Informe de Pulse Research sobre IA y

Pulse Report:

AI’s Impact on Service and Support

2024 © Serviceaide, Inc.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2 Introduction
2 Research Summary
4 How To Achieve AI-Driven Service and Support
4 Key Findings
5 Detailed Findings
10 Summary
11 Message from Serviceaide CTO
11 Methodology

INTRODUCTION

Artificial intelligence has increasingly taken center stage in discussions about digital transformation. With the launch of ChatGPT within the past year, it has only intensified interest and buzz about the capabilities and potential of generative AI. Given the interest and increasing momentum of the technology, Serviceaide, Inc., a global provider of modern IT and business service management solutions, in cooperation with the Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network, conducted a new survey of business executives and managers to investigate the impact AI is having on the service and support industry.

RESEARCH SUMMARY

The initiative examines many incredibly timely and important questions concerning how AI is and will be leveraged. Some areas of investigation include:

• Where are companies in their planning and roll-out of AI applications in the enterprise?
• What roadblocks and concerns do businesses have about this rapidly evolving technology?
• How will AI affect the future of products, processes, services and support for customers and employees?

85% of organizations are either currently or planning to invest in “digital transformation” technology and software.

According to respondents, transforming service and support is currently seen as the top priority for artificial intelligence deployment in the enterprise. Most executives surveyed believe AI can significantly improve service and support, with three quarters of all businesses surveyed at least considering deploying AI for that purpose. The findings of the survey highlight that industry leaders are valuing the benefits of AI-powered service and support, in terms of improved self-service, reduced labor requirements and lower costs.

At the same time, respondents face several challenges as they look to transform their service and support organizations, primarily finding the necessary budget, overcoming fear of failure, and a perceived lack of internal resources and expertise needed to move forward. Because of these challenges, respondents indicated that some organizations are waiting for the right recipe for success before they act.

The 3 top roadblocks to transforming service and support are budget, risk, and lack of internal resources.

In examining the survey results, AI vendors need to focus on aligning their offerings and services with the perceived challenges and needs of IT and other service and support organizations. The data points to organizations putting a great deal of value on vendors that can deliver proven, cost-efficient AI service management solutions that combine rapid ROI with fast and frictionless deployment and operation.

HOW TO ACHIEVE AI-DRIVEN SERVICE AND SUPPORT

Given widespread interest in AI service and support transformation, most businesses need to chart their course of action. The survey showed that companies are taking very specific steps from creating a blueprint to address strategic issues to analyzing their company situation and needs. Regardless of the stage, less than 5% of companies have not started any work on this initiative. Serviceaide believes change can take place in achievable, incremental steps. The goal of leveraging AI driven service and support with near-term ROI and long-term digital transformation is achievable.

KEY FINDINGS

The survey of more than 125 business managers and senior executives finds that there is a consensus on the most vital strategic objectives for the next 12–24 months for their organizations. Focus on revenue growth (53%), uncovering new customers and business opportunities (78%), bringing value to customers (50%) and streamline operations and reduce costs (53%) are all heavily top of mind for participants.

3 out of 4 companies are at the very least considering deploying AI to improve service and support management.

The survey also found that 85% of respondents believe service and support management is either very important (66%) or important (19%) to improve end user productivity and cost efficiency within their organizations. The top business areas cited for improving service and support are customer service (78%), sales and marketing (69%), and IT service management (59%).

Due to that strong belief in service and support management, 85% of organizations surveyed indicated that they are currently or plan to invest in new technologies and software to improve business performance. Among those respondents, 87% believe that AI can improve service and support efficiency and quality within your organization and 81% are on the road to adoption of AI within their service and support organization.

OTHER POINTS

• The biggest pain points for executives in terms of driving productivity within their organization include inefficient manual processes (69%), lack of expertise (56%), cost of change (53%), information gaps (47%), too little automation (41%).
• Across all business functions, customer service is seen as the top priority for AI deployment (61%), followed by sales and marketing (55%), product innovation (52%), and IT service and support (48%).
• Reducing workloads and costs is perceived as the number one benefit of deploying AI (cited by 32% of respondents), followed by product improvements (26%), and increased employee productivity (19%).
• The top three roadblocks to transforming service and support are budget (68%), risk (48%), and lack of internal resources (45%).

DETAILED FINDINGS, QUESTIONS, AND DATA

Q1: Is your company investing in new technologies and software to improve business performance (often grouped under a “digital transformation” bucket)?

Yes — 72%
No — 16%
Planning to invest — 13%

Vendors need to deliver proven, cost-efficient AI service management solutions that deliver rapid ROI with ease of deployment and operation.

• More than three quarters of companies surveyed say senior management is looking ways to deploy AI for business improvement, including 16% who have made AI innovation a significant enterprise mandate, 52% who are focused on adopting selective AI applications, and 16% who are in the early exploratory phase.
• The most important qualities organizations are looking for in choosing a vendor partner to transform service and support are capabilities (71%), understanding of the business (68%), ease of implementation (58%) and cost (45%).

DETAILED FINDINGS, QUESTIONS, AND DATA (CONT.)

Q2: What are your top strategic objectives over the next 12–24 months? (check the top 3)

Employee productivity — 44%
Revenue growth — 53%
New customers/business opportunities — 78%
Value to customers — 50%
Streamline operations/reduce costs — 53%
Address regulatory requirements — 6%
Talent retention/acquisition — 25%
Business model innovation — 6%

Q3: If you have a plan to begin work on your strategic objectives, what phase are you in?

Analyzing current company situation — 25%
Creating a blueprint to address strategic issues — 47%
In process of launching a strategic initiative — 16%
Completed strategic overhaul — 6%
Not started — 6%

DETAILED FINDINGS, QUESTIONS, AND DATA (CONT.)

Q4: What are the roadblocks and challenges for achieving digital transformation in your company?

Staffing resources — 47%
Cost — 69%
Identifying new services and software — 47%
Lack of clear direction — 13%
Not sure — 3%

Q5: How important is service and support management to improving end user productivity and cost efficiency within your organization?

Very important — 66%
Important — 19%
Necessary — 9%
Not important — 6%

DETAILED FINDINGS, QUESTIONS, AND DATA (CONT.)

Q6: Has your company begun or plan to deploy artificial intelligence in any area of your business in the next year? (select all that apply)

Customer service — 61%
IT — 48%
HR — 16%
Finance — 16%
Procurement — 16%
Sales and marketing — 55%
Product innovation — 52%
No Other — 10%

Q7: Do you believe AI can improve service and support efficiency and quality within your organization?

Yes — 87%
No — 10%
Not sure — 3%

DETAILED FINDINGS, QUESTIONS, AND DATA (CONT.)

Q8: Are you currently adopting or considering adopting AI within your service and support organization?

Yes — 81%
No — 19%

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

Q9: What are you hoping that generative AI will improve for you (in the next 12 months)?

Get more out of existing systems — 3%
Drive greater self-service — 10%
Reduce workload and labor costs — 32%
Improve product offerings — 26%
Increase employee productivity — 19%
Gain greater market insights — 6%
Other — 3%

Q10: What are the biggest pain points for you in terms of driving productivity in your company? (check all that apply)

Inefficient manual processes — 69%
Too little automation — 41%
Labor shortage — 16%
Lack of expertise — 56%
Cost of change — 53%
Acquisitions — 3%
Lack of collaboration — 34%
Legacy systems — 19%
Information gaps or information sharing — 47%
Other — 9%

Q11: Where are you focused on improving service and support across your organization? (Check all that apply)

Customer service — 78%
IT — 59%
HR — 19%
Facilities — 13%
Finance — 19%
Field services — 38%
Procurement — 9%
Sales and marketing — 69%
Other — 6%

Q12: What concerns, roadblocks and challenges do you see in making this transformation within service and support? (Select top 3)

Alignment with leadership — 23%
Budget — 69%
Company culture — 10%
Effort — 23%
Risk — 48%
Selecting the right vendor — 29%
Timing — 16%
Internal expertise — 45%
Other — 3%

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES (CONT.)

Q13: What qualities and capabilities are important in choosing a vendor partner to transform service and support within your organization? (Select top 3)

Understanding of our business — 68%
Proven success — 29%
Product roadmap — 19%
Reputation — 13%
Capabilities — 71%
Cost — 45%
Ease of implementation — 58%
Support — 29%
Other — 3%

Q14: To what degree is your company’s senior management asking for ways to leverage AI for business

Significant enterprise-wide mandate — 16%
Seeking selective applications — 52%
Early exploration — 16%
Moderate Interest — 13%
Little or no interest — 3%

Q15: What industry is your company in?

Banking/Finance — 6%
Education — 7%
Government/Municipalities — 5%
Healthcare Manufacturing — 3%
Retail — 13%
Distribution/Logistics — 6%
Technology/Electronics — 3%
Utilities/Energy — 19%
Consulting — 31%
Other — 6%

Q16: What is the size of your company by revenue?

Less than $25 million — 38%
$25–$50 million — 17%
$51–$100 million — 6%
$101–$250 million — 9%
$251–$500 million — 5%
$501–$750 million — 6%
$751 million–$1 billion — 5%
$1 billion–$5 billion — 3%
Greater than $5 billion — 9%

Q17: What best describes your current role in your organization?

Manager — 16%
Sr. Manager — 9%
Director — 16%
Executive Director — 9%
Vice President — 13%
Senior or Executive Vice President — 9%
C-level (CEO, CIO, COO, CFO, CMO, etc.) — 28%

SUMMARY

Research conducted throughout 2023 all points to one thing. Companies are investigating, testing or already implementing AI solutions. All forms of AI will play a role in a digital process transformation as companies seek new ways to drive business impact. Regardless of size or industry, companies need to understand the potential impact and develop plans to leverage AI solutions to remain competitive.

Executives report a mix of primary uses for GenAI, with growth initiatives topping responses (30%) then cost optimization (26%) and customer experience and retention (24%).

Source: Gartner Survey September 2023.

THE OFFICE OF THE CTO, SERVICEAIDE

I have been working in the field of advanced technologies for most of my career, which spans 30 years. In the field of artificial intelligence, the team at Serviceaide has been exploring solutions and products to highlight and deliver on the value of AI. For example, our intelligent virtual agent is in it’s third generation release, and was introduced before other vendors even started discussing AI. We leverage our investment in new technologies, including generative AI as core capabilities that are run across our portfolio of products.

This research validates what I, and my colleagues, believe. AI can dramatically improve any process and is at the core of digital transformations. A digital transformation is the rewiring of an organization, with the goal of creating value by continuously deploying technology at scale. This impacts and improves how business functions interact with customers (or any end user). Companies will need to radically rethink how organizations use technology in conjunction with processes and people to change business performance. While there are many types of digital transformations, we are focused on process transformations. How companies can transform their approach to service and support by reinventing business processes to lower costs, improve quality, reduce cycle times and improve satisfaction.

I believe this signals yet another revolution, where companies will succeed for fail by their investment strategy in leveraging AI to transform key business processes.

Bill Guinn, CTO

METHODOLOGY

Our findings are based on a survey of over 125 business leaders across a diverse set of industries. Some of the key industries represented in the data include technology, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, government, and education. Survey participants were technology decision makers within their organizations, with 28% being C-Level executives (CEO, CIO, COO, CFO, CMO, etc.). The survey took responses from organizations of all sizes – revenues ranges from less than $25 million to over $5 billion (nearly 10%). The survey findings were collected in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network is a peer-driven thought leadership and professional networking organization reaching some 50,000 heads IT transformation, change management, business re-engineering, process improvement, and strategic planning. It is dedicated to advancing the emerging roles of the Chief Innovation Officer and Innovation Strategist within today’s enterprise. The BPI Network brings together global executives who are champions of change within their organizations through ongoing research, authoritative content and peer-to-peer conversations. These functional area heads (operations, IT, finance, procurement, sales, marketing, product development, etc.) and line-of-business leaders are advocates for Innovation as a fundamental discipline and function within 21st Century organizations. They seek to demonstrate where and how new inventive solutions and approaches can advance business value, gratify customers, ensure sustainability and create competitive advantage for companies worldwide. For more information, visit www.bpinetwork.org.

Serviceaide is a leader in AI-based, modern service and support. Serviceaide’s vision is to transform service management, across IT, business, and customer service. Serving customers worldwide, Serviceaide applies breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing to deliver better experiences, provide enhanced self-service and empower service owners. Serviceaide transforms service through digital labor conversations, automation, and knowledge.

SPONSORS

2024 © Serviceaide, Inc.

‍