Businesses are constantly looking for ways to improve employee support services, streamline operations, and reduce costs. That’s why they are increasingly using Virtual Agents. A Virtual Agent is a conversational chatbot that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to understand user intent and context to automatically answer employee questions and resolve issues. While simple chatbots use rule-based algorithms to answer questions, IT support Virtual Agents have been trained on data to understand everyday language, and they integrate with the existing systems to fulfill tasks for employees, all without human intervention.
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But how do you know if your business actually needs a Virtual Agent? In this blog post, we'll explore five key metrics that can help you determine whether a Virtual Agent is the right solution for your company’s IT support operations.
## 1. Increasing employee support ticket volume
One of the most obvious signs that you might need a Virtual Agent is the rising volume of internal support tickets. If your helpdesk and IT support team are struggling to keep up with an ever-increasing influx of queries, a Virtual Agent can help alleviate the pressure. By handling routine and repetitive inquiries, Virtual Agents free up your human agents to focus on more complex and strategic tasks, ultimately leading to improved employee satisfaction.
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For instance, with Gaspar AI you can [automatically solve 40% of employee IT and HR issues](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/ai-employee-help-desk-software), such as password resets, time-off request approvals, email list additions, etc. This means that your helpdesk team has fewer tickets to handle, leaving them more time to solve issues that truly matter.
## 2. High wait & resolution times
If your employees are experiencing extended wait times, whether on the phone, in your helpdesk team’s office or through email or chat, it's a clear indication that your support resources are stretched too thin. The same goes if your ticket resolution time is increasing – oftentimes, employees must wait almost 10 hours to have their issue resolved! Imagine if it is a critical issue, preventing them from working: it means that they remain unproductive for a full working day, or worse they end up causing your company financial losses due to inactivity.
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Implementing a Virtual Agent can significantly reduce response and resolution times, providing employees with faster service and a more positive experience. With Gaspar AI for example, it takes [mere seconds to solve the most frequent employee issues](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/ai-employee-helpdesk-on-slack-msteams-jira) as opposed to hours!
## 3. Frequent repetition of questions
Repetitive inquiries and IT issues are a common challenge in employee support. When your agents find themselves answering the same questions over and over, it can be a sign that a Virtual Agent replying to the most common questions could be a valuable addition to your team. Virtual Agents excel at providing consistent and accurate responses to frequently asked questions, ensuring that employees receive the information they need promptly. Moreover, they can take on and resolve recurrent, routine requests instead of having your team spend half their time on them.
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[Take password resets for example](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/how-to-get-rid-of-password-reset-requests-in-ten-seconds). 20% to 50% of all IT helpdesk tickets each year are for password resets according to the Gartner Group, and these tickets consume 31% to 40% of the helpdesk's time. With Gaspar AI, when an employee forgets a password, they will ask Gaspar (our Virtual Agent) on Slack or Ms Teams for a password reset. In seconds, Gaspar will identify the employee thanks to the relevant identity-related integrations and will provide the necessary temporary password in order to reset it. It just takes 10 seconds, and your team won’t even be involved!
## 4. High internal support costs
[Traditional employee support is expensive](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/the-true-cost-of-your-it-helpdesk-support), with costs associated with hiring and training agents, maintaining support systems, handling infrastructure and potential revenue loss because of down time due to IT issues. A Virtual Agent, once implemented, can significantly reduce these costs. When a majority of employees opt for self-service or chatbot solutions for common issues, your service desk will witness a decrease in ticket volumes, resulting in improved response times and reduced labor expenses per ticket. Simultaneously, employees can promptly resolve their issues, leading to a significant reduction in opportunity costs.
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For instance, if you’d like to see how much you would actually save by adopting Gaspar AI, you can try out our [ROI calculator](https://www.gaspar.ai/benefits). All the above-mentioned advantages are already included there: simply input your employee headcount and ticket volume to see the extent of your cost reduction.
## 5. Poor employee satisfaction ratings
Employee satisfaction is a crucial metric for any business as it is linked to employee retention. [Internal IT and HR support greatly influences job satisfaction](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/hr-helpdesk-for-employee-engagement): when employees encounter long response times, impersonal interactions, and difficulty in finding relevant information, they can’t perform at their job, leading to frustration, dissatisfaction and turnover.
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A Virtual Agent can play a pivotal role in mitigating employee dissatisfaction through its ability to deliver effective assistance and address employee concerns. By providing quick and accurate responses 24/7, it can enhance the overall employee experience and boost satisfaction ratings. However, it's important to ensure that your Virtual Agent is well-designed and able to handle inquiries effectively to avoid negatively impacting employee satisfaction.
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Gaspar, our groundbreaking AI-powered chatbot, seamlessly integrates with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Jira Service Management, the platforms your employees already know and use. Moreover, it is [integrated with ChatGPT](https://www.gaspar.ai/blog/chatgpt-integrated-chatbot-for-employees), trained on advanced LLMs and has NLP to understand employees’ everyday language and their queries’ intent and context. Thus, employees don’t need to switch platforms, learn a new system, or speak a technical language: they just have natural, interactive conversations with Gaspar, getting immediate support and a magical experience, which boosts their job satisfaction.
## Increase efficiency with an IT support Virtual Agent
As businesses strive to meet employee expectations and manage operational costs, Virtual Agents have become an invaluable tool. The five metrics mentioned above can help you identify whether your company would benefit from such a tool. If you're facing increasing support ticket volume, high wait and resolution times, repetitive questions, high support costs, or poor employee satisfaction ratings, it may be time to explore the implementation of an IT support Virtual Agent. These AI-powered assistants can not only reduce the workload of your internal support team but also provide employees with faster, more efficient service, ultimately leading to improved job satisfaction and a stronger bottom line.
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To learn more about Gaspar AI and our Generative AI Virtual Agent, [schedule a free demo](https://www.gaspar.ai/demo-request) or [contact us](https://www.gaspar.ai/contact-us).
