ServiceNow hopes to bring AI to all levels of the company

Process automation, dialogue agents, predictive maintenance… American experts in SaaS applications are taking action in the field of artificial intelligence.

Starting from ITSM’s historical positioning, that is, IT service management (ie, IT support and help desk), American ServiceNow has gradually expanded its application range beyond IT process management, including human resource management and customer support. (Read the article: ServiceNow, Salesforce for internal processes). SaaS experts are now adding a new string to their bows: artificial intelligence. With the acquisition of DxContinuum, this strategy began at the end of 2016. The machine learning engine since integrated into its Now Platform solution. Matthieu de Montvallon, Technical Director of ServiceNow France, emphasized: “It covers anomaly detection, system failure prevention and related risk calculation. This is very useful in the Internet of Things.” “In the process, we extended this AI to time series. , In order to apply predictive analysis to more different areas: financial trends, product consumption, inventory evolution, etc.”

ServiceNow also provides services to customers who want to share usage data on its platform and compares its maturity in process digitization through KPIs. “We recommend filtering these indicators by industry, business, geographic area. In the first phase, 2017, we added an AI layer that can suggest ways to improve. Matthieu de Montvallon explained: “Understand that we are playing games Of customers are successful. “

From there, relying on AI to automate the process is only one step away. ServiceNow took a new step without hesitation. Also in 2017, Santa Clara Group equipped the Now Platform with a robotic process automation module. Once again based on DxContinuum’s machine learning engine, it will automatically preset business processes and related learning foundations, and draw inspiration from processes that have been implemented on the platform in the same context. Methods inspired by transfer learning methods. Google specifically uses a technology to support its automated AI cloud service (AutoML). “We focus on a series of scenarios, and these learning models have proven their effectiveness, whether in the IT support process, human resources or generalist customers (for example, around the priority of support tickets, assign tasks to work groups, automatically detect and Corresponding configuration for specific IT events), also know that it can be run Matthieu de Montvallon explained that the engine is based on personalized data and fields, and is created in our database to meet specific needs.

“We estimate that our smart assistant can handle 15% to 20% of routine interactions”

then? As part of the next major version of Now Platform (London) scheduled to be released in August, ServiceNow intends to introduce a dialogue agent. Called a virtual agent, it will come with a library of ready-made dialogue applications. They will again cover the main target areas of ServiceNow: IT for resetting passwords and creating incident tickets, HR for leave requests, status checks and profile updates. And customer service to get support requests and order status. In this gallery, a workshop for creating personalized conversations will be added, allowing you to interact with specific data hosted on the platform. The virtual agent will again rely on the technology acquired by the American actor dialogue engine Qlue.

Virtual agents can be integrated with enterprise instant messaging systems (Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc.), and will provide personalized responses based on context. “For example, when a user requests a new phone, the chatbot will establish a link with his package and his carrier by going to the Now Platform database,” ServiceNow explained. “We estimate that 15% to 20% of routine interactions can be handled by Virtual Agent.”

After acquiring Parlo in May 2018, ServiceNow intends to enhance the ability of its intelligent agents to master the nuances of natural language. The NLP technology of the same name is being integrated into the Now Platform. The project must be completed in 2019. “Virtual agents will be able to master company or department-specific business terms. This will benefit all the industries we cover: IT, security, human resources. Matthieu de Montvallon said: “We will also expand to other countries. Similarly, a graphic seminar will be provided here to customize the dialogue and business logic of the robot without code.