechanisms must be in place to safeguard individuals' privacy. ### - Accountability and transparency Clear [accountability and transparency](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/ethical-considerations-for-algorithmic-design-to-build-trustworthy-ai) are essential in AI systems. Developers and organizations must take responsibility for the outcomes of their AI applications. ### - Job displacement While AI can create new opportunities, it may also displace certain jobs. Society must prepare for workforce transitions and ensure that displaced workers have access to retraining and education. ### - Security and misuse AI can be exploited for malicious purposes, such as deepfake technology used for misinformation. Robust security measures and ethical guidelines are necessary to prevent misuse. ## Advancing societal well-being through ethical AI innovation The harnessing of AI for social good represents a remarkable leap forward in our collective ability to address some of the world's most pressing challenges. Whether it's aiding in disaster response, fighting climate change, streamlining business operations, or improving healthcare accessibility, AI's potential is vast and inspiring. However, it's crucial that we leverage AI with ethical considerations at the forefront. \ By ensuring that AI developments align with human values and global well-being, we can harness the true power of AI to create a better, more equitable world for all.
AI chatbot for HR answering employee question with personalized information
Tue Sep 26 2023
Gaspar AI's latest feature: Personalized HR Information at your fingertips
In today's fast-paced world, we understand the importance of convenience and efficiency when it comes to accessing information about your employment. That's why we are thrilled to introduce the latest feature of Gaspar AI – Personalized HR Info. Gaspar AI is evolving to become your go-to companion for all things HR-related, offering you quick and easy access to information tailored specifically to you. \ Ever wondered, "How many days of vacation do I have left” and dreaded the whole process of asking the HR team and getting an answer days after? \ Now, imagine having a friendly, responsive HR assistant available to answer your questions and provide you with personalized information whenever you need it. Gaspar AI has once again raised the bar with its groundbreaking new feature. Whether you're curious about your remaining vacation days, sick leave allowance, or the latest time-off policies, Gaspar AI has you covered. ## Your time off, your way Gaspar AI enables you to inquire about your personal time-off details effortlessly. Simply ask Gaspar, our AI chatbot, questions like: - "How many days of vacation do I have left?" - "What is my sick leave allowance?" - "When was the last time I took some time off?" Gaspar AI will provide you with accurate and up-to-date information tailored to your specific employment situation, making it easier than ever to keep track of your work-life balance. No more digging through emails or paperwork to find the answers you need! ## Stay in the loop: know who's out of the office with ease Tired of scrolling through endless emails or spreadsheets to figure out who's out of the office today? \ Now, staying informed about your colleagues' availability is a breeze. With just a simple query to Gaspar, you can instantly access a list of who's out of the office, ensuring you're always in the know and can plan your day accordingly. ## Demystifying HR policies Understanding your company's time-off policies is essential for planning your days off effectively, but navigating the labyrinth of HR policies can be a daunting task. Gaspar AI can help you get a grip on your organization's policies with ease. Just ask Gaspar, and you'll receive comprehensive information that ensures you're always up to date with your organization's HR regulations. \ Some examples of information you can ask about include: - "What are the types of policies available for time-off?" - "Can you explain the procedure for requesting time off?" - "Are there any special policies for maternity leave?" ## Project status transparency: get a glimpse of your teammates to-do list No more digging through project management tools or bothering coworkers with questions about their tasks. With a simple request to our AI chatbot, you can now access your teammates to-do list and task status effortlessly. This feature not only fosters transparency but also promotes better collaboration, enabling you to stay in sync and work seamlessly together. Project management has never been this efficient! ## Unveiling the technology of our latest feature To offer you this revolutionary update that empowers users to effortlessly retrieve crucial HR information tailored to them, we had to take our software some steps further and perform several changes in the workflows. \ When an employee is asking a question, our internal ticketing system receives and sends the request to our AI, which now identifies that it is a question about private knowledge information sharing. We fetch the necessary data from your company’s applications and repositories. Our AI then consults ChatGPT to answer the question and sends it back to ticketing, which then provides a human-like, personalized response to the employee. Everything is hard coded so that we only give info to the specific user who is asking, based on their individual data. As for our ChatGPT integration, we only give the data it needs to answer the question, and don’t keep them. ## The future of HR assistance With Gaspar AI's Personalized HR Info, you have access to a wealth of information that is tailored to your unique needs and employment situation. This feature is designed to save employees time and reduce the hassle of HR-related inquiries. Whether you're planning a vacation or need to understand your company's policies better, Gaspar AI is here to help. \ We believe that this latest addition will revolutionize the way you interact with your HR department, making it more accessible and user-friendly: - **Efficiency**: No more digging through emails or HR documents. Gaspar AI provides quick and accurate answers, saving you time and effort. - **Compliance**: Stay compliant with your organization's HR policies by having the latest information at your disposal. - **Peace of mind**: Gaspar AI's personalized HR information feature ensures you're always aware of your time-off allowance, eliminating any last-minute surprises. Say goodbye to the days of waiting for email responses or navigating complex HR portals – Gaspar AI is your 24/7 HR assistant, ready to assist you at a moment's notice. [Schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) to experience the future of HR assistance first-hand!
Employee chatbot with Dialog management capabilities
Fri Sep 22 2023
Employee-chatbot conversations redefined with new dialog capabilities
Imagine you're at work, you want to take some days off and decide to ask the company's chatbot about it. You ask, "Hey Bot, what's the time-off policy?" The chatbot delivers a prompt response, "Your vacation days’ number depends on your length of employment, and you can take them all at once or per month." Ecstatic, you decide to dig deeper, "Great! And how are the days calculated with regards to my length of employment?" To your astonishment, the bot's digital gears grind to a halt, and it responds, "My favorite color is blue. What's yours?" You can't help but scratch your head in disbelief. It turns out, your company’s chatbot might be the best at one-liners, but when it comes to a real conversation, it's more like a comedy show than a helpful chatbot! \ \ When your employee support relies on an AI-powered platform to solve IT & HR issues more quickly and efficiently, having a chatbot that employees want to use and talk to is essential. That's why our employee support chatbot is taking a significant leap forward with its new feature – advanced Dialog Management capabilities. ## What is Dialog Management? Advanced Dialog Management is a sophisticated system integrated into our chatbot that allows for more natural and human-like interactions between employees and the bot. It is responsible for the state and flow of the conversation, and for multi-turn interactions. It allows us to control how the bot navigates between tasks, i.e., how it behaves when required to pause a particular task, switch intent, complete a different task, and then return to the original user request without losing context. Thus, it enables the chatbot to comprehend and manage complex dialogues, offering a seamless and efficient support experience. ## Why is Dialog Management important? Dialog management is essential for maintaining context and guiding dynamic conversations. It allows for flexibility and customization options and empowers the chatbot to deliver engaging and coherent conversational experiences to users. **Enhanced user experience**: Traditional chatbots often struggle with understanding nuanced queries or maintaining context during a conversation. Dialog Management bridges this gap, ensuring that employees feel heard and understood, thus enhancing their experience. **Improved problem-solving**: The chatbot can now ask and answer clarifying questions, dig deeper into the issue, and provide more accurate solutions, reducing frustration for employees. **Faster issue resolution**: With the ability to manage complex dialogues, the chatbot can pinpoint issues more accurately and provide quicker solutions. This means less downtime and increased productivity for your workforce. **Reduced help desk workload**: Help desk teams often face a high volume of routine queries. Our advanced Dialog Management allows the chatbot to handle more of these routine tasks, freeing them up to focus on more strategic initiatives. ## How does it work? Our chatbot leverages Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to understand the intent behind each user query. It uses this understanding to maintain context, ask follow-up questions when necessary, and provide relevant solutions from your internal repositories and knowledge base. ## Dialog mastery for enhanced help desk operations and experiences Advanced Dialog Management capabilities in Gaspar, our employee support chatbot, signify a major leap in providing exceptional support to your workforce. It's not just about solving technical issues but also about ensuring a positive, efficient, and user-centric experience. By investing in this technology, you're not only optimizing your help desk support operations but also empowering your employees to work seamlessly and productively. \ \ Upgrade your IT and HR support today and witness the transformation it brings to your company. [Schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) with us and see Gaspar’s human-like conversations in real time!
Gaspar AI integrates with Coda for better knowledge management
Fri Sep 15 2023
Gaspar AI teams up with Coda for excellent knowledge sharing
Knowledge is a superpower, but it's often hidden in complex and siloed systems. That's where Gaspar AI comes in – it gathers all your info and gives employees the right answers quickly, so they can get things done faster! \ \ By integrating with multiple knowledge bases, Gaspar AI deflects tickets by providing accurate information from solution articles. [Gaspar, our AI chatbot](https://www.gaspar.ai/ai-chatbot-for-employee-support), responds to employee questions in natural language on Slack, MS Teams or the Jira SM support portal. It gives them exactly the info they need in a human-like way. Should they need more clarifications, they can keep up the conversation until they have everything they want: Gaspar is highly interactive and conversational! ## Why a knowledge base – chatbot integration matters in employee support? With an integrated knowledge base and chatbot platform, companies can provide comprehensive yet efficient support to their employees. It enables businesses to make the most of their self-service platform and extend it with a chatbot that interacts with end users in real time on the communication platform of their choice. \ \ By leveraging this knowledge and making it accessible, businesses will be able to quickly resolve employee queries without having to rely on human agents for mundane tasks. Companies that have knowledge base-chatbot integration in place will find themselves better equipped to provide fast and accurate answers and swift issue resolution, leading to improved employee experience, increased productivity, and higher operational efficiency. \ \ Therefore, when it comes to AI-powered employee support platforms, the more knowledge base apps they integrate with, the better. It means that they can address the needs of most companies, guaranteeing better and effortless employee support. \ \ Gaspar AI already integrates with [Confluence](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/optimize-your-knowledge-management-with-confluence-and-gaspar-ai-integration), Sharepoint, ServiceNow, HelpJuice, Notion, Dropbox. Today, we welcome Coda docs in our Gaspar AI family! ## Coda & Gaspar AI: a powerful duo for knowledge optimization By integrating Gaspar AI with Coda, companies can effortlessly convert knowledge from their Coda documents into accurate solutions to employee support requests. Gaspar AI can also help create and optimize solution articles. ### Effortless content retrieval Say goodbye to endless scrolling through documents and folders. Gaspar AI quickly scans your Coda knowledge base and retrieves information. Our Virtual Agent uses this knowledge to resolve an internal request in seconds, providing the precise info employees are looking for, in a human-like answer. This reduces the helpdesk’s repetitive, manual work, and allows employees to go on with their work immediately. ### Knowledge enrichment Thanks to the Proactive Insights feature, companies get data about the most common employee questions and issues. They can thus identify information gaps and start creating relevant solution articles or update the existing ones, keeping the knowledge base dynamic and up-to-date. Helpdesk teams will be happy to know where to focus their knowledge base efforts, and employees will be satisfied to have accurate information. \ \ Gaspar AI's integration with Coda elevates the way businesses harness their collective intelligence, making knowledge easily accessible, organized, and actionable. It enables companies to have faster and frictionless employee support, increases efficiency and reduces manual work. Gaspar AI ensures that knowledge remains your most potent asset, ready to drive your success. \ \ Ready to give Gaspar AI a try? [Schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) and see the magic in action!
Balancing AI and Human Agents in IT Support Solutions
Wed Sep 13 2023
AI vs. Human: striking the right balance for IT support with feeling
With AI-powered solutions gaining traction in IT support, you might be concerned that we are moving towards a rational, tech-overwhelmed help desk of the future, lacking any emotional connection. \ \ Truth is, as AI takes center stage in the IT world, finding the right balance between AI-driven automation and genuine human interaction is crucial for creating meaningful employee experiences. AI has certain limitations that make human agents invaluable, and both have many advantages to offer in IT support. The question is: how do we find a balance that leverages the strengths of both AI technology and human agents? \ \ In this blog post, we will delve into the role of AI and human agents in modern IT support and explore how to strike the right balance for optimal results. ## The rise of AI in IT Support solutions AI has made significant inroads into IT support, and for good reasons: - **Speed and efficiency**: AI can process and resolve routine queries and issues at lightning speed, ensuring minimal downtime and quick resolutions for employees. - **Consistency**: AI consistently provides accurate responses, reducing the variability that can occur when relying solely on human agents. - **Scalability**: AI can handle an increasing volume of support requests without the need for additional human resources, making it scalable as businesses grow. - **Cost savings**: By automating repetitive tasks, AI can significantly reduce operational costs associated with IT support. - **Data-driven insights**: AI can analyze support data to identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement, aiding in proactive issue resolution. \ \ With this in mind, AI-based IT support solutions are particularly good for: \ - Answering users' frequently asked questions, thanks to their 24/7 availability. - Perform repetitive tasks that do not require complex reasoning, - Collect preliminary information from users and then refer them to the most appropriate human operator. - Provide basic support and troubleshooting, such as for frequent employee problems. ## Limitations of AI tools in service desk operations It's important to acknowledge that AI-powered solutions also come with certain limitations that companies need to be aware of. - **Lack of human empathy**: AI tools lack the ability to genuinely empathize with users. While they can provide standardized responses, they cannot fully understand or address the emotional aspects of user frustration or stress. - **Inability to handle complex scenarios or ambiguous questions**: AI tools excel at handling routine and well-defined tasks but may struggle with complex, non-standard issues that require human judgment and creativity. - **Dependency on training data**: The effectiveness of AI tools heavily relies on the quality and diversity of training data. If the data used is biased or limited in scope, it can lead to skewed results and inaccurate responses. - **User learning curve**: Introducing AI tools to IT support may require users to adapt to new interfaces or procedures, potentially leading to a learning curve and resistance to change. - **Cost of implementation**: While AI tools can ultimately lead to cost savings, the initial investment in developing and integrating AI systems can be substantial. Small and mid-sized businesses may face financial barriers to adoption. ## The human touch in IT support While AI offers numerous advantages, human agents bring essential qualities to the table: - **Complex problem solving**: They excel at addressing intricate and non-standard issues that require creativity, and critical thinking. - **Empathy and understanding**: Human agents can empathize with employees who may be frustrated, anxious, or upset due to technical issues, offering emotional support and understanding during challenging situations. Empathy and understanding can go a long way in improving the overall user experience. - **Adaptability**: Human agents can adapt to dynamic and unpredictable scenarios, ensuring that unique issues are resolved effectively. \ \ However, they also have limitations, which is also the reason why AI is gaining ground: \ - **Limited availability**: Human agents work within set hours, and their availability may not align with the needs of users in different time zones or those requiring assistance outside of regular business hours. - **Human error**: Despite their expertise, human agents are prone to errors, which can include misdiagnosing issues, providing incorrect information, or overlooking critical details. - **Scalability challenges**: As the volume of support requests grows, relying solely on human agents can be cost-prohibitive and may lead to longer response times and reduced support quality. - **Resource Intensive**: Training and retaining skilled IT support professionals can be resource-intensive for companies, with ongoing costs associated with recruitment, training, and employee turnover. ## IT support with emotion: striking the right balance between AI and Humans The key to optimizing IT support lies in finding the right balance between AI and human agents. Here's how to achieve it: - **Clearly defined roles**: Use chatbots as the first level of assistance to reduce the workload of help desk teams. AI should handle routine tasks, while human agents focus on complex issues and personalized support. - **Seamless integration**: Ensure that AI and human agents work in harmony by integrating AI tools into the support workflow. This integration should be transparent to employees, they should be able to move seamlessly from one channel to another and issue history should be shared. - **Regular feedback loops**: Establish feedback mechanisms to continuously improve AI algorithms and human-agent performance based on user feedback and support data. - **Use AI for proactive support**: Identifying problems before they arise can significantly improve user experience and productivity. As human agents struggle to analyze large datasets and identify patterns that could inform proactive support strategies, AI is your best ally. - **Training and upskilling**: Invest in training and upskilling your human agents to ensure they stay relevant in an AI-driven environment. - **Flexibility**: Be prepared to adjust the balance as your organization evolves and as AI technology advances. ## Gaspar AI, the perfect blend of cutting-edge AI and human expertise With Gaspar AI, you can provide seamless digital workplace support that perfectly mixes the finest aspects of human expertise with the capabilities of AI technology. Gaspar, our cutting-edge Virtual Support Agent, automatically answers employee inquiries and resolves their requests, delivering personalized solutions within mere seconds. This not only enhances employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity but also contributes to driving positive business outcomes. \ \ It blends the best of AI technology with the best of human experience: a chatbot that is trained on advanced LLMs to accurately solve employee queries, with the option to easily create a ticket which will be automatically routed to the right human agent when auto-resolution is not possible. \ \ What’s best is that it does not require any special skills from employees and service desk teams to be used: the chatbot is added on Slack, MS Teams or Jira SM support portal, employees interact with it in their everyday language, and the whole support process happens on these platforms. And if you are afraid to ask about the implementation costs, fear not! With our low-cost pricing, which offers discounts depending on the number of monthly users, Gaspar AI is suited even for small businesses that want to enter the AI-powered era. \ \ If you’d like to learn more, you can schedule a demo and explore the world of perfectly balanced and efficient IT support.
Using Artificial intelligence in an ethical way for good business and social well-being
Wed Sep 06 2023
Transforming society one AI algorithm at a time
In a world brimming with technological advancements, Artificial Intelligence stands out as one of the most transformative innovations of our time. Beyond its capabilities in revolutionizing industries and simplifying daily tasks, AI has also shown its potential for social good. From disaster response to climate change mitigation and healthcare accessibility, AI is emerging as a powerful tool to address pressing societal challenges. However, as we embark on this journey, it's essential to keep a watchful eye on the ethical considerations that come with it. \ In this blog post, the last in our [#ethicalAI series](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/paving-the-path-to-responsible-innovation-and-ethical-ai), we'll explore the inspiring examples of AI being used for social good and delve into the critical ethical considerations involved. ## AI in disaster response Disasters, whether natural or man-made, can have devastating consequences. AI has proven to be a game-changer in disaster response, aiding organizations in mitigating damage and saving lives. For instance, predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms can analyze historical data to forecast natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires with greater accuracy. This enables authorities to issue timely warnings, evacuate vulnerable areas, and allocate resources efficiently. \ Additionally, during and after a disaster, AI-powered drones and robots can navigate hazardous terrain to search for survivors and assess damage, minimizing the risk to human responders. These innovations showcase the incredible potential of AI to improve disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. ## AI in climate change mitigation The urgency of addressing climate change requires innovative solutions, and AI is at the forefront of this battle. One notable application is in energy optimization. AI algorithms can analyze vast datasets to optimize energy consumption in buildings, factories, and transportation systems. By making these processes more efficient, AI can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to a sustainable future. \ Furthermore, AI can enhance our understanding of climate change by processing and interpreting climate data, helping scientists make more accurate predictions and formulate effective mitigation strategies. AI can also assist in monitoring deforestation, tracking wildlife movements, and managing water resources, all vital components of preserving our planet's delicate ecosystems. ## AI for Healthcare accessibility Access to quality healthcare is a fundamental human right, yet millions of people worldwide lack it. AI has the potential to bridge this gap by improving healthcare accessibility, especially in underserved communities. Telemedicine powered by AI enables remote consultations and diagnosis, extending healthcare services to remote areas. \ Machine learning models can analyze medical data to detect diseases at an early stage, aiding in timely intervention. Moreover, AI can enhance drug discovery, making the process faster and more cost-effective, potentially leading to breakthrough treatments for diseases that disproportionately affect marginalized populations. ## AI changing business processes for the better In addition to its impact on disaster response, climate change mitigation, and healthcare accessibility, AI is also revolutionizing business processes in ways that promote societal well-being. By optimizing operations, enhancing customer experiences, and driving innovation, AI is not only benefiting companies but also contributing to a more efficient and ethical business landscape. ### - Streamlined operations Efficiency is the cornerstone of successful businesses, and AI is becoming an indispensable tool for streamlining operations. For instance, supply chain management, a critical component of many industries, is being transformed by AI-driven predictive analytics. Companies can use AI algorithms to forecast demand, optimize inventory levels, and identify potential disruptions in the supply chain, reducing waste and ensuring goods are delivered on time. \ Another example is AI-driven automation, which can handle repetitive, time-consuming tasks with precision. This frees employees to focus on more creative and value-adding tasks, leading to higher job satisfaction and innovation. ### - Enhanced employee and customer experiences Employee and customer satisfaction is a key driver of business success, and AI is playing a significant role in enhancing these operations and experiences. Chatbots, powered by natural language processing and machine learning, provide immediate and accurate responses to employee and customer inquiries, improving support efficiency and accessibility. ## Ethical considerations in AI for Social Good While AI offers immense promise for social good, it is not without its ethical challenges. We must tread carefully to ensure that AI developments align with human values and global well-being. Here are some crucial ethical considerations, that we analyzed in our previous #EthicalAI blog posts: ### - Bias and fairness AI algorithms can inadvertently perpetuate biases present in training data. It's essential to actively mitigate bias and ensure fairness in AI systems, especially in applications like criminal justice, hiring, and healthcare. ### - Privacy As AI collects and analyzes vast amounts of personal data, [privacy concerns](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/ai-and-privacy-preserving-individual-rights-in-the-age-of-data) become paramount. Proper data protection and consent mechanisms must be in place to safeguard individuals' privacy. ### - Accountability and transparency Clear [accountability and transparency](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/ethical-considerations-for-algorithmic-design-to-build-trustworthy-ai) are essential in AI systems. Developers and organizations must take responsibility for the outcomes of their AI applications. ### - Job displacement While AI can create new opportunities, it may also displace certain jobs. Society must prepare for workforce transitions and ensure that displaced workers have access to retraining and education. ### - Security and misuse AI can be exploited for malicious purposes, such as deepfake technology used for misinformation. Robust security measures and ethical guidelines are necessary to prevent misuse. ## Advancing societal well-being through ethical AI innovation The harnessing of AI for social good represents a remarkable leap forward in our collective ability to address some of the world's most pressing challenges. Whether it's aiding in disaster response, fighting climate change, streamlining business operations, or improving healthcare accessibility, AI's potential is vast and inspiring. However, it's crucial that we leverage AI with ethical considerations at the forefront. \ By ensuring that AI developments align with human values and global well-being, we can harness the true power of AI to create a better, more equitable world for all.
Gaspar, the AI chatbot, the ideal back-to-work gift to boost employee helpdesk experience
Wed Aug 30 2023
Gaspar AI: The ideal back-to-work gift to boost employee helpdesk experience
As the summer sun sets and the work desks beckon, you gear up for the inevitable post-holiday tech frenzy. Employees returning from vacation often find themselves grappling with tech-related issues, from forgotten passwords to baffling software glitches. It's no secret that the return to work can be a bit overwhelming. But what if there was a way to make this transition smoother and more exciting? Enter Gaspar AI – the perfect back-to-work gift that promises to revolutionize internal support for your employees. ## Unveiling Gaspar AI: Your service desk's new best friend If you've ever wished for a magic wand to resolve all your IT and HR support woes, Gaspar AI might just be the enchanting solution you've been waiting for. [Gaspar AI](https://www.gaspar.ai/ai-chatbot-for-employee-support) is an innovative and cutting-edge AI-powered IT & HR helpdesk that's designed to redefine the way internal support operates. With its intuitive interface and intelligent capabilities, Gaspar AI is here to transform mundane tech hiccups into swift problem-solving experiences. Gaspar, our AI chatbot built for Slack, MS Teams and Jira SM support portal, automatically and instantly resolves 40% of employee requests without human involvement. It uses a Large Language Model to learn and produce text and has Natural Language Understanding to comprehend user intent and context. Employees simply chat with Gaspar on [Slack](https://www.gaspar.ai/slack-integration), [MS Teams](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/using-ms-teams-for-it-support) or Jira SM portal in everyday language. The AI bot resolves requests instantly thanks to numerous integrations with different apps, or deflects tickets through solution articles from your knowledge base. When employees receive prompt and tailored assistance, their engagement and enthusiasm skyrocket. This, in turn, leads to amplified employee productivity, elevated job satisfaction, and a noticeable boost in business ROI. ## Benefits galore: Why your employees will love Gaspar AI ### 1. User-friendly interface Gaspar AI is designed with the end-user in mind. This is why our chatbot has been designed to natively fit and work right where your employees are: on Slack, MS Teams or [Jira Service Management support portal](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/auto-resolve-issues-with-jira-service-management-and-gaspar-ai-integration). This means your employees won't have to spend precious time trying to navigate complex IT jargon – Gaspar AI makes tech support accessible to everyone. ### 2. Instant assistance Picture this: an employee walks into the office after a relaxing vacation, only to find their computer acting up. Gaspar AI is like having an expert IT professional at their beck and call 24/7. Our AI chatbot interacts with them like a human agent and resolves their requests in seconds. And in case our Virtual Agent can’t solve their issue, they can create a ticket directly on Slack or MS Teams without having to switch applications. Then, it will automatically sync with the ITSM portal and be routed to the most suitable human agent. ### 3. Time-efficient solutions In the fast-paced world of business, time is money. Gaspar AI understands this implicitly and automates routine processes and tasks, such as password resets or software licensing. By swiftly diagnosing issues, delivering accurate solutions and auto-fulfilling workflows, it ensures that your employees can focus on what truly matters – their work – eliminating frustrating downtimes. ### 4. Human-like dialogs and expertise [Our Chat-GPT integration](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/say-hi-to-gaspar-ai-and-chatgpt-integration) ensures that employees can engage with Gaspar, our AI chatbot, in everyday language, and that the answers will be accurate, specific and natural. Thanks to advanced dialog flow capabilities, they can keep the conversation going and enhance solution accuracy by asking for additional details – Gaspar will keep up with them! ### 5. Round-the-clock availability Post-holiday blues can strike at any hour, and so can technical glitches. Gaspar AI is available 24/7, ready to tackle problems whenever they arise. No more waiting until the IT team is back in the office – help is always at hand. ### 6. Personalized experience Gaspar AI isn't just a chatbot spouting generic advice. It learns and adapts to the unique environment of your company, offering personalized solutions that align with your systems and processes. It integrates with your knowledge base and internal repositories, providing answers straight from your internal sources. Consequently, employees will get the right information for their queries at the right time. ### 7. Seamless onboarding and training New hires joining the team as you return to the office? Gaspar AI makes their integration smoother. It makes their onboarding process faster by automating their account creation and licensing software as needed, allowing them to hit the ground running without overwhelming the IT and HR department. ## The ultimate after-summer gift: why Gaspar AI takes the crown As summer winds down and the work rhythm picks up, gifting Gaspar AI to your employees can be a game-changer. Here's why it's the ultimate post-holiday present: ### - Smooth transition Returning to work after a vacation can be a bumpy ride, but Gaspar AI ensures that your employees' tech-related hurdles are smoothed out, making their transition seamless. ### - Productivity surge When tech issues are swiftly dealt with, productivity soars. By equipping your team with Gaspar AI, you're setting the stage for a highly efficient work environment. ### - Boosting morale By showcasing your commitment to your employees' productivity, you show them how much you value their time and want to make their work lives easier, instantly boosting their morale. When employees receive quick and accurate support, they will be happier and motivated to work with your company for a long time. This can lead to improved employee retention and a better overall company culture. ### - Future-ready operations Embracing AI-driven solutions isn't just a trend – it's the future. Gifting Gaspar AI demonstrates your company's forward-thinking approach to technology and innovation. ## Gaspar AI, more than just an IT and HR support help desk In a nutshell, Gaspar AI isn't just an IT and HR helpdesk; it's a game-changing tool that empowers your employees, enhances productivity, and makes the return to work a delightful experience. As you gear up to welcome your team back after the summer break, consider the invaluable gift of Gaspar AI. Revolutionize your internal service desk, enhance your employees' work lives, and set the stage for a productive and tech-savvy future. If you want to explore the wonders of Gaspar AI you can [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) and witness the transformation firsthand. Remember, the return to work doesn't have to be daunting – not when Gaspar AI is by your side.
Traditional service desk and AI chatbot
Tue Aug 01 2023
Why employees don't use the traditional service desk
In today's fast-paced corporate world, where efficiency is the name of the game, employees expect seamless and prompt solutions to their workplace challenges. However, the traditional service desk, once hailed as the bastion of problem-solving, seems to be falling out of favor with modern workforces. Instead, a revolutionary alternative has emerged - Artificial Intelligence (AI) service desks. \ In this blog post, we will delve into the reasons why employees are turning away from conventional service desks and embracing AI-powered alternatives that promise to revolutionize the way we handle workplace support. ## The inefficiency of traditional service desks While traditional service desks have been the norm for decades, employees are reluctant to use them. Ever wondered why? ### Slow response and resolution times Time is of the essence, and employees know it better than anyone. The conventional service desk often leaves them hanging on the line, trapped in long waiting queues, drowning in a sea of emails or dealing with redundant ticketing systems. This archaic approach not only causes frustration but also disrupts productivity. To emphasize this, since the pandemic, the Mean Time to Resolution has further increased from 6.18 to 9.72 hours! These lengthy wait times for issue resolution, along with the lack of proactive communication and updates lead to such low use of the traditional service desk. ### Limited accessibility and availability Modern business knows no bounds, and time zones are rendered obsolete. However, traditional service desks are constrained by operating hours and limited availability. In a globalized work environment, employees need support at any time, be it late at night or during holidays. Work doesn't always adhere to a 9-to-5 schedule: traditional service desks might not be equipped to provide round-the-clock support, leaving remote or distributed teams stranded during critical situations. ### Lack of user-friendly interface The complexity of traditional service desk systems poses a significant challenge for employees trying to navigate through convoluted menus and interfaces. This complexity leads to a steep learning curve for new users, who must invest considerable time and effort to grasp the system's functionalities. Moreover, the frustration caused by difficult navigation and complex workflows further exacerbates the problem, making employees reluctant to engage with the service desk ### Impersonal and Inefficient Communication Traditional service desks often struggle with personalizing interactions. Employees may have to repeat information multiple times, leading to frustration and poor user experience. Moreover, without access to the context of previous interactions, service desk agents may struggle to understand the full scope of the issue, leading to longer resolution times, or repetitive steps: imagine having to explain the same issue to different service desk agents repeatedly. The monotony of providing account information or recounting the problem from scratch is a major turn-off for employees seeking support. \ Inadequate self-service options also pose an issue that leads to low use: traditional service desks tend to operate in a top-down approach, with employees being passive recipients of assistance. In the age of instant gratification though, employees are increasingly self-reliant and prefer finding solutions independently. With the internet at their fingertips, they can quickly search for knowledge bases, FAQs, and online communities to troubleshoot their problems without having to wait for assistance. Traditional service desks can feel redundant when employees can find answers with a simple Google search. ### Ineffective knowledge management Traditional service desk systems often struggle to efficiently capture, organize, and update the vast amount of information required for resolving various issues. As a consequence, employees frequently encounter outdated or irrelevant solutions, leading to frustration and wasted time. The lack of a robust knowledge base also hampers self-service capabilities, as employees may not find the information they need to troubleshoot problems independently. ## The AI alternative: welcome the intelligent Virtual Agents Enter the world of AI-powered intelligent virtual agents (IVAs). These smart and intuitive systems are reshaping the way employees seek assistance and support. Here's how they address the limitations of traditional service desks described above: ### Instant access and faster response times IVAs provide real-time support, ensuring that employees receive assistance precisely when they need it. With AI's lightning-fast capabilities, IVAs can analyze queries instantly and offer relevant solutions without delays. Employees can now receive immediate responses and resolution to their queries, thereby boosting efficiency and morale. ### Beyond boundaries - 24/7 availability IVAs can operate tirelessly, providing support around the clock. Employees, no matter their location or time zone, can rely on IVAs for immediate assistance whenever they require it, significantly reducing downtime and optimizing productivity. ### Empowering self-service capabilities AI chatbots excel at promoting self-service by integrating with knowledge bases and learning from past interactions. This means employees can access information quickly and independently, boosting their productivity and confidence. By offering a plethora of self-service options, such as knowledge bases and AI-driven FAQs, employees can take charge of their problems, fostering a sense of autonomy and pride in resolving issues on their own terms. ### Enhanced personalization and contextual understanding AI-powered IVAs leverage natural language processing and machine learning to understand employees' queries contextually. This enables them to deliver personalized responses and draw upon previous interactions, making the support experience seamless. And regarding repetition, AI alternatives employ sophisticated algorithms that store and analyze historical data, ensuring that employees are spared the tedium of repeating themselves. This not only saves time but also enhances the overall experience, making employees feel valued and understood. ### Intelligent knowledge management AI-powered alternatives leverage advanced natural language processing and machine learning to quickly access and learn from a comprehensive knowledge repository. This ensures that up-to-date and accurate information is readily available to employees, boosting their confidence in the support system. Moreover, they can help in optimizing and keeping the knowledge base updated by offering data on the questions employees ask, defining the most critical ones. ## The future lies in AI-powered intelligent Virtual Agents The writing is on the wall - traditional service desks are losing their luster, and the future of workplace support lies in the realm of AI-powered alternatives. The reasons for this paradigm shift are evident: the need for immediate responses and effective knowledge management, the burden of repetition, the desire for self-reliance, and the allure of 24/7 availability. Employees demand faster, personalized, and always-available support. The adoption of AI is not just a trend; it's a transformative step towards empowering both employees and businesses alike. \ AI service desks epitomize efficiency, convenience, and empowerment, setting the stage for a more productive and contented workforce. As the world hurtles towards a digital frontier, embracing these intelligent innovations is not only a choice but a necessity. So, the question is: are you ready to join the AI revolution and redefine the way we support our employees? If you are, let’s [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) to discuss how your company can benefit from Gaspar AI’s cutting-edge AI platform. The future is here, and it’s intelligent!
Getting ready for the AI chatbot transformation
Tue Aug 01 2023
Conversational AI: are you ready for IT?
Chatbots and AI platforms are by far the one tool most companies want to invest in nowadays. 46% of IT professionals are actively researching AI solutions, while 62% consider implementing AI in the form of chatbots for ITSM. \ Since the pandemic, the volume of interactions handled by conversational agents increased by 250%. Worldwide spending on AI-Centric systems is forecasted to reach $154 Billion in 2023 and increase to more than $300bn in 2026. \ The data is unquestionable: we live in the AI transformation era. This cutting-edge technology is revolutionizing the way businesses handle user queries, troubleshoot technical issues, and deliver seamless IT support. AI technology is progressing extremely fast, which begs the question: are you really ready to embrace it? Does your company and IT team have what it takes to reap its benefits and optimize their operations? \ Let's take a step back and explain this AI transformation. What does it entail, what are the best practices for companies to successfully implement it, what are the main challenges, and what are the key elements of good AI applications. ## Conversational AI: The game-changer for IT support Conversational AI is an umbrella term encompassing various AI-driven technologies like chatbots, virtual assistants, and natural language processing. These technologies enable computers to understand and respond to human language, effectively simulating human-like interactions. In the realm of IT support, this means faster, more accurate responses, and a more efficient employee experience. \ AI transformation involves strategically integrating and deploying artificial intelligence solutions into a business infrastructure to boost operational efficiency. The central idea is to replace manual, repetitive tasks with advanced AI systems that optimize performance, streamline processes and provide 24/7 assistance. Employees no longer have to wait for an available agent, and simple queries can be addressed immediately, freeing human agents to focus on more complex tasks. \ One can easily understand the benefits of AI for business: - Enhanced employee experience: Conversational AI offers personalized, instant support, creating a positive and seamless experience. - Increased efficiency: Automated responses and issue resolution reduce resolution times, boosting operational efficiency. - Cost savings: With reduced dependency on human agents for basic queries, businesses can save on labor costs. Shorter resolution time also means fewer resources attached to issues and thus lower costs. - Scalability: Conversational AI can handle multiple conversations simultaneously, accommodating growing user demands without added overhead. But there is one big challenge in the road to company AI adoption. ## The challenge in AI transformation lies in the people-intensive nature of employee support Currently, employee support heavily relies on human intervention, resulting in prolonged waiting periods for assistance. Lengthy manual processes and uncertainty about the appropriate channels for help often compound the issue. \ Moreover, AI accuracy and understanding adds to the challenges. Ensuring AI comprehends the nuances of human language and provides accurate responses remains critical. \ Conversational AI may also handle sensitive information, making data security and privacy critical considerations. \ How does a company move from people-intensive support to balanced, safe, accurate, AI support? ## The road to successful AI implementation Successfully managing AI transformation for any organization is a significant undertaking. It demands a well-thought-out combination of various elements, meticulously designed to synergize and function harmoniously. 1. Define clear objectives: establish specific goals and outcomes you want to achieve with Conversational AI in your IT support system. 2. Start small and iterate: Begin with pilot projects, test the system, gather feedback, and make iterative improvements. 3. Monitor and measure performance: Track key performance metrics to assess the AI's effectiveness and user satisfaction. 4. Provide human escalation: Offer an easy way for users to escalate to human support when necessary, ensuring employee confidence. 5. Boost employee adoption: communicate the benefits employees get with AI, provide multilingual support, and integrate AI across various channels like chat platforms, web, and phone support. ## Key elements of a robust AI transformation In order for an AI application to succeed in your company and transform the way you offer employee support, you must ensure it has the following: #### Analytics Any good AI platform should offer data to enable you to monitor its performance and evaluate its effectiveness. This will help you identify improvement opportunities for both AI systems and human workflows, and discover new areas for AI automation. #### Workflow automation This aspect focuses on optimizing business processes by automating and streamlining tasks, implementing AI-based routing, and triggering existing workflows across enterprise systems. #### Security Emphasis is placed on safeguarding infrastructure through data masking, implementing stringent security measures, obtaining multiple certifications, ensuring data residency compliance across continents, and maintaining FedRAMP compliance. #### Content finding and creation This involves efficiently searching and summarizing knowledge, FAQs, documents, and files from multiple sources, as well as authoring new content based on existing enterprise data. #### Advanced AI features It is critical for your AI tool to have advanced and updated features, such as a reasoning-based architecture powered by GPT models, fine-tuned LLMs grounded in enterprise data, and domain-specific capabilities (e.g. IT, HR), to enhance AI performance. #### Integrations This encompasses establishing deep, enterprise-wide connections, including permissions and live ingestion, with every enterprise system. The AI app you will choose must support integrations with multiple software vendors. ## So, are you ready for IT? Conversational AI is reshaping the landscape of IT support. Its ability to transform employee experiences, increase efficiency, and save costs is propelling it to the forefront of modern business practices. \ If you want to embrace Conversational AI and take your IT support to new heights, Gaspar AI is your best option. With a robust AI chatbot, automated workflows, proactive insights and analytics, and most importantly expert guidance and support, it covers everything you need for a successful AI transformation in your company. \ You can [contact us](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us) or [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) to discuss how we can help you navigate this AI transformation era and get everything positive it has to offer.
Tips to consider and questions to ask when doing a demo for a Conversational AI platform
Tue Jul 18 2023
5+1 expert tips to master your next Conversational AI platform demo
Since the launch of ChatGPT, Conversational AI platforms have become increasingly popular for businesses looking to boost IT support, enhance employee interactions and streamline operations. These platforms leverage artificial intelligence and natural language processing to enable more dynamic and personalized conversations. More importantly, they can reduce manual and repetitive work, increase productivity and save your company tons of money, while increasing your employees’ satisfaction. If you're evaluating different Conversational AI platforms for your company, asking the right questions during a demo is crucial to make an informed decision. This is why in this blog post we will outline the six essential tips and questions to ask during your next demo. ## 1. How does your platform handle Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and how are you using Large Language Models (LLMs)? Effective natural language understanding is a fundamental aspect of Conversational AI platforms. Ask the demo presenter to explain how their platform processes and understands user queries. Inquire about the algorithms and techniques employed to extract meaning and context from conversational data. Understanding the NLU capabilities will help you evaluate the platform's accuracy, ability to handle complex queries, and adaptability to different languages and dialects. Moreover, when using conversational AI within your company, you will need a deep understanding of industry-specific language and terminology. Vendors may face challenges in developing this capability independently due to limited access to relevant data. Similarly, vendors who rely solely on pre-existing language models may struggle to effectively address business-related inquiries. The true extent of their understanding can be quickly revealed through a demo. You can also get a very good idea about how often they update and retire their LLMs. Given that this space is moving at a lightning-fast pace it is crucial for the vendor to be up to date. ## 2. Can you showcase real-time integration with backend systems? Integration with backend systems is crucial for providing comprehensive and accurate responses to user queries. During the demo, inquire about the platform's ability to integrate with your existing systems, such as CRMs, apps you use or knowledge bases. Ask for specific examples of real-time data retrieval and seamless integration to ensure that the Conversational AI platform can access and leverage the relevant information your company possesses. ## 3. How does your platform handle Dialog Management? Dialog management is essential for maintaining context and guiding dynamic conversations. Ask the presenter to explain how their platform handles dialog flows, context switching, and multi-turn interactions. Inquire about the flexibility of the dialog management system, the ability to handle complex conversations, and customization options. Understanding the dialog management capabilities will help you determine if the platform can deliver engaging and coherent conversational experiences to your users. ## 4. What security measures are in place to protect our data? In light of the increasing occurrence of data breaches and cyber-attacks, it is of utmost importance to prioritize your data security. It is crucial to ascertain that the vendor has established a well-defined and comprehensive security plan, encompassing essential measures like data encryption, access control, and routine security audits. Furthermore, inquire about the vendor's compliance certifications and adherence to industry regulations, such as HIPAA. This ensures that they are meeting the necessary standards for data protection. By posing these inquiries, you can acquire a deeper understanding of the security protocols implemented by the vendor, empowering you to make an informed decision regarding the safety and protection of your valuable data. ## 5. Can I get a demo with my company’s data? It is common for vendors to conduct demos using their own data, which may not accurately reflect the platform's performance when applied to your unique data and needs. Although these demos can be impressive, it is crucial to test the system using your own data to evaluate its suitability. This approach provides valuable insights into the system’s performance and its ability to address your specific use cases. You gain a clearer understanding of its capabilities and can make a more informed decision regarding its suitability for your company’s needs. It allows you to identify any potential issues or limitations before committing to a purchase, ultimately saving you time and resources in the long run. ## 6. How does your platform support Analytics and Insights? Analytics and insights provide valuable data for improving your Conversational AI solution’s performance. Ask the presenter to explain the analytics capabilities of their platform. Inquire about the types of metrics and insights available, such as % of tickets deflected, actions automated, conversation success rates, user satisfaction, or Mean Time to Resolve. Understanding these features will help you evaluate the platform's ability to track and measure Key Performance Indicators and continuously optimize your conversational experiences. ## Regarding Conversational AI platforms, a demo is worth a thousand slides As you explore different Conversational AI platforms, asking the right questions during a demo is vital to make an informed decision. By asking about natural language understanding and LLMs, integration with your systems, dialog management, data security processes, personalization to your data, and analytics capabilities, you'll gain valuable insights into the platform's potential to meet your company’s unique requirements. Take advantage of demos to assess how each platform aligns with your goals and objectives, ultimately choosing the best Conversational AI platform to revolutionize your internal employee support interactions and boost productivity and satisfaction.
Artificial Intelligence and data privacy
Tue Jul 11 2023
AI and Privacy - preserving individual rights in the Age of Data
In today's digital age, the immense potential of artificial intelligence has captured the attention of researchers, industries, and governments worldwide. The ability to leverage vast amounts of data for AI advancements offers unprecedented opportunities for innovation and progress. However, it also raises crucial concerns about the protection of individual rights, privacy, and the ethical implications of data collection and usage. In this blog post, we will delve into the critical issues surrounding the delicate balance between leveraging data for AI advancements and safeguarding individual rights. ## The balance between data leverage and individual rights The advancements in AI heavily rely on data, and the more extensive and diverse the datasets, the more powerful the AI systems become. However, this reliance on data raises significant concerns regarding privacy and individual rights. On one hand, data is the fuel that powers AI systems, enabling them to learn, make predictions, and generate valuable insights. On the other hand, the unrestricted use of personal data raises concerns about privacy, consent, and potential misuse. Striking a balance requires implementing robust regulations and frameworks that protect individuals' rights while allowing for responsible data usage. Transparency and informed consent are essential elements in achieving this balance. Organizations must be transparent about their data collection practices, the data they collect, how it is used, and who has access to it. This transparency empowers individuals to make informed decisions about sharing their data and enables them to understand the implications and potential risks associated with its use. It also establishes a sense of trust between individuals and organizations, as transparency fosters accountability and responsible data practices. Informed consent should not be limited to a mere checkbox during user interactions. It should be an ongoing process that provides individuals with meaningful choices and options regarding their data. Organizations should clearly communicate the purpose of data collection, the intended uses, and any potential third-party sharing. Individuals should have the ability to easily access, review, and modify their consent preferences. Moreover, they should have the right to withdraw consent at any time, with their data promptly and securely deleted. Data protection regulations, such as the GDPR, have emerged as powerful tools to protect individual rights and privacy in the context of AI. These regulations emphasize the need for organizations to adopt privacy-by-design principles, ensuring that privacy considerations are embedded into the development and deployment of AI systems. By integrating privacy into the core architecture of AI solutions, organizations can proactively address privacy concerns, minimize risks, and protect individual rights. Collaboration between policymakers, technology companies, and privacy advocates is crucial to establishing comprehensive guidelines that prioritize individual rights without stifling innovation. ## Data minimization Another aspect of achieving the balance between data leverage and individual rights is the concept of data minimization. Data minimization refers to the practice of collecting only the necessary data for a specific purpose, reducing the overall amount of personal information processed. By adhering to the principle of data minimization, organizations can limit the potential risks associated with data breaches, unauthorized access, and data misuse. This approach aligns with the idea of preserving privacy and respecting individual autonomy by limiting the exposure of personal data to unnecessary risks. ## Privacy-Enhancing Technologies To address privacy concerns, privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) have gained prominence. PETs encompass a range of tools and methods that enable individuals to control their personal information and limit unnecessary data exposure. Techniques such as differential privacy and federated learning allow for data analysis while preserving individual privacy. The fundamental principle of differential privacy is to add a controlled amount of noise to the queries or computations performed on the data. By doing so, it becomes difficult for an adversary to determine with high confidence whether a particular individual's data was included in the dataset or not. This prevents the leakage of sensitive information and protects the privacy of individuals. Federated learning is a decentralized approach to machine learning that enables training models across multiple devices or edge devices without the need to transfer raw data to a central server. It allows for collaborative learning while preserving data privacy and security. Traditional machine learning involves collecting data from various sources, centralizing it in a single location, and training models on that centralized data. However, in scenarios where data is sensitive, large in volume, or distributed across multiple devices, centralizing the data poses challenges in terms of privacy, bandwidth, and scalability. Federated learning addresses these challenges by distributing the model training process to the edge devices themselves. Instead of sending raw data to a central server, the training process takes place locally on each device. The models are then aggregated or combined on the central server, which updates the global model with the knowledge gained from each participating device. ## Data anonymization Anonymization involves removing or altering personally identifiable information (PII) from datasets, rendering them non-identifiable. However, it is important to recognize that achieving true anonymization is challenging due to the potential for re-identification. Advancements in data science and re-identification techniques have made it increasingly difficult to ensure complete anonymity. Therefore, organizations must adopt rigorous anonymization methods that balance data utility with privacy protection, taking into account the potential risks of re-identification. ## Ethical considerations for data collection, storage, and usage in AI Systems The ethical implications of data collection, storage, and usage in AI systems cannot be ignored. It is crucial to ensure that data is obtained ethically and without infringing upon individuals' rights. This includes obtaining informed consent, ensuring data accuracy, and minimizing biases that can perpetuate social inequalities. Furthermore, organizations should prioritize data security to protect against breaches and unauthorized access. The principles of fairness, transparency, and accountability mentioned in [our previous blog post](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/building-trustworthy-ai-ethical-considerations-for-algorithmic-design) should guide the design and deployment of AI systems to prevent discriminatory outcomes and preserve public trust. ## Balancing data utility and privacy rights at all stages of AI development As AI continues to revolutionize various domains, finding the delicate balance between leveraging data for advancements and safeguarding individual rights is paramount. Privacy-enhancing technologies and data anonymization techniques provide effective mechanisms to protect individuals' privacy while enabling data-driven innovation. Ethical considerations must underpin every stage of data collection, storage, and usage to ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability. By fostering collaboration between stakeholders, we can navigate these challenges and build a future where we harness the transformative power of AI while upholding the fundamental values of human rights and dignity.
Knowledge base insights for most common employee queries on Gaspar AI admin portal
Wed Jul 05 2023
How to optimize your IT helpdesk knowledge base with Gaspar AI
A well-structured and comprehensive knowledge base is the backbone of an efficient IT helpdesk. It serves as a repository of information, providing self-service options and empowering your company’s users to find solutions independently. However, creating a knowledge base might seem like a daunting task. And even if you already have one, keeping it up to date can also require too much of an effort! Thankfully, Gaspar AI can help you build and optimize your knowledge base effortlessly to ensure it becomes a valuable resource for both your support team and end-users. Let’s explore how! ## Understand you audience The first step towards optimizing your IT helpdesk knowledge base is to understand your audience. Identify the different types of users who will be accessing the knowledge base. Consider their level of technical expertise and the common issues they face. By understanding your audience, you can tailor the content and structure of your knowledge base to meet their specific needs. That’s where Gaspar AI can be of great help. By providing daily data to your IT team on the Admin portal about what employees are asking and what are the most common questions and problems they face, you’re off to a great start in your knowledge base creation journey! You know which are the most burning issues and therefore can prioritize these and first work on creating the related articles. ## Regularly update and review content Technology evolves rapidly, and so should your knowledge base. Regularly review and update your articles to reflect the latest software updates, product features, or changes in procedures. Set up a process to review the knowledge base periodically, ensuring that outdated or inaccurate information is removed or corrected. Encourage your support team to contribute to the knowledge base by documenting new solutions or frequently asked questions. By getting insights from Gaspar AI about what employees ask and their evaluation of solution articles offered, you know which content needs to be updated to reflect procedures or solutions accurately, or optimized to be more helpful and clear. You also have great insight into solution articles that are missing from your knowledge base and for which you must create content. Demonstrating a commitment to information accuracy and relevance can foster trust in the knowledge base, which in the end leads to more trust towards your department and its work. Moreover, having accurate and relevant information means that you can deflect more tickets via solution articles, ultimately leading to less repetitive, manual and boring work for your team. ## Promote self-service options Empowering users to find solutions independently not only reduces the burden on your support team but also improves user satisfaction. With Gaspar AI, even if you don’t have a knowledge base you can still enable your employees to self-serve. Our platform integrates with all the applications you wish to enable and their related content. Therefore, users can directly ask our AI chatbot their question and their ticket will be deflected via auto-resolution (instantly getting their issue resolved). The use of our AI chatbot can bring added value by suggesting related topics and offering answers that match the entered query, even if it’s not exactly how it’s been phrased. What’s more, with our ChatGPT integration, instead of receiving articles, the user gets a direct answer to their question from ChatGPT, in a human-like way. They no more have to go through knowledge articles (which might yet not exist in your company), they have their answer right in front of them in seconds! And the best part is that it is not a generic answer, but a personalized answer! One of the caveats about using bots like ChatGPT for information retrieval is that it searches for answers through public sources on the internet, which isn’t always reliable. Since Gaspar AI integrates with multiple knowledge management systems (e.g. Notion, Helpjuice, Confluence, etc.), ChatGPT will form the answer from your company’s knowledge base, content repositories and internal sources – therefore it will be more credible. It also means that as long as you have content in any form – and not necessarily a knowledge base-, your users can still find answers to their questions. ## Gather user feedback To continuously improve your knowledge base, it's crucial to gather user feedback. Provide a rating system or a feedback form for users to share their thoughts on the helpfulness and clarity of the articles. Analyze this feedback and use it to identify areas for improvement. If users consistently report difficulty finding information or understanding certain topics, it may be necessary to reevaluate and revise those articles. With Gaspar AI’s chatbot you can ask for immediate user feedback: whenever employees ask Gaspar (our Virtual Agent) a question and it answers with a solution article, it can then ask them to evaluate the response and article quality via an easy rating system. Thus, you can easily gather all the user feedback you need to ensure a high-quality knowledge base! ## Optimized knowledge base, a valuable asset An optimized IT helpdesk knowledge base is an asset for your company, empowering users to find solutions independently and reducing the workload of your support team. By understanding your audience, organizing the content effectively, and regularly updating and reviewing the information, you can create a knowledge base that delivers exceptional user experiences. Embrace self-service options and gather user feedback to continuously improve and refine your knowledge base. Gaspar AI is your best ally throughout this process thanks to all the data and insights shared daily. If you would like to learn more, you can [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) and better understand how we can help you manage your knowledge and deflect tickets.
Designing a fair, transparent and accountable AI algorithm
Wed Jun 28 2023
Building trustworthy AI: ethical considerations for algorithmic design
In the aftermath of the NTIA's (the National Telecommunications and Information Administration) call for public commentary and the responses by heavy hitters like Microsoft, Google and OpenAI, the complexities of AI regulation and the delicate balance between innovation and responsibility are more evident than ever. As explained in our previous [post](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/ethical-ai-paving-the-path-to-responsible-innovation) in our #EthicalAI series, the first step towards AI systems that align with moral principles and human values is to design and develop them in such a way. By incorporating these principles into AI development, we can create solutions that enhance human lives while safeguarding their rights and dignity. The most critical principles in AI design and algorithmic decision-making processes are fairness, transparency, and accountability. ## Transparency and accountability AI systems should be accountable and transparent in their decision-making processes. Transparency refers to the ability to understand and explain how algorithms make decisions. Transparent algorithms provide insights into the factors and processes influencing outcomes, enabling users to assess their validity and fairness. Developers should strive for explainable AI, ensuring that users can understand how decisions are made and identify potential biases or discriminatory practices. Lack of transparency can lead to distrust and inhibit the ability to identify and rectify biases or errors in algorithmic decision-making. For example, in content moderation, lack of transparency in algorithms can raise concerns about the removal or suppression of certain types of content without clear justifications. Accountability ensures that developers and organizations take responsibility for the outcomes and impacts of their algorithms. It involves establishing mechanisms to address biases, errors, and unintended consequences, as well as providing recourse for individuals affected by algorithmic decisions. Social Media algorithms are a great example of accountability issues in AI. Algorithms used in social media platforms can shape users' experiences and information consumption, raising questions about accountability in content recommendations and potential amplification of harmful or biased content. Absence of accountability can result in algorithmic decisions with significant societal implications without proper oversight or recourse. Biased algorithms can perpetuate harm, violate individual rights, and erode public trust in AI systems and the organizations deploying them. ## Fairness Fairness is the principle of treating individuals and groups equitably, without bias or discrimination. In algorithmic decision-making, fairness ensures that decisions and outcomes are not influenced by stereotypes, judgments or prejudices. Human bias however, consciously or unconsciously embedded in the design and implementation of AI algorithms, can lead to discriminatory outcomes and perpetuate social inequalities. #### Understanding human bias in AI algorithms Human bias refers to the subjective judgments, prejudices, or stereotypes that individuals may hold. When designing AI algorithms, developers rely on large datasets that contain human-generated information, which may inadvertently incorporate these biases. As a result, AI algorithms can perpetuate and amplify existing societal biases, leading to discriminatory decisions and outcomes. #### Types of human bias in AI algorithms 1. Sampling bias Sampling bias occurs when the training data used to develop AI algorithms is not representative of the entire population. If the data disproportionately represents certain groups, the algorithm may not learn to generalize accurately, leading to biased predictions and decisions. For example, in Criminal Justice, risk assessment algorithms have been found to disproportionately predict higher recidivism rates for minority individuals, perpetuating racial bias in sentencing and parole decisions. 2. Selection bias This type of AI bias occurs if training data is either unrepresentative or is selected without proper randomization. Selection bias occurs when certain attributes or factors are disproportionately considered or given more weight in the algorithm's decision-making process. This can result in discriminatory outcomes and reinforce existing social inequalities. For example, AI-based recruiting tools could favor certain demographics, leading to discrimination and lack of diversity. 3. Confirmation bias Confirmation bias refers to the tendency to seek and interpret information in a way that confirms pre-existing beliefs or hypotheses. If not addressed, AI algorithms can inadvertently perpetuate and amplify these biases, leading to skewed decision-making processes. #### Addressing human bias in AI algorithm design Solving the problem of bias in artificial intelligence requires multidisciplinary collaboration among tech industry stakeholders, researchers, policymakers, and social scientists. Eliminating AI bias is a huge challenge, but there are actionable measures we can implement now to ensure that our algorithms promote equality and inclusivity. #### Design AI models with inclusion in mind Prior to embarking on the design of AI algorithms, it is prudent to involve humanists and social scientists to safeguard against the incorporation of biased judgment within the models we develop. 1. Train our AI models on diverse and representative data ethically collected To mitigate bias, it is essential to ensure that the training data used to develop AI algorithms is diverse and representative of the population it aims to serve. This also involves ensuring that data collection methods are unbiased and diverse. Incorporating diverse perspectives during the data collection phase can help mitigate biases. Datasets should be carefully curated, taking into account various demographic factors and considering potential biases that may exist. 2. Ensure Diversity and Inclusion in Development Teams Building diverse and inclusive development teams is vital to challenge biases and bring different perspectives to the forefront. By including individuals from various backgrounds, organizations can mitigate the risk of unconscious bias during AI model development. 3. Perform targeted testing When we test our AI models, we should examine AI’s performance across different subgroups to uncover problems that can be masked by aggregate metrics. Also, we should perform a set of stress tests to check how the model performs on complex cases. 4. Monitor regularly to mitigate bias AI models should be continually monitored post-deployment to ensure that they remain unbiased and fair and to identify and mitigate biases that may emerge over time. Implementing feedback loops and mechanisms for ongoing evaluation can help ensure that biases are corrected promptly and responsibly. Regular updates and improvements can address emerging biases and maintain the integrity of AI systems. 5. Improve AI explainability and transparency Additionally, we should keep in mind the adjacent issue of AI explainability mentioned previously: understanding how AI generates predictions and what features of the data it uses to make decisions. Understanding whether the factors supporting the decision reflect AI bias can help in identifying and mitigating prejudice. ## The human touch: ethical AI and human-centered design AI systems should reflect and respect human values to avoid adverse impacts on individuals and society and ensure that AI systems serve the common good and do not undermine fundamental rights. - Empathy and User-Centric design Infusing empathy into AI development involves understanding and addressing the needs, perspectives, and experiences of users. By prioritizing user-centric design, AI systems can be tailored to meet diverse user requirements, fostering inclusivity, and enhancing user experiences. This approach also promotes the ethical use of AI, considering the potential impact on individuals' well-being and emotions. - Inclusivity and diversity Promoting inclusivity and diversity in AI development is crucial to mitigate bias, discrimination, and exclusionary practices. Developers should strive to incorporate diverse perspectives and ensure that AI systems consider the needs of marginalized groups. By including underrepresented voices in the development process, AI technology can better reflect the diversity of human experiences and contribute to more equitable outcomes. - Human oversight and responsibility While AI systems can automate tasks and make decisions, ultimate responsibility should lie with humans. Developers and organizations must recognize the limitations of AI technology and ensure that humans retain control over critical decisions. Human oversight helps prevent undue reliance on AI systems, promotes accountability, and allows for ethical judgment and intervention when necessary. ## A fair, accountable, transparent algorithmic design for trustworthy AI systems Addressing fairness, transparency, and accountability in AI algorithm design is crucial to mitigate biases, uphold ethical standards, and build public trust. Incorporating human values, empathy, and inclusivity into AI development is essential for creating AI solutions that enhance human lives while safeguarding their rights and dignity. By actively addressing these ethical considerations, we can shape AI technology to be a force for positive change, fostering a more equitable, inclusive, and human-centric society.
An employee requests time off on Slack thanks to Gaspar AI and HiBob integration.
Tue Jun 13 2023
Streamlining HR processes with Gaspar AI and HiBob
Would you like it if Gaspar AI offered its instant AI support to more than just employee IT issues? Your wishes have come true! We're thrilled to announce that Gaspar AI is now seamlessly integrated with HiBob, marking our first of many HR automated capabilities! Say goodbye to the hassles of manual onboarding processes and time-consuming time-off requests, and hello to streamlined efficiency! So what’s in it for you? ### Enhanced collaboration between IT and HR With Gaspar AI’s automated workflows, your IT team can build an onboarding workflow to create the account for a new hire and integrate it with HiBob. Then, once they run the workflow, the new account will be automatically added on both your SSO service and your HiBob app. No need for your IT team to manually inform the HR department, and for the HR team to manually create the account on HiBob as well. By automatically syncing with HiBob, Gaspar AI eliminates the need for manual data entry, while reducing the risk of errors or data inaccuracy. This synchronization removes data inconsistencies and reduces administrative overhead by avoiding duplicate work. No more new employee information lost in translation: say goodbye to silos and hello to seamless information exchange! ### Accelerated onboarding IT and HR teams save valuable time and resources by eliminating the above-mentioned manual tasks and duplicate account creation work. They can now focus on what truly matters - fostering a positive employee experience and ensuring their productivity from day one. With a few clicks, HR managers can initiate the onboarding process, ensuring a smooth transition for new employees and eliminating delays. ### Hassle-free time-off requests on Slack and MS Teams Requesting time off shouldn't be a hassle, and that's why we've come together with HiBob to simplify the process and make it as smooth as a summer breeze! Whether you're planning a well-deserved vacation, attending an important family event, or simply need a day to recharge, you can now effortlessly submit your request in just a few clicks on Slack’s (or MS Teams) intuitive interface. No more switching apps or manual approvals: the whole process happens right where your IT team, managers and employees are, on Slack and MS Teams! Once the employee asks for time off on Slack or MS Teams, Gaspar - our Virtual Agent - prompts them to fill in a form with the request details. Then, their manager receives the request on Slack (or MS Teams) and can either approve or deny it, without the need to log into separate HR systems. The employee will be notified on Slack (or MS Teams) as well. Your HR team also has multiple reasons to be happy: the integration ensures that approved time off syncs seamlessly with HiBob's leave management module, providing accurate records for attendance tracking and payroll. From automating leave balance calculations to ensuring compliance with company policies, our integrated solution saves valuable time and minimizes administrative burdens. By leveraging this integration, your company can save time from repetitive and duplicate processes, reduce manual effort, and improve accuracy in managing employee data. You can [try it now](https://www.gaspar.ai/free-trial-signup) or [contact us for a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) to see it live.
Reset passwords automatically on Slack, MS Teams and Jira Service Management with Gaspar AI
Thu May 25 2023
5 things that only Gaspar AI can do
## What makes Gaspar AI better than the competition? This is probably one of the top questions on your mind when evaluating Gaspar AI among different solutions for your IT support automation needs. It’s a fair question but a tough one to answer because there are just so many things to compare. So instead of presenting you with one of those classic “us” vs. “them” comparison tables, we decided to do something unconventional and showcase some of Gaspar AI’s unique features and functionalities. ## 1. Virtual Agent on Slack, MS Teams AND Jira With Gaspar AI, your Virtual Agent has an omnichannel presence to make your team’s and end users’ life easier. Your company’s employees have more opportunities to interact with Gaspar, our AI chatbot, wherever they find more convenient: Slack, MS Teams or Jira Service Management portal. They can automatically and instantly resolve their requests on any of these platforms, without you or your team being involved. Moreover, when employees need to join email lists, groups or channels, access folders, calendars or new applications, they simply ask Gaspar on the platform they are on (Slack, MS Teams, Jira). The approval process takes place on the same platform for both the requester and the approver. The approver can simply accept or decline the request on any of these platforms, and Gaspar will notify the requester accordingly. All the information is available right there (but also automatically syncs with the ITSM platform you use) and users can track it anytime. Gaspar AI is the only platform that offers an [AI chatbot for Atlassian’s Jira Service Management](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1230453/gaspar-virtual-agent?hosting=cloud&tab=overview) portal and has built all the backend capabilities to provide seamless, automated support. Moreover, with Gaspar AI on Jira, your end users can immediately find any information they look for in Confluence articles. ## 2. Auto-reset passwords with no manual involvement We have all been there: forgetting our password for the 100th time and having to go through the painful reset process once more! And what’s worse, your team must spend more than 30% of their time doing it. With Gaspar AI, every time an employee asks for a password reset, the Virtual Agent will automatically verify their identity thanks to multiple integrations and instantly reset their password. Rather than deflecting a ticket via a solution article, guiding the end user through a manual reset, or sending email links to reset it, it will immediately provide a temporary password for the user to log back in and change it. Thanks to Gaspar AI password resents now take only 10 seconds! ## 3. Workflows included in the platform Gaspar AI offers workflows along with the AI chatbot to not just automate processes but fulfill them automatically when needed without human involvement. For example, your team can set up workflows to simplify onboarding without any coding skills. On the Admin portal, they can create accounts and add them to the company’s SSO service, add the applications needed depending on their department, grant access to folders on shared drives, and automatically share the account details with HR systems. They can then set the date to run the workflows. When a new hire joins the company, the workflows will automatically run directly on Slack, the Admin portal or Jira Service Management – the choice is yours! ## 4. Choose your unique self-service levels You like receiving significantly fewer tickets but you may feel uncomfortable with allowing end users too much autonomy around certain IT issues. No problem! Gaspar AI is designed to meet each company’s unique requirements and to also enhance privacy and governance. This is why we offer you and your IT admins the possibility to choose which and how many automations you will enable. On the Admin portal, you can select which features you want to deploy and for which users. You may also decide to request further approval from your IT team for some issues, e.g. for password resets. This can easily be done on the Admin portal by selecting the relevant configuration. ## 5. Deploy in 30 minutes You might be thinking now that a sophisticated AI platform as Gaspar AI will probably require months to be implemented, data to be transferred among applications, knowledge to be shared, complex approvals to be performed. Nope! You just have to give Gaspar AI access to your SSO and systems, decide which integrations to enable and in 30 minutes to 1 hour you are ready to go! Gaspar AI has been built from the ground up to seamlessly integrate with your applications so that you don’t have to transfer any data or switch between different apps. It is also platform-agnostic which means that even if you decide to change some of the software you use, it will still work. ## That’s obviously not everything… Gaspar AI has many more unique features that will offer you effortless, AI-powered IT support. If you would like to see it in action, you can [contact us](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us) or [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) so that we showcase more of the unique things that only Gaspar AI can do. *Note: These features were selected by comparing Gaspar AI to other similarly priced AI platforms. It’s quite possible that some of the lesser-known tools have one or more of these features.
Ethical AI
Tue May 23 2023
Ethical AI: paving the path to responsible innovation
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized various aspects of our lives, from healthcare to finance, and from transportation to entertainment. As AI continues to advance at a rapid pace, it raises profound ethical concerns. These arise from the potential AI systems have to embed biases, lack transparency, be misused, threaten human rights, and more. Such risks associated with AI have already begun to compound on top of existing inequalities. As AI systems become more powerful and pervasive, it is crucial to address the ethical challenges they pose. This is why you might have recently seen lots of discussion around creating ethical AI, building a regulating framework to ensure its ethical deployment, and developing safeguards for protecting against the risk of AI to humans. At [Gaspar AI](https://www.gaspar.ai/platform) we recognize the importance of creating, implementing and using AI systems that are safe, ethical, responsible, trusted and acceptable. This is why we believe that Ethical AI is an extremely important topic that needs to be understood by all of us creators and users of AI applications. In the coming weeks we will explore various thought-provoking ideas and topics related to Ethical AI, shedding light on the need for responsible AI development and deployment. We will delve into ways to guarantee AI fairness, avoid unintentional prejudice, and implement AI compliance tactics. In this blog post, we will explore what ethical AI entails, dig into the challenges it presents, discuss its significance, and provide examples that highlight the importance of incorporating ethics into AI systems. ## Understanding Ethical AI Ethical AI refers to the development, deployment and usage of AI systems that align with moral principles and human values. It involves ensuring fairness, transparency, accountability, and respect for human rights and dignity throughout the lifecycle of AI technologies. Ethical AI strives to minimize potential harm while maximizing the benefits derived from AI innovation. We should never forget that AI should serve humans and not the other way around. ## What are the ethical challenges of AI? Type “greatest leaders of all time” in your favorite search engine and you will probably see a list mainly made of the world’s prominent male personalities. How many women do you count? Take a moment to reflect, why is this happening? This is just an example of gender bias in artificial intelligence, originating from stereotypical representations deeply rooted in our society. You can easily now start to understand that AI systems pose significant challenges that need to be addressed. Let’s review the key ones: #### 1. Bias and fairness AI algorithms can inadvertently perpetuate biases present in training data, leading to discriminatory outcomes in areas such as hiring, lending, and law enforcement. Ensuring fairness in data representation and mitigating biases in terms of race, gender or ethnicity is a significant challenge in developing ethical AI systems. #### 2. Privacy and data protection AI relies on vast amounts of data, raising concerns about their source, along with the privacy and security of individuals. The responsible collection, storage, and usage of data becomes crucial to maintain user trust and safeguard privacy rights. #### 3. Explainability and transparency The lack of interpretability in AI algorithms creates challenges in understanding how decisions are made. When AI systems go awry, teams need to be able to trace through a complex chain of algorithmic systems and data processes to find out why. Organizations using AI should be able to explain the source and resulting data, what their algorithms do and why they are doing that. Ensuring AI transparency and traceability is vital to address concerns related to accountability and user trust. #### 4. Misuse AI algorithms may be used for purposes other than those for which they were created. These scenarios should be analyzed at the design stage to minimize the risks and introduce safety measures to reduce the adverse effects in such cases. #### 5. Unintended consequences AI can have unforeseen consequences, potentially affecting employment, social dynamics, and power imbalances. Identifying and mitigating these unintended consequences is essential to ensure the responsible and ethical development of AI technologies. #### 6. Responsibility The question of responsibility arises when AI systems make decisions that lead to severe consequences, such as significant financial losses, threats to health, or even loss of life. Addressing this issue requires a collective effort involving lawyers, regulators, and citizens to establish a clear process for assigning responsibility for the outcomes of AI-based decisions. ## Why does Ethical AI matter? Experience with AI has demonstrated that following good AI Ethics is not just responsible behavior, it is required to get good human and business value out of AI. #### - Avoiding harm Ethical AI seeks to prevent harm to individuals, communities, and society. By addressing biases, protecting privacy, and considering potential risks, Ethical AI helps avoid unintended negative consequences and promotes responsible AI development. #### - Trust and acceptance Incorporating ethics into AI systems fosters trust among users, stakeholders, and society at large. Trust is vital for the widespread acceptance and adoption of AI technologies, enabling their potential benefits to be realized. #### - Safeguarding human rights Ethical AI protects fundamental human rights, including privacy, freedom from discrimination, and autonomy. [It puts humans at the center](https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000385082?posInSet=2&queryId=N-EXPLORE-1d951e54-ca71-45b5-b5ce-237d600cb959 ), prioritizing their well-being, rights, and values. It ensures that AI technologies serve humanity's best interests and contribute to social progress and inclusive growth. #### - Long-term sustainability Incorporating ethical considerations ensures the responsible development and deployment of AI, creating a sustainable future for all. ## Real-world examples of Ethical AI Below you can discover some real-world examples that highlight the impact of ethical AI implementation and better understand its significance. #### - Hiring and recruitment algorithms Biases in AI-powered hiring systems can perpetuate discrimination, underlining the importance of ethical guidelines to ensure fair and inclusive hiring practices. #### - Autonomous vehicles The ethical challenges surrounding decision-making in self-driving cars bring out the need to balance public safety, individual well-being, and legal liability. #### - Social Media Moderation How to apply Ethical AI in content moderation to combat misinformation, hate speech, and harmful content while respecting freedom of speech and avoiding undue censorship? ## Ethical AI is crucial in shaping the future of AI Ethical AI is an ongoing conversation that requires the active participation of researchers, policymakers and society as a whole. As AI continues to reshape our world, its importance cannot be overstated. By understanding the concept, acknowledging the challenges related to bias, privacy, transparency and unintended consequences, and embracing ethical principles, we can harness the power of AI responsibly. Embracing ethics in AI is not only essential for building trust and acceptance but also for ensuring that AI technologies contribute to a more equitable, just, and inclusive society. Remember, ethical considerations in AI are an ongoing and evolving journey. By staying informed, engaging in dialogue, and collaborating across disciplines, we can collectively shape a future where AI truly serves the betterment of humanity. Stay tuned to learn more about the evolving field of Ethical AI in the next few weeks!
Answering employee questions on Slack thanks to Gaspar AI and ChatGPT integration
Tue May 23 2023
AI at its best: say hi to Gaspar AI and ChatGPT integration
In the last few years, your IT work has certainly gone crazy because of different locations, time zones, remote work, multiple projects that seem to always be urgent... Your company most probably implemented an ITSM platform (if one was not deployed before) to help your team better manage the ever-increasing employee requests. However, your team’s average ticket resolution time has gone up (to 9.72 hours on average, +57% when compared to pre-pandemic) and help desk ticket costs are soaring ($26.51, +30% when compared to pre-pandemic). ## Gaspar AI, your favorite AI partner! Thankfully, the introduction of [Gaspar AI’s cutting-edge platform](https://www.gaspar.ai/platform) into your workplace offered some light at the end of the IT tunnel! It greatly empowered your IT team to be more efficient and offered positive and effortless IT experiences to employees. Gaspar AI enables end users to auto-resolve 40% of their issues on Slack and Microsoft Teams in seconds, without needing your team’s intervention, thanks to our conversational AI chatbot. No more spending hours to reset passwords over and over again! Now Gaspar, our AI Virtual Agent automatically resets them without your team’s involvement. At the same time, your IT team can auto-fulfill repetitive processes such as employee onboarding and offboarding thanks to Gaspar AI’s workflow automation. And what’s best is that everything is on the same one platform which integrates seamlessly with your company’s apps and is deployed in 30 minutes with no manual work from your side! Thanks to Gaspar AI, your IT team has decreased their manual work by 80% and makes better decisions thanks to AI-based insights. This results in higher job satisfaction, increased employee and IT teams’ productivity, and improved profitability. ## ChatGPT, the game-changing innovation And then, more magic happened: the software industry was shaken up by the super-fast, amazing AI advancements! The introduction of [ChatGPT](https://chatgptonline.ai/) and its vast adoption was a game-changer. As we have been working with AI since the very first start of Gaspar AI, way before AI became mainstream, integrating with ChatGPT was non-negotiable. IT people are at the heart of everything we do, and our goal is to make their work life easier and more enjoyable. So if we could further improve our AI offering and provide even better support, why not do it? ## But first, what is ChatGPT? Well, you probably already use ChatGPT for various tasks at work, and you certainly feel what a time-saver it is! But just in case you are not so familiar with it, ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI, based on the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) architecture. It is designed to understand and generate human-like responses to text-based prompts, such as questions or statements. ChatGPT is trained on vast amounts of text data from the internet, which allows it to generate coherent and contextually appropriate responses to a wide range of topics. The model uses advanced natural language processing techniques to analyze the input prompt, understand its meaning, and generate a response that is grammatically correct and semantically relevant. ## Gaspar AI and ChatGPT: a match made in heaven! When an employee has an issue, they go on Slack or MS Teams and ask Gaspar, our conversational AI chatbot, about it. Gaspar will immediately resolve it, and a ticket will be automatically opened and synced with your ITSM platform. Oftentimes Gaspar will deflect a ticket with a knowledge base article, e.g. when an employee asks how to connect to a VPN. In this case Gaspar will provide the related knowledge base articles and the employee can go through them and find what they are looking for. Although incredibly helpful, this can be further optimized! With our ChatGPT integration, instead of receiving articles, the user receives a direct answer to their question from ChatGPT, in a human-like way. They no more have to go through the knowledge article, they have their answer right in front of them, even faster than before! And the best part is that it is not a generic answer, but a personalized answer! One of the caveats about using bots like ChatGPT for information retrieval is that it searches for answers through public sources on the internet, which isn’t always reliable. Since Gaspar AI integrates with multiple knowledge management systems (e.g. Helpjuice, Confluence, etc.), ChatGPT will form the answer from your company’s knowledge base, content repositories and internal sources – therefore it will be more credible. It will also provide the link to the article where the answer comes from in case the user wants to learn more. The real power of Gaspar AI and ChatGPT integration is taking information from within your company, your specific data and knowledge articles, and making it immediately available in a human-like way to your employees. Moreover, we won't share your company's data with OpenAI to train or improve their models, so you can rest assured that your privacy is protected. ## The advantages of Gaspar AI and ChatGPT integration Using Gaspar AI has many benefits for the employees, your IT team and your company. It significantly reduces the time needed for your IT team to resolve issues, which in turn increases their efficiency, decreases costs and enhances employee productivity and satisfaction. And this results in better company profitability and higher employee retention, as IT teams and employees alike are more productive and happier. With the ChatGPT integration, you can further enhance these benefits: ### 1. Increased time savings Now employees don’t even have to spend a few minutes reading through the knowledge base article to find what they are looking for. They have their answer instantly, without having to leave the chat platform, and can immediately get back to work, minimizing the impact of IT issues on their productivity. ### 2. Enhanced IT support quality ChatGPT's ability to understand context and generate human-like responses ensures that employees receive accurate and relevant information to their queries. The answers are focused exactly on what the employee is asking, leading to a higher quality of support. Moreover, they are extremely reliable and credible as they are not drawn from the web but from your internal sources. ### 3. Improved user experience Oftentimes reading through knowledge base articles can be daunting, especially when employees don’t have time to do so, and they don’t know the terminology. Having the answer served right in front of them in a language they understand is an amazing user experience, which ultimately boosts employee satisfaction with IT support and their trust in your IT department. ## Glimpsing into what lies ahead Undoubtedly, Gaspar AI’s integration with ChatGPT will once more revolutionize employee IT support within Slack and Microsoft Teams. And this is just the beginning! Our plan is to further extend this integration to more of Gaspar AI’s features, such as the Proactive Insights and intent recognition. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come! If you want to see Gaspar AI in action, please [contact us](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us) or [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request).
AI chatbot to augment service desk capabilities and do more in less time
Thu May 18 2023
Get more done faster with Gaspar AI's advanced capabilities
Sick and tired of the never-ending IT ticket backlogs and endless employee requests at work? Gaspar AI is coming to your rescue! Supercharge your productivity and accomplish more in less time with our cutting-edge AI chatbot, Workflows and Proactive Insights! From automating mundane tasks to uncovering valuable insights, Gaspar AI is your ultimate productivity ally. Say goodbye to limitations and unlock a new level of success thanks to more than 100+ automations and seamless integrations. Now employees solve their IT requests right where they are - on Slack, Microsoft Teams or self-service portal -, instantly and without human intervention, IT teams speed-up and run repetitive workflow processes like magic, and IT leaders optimize IT support thanks to data analytics and proactive insights. Get ready to reimagine IT support with Gaspar AI's groundbreaking capabilities. Are you ready to dive in and experience the transformative power of Gaspar AI? Read our informative [eBook](https://gaspar-www.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/007c2c3c1275f40b6d86f47fa957529c.pdf) to discover all of Gaspar AI’s applications and how you can have a high-performing AI service desk on Slack, MS Teams or Jira. If you are excited to remove the boring part of your job and offer higher-than-expected IT service, contact us to [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) or [discuss your needs](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us). Let's get started! ## [Get more done faster, with Gaspar AI's advanced capabilities.pdf](https://gaspar-www.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/a30ea1aa3ead53672c92df4c635e8e3e.pdf)
ROI calculator for the IT helpdesk cost per ticket
Tue May 16 2023
The true cost of your IT helpdesk support
When was the last time you calculated your IT helpdesk cost per ticket? Do you know how much your IT support operations cost you? Have you factored in your cost all the elements that influence it? Even if you think you know your IT support cost, chances are there are metrics that you never thought you should include. And you would be surprised to know that there are things you are not tracking. And most probably, you are miscalculating the true cost of your IT helpdesk support. In the last 2 years, Service Desk Cost per Ticket has increased to an average of $26.51 (+30%), and the service levels have not improved: on the contrary, Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR) has increased to 9.72 hours (+57%). It is about time IT helpdesk cost per ticket gets the attention it deserves! ## Why the IT helpdesk cost per ticket is so important to you Your IT service desk cost per ticket is the total monthly operating expense of your service desk divided by the number of tickets you had that month. You may be asking yourself, if cost per ticket is a simple average cost calculation, why is it such an important IT helpdesk metric? By knowing how much your IT helpdesk operations are really costing you, you can make informed decisions about your helpdesk management and optimization, and your IT projects prioritization. This will ultimately lead to increased efficiency, cost reduction and enhanced employee satisfaction. For example, your resolution time could be lower than the average, but your IT helpdesk ticket cost higher than expected: you may determine that you’re OK with that cost or that you want automate tasks to lower that cost. Or you might have both a higher-than-expected MTTR and a high ticket cost: this means that you need to examine why you spend so much money and end up having lower than expected service levels. The above examples illustrate that knowing your real cost per ticket will help you understand your team’s productivity: perhaps you need to adjust the roles within the team, hire additional staff, buy equipment or automate tasks. Most importantly, you can’t change something that you don’t know: not knowing your IT helpdesk cost per ticket means you can’t reduce it, boost your department’s efficiency and improve your company’s profitability. ## How much do your IT helpdesk tickets really cost? So let’s explore the various factors that contribute to the cost of helpdesk tickets, so that you can successfully calculate it. ### 1. Labor costs This includes the cost of salaries, benefits, and other expenses associated with your IT support team. Because IT support is so labor-intensive—you need enough staff to field the service requests—you’ll likely see a significant majority of your costs going to service desk personnel. Your department could easily see 60-70% of costs going to direct and indirect service desk employees. Labor costs are greatly influenced by wage rates. Depending on your geography and regional cost of living, a ticket that takes the same amount of time to be handled can cost very differently. Labor costs also depend on the complexity of the issue and the level of experience of the support staff. Therefore, it is essential to keep track of the time spent by your IT support team on each ticket to accurately calculate costs. Turnover and absenteeism also influence labor costs. The more short-staffed your IT service desk is, the more overtime you must pay, which increases labor cost. If service desk turnover is high, you are paying a lot more per person to train and re-staff the helpdesk. Finally, agent utilization and the IT agent/employee ratio influence labor costs. The more time every IT agent is spending on working on support-related issues, the higher their utilization and the better their cost. ### 2. Infrastructure costs All hardware, software, office space and supplies, utilities, and other tools required to run the helpdesk system are included here. Infrastructure costs can vary widely depending on the size and complexity of your company, the number of your support team, and the level of automation in your helpdesk system. ### 3. Training costs Training your IT team is essential to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to provide excellent employee support. However, training can be expensive, especially if you need to hire external trainers or invest in specialized training programs. Therefore, it is important to budget for training costs and optimize your training programs to ensure maximum efficiency. What is more, optimizing your investments in job training and coaching goes far in promoting your team's job satisfaction, which in turn decreases turnover and absenteeism and leads to lower labor costs. ### 4. Opportunity costs Opportunity costs refer to the potential company revenue lost as a result of inefficient employee time due to IT issues. It is the time an employee spends not being productive because they are waiting for their IT support problem to be resolved. This cost can vary greatly depending on the company function they belong to, and on how the IT issue is impacting their work. For example, if a salesperson can’t perform a customer meeting because they are locked out of their account, the opportunity cost will be rather high. ## Use AI-powered automation to reduce your IT helpdesk costs By now you probably understand how costly your IT support operations can be, and how many factors you need to track to accurately measure their expenses. One way to optimize your IT helpdesk operations that will dramatically reduce costs (while providing excellent employee support) is by implementing AI virtual agents and automations. When you start using more self-service and AI chatbot tools to address the common, repetitive issues, you can significantly impact the cost per ticket. If most employees are using self-service or chatbot options for low-level, routine issues, your IT service desk will experience a reduction in the volume of tickets they receive, which leads to better response times and lower labor costs per ticket. At the same time employees can instantly have their issues resolved, which dramatically reduces opportunity costs. For example, you can easily calculate the annual cost savings you would have by adopting Gaspar AI, which would offer you all these benefits – the above parameters have already been factored in our ROI calculator. You just need to submit the number of employees and the number of tickets you receive in our calculator [here](https://www.gaspar.ai/benefits), and then discover how much your costs will be reduced. And if you like what you see, you can [contact us for a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) and discussion!
Gaspar AI logo
Thu May 04 2023
A new era begins: we are rebranding!
You probably already noticed the missing “desk” from our name, some fresh colors, small letters and new curves on our logo. Today we’re launching our brand refresh! The name, logo, typeface and more have all been given a style evolution, and we’re giving you a peek behind the scenes to understand what this means for our customers and us. ## Why are we rebranding? Well, a lot has changed in the last few months in the software industry thanks to the amazing AI advancements. We have been working with AI since the very first start of our company – in fact, AI has been the heart of what we do, what inspired us to found our company and build our product, way before AI prevailed. We feel it is time we let the world know and rebrand, to better reflect our core business, our advanced AI power and the work we do. Leaving our legal entity the same, we will now be known under the name Gaspar AI. This name change is part of our strategy targeted to emphasize the strength of our capabilities and our vision, and to help us create a strong presence as an #AI powered service desk platform globally. Gaspar, our Conversational AI chatbot, is our core product. We prioritize dedicating our time, energy and resources to ensure the success of our customers' AI initiatives and we adapt swiftly to the changing demands of this emerging field. We thus wanted our name and logo to highlight our product, dedication and focus. ## Why Gaspar AI? At Gaspar AI, we augment IT teams’ capabilities and empower them to perform better and more efficiently by removing the boring, repetitive help desk tasks and enabling them to focus on strategic projects thanks to our AI-powered platform. By removing the “desk” from our name and replacing it with .ai, we wanted to express exactly this: how we eliminate routine help desk tasks thanks to our advanced AI capabilities. And we also wanted to give a more prominent place to our favorite chatbot, Gaspar, thanks to whom all this is possible. However, we also wanted our logo to emphasize our human touch – IT teams are indispensable for a company’s smooth operation and success, and the importance of their role cannot be overstated. We are here to supplement IT teams’ operations by providing them with the necessary advanced AI tools that transform their everyday routine and make them ultimately love their job. Hence, we made the g in gaspar a little more human, friendly and smiley to express our support to real people who solve real problems every day. Thanks to Gaspar AI, IT teams are able to offer quick and effortless IT support to end users, get rid of more than 40% of tickets, decrease their manual work by 80%, and make better decisions thanks to AI-based insights. This results in higher job satisfaction, increased employee and IT teams’ productivity and happiness within the company, and improved profitability. ## What's in Gaspar's name? By now you might also be wondering where Gaspar’s name comes from. Gaspar is a name of Persian descend meaning “the person guarding the treasure”. Gaspar was also one of the three wise men or Magi along with Balthasar and Melchior mentioned in the Bible. Nowadays Gaspar is your wise virtual agent who works like magic to make employee service desk tickets disappear, while guarding the precious IT team’s productivity and job satisfaction. It helps companies and IT departments minimize employee IT issues and outages that cost them tons of money. This help will be done in a "magical" way, which essentially means using Artificial Intelligence and Automation. ## From strict to sleek To move forward into this new era, we deconstructed the old logo and created a customized wordmark. The key element in the new design is the circle: a shape with absolute geometry, often referring to balance, integration and human existence, key values of Gaspar AI. We use concentric circles to highlight our always human-centric AI use: each day IT teams interact with Gaspar AI, so the human being is the circle at the center of the bigger circle. To reflect Gaspar AI’s values and inspired by the circle we created a new font. The more rounded typeface conveys positivity, user friendliness and completion – just as Gaspar AI positively completes the IT team’s work while being extremely easy to use by employees. As our vision is to offer positive and effortless service desk experiences thanks to our cutting-edge AI, we wanted the logo to also look effortless, simple and professional. We switched from loud capital letters to small letters to evoke this sense of positivity and effortlessness. Color plays a significant role in audience recognition and has a psychological impact on people’s moods. Therefore, we chose to use blue and light green on top of white. Blue is associated with balance, calm and strength, while light green represents speed and the feeling that everything is right. This relates to the core of our product and our company vision: to make every service desk experience a positive, quick and effortless one. ## What does this mean for our existing clients? It's business as usual with more AI capabilities offered to you! We are committed to our customers’ service and satisfaction, we have developed the capabilities to deliver more value to them and we will continue to improve our product. We want to give a big thank you to our investors and customers who have stood by our side from day one and continue this journey with us to bring the world more positive and effortless service desk experiences. Thank you for reading and keep watching this space as we build out our new visual story! If you want to learn more about Gaspar AI, please [contact us](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us)!
Freshservice and Gaspar AI virtual agents: what you need to know
Wed Apr 26 2023
Freshservice & Gaspar virtual agents: what you need to know
Chances are, in today's hybrid work world you have already adopted an ITSM platform to streamline your IT support. If this platform is Freshservice, then you might be facing a dilemma: upgrade your subscription plan to access their virtual agent? Or stick with your current plan and deploy a different chatbot, namely Gaspar, our conversational AI chatbot, to handle employee requests on Slack and Microsoft Teams? Well, no need to stress! We have gathered the key factors to take into account and assess when deciding what to do. We hope they are helpful and that they will make your decision process easier - no matter your final choice! Additionally, even if you're already on the Enterprise plan, reading [this ebook](https://gaspar-www.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/b0c69085bdcfe6da3d9ec21129ae99ff.pdf) will highlight the benefits you still get by integrating with Freshservice. Gaspardesk can enhance your team's efficiency and productivity, as it provides numerous capabilities and advantages. If you would like to learn more, please [contact us](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us) or [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request)! ## [Gaspar AI and Freshservice virtual agents what you need to know.pdf](https://gaspar-www.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/068f24b1b9201eb58d80ee5fa114285f.pdf)
Artificial Intelligence revolutionizes IT support with 24/7 support, predictive maintenance capabilities and intelligent automation
Thu Apr 20 2023
5 Ways AI revolutionizes IT support in the workplace
IT support, also known as technical support or helpdesk support, refers to the services provided by IT professionals to diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve technical issues related to computer hardware, software, networks, and other IT systems used in the workplace. The importance of IT support cannot be overstated. Here is just a glimpse of why IT support is crucial: 1. Technical issue resolution: resolving technical issues that employees encounter while using IT systems, such as computer crashes, software errors, network connectivity problems, and printer malfunctions. This ensures smooth and uninterrupted workflow, preventing productivity loss. 2. System maintenance and updates: maintaining and updating IT systems, including regular backups, software patches, and security updates. This helps in keeping the systems secure, reliable, and updated, reducing the risk of data breaches and system failures. 3. Cybersecurity and data protection: ensuring the security and protection of sensitive data and information stored in IT systems. This includes implementing security measures, such as firewalls, antivirus software, and access controls, as well as monitoring for potential security breaches and taking appropriate actions to mitigate risks. 4. Business continuity: quickly resolving IT issues and minimizing downtime to ensure business is uninterrupted. This helps in maintaining smooth operations and preventing financial losses resulting from IT disruptions. 5. Technology planning and strategy: IT support assists in planning and implementing IT strategies, such as upgrading hardware and software, adopting new technologies, and aligning IT with business goals. This can help improve the company’s overall performance and competitiveness. IT support teams therefore have multiple tasks to perform, ranging from tactical to strategic, all of which play an important role in the continuation of business and employee satisfaction. In the hybrid work world of nowadays, IT support’s role is indispensable even in ensuring day-to-day productivity. However, IT support’s importance is often underestimated, and IT teams are frequently understaffed. As requests and projects get multiplied by the minute, it is extremely important to find ways to enhance IT support. ## Here comes Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and problem-solving. It is important to distinguish AI from automation, although they have the same purpose: to help humans by taking over routine, repetitive tasks. But while automation involves programming machines to carry out tasks, AI is all about machines learning automatically by recognizing patterns in data. AI has the potential to revolutionize IT support in the workplace by introducing innovative approaches that can streamline and enhance traditional IT support processes. AI can have a tremendous impact in all of the 5 key areas of IT support described above. By leveraging its power, companies can transform their IT support: they can be proactive when it comes to system failures, deliver quicker issue resolution, increase security and free up time to focus on strategic technology projects, increasing productivity and ultimately driving business success. ## The AI-powered IT revolution AI is already deeply embedded into everyday life and work. According to McKinsey's State of AI report, [56% of respondents use AI in at least one function](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/global-survey-the-state-of-ai-in-2021). This rises to 57% in emerging economies, including China, the Middle East and North Africa, up from 45% in the previous year. And its use is more prominent in service and operations related functions. It would be impossible to state all the different ways in which AI can transform IT support. So we will focus on certain areas that are already undergoing a major AI transformation. ### 1. Automated issue resolution AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can handle routine IT support tasks, such as password resets, software installations, network access, and most of the common questions employees ask. These systems use natural language processing (NLP) to understand and respond to user queries, providing quick and accurate solutions, and reducing the need for human intervention in simple support requests. At the same time this empowers employees to resolve IT issues independently, leading to greater autonomy. Moreover, since AI algorithms can quickly analyze high volumes of data and learn from previous problems, they can diagnose complex IT problems quickly and accurately and offer insights and data to IT teams. This can reduce the time it takes for IT support staff to identify and fix issues, allowing them to focus on more important tasks. The insights can also help them in troubleshooting and resolving IT issues more efficiently and provide better solutions in the future. For example, when an IT agent has to resolve an employee’s account issues, AI can suggest the most efficient way to do so based on past incidents. This can dramatically increase productivity by reducing employee idle time and by saving the IT teams’ time spent on manual, repetitive tasks. IT support staff can spend less time troubleshooting and more time providing value to the organization. ### 2. Predictive maintenance and proactive support One of AI’s main “powers” over humans is its ability to analyze vast amounts of data fast. It can then identify patterns and trends and based on these predict issues. AI can leverage data from sensors, logs, and other sources to predict potential IT failures and proactively address them. For example, AI can detect early warning signs of hardware failures, network outages, or security breaches, allowing IT support teams to address these maintenance issues before they occur and minimize downtime. AI can also offer proactive support and reduce disruptions in the workplace. When an employee for example is consistently typing their password wrong, AI can offer to either reset it or ask whether they need assistance in the form of some reminder question. ### 3. Intelligent automation AI can automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks in IT support processes, such as ticket routing, categorization, and prioritization. AI chatbots can handle initial IT support inquiries and automatically generate tickets for further action. Since they use natural language processing, they understand and triage tickets based on urgency and severity. They can also route each ticket to the right agent, depending on the ticket’s category, importance, agent’s workload, etc. This leads to improved response times, reduced human error, and enhanced employee satisfaction. ### 4. Efficient knowledge management AI can help organizations manage their knowledge bases more effectively, ensuring that support agents have access to the most up-to-date and accurate information. AI-powered knowledge management systems can organize and index large amounts of data, making it easier for IT support teams to find the information they need. These systems can also provide relevant knowledge articles and solutions to common problems, reducing the time and effort required to resolve support requests. What’s more, [AI algorithms can be used to identify knowledge gaps](https://www.gaspar.ai/solutions) and recommend content to fill them, leading to optimized knowledge bases. Additionally, AI can analyze support data to identify patterns and trends, providing IT teams with valuable insights into employee needs and preferences. This information can be used to improve services, offer personalized IT support (e.g. through the employee’s preferred communication channel) and optimize support processes. ### 5. Self-healing systems Self-healing systems refer to automated systems that are designed to detect and repair faults or errors without human intervention. These systems are capable of monitoring their own health and performance, identifying issues, and taking corrective actions to restore their normal operation. Self-healing systems can be applied to various domains, including computer systems, networks, software applications, and even physical infrastructure like power grids. AI can enable IT systems to self-diagnose and self-correct issues automatically. Corrective actions can range from simple tasks like restarting a failed process or service, to more complex tasks like reconfiguring network routes or replacing faulty hardware. For example, AI can automatically identify and resolve software conflicts, optimize system performance, and apply patches and updates without human intervention. Self-healing systems are designed to improve system reliability, availability, and resilience, by reducing downtime and minimizing the need for IT support involvement. They ultimately lead to smoother company operations and ensure business continuity. ## Get ready for an AI-powered IT support The introduction of AI into the workplace is revolutionizing IT support and allowing companies to boost their efficiency and reduce costs. By utilizing AI, companies can improve their IT support processes and provide better solutions to their employees, ultimately becoming a better workplace. Embrace the future of IT support by exploring and adopting AI-powered solutions that can reshape how your team handles technical issues, streamlines workflows, and enhances overall productivity. If you would like to learn more about AI and IT support, we can [have an initial discussion](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us) and clarify how we can help optimize your IT support operations.
A ticket is created by Gaspar AI chatbot on Slack and then automatically syncs with ServiceNow
Thu Apr 13 2023
Bridging the efficiency gap: augment ServiceNow with Gaspar AI
[ServiceNow](https://www.servicenow.com/) is your trusted partner for improved employee and customer experiences. It allows you to centralize your tools onto a unified cloud platform, leveraging collective data and analytics through automated workflows powered by the Now Platform®. Moreover, its virtual agent that uses AI to answer employees’ IT questions unburdens your IT staff and boosts productivity. It also allows for faster incident resolution thanks to automatic triaging and assignment to the right agents, and better collaboration among them. ## The IT operations' challenges are still here You feel though that there is so much more to your digital transformation and your ServiceNow deployment: since their virtual agent works natively only on the Now platform, you still must separately buy, deploy and customize numerous products to offer a seamless employee IT experience in multiple channels. What’s more, it doesn’t support many integrations, which leads to a specific set of automated actions - it definitely can’t keep up with employee requests. It also comes with pre-defined topics and pre-built conversations, therefore doesn’t satisfy the employees’ needs. The virtual agent guides them to the right articles or solutions, rather than automatically solving their issue, which still requires time. Let alone the fact that they still have to manually create a ticket via email or the portal. As a result, your team still gets an increasing number of tickets and ends up working on the same issues over and over again. Talk about getting rid of IT tickets and focusing on strategic issues! Moreover, employees are somehow reluctant to use the service and prefer to talk with your IT team, since they feel they are not understood: gone is the efficiency and productivity you thought you would get by deploying ServiceNow! ## Supercharge your ServiceNow platform with Gaspar AI Good news is you can get them back! And even better, you can keep your ServiceNow deployment and just augment its capabilities by integrating with [Gaspar AI platform](https://www.gaspardesk.com/platform). Now, this is truly maximized ROI! No switching platforms, no customizations, just seamless integration in 30 minutes! By integrating ServiceNow with Gaspar AI you get [AI-powered auto-resolution](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/autoresolve-employee-it-requests-instantly-on-slack-or-ms-teams) for routine questions on the channels your employees use: Slack and Microsoft Teams! You will offer them an enhanced experience with our intelligent chatbot capable of automatically understanding and resolving their issue in seconds. Your team will be more productive as they have fewer requests to address. You will also get advanced analytics and insights for data-driven decision making and optimized knowledge management. Curious to discover all of Gaspar AI and ServiceNow augmented capabilities? Read our solution brief below, and if you want to boost your IT service desk efficiency with AI-driven support [let’s discuss](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request)! ## [Gaspar AI x ServiceNow Key integration capabilities.pdf](https://gaspar-www.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/182ae284198252462051a1024da44c14.pdf)
Gaspar AI's chatbot integrates with Freshservice
Wed Mar 29 2023
Boost your Freshservice platform with Gaspar AI
[Frershservice](https://www.freshworks.com/freshservice/) has enabled you to greatly enhance your IT support, making your company’s employees much happier with the service you offer and your team more productive. It empowers users to quickly find solutions via the self-service portal, your team to automate mundane tasks and collaborate better, and so much more. But your ticket volume is always increasing, oftentimes employees prefer to email or call your team as they feel they get their issues resolved faster, and you need to upgrade your Freshservice plan to fully enjoy all their features, especially the AI-related ones. Did you know though that there is a way to unlock the full potential of your Freshservice deployment, enjoy all the AI benefits and get the most out of your investment? Gaspardesk has built an integration with Freshservice to bring the power of AI to your ITSM platform and enable you to maximize the ROI from your Freshservice deployment, even if you are not on the Enterprise plan. [Gaspar AI platform](https://www.gaspar.ai/platform) auto-resolves 40% of employee IT issues instantly on Slack or MS Teams without human involvement, and auto-fulfills repetitive IT tasks by 90%, resulting to less manual work. You will see a dramatic decline in the number of employee IT tickets you receive, since users will instantly get their issues resolved via our virtual agent, and your team will provide quicker and more efficient IT support and focus on more strategic IT projects. By integrating Freshservice with Gaspar AI, you will also dramatically reduce IT helpdesk ticket cost: to give you an idea, IT helpdesk cost per ticket is down to $1 when you integrate with Gaspar AI. And you will get several capabilities that will optimize your IT support, no matter which plan you are on! ## Auto-resolve employee IT issues on Slack or MS Teams for all Freshservice plans If you are not on the Freshservice Enterprise plan, you miss out on all the AI-fun! Or, maybe not: integrate Gaspardesk’s conversational AI chatbot on Slack or Microsoft Teams and automatically resolve employee IT issues instantly, without your IT team’s involvement. Gaspar AI's platform includes integrations with more than 25 separate software vendors that offer approximately 107 automations to end-users. When an employee has an IT issue, be it password problems, licensing, access to repositories and others, they can simply ask the AI chatbot and it will immediately solve it or provide a relevant solution article with the answer the user is looking for. This also includes service item requests – it all depends on how many integrations you decide to activate for Gaspar AI. The more you activate, the less manual work you will have to do. Even if you are on the Enterprise plan, you still have to gain from Gaspar AI’s integration. Our Conversational AI chatbot uses NLP and has NLU to understand user intent and context, so it can understand 100s of phrases and offer solutions to multiple issues. It resolves issues in seconds, not just fetch solution articles from the knowledge base or guide the users to still do manual work. For example, for a password reset request, it will actually reset the password instantly, as it automatically verifies the end user’s identity thanks to multiple integrations, rather than send identity verification information to the end user and then provide the reset steps and guide the user to manually reset it. ## Automate ticket creation on Freshservice When an employee asks the chatbot about a request which the bot auto-resolves, a ticket is automatically generated on Freshservice – no need for the IT teams or users to manually create the relevant ticket. ## Build and optimize your knowledge base No matter which Freshservice plan you are on, if your knowledge base is not well managed and its content not good, you won’t be able to offer good IT support. The virtual agent pulls responses from Articles and service items: a mismanaged information engine (Articles & service items) hence impacts response accuracy. Thanks to the Proactive Insights feature within Gaspar AI’s integration, you get data analytics about the most common employee questions and IT issues. Your team can thus start building the relevant articles if they don’t exist, or optimize the existing ones to ensure relevant content gets ranked high. Your team will be happy to know where to focus, and your company’s employees will be satisfied to have these answers. Moreover, you will get insights on how many employee IT issues were deflected via the knowledge base, and how many could not be answered. Hence, you can investigate further and understand what changes you could implement in your knowledge base to increase the employee IT ticket deflection rate through solution articles. ## Auto-fulfill workflows on Slack With Gaspar AI’s integration, you can fulfill employee IT onboarding and offboarding workflows on Slack. Build the workflows you need and set them to run whenever an employee joins the company. This dramatically decreases your team’s manual work as you can easily automate repetitive processes. ## AI that learns and gets better over time The more you use Gaspar AI, the more Gaspar, our Conversational AI chatbot, learns from historical data thanks to Machine Learning. AI has the ability to learn over time by observing feedback from the data and retraining itself to provide a more accurate result. Gaspar gets smarter by leveraging data from the entire ecosystem, including all chat conversations. Consequently, suggested solutions improve the more Gaspar is being used. Moreover, when a new ticket is opened, Gaspar uses this information to pre-fill in fields such as status, priority, and more. ## Integration that works in the cloud or on premises What’s best is that whether you host Freshservice in the cloud or have it deployed on your infrastructure, Gaspar AI integrates with them anyway. There are great benefits to gain from Gaspar AI and Freshservice integration, no matter which pricing plan you are on – of course, if you are not on the Enterprise plan you will see an even more increased ROI when you implement Gaspar AI's platform. If you wish to integrate with Gaspar AI and deliver the future of IT support today, we can [schedule a meeting](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us) to discuss.
A chatbot in the IT service desk is automating and responding to employee requests
Tue Mar 21 2023
Why is AI automation the future of the IT helpdesk?
The modern, hybrid workplace is becoming increasingly reliant on technology, and the demand for IT helpdesk support is growing. Unfortunately, traditional IT helpdesk solutions are often struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing employee demand, resulting in slow response times, IT teams’ burnout and employee dissatisfaction as they can’t get their issues resolved on time. Every day you keep on resetting passwords, creating accounts and approving access requests manually, or guiding employees to the right knowledge base articles, you are losing: -Time, that could be spent on actually solving complex issues -Money, that could be invested in strategic IT projects -Energy, that could be directed towards learning new skills -Knowledge, that is not created or shared with everyone -Employee satisfaction and trust in your IT team Ultimately you will end up with a tired and unhappy IT team, no budget to move forward with projects that need to be deployed and employees that complain about the service they get from you and your team. There is only one solution to this problem, and it is called IT helpdesk AI automation. It is the one thing you should prioritize in 2023, if you have not already done so. Automation will allow for faster responses, more accurate knowledge sharing, lower costs and better employee IT service. ## What is helpdesk automation? In its simplest form, automation is the use of technology to streamline and simplify repetitive tasks. For IT helpdesk support, this means automating manual processes such as ticket tracking, resolution tracking, and employee IT service. In its current form, and thanks to the huge AI progress, an [automated helpdesk](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/how-is-ai-helping-the-it-helpdesk) uses Conversational AI and automation to intercept and resolve support requests with end-users while automating your most repetitive tasks, actions, and workflows. Simply put, instead of having human agents answer every employee IT question, an AI chatbot will answer the most common and repetitive ones. Human intervention will be needed but for more complex queries. The more the AI is being used, the smarter it will become, providing better and more accurate answers and thus improving the employee experience and further reducing the need for human involvement. ## Impact of helpdesk AI automation The effect of AI-powered automation on the IT helpdesk is huge, but if you need to start building your case you can focus on the following main reasons why you have to move forward with automating your IT helpdesk... yesterday. ### 1. Faster response times, leading to improved employee IT service By integrating AI and machine learning into the IT helpdesk system, you can ensure that employee requests are handled properly and promptly while proactively monitoring IT service performance. IT teams can offer employees quick, personalized and accurate answers to their questions through the Conversational AI chatbot, on the communication platforms they already use. This can help users get their IT issues resolved faster and reduce their frustration and inactive time – self-service that employees love and adopt is one of the key benefits you earn with AI automation. Employees can also access an automated ticketing system at any time, thus eliminating the need to wait on hold for IT service or to continuously monitor the status and process of their IT ticket – alerts are automated. ### 2. Increased efficiency and fewer errors [Automating routine tasks](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/8-employee-it-helpdesk-tasks-that-can-be-automated-with-ai) can significantly reduce the amount of time and effort needed to complete them. Automation frees up IT helpdesk staff to focus on more complex tasks, resulting in increased efficiency and improved productivity. It also helps ensure that tasks are completed accurately and on time, with fewer errors. Whether setting the wrong priority for a ticket or providing inaccurate information, the high volume of tickets and tasks can result in mistakes. With an automated helpdesk, human error can be reduced or even eliminated. ### 3. Cost savings Automation will dramatically reduce the costs associated with running an IT helpdesk. Just to give you an idea, the cost per ticket is on average $29 – with an AI platform such as [Gaspar AI](https://www.gaspar.ai/platform), the cost will be $1. By automating mundane tasks, you lower operating costs since you reduce the amount of time spent on tedious, repetitive or administrative tasks. You free up your helpdesk staff for higher-value work and more complex employee IT issues. As automation helps streamline processes and makes it possible to do more with fewer resources, it also reduces the need to hire additional staff. And we haven’t even started to talk about the costs associated with inefficient employee time due to low response speed and high wait times! ### 4. Increased scalability Automation can help ensure that service desk operations can scale up or down quickly and easily as needed. As employees still ask more questions via chat and email, auto-resolving requests that don’t require human intervention saves companies tons of time and money. Instead of adding agent after agent, automated helpdesks can handle FAQs and route employees to the right place without having to wait for a live agent or an email response. ### 5. Improved knowledge sharing One of the most common complaints within companies is that crucial information is scattered across multiple knowledge bases — making it impossible to know where to go for an answer in a timely manner. Even worse, in some cases there is no available resolution information, even though the same question might have been asked a thousand times. An AI helpdesk can offer solutions to employees from the most up-to-date knowledge base articles, eliminating the need to search for answers across multiple sources. Using machine learning and natural language understanding, it will understand the context and so will recommend the most appropriate articles to employees and IT agents alike (when they have to intervene and answer more complex questions), further increasing knowledge sharing. In case of non-existent knowledge bases, the automated AI helpdesk will analyze chat conversations, gather information and help identify the most common employee issues, so that companies have a starting point to create a knowledge management system. In short, AI automation has huge potential to improve the efficiency, accuracy and speed of the employee IT service. By automating mundane tasks, streamlining communication between the IT helpdesk and employees, reducing costs, and improving knowledge sharing, automation is essential for any company that wants to stay competitive and provide the best employee IT support experience possible.
Ticket is created on MS Teams thanks to Gaspar AI's chatbot, which automatically syncs with ServiceNow
Wed Mar 15 2023
5 reasons to integrate Gaspar AI's chatbot with ServiceNow
Since deploying [ServiceNow](https://www.servicenow.com/) you feel that you have already improved employee IT support a lot and that you team is more productive. You resolve issues faster thanks to their ticketing system, you provide employees the answers they need with relevant results, you share knowledge easier. However, your team still gets an increasing number of tickets, employees are somehow reluctant to use the self-service portal, and you would like to have more insights regarding IT performance and knowledge management. How would you feel if someone told you there is a way to unlock the full potential of your ServiceNow deployment and get the most out of your investment? Gaspar AI has built an integration with ServiceNow to bring the power of AI to your ITSM platform and enable you to maximize the ROI from your ServiceNow deployment. Gaspar AI’s platform auto-resolves 40% of employee IT issues instantly, without human involvement, and auto-fulfills repetitive IT tasks by 90%, resulting to less manual work. When you integrate Gaspar AI with ServiceNow, you augment its capabilities so that your team can provide quicker and more efficient IT support, while deflecting employee service tickets. At the same time employees get a magical, seamless experience on the platform they already use (Slack or MS Teams), resulting to higher adoption and a maximum ROI. In the end, you will experience a lower ticket volume, which leads to better response times and an IT helpdesk cost per ticket at $1. Your ServiceNow deployment will be maximized! If you are considering this integration, read below to better understand why it is such a smart decision to do it and stay ahead of the IT game. ## 1. Enhance IT teams’ productivity Since Gaspar, our Conversational AI chatbot, automatically solves 40% of employee IT issues, your team won’t have to do so – they will receive a largely decreased ticket volume and won’t have to answer the same questions over and over again. Moreover, even when human involvement is required, Gaspar AI’s integration facilitates handoff: tickets are created automatically on ServiceNow and provide context, so that the right agent can work on it without having to gather lots of info. At the same time, with Workflow automation, routine tasks such as new hire IT onboarding will be auto-fulfilled. As a result, your team can stop doing repetitive tasks and use the time gained to focus on closing the most complex tickets. And since they have more time for fewer tickets and all the context they need, they will resolve them faster, improving the mean time to resolution – and consequently the helpdesk cost per ticket. What’s more, they can use the extra time to work on strategic projects they have been putting aside due to lack of time and resources. In the end, you will end up with a much more efficient, productive and happy team! And your budget will stop paying for answering repetitive questions and instead pay for strategic initiatives—leading to an increased ROI. ## 2. Boost employee satisfaction One of the main reasons employees do not adopt ITSM self-service portals and still prefer to call or email IT is user experience. They find them very complicated and hard-to-use: they don’t understand the differences between the various ServiceNow tables, they are not sure which form to fill in or whether their issue is an incident or service request, they find knowledge articles too technical and they don’t like the service catalog order experience. And when they manage to get through all this, they might need to ask the question in a specific way or receive answers that are not accurate e.g. ask how to join the wi-fi network and instead receive an answer on how to set up a VPN. The good news is with Gaspar AI’s integration they don’t need to know any of these technicalities. They just ask Gaspar their question on Slack or Microsoft Teams (and if you wish, Gaspar can also be integrated on the Now platform) and get it resolved instantly, without even needing to leave the platform or having to search through knowledge base articles. Furthermore, they can speak naturally as they would to a member of your team, and the answer will be extremely accurate and to-the-point, making them satisfied with the service and eager to keep using it. Gaspardesk uses Natural Language Processing and has Natural Language Understanding to comprehend user language, intent and context: our AI chatbot understands 100s of phrases and not only pre-defined topics, and offers instant solutions to multiple issues. This streamlined communication and optimized end-user experience play a vital role in employee satisfaction: they receive personalized answers very quickly, which reduces their “idle” time, making them more productive and leading to higher employee retention and a great workplace culture. ## 3. Enable better decision making One of the great features of Gaspar AI and ServiceNow integration is the data analytics and insights you get on the Gaspar AI admin portal. You can enjoy an exceptional outlook on your IT support process performance since you get a comprehensive overview of insights on your chatbot's performance and real-time monitoring of key KPIs. You can now receive information on how many issues were automatically resolved and how (through the virtual agent or a knowledge base article), how many tickets were opened, any missed opportunities you have by not automating some queries, and most importantly, how much money you save by deploying Gaspar AI and ServiceNow. You consequently can prioritize tasks and projects based on facts, identify critical issues and implement any changes needed to further maximize your investment. ## 4. Transform your ServiceNow deployment with AI Automate processes without needing a team of machine learning experts! Gaspar AI's platform includes integrations with more than 25 software vendors that allow your IT Admins to provide approximately 107 automations to their end-users, resulting to optimal IT support. What’s more, our AI has the ability to learn over time by observing feedback from the data and retraining itself to provide a more accurate result. Gaspar gets smarter by leveraging data from the entire customer ecosystem, including all chat conversations. Consequently, suggested solutions improve the more Gaspar is being used, resulting to a greatly improved ITSM. ## 5. Enhance your knowledge You might have already set up a knowledge base on ServiceNow or want to start one. It doesn’t matter: as long as you don’t know what your users are asking, you don’t know what to prioritize and you will end up with a knowledge system that employees won’t use as it is not what they need. Gaspar AI’s integration analyzes all employee IT requests to present data about them e.g. which ones are the most common and impactful. Your IT team can thus identify important queries and information gaps in your knowledge base, and consequently prioritize articles that address them. Once they have been written, they are automatically read and converted using machine learning, so that when employees ask Gaspar questions, the virtual agent can give them the right and most updated answers. There you have it, your ServiceNow investment can now be fully leveraged and optimized! If you want to bring the power of Gaspar AI to your ServiceNow platform and offer a magical IT support experience, [contact us](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us) to discuss or [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) directly with our team. And if you are thinking about deploying ServiceNow’s virtual agent on the portal, please read [here](https://gaspar-www-test.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/7dc788132f42f64cfe67fb91756239f2.pdf) about why integrating Gaspardesk’s AI chatbot will bring more benefits to your IT team, employees and company.
ServiceNow and Gaspar AI ebook
Wed Mar 08 2023
ServiceNow virtual agent and Gaspar AI: key features to consider
Today, only 13% of employees are happy to work exclusively in the office: the remainder prefers to work partly or fully remotely. While this flexibility has a great impact on morale and productivity, it also presents major technical and operational challenges, especially when it comes to the employee IT support experience. Your IT team now has to support multiple timezones and more IT problems to solve - and it is impossible to provide 24/7 support. In the last 2 years, the number of employee IT tickets has exploded (+35%) and their cost has increased to $26.51 (+30%). A simple ITSM platform for ticketing is not enough anymore. In your effort to address this, you might be considering adding ServiceNow’s virtual agent to automate part of your IT tasks. And you might be wondering what are the differences between different virtual agents, and why you would choose Gaspar AI’s virtual agent over ServiceNow’s, when you already have installed their platform. Well, if you are indeed wondering, we prepared an ebook with all things you need to consider when evaluating which one of the two to choose. On top of this, you will understand how Gaspar AI is different from an IT Service Management platform that also has a chatbot – in fact, we integrate with [ServiceNow](https://www.servicenow.com/) to augment their operations and benefits, so that you are more productive and efficient. We hope you will find this ebook useful in your consideration process! If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to [contact us](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us)! ### [Gaspar AI and ServiceNow - key features to consider.pdf](https://gaspar-www.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/dcdaf5bc480d060515951900bd488fb5.pdf)
AI chatbot that integrates with Slack to instantly resolve employee IT issues and optimize knowledge management.
Tue Feb 28 2023
Employee helpdesk on Slack thanks to Gaspar AI's Conversational AI
Employees have historically had to use numerous channels and systems to get IT support, such as emails, ITSM platforms, calls, or simply visiting the IT office. Employees must go through a cumbersome procedure just to report their issue, and may be unable to work in the meantime. At the same time, the IT team is overwhelmed with questions and tickets, making it hard for them to provide timely support. This results in wasted time and productivity, as well as increased costs. Yet, there is a platform that all employees know, prefer and use for their daily communication and meetings: [Slack](https://slack.com/). What if, instead of having to use one more platform for IT support, everything happened right there, instantly and hassle-free? ## Automatically and instantly solve employee IT issues on Slack Gaspar AI, our AI-based IT support [auto-resolution platform](https://www.gaspar.ai/platform), is built from the ground up to integrate with Slack, making it smooth and easy for employees to solve their problems in seconds. Employees can conveniently interact with our always-available Conversational AI chatbot, Gaspar. This virtual agent utilizes AI and machine learning to provide personalized support. What makes Gaspar so effective is its capability to resolve 40% of employee IT issues, such as password reset requests - it automatically verifies the end user’s identity thanks to multiple integrations, and not just guide the user through the company’s process of password reset. Additionally, Gaspar AI integrates with the company’s knowledge management system so that the chatbot can provide accurate information to the right person at the right time. Our AI-powered service desk helps resolve routine issues in just 10 seconds, drastically cutting down the time and effort of the IT teams and employees alike. This helps streamline operations and increase efficiency. In the case that auto-resolution is not possible, employees have access to live expert assistance. Unlike traditional ITSM tools, creating an IT ticket with Gaspar AI is a simple process: users fill in a form on Slack, which is then synced with the company's service management platform. Both the users and IT teams can access status updates on Slack. ## Why employees and IT teams love Gaspar on Slack Our employee IT support within Slack will [enhance employee and IT teams’ productivity](https://www.gaspar.ai/benefits) in various ways such as: - Let employees resolve a great % of their IT requests on Slack, the platform they already know and use. - Employees and IT teams can check the ticket status and follow up on Slack. - Allow employees to reply to the comments on tickets and approval requests within Slack. - IT team agents will have the ability to schedule a huddle within Slack with an employee to answer a ticket. To better understand all our capabilities and the benefits you will get by integrating Gaspar AI with Slack, you can read our solution brief below or [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) with our team. ## [Gaspar AI on Slack.pdf](https://gaspar-www.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/615a31149ef725a3aa1e23afcff00bd0.pdf)
Gaspar AI suggests common employee questions to be added to Confluence as knowledge articles.
Wed Feb 15 2023
Optimize your knowledge management with Confluence and Gaspar AI integration
You love [Confluence](https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence): it saves you and your team so much time by harnessing their collective knowledge into easy-to-find answers for everyone! It results to fewer questions and tickets towards your IT team, and since you deployed the platform, it has indeed made a difference. But what is better than Confluence? Confluence connected with Gaspar AI! How would you feel if your company’s employees did not even have to search Confluence for answers? And if you could know what are their most common questions so that you made sure that you included knowledge articles for those? You are probably jumping with joy and want to have this done already! Well, good news, now you can! Gaspar AI has built an integration with Confluence to let you get the most out of it. ## Leverage your Confluence content to deflect employee IT tickets Confluence enables you to easily organize knowledge and keep the information flowing. It includes, among others, your how-to guides with step-by-step guidance for completing a task and your troubleshooting articles that provide solutions for commonly encountered problems. Now, all this content that your team has built for Confluence can be leveraged by Gaspar AI. When employees ask Gaspar - our Conversational AI chatbot - questions on Slack, Microsoft Teams or [Jira Service Management portal](https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/service-management/features), it provides the relevant knowledge articles so that employees get their answers instantly. All knowledge articles are automatically read and converted into a conversational format using machine learning, so that employees don’t even need to switch platforms – they get their answers right on the platform they are on! This means that tickets are deflected, saving you and your team the repetitive, manual work, and allowing employees to go on with their work immediately. ## Build and optimize your Confluence knowledge base But what if you do not yet have a knowledge base? Well, Gaspar AI’s integration with Confluence can also help with that. Thanks to the [Proactive Insights](https://www.gaspar.ai/solutions) feature, you can get data about the most common employee questions and IT issues. You get this information on the admin portal, so that your team can start building the relevant articles. This way you have a great place to start building your knowledge base. If you do have a Confluence-powered knowledge base, the Proactive Insights feature can help you optimize it. On the admin portal again, you will see insights about commonly encountered employee IT problems for which you do not yet have relevant knowledge articles. Your team will be happy to know where to focus, and your company’s employees will be satisfied to have these answers. Gaspar AI’s integration with Confluence empowers your team to get the most out of your existing deployment, improving the knowledge management process, increasing efficiency and reducing manual work. [Contact us](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us) or [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) to see it in action.
Gaspar AI's chatbot answers on Jira Service Management portal an employee request about being added to an email list.
Thu Feb 09 2023
Auto-resolve IT issues with Jira Service Management and Gaspar AI integration
You feel grateful that you have deployed Jira Service Management: it has empowered you and your team to deliver great service fast, it accelerates the flow of work between development, IT, and business teams and it enables employees to find solutions at one place. However, you still have to manage an ever-increasing number of incoming tickets, which blocks your more strategic projects and forces you to do repetitive tasks. Now, with Gaspar AI’s integration with [Jira Service Management](https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/service-management) and [Jira Software](https://jira.atlassian.com/), you can finally see a dramatic decline in the number of employee IT tickets you receive, and focus on the tasks that need your expertise and strategic mindset. This way, you can get the most out of your Jira products and improve the ROI of their deployment. By integrating Jira Service Management and Jira Software with Gaspar AI, you will get several capabilities that will optimize your IT support, reduce your manual work by 80% and deflect 40% of tickets. ## Auto-resolve employee IT issues on Jira Service Management & Jira Software Gaspar AI’s conversational AI chatbot automatically resolves 40% of employee IT issues instantly, without human involvement, on Slack, Microsoft Teams and Jira Service Management portal. When an employee has an IT issue, they can simply ask the chatbot on the platform they prefer, and the chatbot will immediately solve it. Requests include password resets, group, channels and email lists creation and user addition, folder and calendar access, etc. This dramatically reduces IT helpdesk ticket cost and volume. Moreover, when an employee logs into the Jira Service Management portal to look for answers to their questions, they can directly ask Gaspar, our AI chatbot, and it will reply by instantly providing the relevant solution articles - no need to search in the knowledge base or ask your team! ## Automate ticket creation on Jira Service Management & Jira Software When an employee asks the chatbot about a request which the bot auto-resolves, a ticket is automatically generated on Jira Service Management or Jira Software, depending which ITSM platform you use – no need for the IT teams to manually create the relevant ticket. If the bot can't auto-resolve the issue with one of Gaspar AI's automated agents or deflect it with a knowledge management answer, then it prompts the end-user to create a ticket on the platform they are on (Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira Service Management portal) - employees never have to switch platforms. All tickets are then automatically synced with Jira and handed over to the right IT agent. Tickets are tracked on both Slack or MS Teams and Jira. ## Auto-fulfill workflows on Jira Service Management Run employee IT onboarding and offboarding workflows on your Jira Service Management portal. This dramatically decreases your team’s manual work as you can easily automate repetitive processes. ## Customize Jira Service Management fields You can configure additional custom values for the Jira platform single-choice lists: you can enrich these lists by adding customized options that you can choose from, so that you can better characterize, match and track projects. You can do this on Slack, MS Teams or Jira. ## AI that learns and gets better over time The more you use Gaspar AI, the more Gaspar learns from historical data thanks to Machine Learning. When a new ticket is opened, Gaspar uses this information to fill in fields such as status, priority, and more. ## Integration that works in the cloud or on premises What’s best is that whether you host your Atlassian products in the cloud or have them deployed on your infrastructure, Gaspar AI integrates with them anyway. If you wish to integrate your Jira products with Gaspar AI and dramatically reduce your employee IT ticket volume, we can [schedule a meeting](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) or you can directly get the app on the [Atlassian marketplace](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1223985/gaspardesk?hosting=cloud&tab=overview)
Gaspar AI's platform automatically resolves or syncs IT requests on Jira Service Management portal
Thu Feb 09 2023
Reduce employee IT ticket volume with Gaspar AI and Atlassian integration
To further reduce IT teams’ manual work and increase their productivity, Gaspar AI has built an integration with [Atlassian](https://www.atlassian.com/software) products. Gaspar AI’s platform auto-resolves 40% of employee IT issues instantly, without human involvement, and auto-fulfills repetitive IT tasks by 90%. It augments companies’ service desk operations for quicker and more efficient IT support. When you integrate Gaspar AI with Atlassian, employees get a magical, seamless experience on the platform they already use ([Slack](https://slack.com/), [MS Teams](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software) or [Jira Service Desk](https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/service-management/features/service-desk)), and your IT team deflects service tickets, resulting in an improved ROI from your Atlassian products. You will experience a much lower ticket volume, which leads to better response times and an IT helpdesk cost per ticket at $1. ### Key integration capabilities 1. Auto-resolve employee IT issues on Jira Service Desk thanks to our Conversational AI chatbot 2. Automate ticket creation on Jira Service Management or Jira Software – no more manual work! 3. Customize Jira Service Management fields so you can better match and track tasks and projects 4. Improve security by integrating with Atlassian Access: automate any identity-related tasks and requests 5. Build, optimize or continue using Confluence knowledge base 6. AI that learns and gets better over time, the more you use our chatbot 7. Integration that works in the cloud or on premises To learn more about how you can enhance your IT support and get the most out of your Atlassian products, you can read about our Atlassian integration capabilities in our solution brief below. Your team will be excited to get to work and employees delighted by the magical IT support experience. ## [Gaspar AI & Atlassian integration capabilities.pdf](https://gaspar-www.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/970957675228c696eb477140ca8d6239.pdf)
A workflow for Marketing onboarding is created and automatically fulfilled on Gaspar AI's admin portal.
Mon Jan 30 2023
How to complete employee IT onboarding in under 1 minute
“Maria is joining our company on March 5th. Let’s get ready so that she is all set up to start working day one". You just received notice from HR that a new hire joins the company, and all you can think of is the long hours ahead to repeat task after task the same process you did 2 days ago when George joined the company. Great, let’s put the new application deployment on hold once more, and work on the same routine job AGAIN! Onboarding is a complex and time-consuming task. It involves multiple steps, from setting up accounts and assigning roles to configuring networks and applications. What’s worse is that it is repetitive, boring and offers no added value to the IT team. For companies of any size, this process can be overwhelming and lead to your and your team’s frustration. ## Enter Gaspardesk’s Workflow Automation! Workflow automation is a technology that automates and streamlines the process of completing tasks and activities, without the need for human input. It helps companies optimize their processes by eliminating manual tasks and repetition and by automating the flow of data and information between different systems and applications. When it comes to IT onboarding, it streamlines all related tasks such as account creation, license management, folder management, etc. Its implementation involves a platform that, when a predefined event occurs, triggers actions that can work across your apps, data, and teams. It is a tool for making work faster, easier, and more consistent, while enhancing information governance and security. Processes become more efficient and with fewer errors, company data are protected from unauthorized access, and IT teams spend more of their time on value-adding activities, thus becoming more productive. It also reduces costs: it decreases the amount of time your IT team spends on onboarding tasks, which frees them up to focus on more important projects, such as security and compliance. Gaspar AI uses [Workflow Automation](https://www.gaspar.ai/platform) to [auto-fulfill the IT onboarding](https://www.gaspar.ai/solutions) of new hires. It streamlines the onboarding process by automating tasks such as creating user accounts, setting up email addresses, and installing the necessary software. Gaspar AI’s Workflows take it one step further by not just enabling you to automate these tasks, but also allowing you to automatically run the workflow process you created just when you need it: on the day the new hire joins the company. Let’s see how it works. ## Simplify IT onboarding in 3 steps #### 1. Create and name the workflow On the Admin portal, you go to the Workflows space, and you click on Create a Workflow. You give the workflow a name and description, and choose the category it falls under, in this case IT onboarding. #### 2. Choose the applications and actions to be performed You then pick the applications you would like to be included in this Workflow, and which specific actions you would like to be performed. You will include new account creation, enable the apps the user will have access to and what they can do with these apps, and set who will approve specific actions. For example, you can set up the account on Google workspace, choose which calendars this account will have access to, add the user on Slack, and select who will approve their requests. #### 3. Run the workflow Then, you can set the workflow process to run on the date the new employee joins the company. ## Build and customize as many IT onboarding workflows as you wish It takes just a few minutes to create the workflow - no coding skills are required! - and some seconds for it to run when needed. The platform gives you great customizability and visualizes everything so that you configure every task easily. And since you can build as many templates as you wish, which will include all the main actions that need to be performed once a new employee is hired, it means that you won’t have to create a new workflow process every time. You can just select which one is relevant for each hire, set it to run for this new email account, and just sit back and relax. It is a straightforward process that is executed on a regular basis to improve productivity, company governance and security. And the new employees can immediately hit the ground running! If you would like to optimize your company's IT onboarding experience, [contact us for a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request).
Gaspar AI's chatbot integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams to auto-resolve employee issues.
Thu Jan 26 2023
Auto-resolve employee IT requests instantly on Slack, MS Teams and Jira SM
## Imagine making 40% of your IT tickets disappear! ### Now with Gaspar AI you can! Our platform auto-resolves employee IT issues instantly without human involvement and automates workflows to eliminate repetitive tasks, resulting in 80% less manual work. With Gaspar AI you offer a magical employee IT experience on Slack or MS Teams without ever having to switch platforms! Our 100% customizable platform integrates seamlessly on top of your existing tools, takes only 30min to 1hr to be deployed, and you can pick and choose which features you want to enable. It combines an always-accessible Conversational AI bot that auto-resolves 40% of problems in seconds, while getting better over time, with Workflows that auto-fulfill repetitive processes by 90%. Read our solution brief below, and let's [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) to see how we can help you decrease costs and increase productivity! ## [Gaspar AI Solution Brief.pdf](https://gaspar-www.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/225c901ccb21ee56f24c2ed17c9d8b4c.pdf)
Gaspar AI's chatbot automatically resolves an employee's Office 365 password reset request on Microsoft Teams
Thu Jan 26 2023
Using MS Teams for IT support thanks to Gaspar AI
Traditionally, employees have to rely on multiple channels and systems to get IT support: emails, ITSM platforms, calls, or simple office walk-ins. This results in time and productivity losses, and increased costs: employees have to go through an extra task or complex process just to register their issue, then wait for an answer, while in the meantime they may be unable to work, depending on their IT problem. At the same time, the IT team is inundated with questions and tickets, works on the same routine tasks 24/7, and fails to provide timely support. Yet, there is a platform that all employees know, prefer and use for their daily communication and meetings: [Microsoft Teams](https://www.microsoft.com/el-gr/microsoft-teams/download-app). What if, instead of having to use one more platform for IT support, everything happened right there, instantly and hassle-free? ## Solve employee IT issues instantly on MS Teams Gaspar AI, our AI-based IT support [auto-resolution platform](https://www.gaspar.ai/platform), is built from the ground up to integrate with Microsoft Teams, making it smooth and easy for employees to solve their problems in seconds. They simply have a conversation with our always-accessible Conversational AI chatbot, Gaspar. Gaspar offers personalized support: our virtual agent understands the issue faced by the employee and provides solutions that are tailored to their needs by using AI and machine learning. Gaspar actually resolves 40% of employee IT issues, and does not just provide recommendations: for a password reset request for example, it will actually reset the password instantly, as it automatically verifies the end user’s identity thanks to multiple integrations, and not just guide the user through the company’s process of password reset. Gaspar AI also integrates with the company’s knowledge management system so that our chatbot can answer questions and get the correct data at the right time to the right individual. As most of the questions are repetitive, our AI-powered service desk integrated within Teams significantly saves time and simplifies the IT team’s tasks by resolving these routine issues within 10 seconds, without causing pain to the employees and IT teams. This will allow all of them to work more efficiently. Though our AI-powered service desk within MS Teams will resolve a large portion of employee issues, the employees can also have live expert assistance in case auto-resolution is not possible. However, unlike traditional ITSM tools, the process to create the IT ticket is painless: tickets are easily created on MS Teams, by filling in a form, and then synced with the company's service management platform. The users and IT teams will receive status updates on Teams. ## Why employees and IT teams love Gaspar on MS Teams Our employee IT support within MS Teams will [enhance employee and IT teams’ productivity](https://www.gaspar.ai/benefits) in various ways such as: - Let employees resolve a great % of their IT requests on Microsoft Teams, the platform they already know and use. - Employees and IT teams can check the ticket status and follow up on Teams. - Allow employees to reply to the comments on tickets and approval requests within Microsoft Teams. - IT team agents will have the ability to schedule a live chat within Teams with an employee to answer a ticket. To better understand all our capabilities and the benefits you will get by integrating Gaspar AI with Microsoft Teams, you can read our solution brief below or [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) with our team. ## [Gaspar AI on MS Teams.pdf](https://gaspar-www.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/efd0a35faa0f8a142bd9138bc4862e87.pdf)
AI analyses and uses data from employee and IT chats to suggest insights and recommendations.
Thu Jan 26 2023
Transform data into actionable knowledge with AI-powered Insights
Do you feel like all you do is connect laptops to printers or explain to employees how to set up a VPN over and over again? You just wish that there was a way for employees to get their answers easily, without your involvement, especially for these common, everyday questions, instead of losing time every day to resolve them. You could add articles about these solutions in the company’s knowledge base, but you don’t even know where to start. Maybe your company doesn’t even have a knowledge management system! Good news is, you are not alone! 65% of IT professionals agree that their companies would benefit from better Knowledge Management practices, and that their support group has a substantial amount of knowledge that is not currently in the knowledge base. Although it is always good to know you are not the only one going through challenges, this is hardly any consolation. The actual good news is that now there are solutions to these challenges! ## AI-powered ITSM platforms and Data Analytics Enter modern IT Service Management platforms! Most AI-powered intelligent ITSM platforms offer an AI Chatbot that automatically resolves recurrent employee IT issues, together with an Analytics interface with Performance and Proactive Insights. These analytics tools are very useful for gathering insights into employees’ IT questions and needs, to start creating or better organize your company’s knowledge base, and thus optimize knowledge management. At the same time, they provide a good look into your chatbot’s performance and the impact of your investment. Therefore, they offer a comprehensive overview of insights and real-time monitoring of key KPIs so that as an IT leader you can get an exceptional outlook on your support process performance on one hand, while identifying gaps in your company's knowledge management system on the other hand. ## Optimize your knowledge with Proactive Insights So how exactly can these AI-powered platforms help change your workdays into magic? Let’s say you answer 100 employee IT requests every week, you more or less know which are the most common issues, but you have no idea whether employees are asking these because they cannot find answers in the company’s knowledge base, or because they just don’t want to spend time looking for those answers. And among the hundreds of tickets you receive and have backlogged, you definitely don’t have time to research. Intelligent ITSM platforms like Gaspar AI provide [Proactive Analytics Insights](https://www.gaspar.ai/solutions): they analyze all employee IT requests to present a simple list of the most common issues that go unanswered because there is no solution in the company’s knowledge base. With a very user-friendly dashboard, they reveal employees’ most common tech issues and troubleshooting questions and shed light on the knowledge articles that will be most requested, if they exist. They identify key gaps in your resources, and therefore enable you to focus your effort and time in creating these important resources. Imagine for example not having a knowledge article on how to install a printer on your laptop – you probably spend hours every week setting them up for new hires and existing employees who need them, when with Proactive Insights you can just get this information on a dashboard, write the article and add it to your knowledge management system. Next time someone asks, you can refer them to it and they will solve this problem by themselves. Think about the time and money you would save! Even if you don’t already have a knowledge base, with [Proactive Insights](https://www.gaspar.ai/solutions) you have a good place to start: you can prioritize the most common, critical employee IT issues that will free you up a great amount of time. ## Measure the impact of your IT support investment with Performance Insight You finally made the investment in an intelligent ITSM platform, you have your chatbot installed, and now you want to understand whether your new support process lives up to your expectations and is worth the financing. Performance Insights enable you to oversee every aspect of your AI deployment, from the number of employees engaging with the bot to the percentage of all IT issues the chatbot resolves autonomously. It also provides information on whether the bot resolution rate is improving over time, what is the Mean Time To Resolution (MTTR) for all tickets and how it changes, which channels are most popular for reporting issues, and how users are engaging with their tickets via the chatbot. Consequently, you can determine your investment’s ROI at a glance and know where to focus your attention. What’s more, with Gaspar AI, you get even more powerful insights: it will show you how many more employee IT questions you could solve instantly and automatically if you integrated with more applications. ## Accelerate your IT support with intelligent insights The best decisions are always data-driven. Intelligent, AI-powered ITSM platforms enable you to transform data into insights, so that you can effortlessly understand your IT support challenges, prioritize and act upon them. If you would like to see Gaspar AI's Proactive Insights in action, please [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) with our team.
An AI chatbot answering different employee questions.
Thu Jan 26 2023
The battle of the chatbots
By now, you probably have heard plenty of times the words chatbot, AI, virtual agent, conversational AI: you might feel overwhelmed by these strange words, or maybe you are wondering how are all these related but also different at the same time. They affect your work, your life, the way you shop and search. And you are clearly wondering how they could alter your everyday work experience within your IT department, help you out or optimize the way you interact with employees and support them. Maybe you are familiar with these technologies, and you are already considering adopting such a solution. Even so, it would be very helpful to break them down, and understand exactly what they are, how they work, their benefits and how they could optimize your job, so that you choose the best solution. ## So, what is a chatbot? A chatbot is a computer program that simulates and processes human conversation (either written or spoken), allowing people to interact with digital devices as if they were communicating with a real person. You can interact with a digital platform by typing in or voicing your questions, and then get answers. You connect with chatbots through a chat window. For example, by clicking on a "live chat" button on a company website and asking for customer support. Chatbots can be as simple as elementary programs that answer a simple query with a single-line response, or as sophisticated as digital assistants that learn and evolve to deliver increasing levels of personalization as they gather and process information. And this is where it starts to get complicated, and you get inundated with all these “strange” words. ## Wait, are “virtual agent”, “chatbot”, “conversational AI chatbot” all the same? Basic chatbots use rule-based programming to match user queries with potential answers - they are trained to answer only a specific set of questions. So, while superficially useful, they are restricted in their range of operation, in both input and output. They require more than just keywords as input, so that they may parse the complete sentence for its proper semantic context, and then map the parsing to a known - and often limited - set of actions. But queries are usually fragmentary, and often misspelled - two characteristics that cause chatbots to fail in their effect. Where basic chatbots show their limitations is if they receive a request that has not been previously defined; they will be unable to assist, and spit back a “Sorry, I don’t understand.” response. Hence, they are usually helpful for just answering FAQs. And this is where conversational AI comes in. It powers chatbots and enables them to become smarter and more capable. Conversational AI is the sum of the AI technology tools behind conversational experiences with computers. It refers to a host of artificial intelligence technologies used to enable computers to converse ‘intelligently’ with us. With conversational AI you can go beyond just translating content into simple chatbot responses. You can actually mimic human behavior, and provide human agent-like experiences but without human involvement. Conversational AI primarily works thanks to two functions. The first is machine learning, which is the technology that “learns” and improves the more it’s being used. It collects information from its own interactions and then uses it to improve itself as time goes by. The result is a system that will work better as time passes. The second is called natural language processing (NLP). This is the process through which artificial intelligence understands language, user intent and context – it will understand the way we naturally speak, with slang, abbreviations, mispronunciations and so on. Once it learns to recognize words and phrases, it can move on to natural language generation and go far beyond just answering simple queries based on pre-defined topics. Unlike rule-based programming, you don’t need the exact correct syntax for a chatbot to understand you. So, the difference between a chatbot and a Virtual Agent (or Intelligent Virtual Agent or Conversational AI bot) is the use of conversational AI - not all chatbots are powered by it. There are the simple rule-based chatbots and the latter which are AI-based. ## And how can I use chatbots in IT support? Chatbots can help optimize your work in employee IT support: from answering simple questions originally addressed to your IT team, to giving information to employees about where to find what they are looking for, to automatically resolving their IT requests without you or your team getting involved. For example, imagine an employee asking you to reset their password because they forgot it – how would you feel if you deployed an AI-based chatbot on the employee communication platform (Slack or Microsoft teams) which would automatically reset it? And you wouldn’t have to deal with this request ever again? Depending on how sophisticated the chatbot you deploy is, it can help minimize the number of employee IT tickets you manually handle, by providing answers to their requests. It can sync with the ITSM platform you use, to automatically “transfer” the IT tickets created so that they are handled by the right IT/helpdesk agent if needed. A chatbot will definitely simplify the actions needed by employees to perform tasks and at the same time reduce manual work for your team. ## Hmm, then which type of chatbot do I need? It really depends on your business goals and the cases for which you want to use it. If you are just looking for a bot to answer simple questions from employees, then you can definitely go for a traditional chatbot. However, if you are looking to improve user satisfaction and reduce the workload of your team by automating support across multiple platforms, then conversational AI is the right choice: it will help auto-resolve and auto-fulfill a very high % of the employee IT requests and repetitive tasks, and it will get better over time, meaning even less manual work for you and happier employees. Traditional, rule-based bots lack contextual sophistication and they deflect most conversations to a human agent. This will not only increase the burden of unresolved queries on your human agents but also nullify the primary objective of deploying a bot. AI-based chatbots can have an omnichannel presence, and thus can be deployed across all your platforms. They are also highly scalable: as the company’s knowledge base and data are updated, so is the conversational AI interface, whereas you need manual maintenance for a simple chatbot. The deployment also is easier, as AI-based chatbots can be integrated with existing databases and applications with no need for time-consuming and complicated building processes. There is no wonder why the volume of interactions handled by conversational agents increased by as much as 250% in multiple industries since the pandemic. By 2030, the global [conversational AI market](https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/conversational-ai-market-A13682) size is projected to reach $32.62 billion.
A password reset happening on Slack thanks to an AI chatbot is the most secure password reset.
Thu Jan 26 2023
Is self-service password reset secure: what you need to know and how to do it right
Considering that 20% to 50% of all IT helpdesk tickets each year are for password resets according to the Gartner Group, and that they consume 31% to 40% of your team’s time, you probably feel that all you do is reset passwords! This is why you are probably looking into solutions that would enable you to minimize these requests to the absolutely inevitable ones. When it comes to password resetting, many companies are turning to self-service password reset systems to ensure the security of their data. Not only do these solutions save costs and increase efficiency, but also implementing them correctly is vital to the security of the enterprise. ## However, you are wondering, is self-service password reset secure? To answer this, let’s first take a look at how such a system works. A password reset process usually entails either a link clicked on by the user that then brings them to a password reset page, or a self-service password reset portal page online. As a first step, the user has to authenticate themselves. Several authentication measures can be used to ensure that the user requesting the password reset is the same user who is trying to access the account: 1. Security questions 2. Email 3. Mobile app notification 4. Mobile app code The first recovery type is activated by identity-based questions, such as "What is your main email address?". The problem is that this data is accessible on the internet. Email addresses, mother's maiden names, and personal details can often be found on third-party websites or on social media networks, thereby making it easy for hackers to access this data if they desire. Even if this data isn't accessible, it can be acquired through social engineering, making this solution vulnerable. The email recovery process usually involves sending a link via email which the employee has to click to reset their password. It could be said that email addresses are secure since an intruder would have to break into the email service to receive a password reset notification. However, email accounts can be targeted by the usual password attacks, like phishing, credential stuffing and other automated brute-force attempts. Since email accounts are usually the go-to choice for resetting passwords in self-service systems, they are a key target for anyone wanting to gain unauthorized access to a system. The last 2 options which make use of the employee’s mobile phone might seem completely secure. However, besides the fact that the user would need to have the relevant app installed on their phone (which may not always be the case), the password recovery web page that the employee initially visits to launch the process could be spoofed. Using this vulnerability, an attacker could force a password reset by locking a user’s account through a brute force login attack on the service. The user can then be lured to the fake password reset site, and if they fall for the ruse, their account could be compromised. ## Although extremely helpful and fast, self-service solutions are not 100% secure Which is why more and more companies are adopting password recovery flows with a defense-in-depth approach, where the employee should authenticate themselves with security questions AND a second possession factor such as [Okta Verify](https://www.okta.com/integrations/okta-verify/). This way, an attacker would need access to something the employee has, as well as something the employee knows, before they can compromise their account. Another solution is to constrain the password reset functionality to users logged onto the corporate network – of course, in a hybrid work world, this solution is far from optimal, frustrating for remote users and still putting a great burden of password resets on your IT team. ## Reset passwords instantly and 100% securely with Gaspar AI If you are looking for a completely secure and lightning-fast solution to your password reset requests, Gaspar AI's platform is the answer. It offers instant and automatic password reset to any user requesting it, without your IT team’s involvement. The employees get a new password in seconds, thus minimizing their unproductive time, and your team continues to work undisturbed. Sounds too good to be true? Let’s see how this magic happens. The employee notifies Gaspar, our conversational AI chatbot on Slack or Microsoft Teams (depending which chat platform your company uses), that they have forgotten their password. Then, the AI-powered password reset process starts. They are automatically authenticated without having to answer any questions, click email links or enter 6-digit codes, thanks to our multiple integrations with [Office 365](https://www.office.com/), [Google Workspace](https://workspace.google.com/business/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=emea-gr-all-en-dr-bkws-all-hv-trial-e-t4-1011339&utm_content=text-ad-none-none-DEV_c-CRE_566128168997-ADGP_Hybrid%20%7C%20BKWS%20-%20EXA%20%7C%20Txt%20~%20Apps%20~%20Apps%20for%20Work-KWID_43700067907250321-kwd-74314167827-userloc_9061578&utm_term=KW_google%20apps%20for%20work-ST_google%20apps%20for%20work&gclid=CjwKCAiAuOieBhAIEiwAgjCvcje9ISGAmvTBY1QW2rsrko6EsOXHtusdv9rv1Ng9dE07C9gPDLKIsRoCxHgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) and other user authentication systems. Therefore, they receive a new password aligned with the company’s systems’ requirements that they can either keep or change during their next login. In just a few seconds, they have their issue resolved, and your IT team does not even have to know about it! A ticket that logs the issue is automatically created on Slack or Teams and then synced to your ITSM platform for your records – no need to do this manually. If you feel that you want to add an extra layer of control over password resets, then Gaspar AI still has you covered for airtight security. On the admin portal, you can set a password change approval requirement. In this case, the IT team or employee’s manager (depending on who you choose to review the password reset) would have to approve the change before the password can be modified. Again, this will be done directly on Slack or Teams: they would just receive a request to approve or decline the employee’s password change. ## Enjoy security to the maximum and password reset requests to the minimum Overall, Gaspar AI’s self-service password reset is designed with security in mind and can be the most secure and efficient way for companies to reset passwords. Our self-service password reset is the most reliable way to keep accounts secure and minimize the related employee requests, increasing productivity for all teams and reducing the helpdesk cost per ticket. If you would like to learn more, let's [schedule a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) with our team.
Gaspar AI's chatbot automatically resets an employee password on Slack.
Thu Jan 26 2023
How to get rid of password reset requests in 10 seconds
## The nightmare of password resets You have definitely been there: early morning, you just started working, you have your priorities and plan set for the day, you check your emails and there they are, these dreadful tickets from people asking to reset their passwords once again. So long nicely laid-out plans! You will probably now spend half your day working on these tickets, leaving more important projects on hold. You probably feel that all you do is reset passwords! Considering that 20% to 50% of all IT help desk tickets each year are for password resets according to the Gartner Group, you are right to feel this way: [password tickets consume 31% to 40% of the help desk's time](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/password-tickets-consume-31-40-help-desks-time-roy-verberne/?trk=public_profile_article_view). Password resets may seem like an easy problem to solve, but they are not, and if you add on top the volume of requests, it makes them an extremely time-consuming, repetitive, boring task. For every hour you spend on a password reset, an hour is taken away from more high-value strategic projects you are supposed – and want - to work on. At the same time, 30% of employees’ time is wasted waiting for a password reset ticket to be solved. During the waiting period, the employee may be unable to complete their core work responsibilities, which will result in impacted business processes and will ultimately cost the business. In some customer-facing companies, waiting 20 minutes to reset a password may also diminish overall customer experience and satisfaction, as the employee may be unable to serve customers. And we haven’t even talked about costs yet. A higher number of help desk tickets equals more wasted money – both from paying the help desk employee to handle it and from using the necessary backend infrastructure to reset it. So the more password reset tickets you have, the higher the cost. [Forrester Research estimates that one password reset can cost $70](https://duo.com/blog/resetting-passwords-and-saving-time-and-money-at-the-it-help-desk), so yearly costs for these common requests seem unreasonable. ## But why are password reset requests so arduous? When an employee requests for a password to be reset, to maintain security protocol, IT needs to verify the identity of the requesting employee. The process to verify their identity by manual means can be time-consuming. Then, IT has to track down all the places where the password needs to be changed as passwords may be stored in several locations. Most companies use interconnected systems that require manually changing passwords in multiple places rather than a single change flowing across the environment seamlessly. The manual process required for the helpdesk team to ensure a password is changed correctly is labor-intensive, as it can require the helpdesk team to log in and use many different tools for changing a password in multiple systems for a single user account. ## Auto-reset passwords instantly with conversational AI Thankfully, conversational AI can make all these dreadful password reset tickets disappear! Meet [Gaspar](https://www.gaspar.ai/platform), our Conversational AI chatbot or Virtual Support Agent (also known as IVA – Intelligent Virtual Agent) that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to automatically resolve requests right where employees are, on [Slack](https://slack.com/) or [MS Teams](https://www.microsoft.com/el-gr/microsoft-teams/download-app). Gaspar does not use rule-based algorithms to just answer questions like simple chatbots: it integrates with the existing applications and maps written input to an intent so as to fulfill sophisticated tasks for employees without human involvement. When you install Gaspar AI, you have the ability to enable password-related applications for end users and integrate with them, including SSO and MFA apps. When an employee forgets a password, they will ask Gaspar on Slack or Ms Teams for a password reset. In seconds, Gaspar will identify the employee thanks to the multiple relevant password integrations and will provide the necessary temporary password to the employee in order to reset it. Then, the employee will choose a new password, and that’s all! Password is changed across all places that use it. And all this without you having to be involved! Imagine the things you could do when you get all these password reset tickets time back, and how your days at work will be more magical than frustrating! Let alone the money and productivity you can save your company. If you are interested to see passwords disappearing in seconds, [contact us for a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request)
Artificial Intelligence tools are helping the human agents in the IT help desk.
Thu Jan 26 2023
How is AI helping the IT helpdesk?
Artificial intelligence (#AI) is revolutionizing the way businesses operate, and you are certain that IT support is no exception. In fact, experts see AI becoming a key component of the help desk in the years to come, as it is helping organizations become more efficient and productive. This is why in a recent [pulse report](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pulse-report-on-the-state-of-it-service-management-reveals-that-enterprises-are-prioritizing-artificial-intelligence-for-itsm-in-2019-300797720.html ) focusing on the top IT service management (ITSM) strategies, 62% of respondents are considering implementing AI in the form of chatbots for ITSM, and 46% indicated they are actively researching AI solutions to meet their needs. IT #helpdesks are essential for providing technical support to employees. They are responsible for managing and resolving employee inquiries, troubleshooting technical problems, and providing timely assistance. However, managing a helpdesk can be a daunting task for you due to the sheer volume of employee IT requests: the 100th password reset request you are asked to perform can definitely turn your work day into a nightmare! And this is where AI comes in. AI-based IT helpdesk solutions are designed to reduce the burden on helpdesk personnel and enable them to provide better employee service. AI can have a significant impact: it can remove the manual overhead associated with “high-volume, low-value service desk activities”, offer round-the-clock assistance to employees, and enable incident/request routing and knowledge curation. ## The Benefits of AI-Powered IT helpdesks Let’s see in more detail how AI can actually help your helpdesk work. ### 1. Offer 24×7 support with chatbots In an always-on, work-from-anywhere world, you know that your employee IT requests won’t stop just because the helpdesk work hours where you are based are over. The truth is that employees can encounter an issue anytime and would expect your team to help. Chatbots can fill in when your IT team members are unavailable, providing support whenever a user may need it. ### 2. Automate routine tasks and auto-resolve IT problems AI can be used to automate and auto-fulfill routine IT tasks, such as onboarding new employees and troubleshooting technical problems. It can also automatically resolve a great % of their requests, such as joining an email list, resetting a password, accessing folders and calendars – those are just a few examples of the great capabilities AI holds. This can help reduce the amount of time spent on mundane tasks and allow your IT helpdesk personnel to focus on more complex issues instead of manually handling all requests. Furthermore, your employees can receive solutions to their requests on their own, without having to ask or wait for your IT team to get involved. ### 3. Prioritize, categorize and route employee IT tickets When you receive tons of employee IT requests it is easy to feel overwhelmed and lose track of important issues. AI can assist you by categorizing, prioritizing, and routing tickets. When requests come in, AI can compare them to similar past cases and automatically assign tags for better categorization. It can also determine their severity, prioritize them accordingly and route them to the appropriate employee at the right time. Doing this reduces miscommunication and seeks the best help for each ticket, helping resolve issues faster. ### 4. Facilitate and inform your team’s decision making Even when tickets are passed on to your team, AI can still provide value. AI can analyze large amounts of data very fast, then provide insights so that your team makes better decisions. By analyzing similar tickets and requests, it can provide the necessary context to help your IT staff make the right decisions quickly. AI can also be used to analyze employee data and provide personalized recommendations, such as their preferred communication channels, the best time to contact them, and customized responses. This can help improve their satisfaction and reduce wait times. ### 5. Curate knowledge By understanding the employees’ questions’ context and meaning, AI recommends solutions based on what has and has not worked before. It can also share knowledge base articles that answer employee questions and offer the most likely solutions. AI can also identify gaps in the knowledge base, by analyzing the most common questions for which there is no answer yet in your knowledge system. Thus, it can help you optimize your company’s knowledge base, or start building one. AI-driven knowledge curation can also help your IT teams on the job. By making use of prior and current incidents, problems, known errors and knowledge bases, AI can suggest relevant information to IT service desk agents and help them resolve tickets faster, and be more productive and efficient. ### 6. Address small IT infrastructure problems AI in ITSM can be used to make improvements behind the scenes. If the underlying infrastructure has any issues, AI is able to identify and fix many of them so that your IT team can focus on other tasks. With AI being able to process data at a quicker rate than humans, it can detect and diagnose network or infrastructure issues faster. If these problems aren't too complex, AI can take care of them automatically, thus avoiding further disruption of ITSM services. If they are more complex, AI can alert the relevant staff to take care of the issue. By employing AI to make these infrastructure improvements, IT teams can devote more time to addressing users' needs. These quick fixes will potentially lower ticket volume, as they are able to prevent problems before they become more noticeable. ## AI-Powered IT helpdesks are the future The above features illustrate how AI can improve your IT helpdesk management through virtually every stage of the process. AI helpdesk solutions not only streamline processes but also increase your agents’ productivity and efficiency by automating workflows, analyzing queries to deliver faster resolution rates and auto-resolving problems. They enable your helpdesk personnel to provide better service, automate mundane tasks, and improve accuracy. Companies that implement AI effectively can see dramatic changes in their employee satisfaction and team productivity. If you would like to do so, please [contact us for a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request).
An AI chatbot automates password reset requests, provides data insights, automates approvals and detects issues.
Thu Jan 26 2023
8 employee IT helpdesk tasks that can be automated with AI
When it comes to providing IT support to employees, time is of the essence. But if you’re bogged down with too many manual tasks that take up your time and resources, you may be wondering how you can streamline the process. One great way to do this is by leveraging AI to automate some of the most common IT helpdesk tasks. Nowadays everybody is talking about AI – truth is, its potential is enormous. AI is more than just a buzzword: by leveraging it, companies can save time, money, and resources while improving overall productivity and efficiency. Conversational AI can provide your employees with immediate, real-time support and insight into common issues, allowing them to focus on more important tasks. At the same time, it will free up time for your IT team, so that they can work on more strategic projects and eliminate boring, repetitive tasks. To get an idea of what is possible with AI, let me introduce you to 8 employee IT helpdesk tasks that can be automated – and this is just a fraction of what is possible. ## 1. Password Resets & MFA Management Automating the process of resetting passwords can save IT teams a significant amount of time, considering that this type of request consumes 31%-40% of their time. AI can be used to verify identity and reset passwords quickly and securely – no need for the IT team’s involvement! It can also be used to remove MFA from specific accounts. ## 2. Account Creation AI can be used to automatically create new accounts for employees, saving you time and resources. In the case of large companies especially, where 10s of new employees join the company every day, you can imagine the dramatic time savings that can be achieved. ## 3. Resolving common, repetitive issues AI can be used to answer common IT issues, such as joining email lists, creating groups, joining Slack channels, finding information in the knowledge base, getting a VPN, etc. A conversational chatbot can also offer the necessary onboarding materials to new hires on their first day. AI will resolve these issues instantly and automatically, without human intervention, freeing IT teams up to address higher-priority work. ## 4. Software Provisioning & Installation Providing licenses and installing new software can be a time-consuming process for IT teams. AI can be used to automate the process, allowing for faster and more accurate installations. You can automatically provision, or de-provision, the software your employees need to get work done. Instead of submitting tickets to IT they can ask a chatbot for access and receive a response in as little as seconds. ## 5. Proactive Issue Detection AI can be used to detect potential issues before they become a major problem, saving time and resources. In every company, there are usually recurring support issues, from troubleshooting the VPN to getting a new password. AI can detect patterns in data and offer analytics and insights into the most common employee issues, so that your IT team can create a comprehensive support system that can provide users with the specific assistance they need. ## 6. Manage Approvals & Permissions With AI, approvals for calendar and folder access, vacation requests, joining lists and groups, and much more, happen instantly and securely. The whole request approval process is streamlined: AI will identify the requester and automatically route their requests to the right manager.The manager can then just click a button to approve or deny the request, depending on the employee’s access level. No longer need to keep track of 100s of different users and their permissions! ## 7. Asset Management AI can be used to automatically track, inventory and manage IT assets, reducing the need for manual processes. You can gain visibility into all your IT assets in real-time and quickly obtain precise, meaningful data on all your hardware and software, cloud and edge environments, and related applications. ## 8. IT ticket handling AI can be used to automate the whole IT ticket lifecycle. When human agent help is needed, AI understands and routes requests to the right agent, based on their workload and expertise. It is also able to autonomously handle back-and-forth conversations, update employees on their ticket status, remind agents to attend to tickets, and even close tickets. Thanks to AI, providing support becomes effortless. By leveraging AI to automate some of the most common IT helpdesk tasks, you can save time and resources, ensuring that your IT helpdesk staff can focus on more important tasks.
A conversational AI chatbot
Thu Jan 05 2023
Does my company need a Conversational AI chatbot?
Today, only 13% of employees are happy to work exclusively in the office: the remainder prefer to work either partly or fully remotely. However, while the morale and productivity benefits of a flexible work environment are beyond doubt, the technical and operational considerations continue to present major challenges, especially the employee IT support experience. When a fifth of employees claim tech issues and resolution times are the biggest challenges in their digital workplace experience, something is clearly wrong. While IT shares the employees’ view and wants to provide effective support, they often end up hindered by the volume of support tickets or lack of context needed to resolve problems quickly. This is where virtual support agents (VSAs) come into play: IT Helpdesk teams are increasingly adopting them so that employees can get what they need whenever they need it. A virtual support agent (also known as IVA – Intelligent Virtual Agent) is a conversational bot that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to understand user intent and context to prevent employees from creating support tickets. While chatbots use rule-based algorithms to answer questions, VSAs integrate with the existing systems so as to fulfill tasks for employees. But how do you know if your company needs a Virtual Support Agent? At Gaspar AI, we ask potential customers and their IT leaders to share the below five metrics: ## Monthly ticket volume Most companies track this metric as it can be easily generated through the company’s IT Helpdesk tool. Over the last two years, monthly tickets created by employees have increased by 35% on average. ## Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR) Even a simple employee support request such as email password reset or group mail access might take hours to resolve because it requires human involvement. By implementing a virtual support agent, repetitive requests shouldn’t take more than 10 seconds. ## Cost Per Ticket On average, the cost per ticket is $29 compared to $26 two years ago. Adopting a virtual support agent can help you bring down this significantly and reduce operating costs. ## Employee Headcount If your organization is growing rapidly in terms of employee headcount, then you probably need to implement a virtual support agent to bring down your organization’s operational expenses and increase profitability. ## Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) The eNPS is a metric used to measure internal customer satisfaction. Employee IT onboarding and IT Helpdesk support play a vital role in employee satisfaction. Recent surveys show that high eNPS increases employee productivity and loyalty in the company. Adopting a virtual support agent can lead to higher employee retention and a great workplace culture. Of course, there are other metrics that you may need to consider prior to implementing a virtual support agent, related to your employee digital experience goals, your budget and the size of your company. If you wish to learn more and see how you can optimize IT support, please [sign up for a demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) to see Gaspar AI in action.