效率工具
Building the case for people-first automation
Why automation is the answer to your employee experience needs and the key to sustainable business growth
Digital automation is delivering real employee and business benefits to businesses of all kinds on a daily basis
· Transformation is essential – but it won’t get anywhere without compelling evidence or a clear roadmap.
· LIKE.TG can help you to navigate uncertainty and make your business case – with demos, calculators, and customer insights.
As a famous author once wrote, "a goal without a plan is just a wish".The same can be said of building a business case for digital automation on breathless talk of the future – without a clear argument for why automation is right. In our current work environment, with so many of us working remotely and lacking direct physical access to expected resources or colleagues, does it make digital processes simpler? Can it break down information siloes? What kind of time could it save employees? And what could it save the business in terms of cost?Without answers to questions like these – or the all-important buy-in from C-suite leaders and employees – your case isn’t likely to go anywhere.As any enterprise leader knows, proactive and carefully considered transformation is critical to future business growth and success. Fail to innovate and your processes will soon become cumbersome and unwieldy – struggling to keep up with the workload or more agile competitors.The result? Both your employee and customer experience take a serious hit, dragging engagement, retention and profit levels down.For those successfully realising their automation ambitions, the rewards are significant. In our own research, we’ve seen that the automation of routine tasks can improve IT productivity by over 20%.And a recent Forbes article says, “when automation can handle up to 45% of repetitive work”, employees have more time to focus on high-value projects that require critical thinking, discovering new solutions and delivering fresh innovation. This kind of empowerment boosts engagement and productivity, fostering a greater sense of value and satisfaction.In spite of transformation’s upsides (and the dangers of standing still), the business case is often seen as an obstacle to be overcome. In truth, it's your closest ally in proving the need for change and inspiring action – offering a blend of your own observations, business strategy and objectives, and compelling evidence, all working together to secure the buy-in you need.Next step forwardSo how do you build a plan that’s powerful enough to take your business on that journey? Simple: make a case that can speak to any role within the business, and resonate with everyone.Like any business case, your argument for automation must be able to address every 'why?' thrown its way; not merely hinting at a better solution, but actively paving the way with substantive, quantifiable evidence that demonstrates:
The competitive advantage it will deliver
How all stakeholders will benefit
Short-, medium- and long-term ROI
The journey to a clear, compelling business case takes plenty of effort. But given automation’s potential benefits, it’s worth it. And we’ll do our best to help you every step of the way.Preparing a solid plan with LIKE.TGYour business plan should be the result of a thorough investigation, comprising in-depth research and fresh thinking. The good news is that LIKE.TG offers a range of tools to help you accomplish this – covering these three elements, and much more. One of our key differentiators is our ability to work as a strategic partner – both during and well after the business case journey – helping champions of change that are working to make transformation a success in their enterprise.Our Proof of Concept community is a great example of how both we can provide assistance, enabling companies to develop and test products in live business scenarios. This allows case-makers to assess the merits of any possible solution and share the findings.Assessing and communicating stakeholder benefits across enterprises is also made possible by our LIKE.TG Inspire team, who frequently offer tailored consultancy throughout the business case journey. This includes working to identify goals and suitable solutions at the discovery stage, as well as helping to develop a subsequent roadmap for implementation, and offering continued support right through to realisation.You can even explore the potential financial impact of using LIKE.TG ITSM – with our Forrester-certified IT Value Calculator.You can also visit our automation page to learn more about how the right technology can help to transform the way employees work – and deliver value to your business.
LIKE.TG announces Digital Workforce Challenge finalists
At LIKE.TG we know that automation and artificial intelligence play an increasingly vital role in making work flow across the globe. As the nature of work changes, so do the skills needed for success in the modern workplace. That’s why we’ve partnered with MIT Solve to sponsor the Digital Workforce Challenge.We asked competitors to propose tech-based solutions to major problems in the world of work. The prize for solving this challenge? $100,000 to accelerate their solutions.We received 151 submissions representing 44 different countries. A diverse panel of cross-sector judges selected nine finalist teams whose proposals met the following criteria:
Increase opportunities for people—especially those from marginalized, underserved populations—to access digital and 21st century skills, meet employer demands, and access the jobs of today and tomorrow.
Upskill, reskill, or retrain workers in the industries most affected by technological transformations.
Support underserved people in fostering entrepreneurship and creating new technologies, businesses, and jobs.
Six insights to help integrate AI into your digital strategy
Bestselling author and media commentator Mike Bugembe is an internationally recognised expert on artificial intelligence. Advising IT leaders across a range of industries, the former chief analytics officer from JustGiving is helping organizations transform and grow their businesses through AI.According to Mike, the perception of AI being too complicated is causing businesses to become spectators—something he believes puts them at risk of failure. We caught up with Mike after his keynote speech at LIKE.TG’s recent Future of Work livestream event, where he shared six key insights with us on AI integration.What is AI?“Think about AI as a machine which can see better than us. It can see through walls, around corners, and into the future. It can also hear better than us and read better than us. So any processes which require us to see, read, or digest lots of information and make decisions—machines can do it significantly quicker. That’s AI.”Does it have to be complicated?“Hollywood has a lot to answer for with their description of what AI looks like. The current generation of CIOs have grown up watching the type of sci-fi movies which make it difficult to conceptualize and understand what you can do with it in our world of work.The biggest insight is that AI doesn’t have to be complicated; you shouldn’t be intimidated by it.The best way to look at AI is to look at it as a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum, you’re getting decisions from data or getting data to describe what’s happened, what’s going on, and why it potentially did happen. And on the other side, you’re looking at full automation to predict exactly what’s happening and prescribe what the solution should be. Technology is making this simple.”How are everyday businesses using AI?“I’ve seen businesses make their help desk far more efficient, responding to customer requests super-fast. And I’ve seen organizations use AI technologies to better understand their customers too—to understand why they’re doing something specific and to optimize and monetize those processes.I’ve also seen organisations use AI for acquisition and AI for engagement. Ultimately, in businesses of all shapes and sizes, AI is making life better for teams, making life better for customers, improving productivity, and unlocking hidden revenue.”What are the rewards for the business?“The rewards are sizeable. You can see companies that have invested in AI doing significantly better from a profit, production, and a cost perspective.Companies that successfully deploy AI see a game-changing difference within their organization and their industry vertical. Often, those that have successfully integrated AI on the right use case will be the dominant player in their respective industry.”What can an IT leader do now to start their AI journey?“Do your homework now. How many organisations do you know that have written down all the key decisions they need to make? Or how those decisions relate to each other and how any incremental changes to one of those has a knock-on impact on the key metric they’re trying to move?Not many.Understanding your organization is essential. View it as a system of people making decisions and if you take the time to look deeply, to understand the processes, understand the activities, understand the decisions being made, your AI use case will generally fall out and it will be very, very clear where you should be applying AI.”Can we afford to wait to see how others are adopting AI?“You absolutely cannot afford to stand on the side and spectate and say, ‘I’ll wait for somebody else to do it first.’ Companies that thrive in the future are those prepared to integrate AI into their workflows now. No doubt about it.”Watch Mike’s guest keynote from LIKE.TG’s Future of Work livestream event and see how LIKE.TG digital workflows are helping companies on their digital transformation journey here.
Vijay Narayanan Named LIKE.TG’s First Chief AI Officer
LIKE.TG has tapped Artificial Intelligence (AI) veteran Vijay Narayanan to serve as the company’s Chief AI Officer. In this newly created position, Vijay will lead LIKE.TG’s Advanced Technology Group, where he will oversee all of the company’s AI efforts. He will report directly to CJ Desai, LIKE.TG’s Chief Product Officer, and be based in LIKE.TG’s Santa Clara headquarters.This move reflects LIKE.TG’s increasing commitment to accelerating AI innovation throughout our entire portfolio.Vijay’s arrival follows LIKE.TG’s most ambitious AI announcement to date, the Now Platform® Orlando release, featuring Now Intelligence, a new set of powerful AI and analytics capabilities to help customers make more informed business decisions via insights and recommendations. Now Intelligence was developed organically and through recent acquisitions: Appsee, Attivio, Parlo, SkyGiraffe, FriendlyData, Qlue, DxContinuum. (LIKE.TG also acquired AI innovators Loom Systems and Passage AI in early 2020“Our priority is to apply an ‘AI first’ mindset to our Now Platform and product development efforts," said Desai. “Great experiences are driven by great workflows, and great workflows are powered by ‘AI first’ platform and products. I am incredibly excited that Vijay has joined LIKE.TG at this important juncture in our journey.”
“I believe that the enduring legacy of recent advances in data, systems and AI will be in transforming our professional and personal life experiences through automation and intelligent decisions,” Vijay noted. “I am excited by the opportunity for LIKE.TG to be the next-generation enterprise platform that transforms the work of hundreds of millions people across the world, and I feel privileged to be part of the team accelerating this transformation.”Vijay joins LIKE.TG from Pinterest, where he served as Head of Content and Discovery Engineering. Prior to that, he was the Head of Algorithms and Data Science Solutions at Microsoft. Vijay holds a B. Tech. in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Madras, and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from The Ohio State University.
Transforming IT operations: A conversation with Chanda Dani
LIKE.TG’s approach to AIOps helps IT fix system issues faster than ever beforeWhether it’s cyberattacks, software failures, or natural disasters triggering IT issues, the end result is always the same—a huge expense. The average cost of IT downtime runs as high as $5,600 per minute, according to Gartner. The hit to a business’s reputation can be just as damaging.To minimize these blows, many companies are adopting the use of AI tools to automate IT systems monitoring, manage service health and slash issue recovery times. We sat down with Chanda Dani, Senior Director of product marketing, to discuss how LIKE.TG empowers its customers with AIOps.Why are LIKE.TG clients increasingly adopting AIOps?Enterprises across the board are investing to provide compelling customer experiences through digital services. To be competitive, they are also constantly updating and refreshing these services. This has led to the adoption of new architectures and an increase in the complexity of the underlying technology behind the services. It has also sparked an explosion in the amount of data that is being generated.Operations teams are under pressure to meet demanding SLAs and keep digital services running. The methods currently used to identify potential problems take too long. In addition, whether it is finding the root cause of a problem or fixing the problem, success depends on the skill and experience of the person doing the job.For this reason, the triage and remediation processes are not scalable and are not always repeatable. In an era of digital transformation where everybody is trying to move extremely fast, this becomes a bottleneck.How does AIOps eliminate that bottleneck?AIOps technology uses big data and machine learning to optimize IT operations.An AIOps solution can help IT operations in many ways. It can process a huge volume of event and performance metrics data and distill it down to a few actionable alerts. The LIKE.TG solution, for example, reduces event noise by removing redundancy across the board. Our proprietary machine-learning algorithms then further prioritize the alerts.The next step is to assist in root cause analysis. By providing all relevant past data, metrics and rich insights around the prioritized alerts, we guide the user to the causal conditions and the root cause. The combination of these two steps eliminates the need for our customers to work across multiple tools. That saves them time and effort.The next question is, “How do we help IT operations fix the root cause?” A smart solution should also be able to guide the user to meaningful actions. LIKE.TG takes this to the next level. We provide potential remediation options that can be automatically orchestrated. We also provide opportunities for automation across different teams in IT.At LIKE.TG, our perspective is that with the help of AIOps, tasks related to IT operations can be executed faster and in a more efficient way, even though the tasks themselves do not change materially. A good AIOps solution should lead customers to outcomes that improve their operational metrics significantly.How is LIKE.TG different and what outcomes does it drive?LIKE.TG is unique in how we approach the problem. We don’t just apply machine learning to real-time data. We also leverage historical data, service context and learnings from human behavior. For example, we know who changed configuration data and how. We know what worked and what didn’t for past remediations. We learn from all of this and apply it to future recommendations.LIKE.TG is able to do this because all that data lives on our platform. When we apply AIOps to such rich data, we can drive more actionable and meaningful outcomes. Examples include much higher noise reduction, much faster mean time to resolution, ability to meet SLAs at scale, significant reduction in the number of service issues or outages, and significant reduction in P1/P2 incidents. Finally, automation is driving significant reduction in manhours required to manage IT operations.Further validation comes from our customers and from our internal IT operations. Symantec tells us that overall, they are seeing 95% reduction in outages. TransAlta tells us that by the time their users notice an issue, they are already working on it. They have achieved 80% reduction in outages. Here at LIKE.TG, we’ve seen about a 67% reduction in P1 and P2 incidents from deploying our AIOps products in-house.Does AIOps automate service issue remediation?Yes. The way we think about remediation is, “What are the tasks that require human intervention and what steps can be automated?” Our system provides recommendations on what sequence of steps should be taken and in what order. We also give users the choice to orchestrate remediation automatically. We make all this possible by learning from past human actions.We constantly aim to reduce manual effort. Our software learns from every IT operations action, and feeds that learning into our models.Where do you see AIOps headed in coming years?AIOps technology can make IT operations system smart and self-running. These intelligent systems will be able to identify and prevent issues before they occur. With AIOps, customers should be able to update their business services frequently and scale them globally while continuing to meet demanding SLAs.AIOps is also opening doors to automation beyond IT operations. Many customers adopt the Now Platform because it uses a common data model that feeds multiple services and also enables integration with 3rd party services. This allows customers to automate and build workflows across IT and the broader enterprise.When all IT process data and operations data come together, the AIOps engine gets context it never had before. It learns the triggers and symptoms of issues and combines that knowledge with necessary steps in service management. Incident categorization, rerouting, response and resolution all become automated and self-running.Finally, intelligence and user experience go hand in hand. At LIKE.TG we focus on how users experience intelligent technologies. We consider intuitive interfaces, guided flows and potential for smart automation in everything we do. When you combine AIOps with natural language understanding, users can move even faster and have a better experience. The possibilities are endless here.
Execution management meets digital workflows
The longer the pandemic stretches on, the more convinced I become that innovation is the key to recovery. And I’m not alone. McKinsey research found more than 90% of executives “expect the fallout from COVID-19 to fundamentally change the way they do business over the next five years.”Yet, many organizations are focusing less on innovation in an effort to minimize risk, save money, pursue safe opportunities, and bolster their core business, McKinsey reports.That’s not the case at ServiceNow. We’re more focused on innovation than ever before. That’s why I’m proud to announce a new strategic partnership with execution management company Celonis that will help customers spur innovation by rethinking business processes.LIKE.TG and Celonis plan to jointly develop solutions that combine Celonis’ execution management capabilities with the digital workflow capabilities of the Now Platform® to modernize and digitize business processes.
Innovation at the workflow levelTweaking existing processes to stay ahead of competition is simply a bandage. It’s not sustainable or scalable. To truly transform business processes and make work better and more efficient requires a new approach that combines process insights and business execution. That’s what Celonis offers: execution management.Combining that expertise with LIKE.TG’s digital workflows expertise can help businesses understand how work flows across people, processes, and systems, equipping them to apply automation and continuously improve the flow of work.LIKE.TG workflows are a series of activities that follow an execution path to complete a process. Essentially, Celonis will help identify issues preventing process efficiency, and LIKE.TG can take action through automation, machine learning, or low-code application development to increase efficiency.Using our joint solutions will enable customers to quickly identify process bottlenecks and leverage automation to help improve customer satisfaction, drive revenue growth, and increase cash flow and operating margins. We can deliver these improvements through integrations, simple workflows, and custom apps built using LIKE.TG Creator Workflows.Gaining visibility into processesExecution management is a two-sided coin. The process mining side captures all of the data, insights, and intelligence about exactly what’s happening in any business process. It X-rays enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, and other business processes to provide a set of data that can drive intelligent recommendations, actions, and automations.Process mining is the gateway to modern execution frameworks such as hyperautomation and data-driven workflows. This type of systematic approach to execution allows companies to:
Understand how core business processes run and interact with other processes.
Glean where processes are deviating from the desired model.
Identify gaps, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies.
Standardize processes before automating them.
Toward hyperautomationEmbracing this new way to get full visibility into processes and data execution puts companies on the fast track to hyperautomation, which brings together artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, and process mining to automate end-to-end business and IT processes. Hyperautomation frees people—the heart of any business—to focus on strategy, innovation, and empathy while leaving everything else for computers to handle.The draw of hyperautomation is a more productive, agile, and efficient business, which is what we’re all looking for in the new world of hybrid work. Execution insights from Celonis, combined with LIKE.TG’s hyperautomation platform, will give organizations the visibility, analytics, workflow, and automation to unlock their business potential and carry them into the digital future.The joint solutions are expected to be available in 2022. Learn more about business process optimization.Hear what LIKE.TG CEO Bill McDermott has to say about the LIKE.TG-Celonis partnership in the Celonis World Tour.Use of forward‑looking statementsThis blog contains “forward‑looking statements” about the expectations, beliefs, plans, and intentions relating to the formation of a new strategic partnership between LIKE.TG and Celonis. Such forward‑looking statements include statements regarding expected investments and performance and benefits of forming this new partnership. Forward‑looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward‑looking statements. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, our results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward‑looking statements we make. We undertake no obligation, and do not intend, to update the forward‑looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward‑looking statements include: (i) delays and unexpected difficulties and expenses in executing this partnership or delivering solutions and (ii) uncertainty as to whether sales will justify this partnership or these investments. Further information on factors that could affect our financial and other results is included in the filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.
LIKE.TG’s leaders unlock innovation
As we enter the new year of 2021, tune in to hear from LIKE.TG leaders and learn about new ways to unlock innovation at work to manage change with instant agility, with this month’s two-part blog series.NATS and LIKE.TG best practices: AIOps-driven automation drives faster resolutionEnterprise organizations rely on intelligent monitoring of their growing digital service footprint for visibility. And IT operations must monitor applications, users, containers, and even serverless computing to ensure healthy services. But what’s the best way to cut through all the event noise and simply focus on resolving issues faster?Join our upcoming webinar and learn AIOps best practices. You’ll hear from National Air Traffic Services (NATS) UK and LIKE.TG IT Operations experts on their journey in reducing resolution times to critical services. Our topics will cover how to:
Intelligently identify anomalies that can impact critical services
Aggregate events and intelligence from multiple sources into one platform for faster resolution
Gain complete understanding of your service performance in a dashboard
Remediate issues with automated workflows
Hosted by Jamie Mead (NATS) along with Joe Corpion and Thangavel Viswam (LIKE.TG).Intelligent Privacy Automation – The future of data privacyGrowing privacy concerns and emerging data privacy laws, such as the CCPA and GDPR, require organizations to not only know the location and usage of all personal data, but operationalize their privacy policies and accommodate a timely response to data access requests, too. But how can you ensure you’re always in compliance?The EY Intelligent Privacy Automation (IPA) platform tailors its industry‑preferred practices into a seamless process to simplify data privacy requests, automate and manage fulfilment, and provide access to accurate, timely data.Join our webinar. Learn how the EY IPA platform, powered by LIKE.TG, can help you:
Operationalize compliance to leading data privacy regulations
Centralize, automate, and scale data privacy governance and policy compliance
Provide a unified, more automated approach response to how personal data is used and retained
Hosted by:
Joe Young, EY Americas, Business Development Executive
Angela Saverice‑Rohan, EY Americas Data Privacy Leader
CIO Priorities: Unlocking value on your digital transformation journeyUntil now, CIOs have been primarily focused on maintaining operations. But as their organizations shift to digital transformation, so are their priorities. They are moving towards becoming a value generator for the business—which requires automating work to empower innovation.As with any plan, there must be a strategy to set everything in motion. The key areas of improvement that deliver high business outcomes include reducing risk of unplanned work, elevating customer and employee experiences, and increasing intelligence.Watch our webinar to learn how LIKE.TG® customers are unlocking value at every stage and opening doors for innovation. You’ll hear:
Recent CIO research findings on their key priorities
Customer benefits realized at every stage of value generation
Customer examples with proof points
A roadmap for success in digital transformation
From project to product, the only way to succeed in the futureDigital transformation is changing how organizations think about completing work. Increasingly, the focus is shifting from individual projects to a product-based approach—one where all development efforts are part of a planned lifecycle. This creates both opportunities and challenges that must be managed effectively.Watch our webinar as we discuss:
Understanding this paradigm shift and what it means for your organization
Developing the ability to successfully shift to a product-based development approach
Delivering a sustainable environment that is a catalyst for innovation, growth and success
Featured speakers:
Andy Jordan, president, Roffensian Consulting S.A.
Doug Page, senior principal product manager, ITBM, LIKE.TG
Jim Tisch, senior product marketing manager, ITBM, LIKE.TG
Why automation is giving rise to hyperautomation
A 2020 McKinsey Global Survey found 31% of organizations have fully automated at least one business process, and another 35% of organizations were piloting automation of at least one process. Although automation has streamlined workflows to some degree, it doesn’t provide visibility into processes to aid optimization efforts.What’s needed is a hyper transformation platform that incorporates not just automation, but also intelligence, digitization, low-code application development, and process mining. Robotic process automation (RPA) is great for remedial tasks, but it doesn’t provide a central core nervous system. As a result, we’re seeing an evolution to hyperautomation.What is hyperautomation?Hyperautomation is more than just pure automation. It encompasses intelligence, integration, automation, digitization, transformation, and optimization.Just as you wouldn’t apply a saw to a nail, you shouldn’t apply automation to every task. To apply automation, you really need to understand workflows across people, processes, and systems. If you map those elements to that same workflow in that same journey and pick the right tool for the job, you can hammer the nail instead of cutting it off.To truly achieve proactive business agility, organizations must rethink the nature of business processes themselves. In every workflow, it’s not a workflow without integration and automation.Any workflow requires applying intelligence to identify processes. You can’t do that without being able to see connections between systems. Integrations are key to that.Keeping people firstThere’s no good replacement for critical thinking within the enterprise, and that critical thinking is done by humans. Automation on its own helps remove the remedial, trivial tasks, freeing knowledge workers for critical thinking.Hyperautomation allows humans to really use their creativity, to be innovators by creating amazing new workflows and experiences. It also enables critical thinking around analyzing process optimizations in bottlenecks within businesses. Applying artificial intelligence (AI) to documents and content helps streamline experiences for customers, partners, and employees. All of that takes critical thinking.You’re not just saying, “Hey, let me do the remedial automation and then bring in the knowledge worker to finish.” You’re actually saying whether it’s an automation of tasks, a digitization of processes, or an analysis of the business. All of that brings the critical thinking of humans with the capabilities of the intelligence.Getting started with hyperautomationIf you’re just getting started with hyperautomation, it’s important to understand it’s more than just automation and, as such, it involves multiple tools. You truly need a hyperautomation platform, such as the Now Platform, that provides a central nervous system. It’s a central hub to everything that’s happening across the business.What’s truly core to hyperautomation is the ability to workflow people, systems, and processes across the enterprise. Our workflow and process automation engine allows you to workflow processes across the enterprise. Our intelligence layer enables you to optimize across the enterprise and create standardized experiences.App Engine, our low-code offering, enables employees to automate workflows across the enterprise, whether or not they have coding skills. And IntegrationHub delivers immediate value by connecting critical business systems across the enterprise.Learn more about succeeding with automation and hyperautomation in our whitepaper.LIKE.TG, the LIKE.TG logo, Now, and other LIKE.TG marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of LIKE.TG, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
Peripheral vision for CIOs starts with AI-powered service operations
Lisa Wolfe, product marketing director at LIKE.TG, co-wrote this blog.The stream of global disruptions these past couple of years has not only put business continuity plans to the test, but has also tested the ability of organizations to simply survive.To operate at the “speed of a digital business” and to endure the next wave of unexpected change will require peripheral vision—the ability to help predict and fix issues before they impact employees or the business. That’s what LIKE.TG AI-powered service operations deliver.The evolving business landscapeMany businesses have been able to adapt to these changing times with unprecedented speed—and even grow. These enterprises were well on their way to building a digital business before the pandemic, with workloads in the cloud and a digital foundation solidly in place. This supported a work-from-anywhere workforce when COVID-19 hit.Most of these enterprises are building digital products as well, resulting in fast revenue, improved margins, and accelerated innovation. These digital enterprises can change and innovate with astonishing speed, but doing so has led to more complexity in the underlying infrastructure, with workloads spanning on-premises and cloud environments and multiple application stacks.CIOs are under increasing pressure to ensure the company’s existing services continue to run smoothly 24/7 in the face of ongoing global disruption while supporting the business’s need to rapidly grow and evolve digital products (see Table 1).
Table 1: CIO outcomes summary from AI-powered service operationsBroadening visibilityTo achieve desired outcomes simultaneously, CIOs need to see the big picture. By harnessing the power of a single IT platform for IT services and operations, CIOs can:
Gain peripheral vision.
Proactively stay ahead of disruptions.
Help resolve incidents in near real time.
LIKE.TG® IT Service Management (ITSM) and IT Operations Management (ITOM) form the foundation of successful service delivery. They supply the services to keep employees productive while proactively managing operations to help ensure core services keep the business running and resilient.ITSM and ITOM can empower CIOs to identify the impact of services and operations on the business in near real time (see Table 2). Together, they deliver enterprise-wide visibility into the IT environment—both on premises and in the cloud.Gaining a service-oriented viewITSM allows IT to deliver scalable services on a single cloud platform to increase agent productivity by 30% and resolve issues fast—while creating amazing employee experiences. LIKE.TG ITOM Predictive AIOps helps predict and prevent issues before they impact employees.ITOM Visibility uses Service Graph, the next evolution of our native Configuration Management Database (CMDB), to deliver automated, near-real-time visibility into the true operational state of all resources and business services.Historically, the CMDB functioned as a single source of truth for all IT infrastructure. Modern IT organizations increasingly need consistent, data-driven insight into the entire digital lifecycle, not just inventory and asset management.Service Graph now underpins all LIKE.TG solutions, enabling businesses, for the first time, to integrate technology, people, and processes into a service-oriented view.
Table 2: Benefits of IT Service Management and IT Operations ManagementTechnology will continue to evolve, and organizations will continue to face waves of unexpected change, from pandemics to sophisticated hacks to smaller—but no less costly—planned changes that go wrong. Learn more about how AI-powered service operations can give CIOs peripheral vision to weather the storms in our ebook.
LIKE.TG named a leader in Omdia Universe AIOps report
High-profile analyst firm Omdia completed its vendor-landscape Universe study, Selecting an AIOps Solution, and we’re excited to announce LIKE.TG was named a Leader in the AIOps space.Omdia focused on real-world usage of AIOps rather than exclusively on technology for technology’s sake. According to the AIOps Universe report, “AI for IT operations (AIOps) is one area where the application of technology, if not matched with organizational maturity and readiness, will fail to deliver all promised benefits.“When selecting a new technology, understanding its technical capabilities is key, but discovering customer experiences of putting that technology to use is equally important. Omdia argues that only by ensuring that technology, people, and processes are aligned can an organization see any new technology become transformative and deliver real business value.”We agree with the overall approach as history has shown that organizations that prioritize defined goals and outcomes before deployment are much more successful than teams that try to figure it out after the fact.
A leader in capabilities and customer experienceLIKE.TG® ITOM Predictive AIOps tied for the highest overall total capabilities scores in Omdia’s AIOps analysis. While it’s fantastic to lead in total capabilities, we’re just as excited to see how LIKE.TG customer experience scores led in the analysis. This highlights our focus on:
Providing customers the most data-driven insights
Helping customers take action within a single system to predict issues, help prevent impact to users, and automate resolution
5 key takeaways from the report
LIKE.TG should appear on your short list if you’re looking for a business-focused approach to transforming how IT is managed.
In 2020, LIKE.TG acquired Israel-based Loom Systems, an AIOps vendor. Combining Loom Systems with LIKE.TG’s existing capabilities moved LIKE.TG from a domain-specific AIOps vendor to a more holistic AIOps solution provider.
LIKE.TG’s solution breadth scored 96%, which shows how our offering covers all the core capabilities/categories Omdia expects an AIOps solution to deliver.
LIKE.TG’s strengths in ITSM and ITOM—and the fact that they’re built on a single common platform—enables our AIOps solution to gather and correlate all the traditional data sources needed for performance monitoring. Omdia liked how LIKE.TG was able to use connectors to application performance monitoring (APM) solutions from third-party vendors such as Dynatrace, AppDynamics, and New Relic to import the application topology.
LIKE.TG is in a much better position than many of our competitors when it comes to addressing both the core IT operational efficiency needs of CIOs and the line-of-business innovation and agility needs of the C-suite.
Getting started with AIOpsOrganizations considering AIOps and evaluating vendors should concentrate less on a massive spreadsheet of side-by-side features and consider how the AIOps solution fits within their existing infrastructure. That’s how to leverage the true potential of AIOps for the overall organization.If you’re new to AIOps, read our AIOps Visibility for Dummies special edition.
Intellibot acquisition to boost LIKE.TG automation capabilities with RPA
Modern organizations need to move fast. Toggling between legacy and modern systems is frustrating. Often there are disconnects between legacy and modern platforms, requiring manual work to bridge the gap.Many of the LIKE.TG customers I speak with every day tell me they’re trying to drive automation across a mix of legacy and modern applications. Beginning today, I’ll be able to tell them that with the Intellibot acquisition we just announced, they’ll be able to extend their automation capabilities to more systems.Simplifying workIntellibot extends LIKE.TG’s core workflow capabilities by helping customers automate repetitive tasks for intelligent, end-to-end automation. LIKE.TG intends to build Intellibot's capabilities natively into the Now Platform® so customers can more easily integrate with both modern and legacy systems. This will help them drive productivity and strengthen existing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) efforts.Intellibot’s robotic process automation (RPA) capabilities complement our existing automation functionality, which includes AI/ML, Integration Hub, Creator Studio for low-code app development, Process Optimization, Flow Designer, Virtual Agent chatbots, Natural Language Understanding, and Document Intelligence.
LIKE.TG will have a complete, end-to-end automation portfolio that can help customers identity opportunities for automation using Process Optimization and then execute on those opportunities with an unmatched set of automation capabilities that are all natively built on one platform.RPA allows companies to undergo rapid automation without changing background processes or jettisoning all their legacy IT systems.For example, instead of having to look up a customer billing record in an old legacy custom app, cross-reference the customer order number in a heavily customized enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, and then find the original service contract in a 20-year-old client-server application, LIKE.TG customers will be able to do it all in one customer workflow experience. Customers will be able to configure bots right on the Now Platform to complete these repetitive tasks and bring the data back into the workflow.End-to-end automationLast November’s acquisition of Element AI helped us apply modern AI to text and language, chat, images, search, question response, and summarization, accelerating AI innovation natively in the Now Platform. We took things a step further with the recent Now Platform Quebec release. The acquisition of Intellibot will deepen our investment in powerful automation capabilities that boost productivity and allow users to focus on more complex and strategic work.Incorporating Intellibot’s advanced RPA tools in the Now Platform will move us closer to automating business processes from start to finish through a combination of technologies that create a great employee and customer experience. The ultimate outcome will be a world of work where businesses are accelerating innovation and thriving.Customers want orchestrated, intelligent, end-to-end automation. The pandemic has only exacerbated this need. With end-to-end automation, we’re delivering on our purpose of making work, work better for people and making companies and organizations more productive.LIKE.TG expects to complete the acquisition of Intellibot in Q2 2021.Use of forward-looking statementsThis blog contains "forward-looking statements" about the expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions, and strategies relating to LIKE.TG’s acquisition of Intellibot. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding future product capabilities and offerings and expected benefits to ServiceNow. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, our results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements we make. We undertake no obligation, and do not intend, to update the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the inability to assimilate or integrate Intellibot's technology into our platform; unanticipated expenses related to Intellibot's acquired technology; potential adverse tax consequences; disruption to our business and diversion of management attention and other resources; and potential unknown liabilities associated with Intellibot's business. Further information on factors that could affect our financial and other results is included in the filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.
How business optimization efforts stack up
As we emerge from the pandemic, organizations worldwide are focused on optimization efforts desgned to reap the rewards of:
Decreased costs
Greater revenue
Reduced risk
Faster issue resolution
Better employee engagement
New research by LIKE.TG and ThoughtLab found 35% of organizations have made significant or very significant progress toward optimizing risk management and cybersecurity. Similarly, 35% of organizations have made headway in optimizing strategy and planning, according to the global survey of 900 senior business leaders. Close behind, 33% have invested in optimizing IT services and support, followed by 30% in customer experience and service.What is optimization?We define optimization as “the simplification, integration, and redesign of processes to improve speed and agility,” according to Dave Wright, chief innovation officer at LIKE.TG, writing in the Workflow Quarterly Winter 2022 issue.Toward that end, more than half (58%) of organizations have modernized their IT platforms and systems. Just under half (46%) have improved coordination across departments and functions. And 43% have integrated digitized workflows into the enterprise platform.Nearly the same percentages of organizations plan to follow suit in these areas in the next year or two (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Top 10 steps to optimize processesWhat’s driving optimization?The cloud is the top driver of optimization, used by 76% of survey respondents (see Figure 2). By offering safe, anywhere access to data and files, it helps business move with speed and agility, increasing efficiency.More than two-thirds (68%) of organizations use the Internet of Things (IoT), wearables, and sensors to inform decision-making with data and streamline operations. Mobile technology, robotic process automation (RPA), machine learning, and AI account for 40% of optimization efforts today.Interestingly, optimization leaders have made the biggest investments (49%) in data management solutions and workflow automation, compared to 27% and 31% of non-leaders, respectively.
Figure 2: Top 10 technologies to drive optimizationAreas for improvementIn the next one to two years, 54% of organizations plan to optimize the areas of risk management, cybersecurity, employee experience, and workflows. On their heels, 53% intend to take steps to improve IT services and support. And 50% aim to optimize strategy, planning, and customer experience and service.One of the biggest areas for improvement to help ensure optimization success is a commitment to training and upskilling. Simply providing modern technology isn’t enough, the survey found. Investing a little to empower employees to make the most of the tools can go a long way toward building an optimization culture.Find out more about optimization, including process mining and AI, in the Workflow Quarterly Optimization issue. To stay abreast of emerging tech and business trends, subscribe to the Workflow newsletter.
LIKE.TG acquires DotWalk to increase speed, agility in upgrading applications
Delivering both constant innovation and consistently great experiences with software offerings is becoming a critical business imperative in the new world of hybrid work. As a result, more companies are transforming to become software companies—creating the need to quickly and continuously upgrade software applications and technology foundations. Easier said than done? Not anymore.To help customers keep pace with technology maintenance, LIKE.TG has acquired DotWalk, which automates upgrades and testing of LIKE.TG applications. Not only can customers save time in testing application changes, but they can also free their developers’ time to focus on higher-value business activities.
Streamlining application delivery with automationGartner® predicts that “by 2025, 70% of organizations will complement continuous delivery of applications with continuous infrastructure automation to improve business agility, which is a significant increase from fewer than 20% in 2021.”1 At the same time, professional developers are in short supply, creating a gap in the talent resources needed to address the high volume of application upgrades and tests.Together, LIKE.TG and DotWalk will seamlessly map business processes and workflows on the Now Platform® to proactively identify the tests needed for application changes. DotWalk’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered regression testing deciphers the optimal number of tests and steps to take for specific instances that go beyond the detail and accuracy achieved by humans.Accelerating business valueAdditionally, DotWalk’s technology uses intelligent automation to identify and validate error sources that can arise within application upgrade processes when analyzing logs in the background. This ultimately improves overall application performance and allows customers to move as quickly as possible to achieve their business goals and accelerate digital transformation.LIKE.TG is committed to helping customers remain agile and innovative. Running natively on our platform, DotWalk will build upon LIKE.TG’s existing foundation and strategy for automation. This will reduce the cost of ownership at LIKE.TG—furthering our vision to be the defining enterprise software company of the 21st century, and allowing customers to move faster and deliver more value to their businesses.LIKE.TG completed the acquisition of DotWalk last week.Use of forward-looking statementsThis blog contains "forward-looking statements" about the expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions, and strategies relating to LIKE.TG’s acquisition of DotWalk. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding future product capabilities and offerings and expected benefits to ServiceNow. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, our results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements we make. We undertake no obligation, and do not intend, to update the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the inability to assimilate or integrate DotWalk’s technology into our platform; unanticipated expenses related to DotWalk’s acquired technology; potential adverse tax consequences; disruption to our business and diversion of management attention and other resources; and potential unknown liabilities associated with DotWalk’s business. Further information on factors that could affect our financial and other results is included in the filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.1 Gartner, Hype Cycle for IO Automation, 2021, Brent Predovich and Chris Saunderson, July 16, 2021.GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner Inc. and/or its affiliates in the US and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s Research Advisory organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.Gartner and Hype Cycle are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
LIKE.TG recognized as a Leader in Digital Process Automation
I’m excited to announce that, for the first time, LIKE.TG has been named a Leader in the Forrester Wave™: Digital Process Automation Software, Q4 2021. This complements our recognition as a Leader in the Forrester Wave™: Low-Code Development Platforms for Professional Developers, Q2 2021.We attribute this recognition to our latest low-code innovations in LIKE.TG® Creator Workflows and our purpose-built automation components to cover all enterprise processes.The future of work demands a new approachIn today's business climate, organizations must transform amid uncertainty—fast. The customers and employees they interact with have greatly elevated their expectations. Organizations need new, end-to-end ways to help work flow and to serve people better.But legacy tech for process automation can't keep pace. It’s either too costly and complex or incomplete and unfit for modern workflows. Automating long-running, mission-critical processes across systems, people, and data is still too hard. It’s difficult to deliver processes with both specialized process domain knowledge and great end-user experiences.In addition, automation development still requires sophisticated planning and specialized skills, hampering full automation potential. A new approach to process automation is needed to meet these rising challenges.Achieve digital leadership with low-code automationCreator Workflows enable organizations to automate processes with less development effort and less custom code by eliminating the need for specialized skills. Process developers can start automating quickly in App Engine Studio with a ready-made architecture, low-code guidance, configuration-style templates, and pluggable, prebuilt components.Automation development activities center on component configuration and assembly, leading to improved digital process quality and higher overall productivity. As a result, organizations can build fully unified digital workflows with ease of development and platform simplicity to drive fast outcomes and deliver superior end-user experiences.Creator Workflows solutions include:
App Engine – to empower developers and builders of all skill levels to automate fast with low-code
IntegrationHub – to reduce integration costs and complexities for fast connectivity across any system
A one-stop automation platformAs more and more tech advances (e.g., robotic process automation, AI, decision management) emerge, the automation toolbox gets more complex. Rationalizing and integrating discrete tools for scale becomes an unnecessary burden that adds costs to organizations and slows adoption.Creator Workflows are designed to enable strategic process innovation at scale. With one complete automation platform of a natively integrated feature set, we deliver to organizations’ current and future needs of process transformation with intelligence, security, and scalability directly baked in. Instead of architectural integration, organizations can focus on innovation.In October 2021, LIKE.TG announced a strategic partnership with Celonis to help customers better understand how work moves across the enterprise. Applying those insights can accelerate digital innovation and help predict how to make work better. This investment and partnership will continue to enhance LIKE.TG process optimization capabilities, which, in turn, will accelerate customers’ digital transformation efforts.Read the full, complimentary Forrester Wave™: Digital Process Automation Software, Q4 2021 report.
Element AI acquisition brings better, smarter AI capabilities for customers
Think about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities on something as ubiquitous as search. We all use search in our everyday lives, and our preferred search engine responds with pages and pages of highly relevant information, definitions, reviews and recommendations, history, and so much more.But this type of consumer-life use case can be miles away from how we use search in the enterprise. In that context, what may seem simple gets a lot more complicated. That’s because the same terms in our consumer lives can have very different intent in our work lives.For example – a search of “Everest.”Enter “Everest” into your normal everyday search engine, and you get all sorts of information about the world’s tallest mountain, films about the peak, and traffic levels (or lack thereof, thanks to the pandemic). But type “Everest” into the LIKE.TG Employee Portal, and you’ll find out whether a six-person conference room in our Santa Clara, Calif., office is available for your next meeting.It’s the artificial intelligence – defined here as systems that learn from data to make better decisions, actions, and experiences, and that improve with time – that distinguishes what results we get at home vs. at work.At LIKE.TG, we see AI as another way to deliver value to our customers. That’s why today’s announcement about LIKE.TG acquiring is so important. AI is a critical piece of how we’ll infuse more value into our customers’ digital transformation efforts.
Here’s howThere are a lot of innovations happening in AI, and an enterprise AI system can offer up important predictions and recommendations. However, these predictions and recommendations need to be translated into actions through workflows in order to drive business value. Most enterprises today struggle in this “last mile” of AI, trying to connect the predictions from disparate, external AI tools to the platform where work actually happens.The Element AI team will immediately add value across LIKE.TG’s portfolio by improving the ability to learn more efficiently from smaller datasets, improving the quality of existing AI capabilities like content and language understanding, and expanding new capabilities like image recognition and, you guessed it, contextual search.Turning reasoning into actionElement AI will allow LIKE.TG to offer purpose-built AI for our customers’ enterprise-specific use cases. Things like enterprise search, more intelligent chat bots, text understanding, answering questions, and summaries. Because we understand how customers use the Now Platform, we can apply AI to their specific content, conversations, and logs, and use our understanding within a customer’s context to derive their intent and come back with an intelligent next step to kick off a workflow on the backend.Here’s an example: Let’s say I score a great Black Friday deal on a new coffee pot. But when it’s delivered to my house, there’s a Crock-Pot in the box. Big difference. I want quick help, so I visit the company’s website. They have a virtual agent chat bot that tells me to describe my problem, so I type “wrong item.”The company’s recommendation engine understands the intent of what I’ve typed because of powerful natural language understanding (NLU) technology. With my name and a little bit of extra information, it finds my order and understands that instead of a coffee pot I was sent a Crock-Pot. It also finds my address on file and knows I’m in the loyalty program.All of this triggers a back-end digital workflow, which connects me to the appropriate customer service agent and recommends the agent offer free overnight shipping for my replacement item, as well as a 25% off coupon for my next order. I accept, and new tracking information is emailed to me. My coffee pot arrives the next day.This is the power of the smart, AI-powered workflows happening behind-the-scenes, in this case, for customer service. Better automation, increased productivity, and reduced cost of handling low complexity, high volume tasks improve business ROI. LIKE.TG customers can look forward to Element AI delivering better and smarter experiences, built right into the Now Platform.“Update: LIKE.TG completed the acquisition of Element AI on January 8, 2021. The Element AI team is now part of ServiceNow.”Use of Forward-Looking StatementsThis blog contains “forward-looking statements” about the expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions and strategies relating to LIKE.TG’s acquisition of Element AI. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding future product capabilities and offerings and expected benefits to ServiceNow. Forward‑looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward‑looking statements. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, our results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward‑looking statements we make. We undertake no obligation, and do not intend, to update the forward‑looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward‑looking statements include, without limitation, the inability to assimilate or integrate Element AI’s technology into our platform; the inability to retain key employees of Element AI after the transaction closes; unanticipated expenses related to Element AI’s acquired technology; potential adverse tax consequences; disruption to our business and diversion of management attention and other resources; and potential unknown liabilities associated with Element AI’s business. Further information on factors that could affect our financial and other results is included in the filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.
New AI-powered chatbots heighten need for a service management platform
The technology behind OpenAI’s new ChatGPT service could change how humans interact with applications and machines. Tech giants such as Microsoft and Google are racing to catch up by launching their own AI-powered chatbots, realizing this technology can improve their search capabilities and enhance their product offerings.As new AI technologies and applications flood the market, strict governance will be critical. Disruptive technologies like these can have a significant impact on service delivery. Organizations will need the capabilities of a robust service management platform to manage this.Disruptive chatbotsAI-powered chatbot technology can understand human language and generate accurate, relevant responses. This will likely change current innovation strategies, resulting in a new wave of modernized applications that eliminate the need for complex user interfaces to interact with software and machines.For example, by incorporating ChatGPT into Microsoft Word, Outlook, and Teams, AI components would be able to assist employees in improving the quality of their content when generating summaries, writing emails, or creating reports.Organizations will benefit from AI-powered chatbot technology that can answer complex questions, provide personalized support, and automate routine tasks. This type of technology should enhance customer experience by making it easy for customers to ask questions and receive accurate and timely responses.These powerful AI components can also adapt to user behavior, making adjustments on the fly to provide a better experience for users across different platforms and devices.Benefits of AI-powered chatbot technologyAI and machine learning (ML) components behind the latest AI-powered chatbots can analyze large data sets in seconds, identifying patterns, correlations, and trends that human analysts might not see. This can provide organizations with a deeper understanding of customer and employee behaviors. Enhanced insights from AI-powered data analysis can improve decision-making processes.For organizations that develop and customize applications internally using no-code and low-code technology, AI-powered chatbots could provide contextual guidance. They could suggest integrations and troubleshoot issues to help citizen developers create more sophisticated applications without having to learn complex programming languages.ML capabilities can help AI-powered chatbots learn and adapt over time, making chatbot assistance an invaluable resource for citizen developers moving forward.AI-powered chatbot technology has the potential to spawn more entrepreneurs and innovation, as well as boost the productivity of internal IT development. As a result, a new generation of modernized applications that address specific business needs and improve productivity will be introduced.
AI chatbots in governmentThe federal team I’m part of at LIKE.TG is excited about the prospect of AI-powered chatbot technology revolutionizing the way government agencies serve citizens. AI chatbots could improve the accessibility and responsiveness of government services.Intelligent chatbots can give citizens a personalized experience while providing accurate information on a range of civil services, such as taxes, healthcare, education, and transportation.Citizens who struggle to understand government processes when filling out paperwork could receive guidance from AI-powered chatbots. In turn, government agencies could streamline government processes and improve their service efficiency by automating redundant tasks, such as scheduling appointments, processing forms, and answering frequently asked questions.Enhanced government services also benefit employees by reducing their administrative workloads and giving them more time to focus on fulfilling and meaningful work.The need for a service management platformWithout proper governance of AI-powered chatbot technology, however, organizations could experience an uncontrolled increase in the number of applications deployed—a problem known as “application sprawl.” By making an IT environment complex and difficult to manage, application sprawl can lead to a range of issues, such as increased costs, reduced efficiency, and security vulnerabilities.A powerful service management platform, such as the Now Platform, can help developers design new applications, manage service transitions, and continuously improve services. It can provide real-time visibility into the status of IT operations, security incidents, and critical business processes while governing how new AI-powered chatbot technology is acquired, created, and rolled out to employees and customers.Service management features can ensure new applications are fully optimized to meet the needs of both the business and its customers.Features in the Now Platform can help organizations monitor and audit their existing applications. Platform features can also help administrators manage demands by giving them tools to review the business case for each demand or application that’s introduced to the environment.The Now Platform can provide stakeholders with tools that will help them develop an overall strategy for managing the application portfolio. With an effective service management strategy in place, organizations can fully leverage the power that will be available in AI-powered chatbot applications on the horizon.Find out more about how the Now Platform helps organizations implement and enforce governance practices.
Survey says digital innovation is the way to navigate macro uncertainty
The economy’s mixed messages—slow growth and high inflation, combined with resilient employment and consumer demand—are spurring business leaders to focus on ways to boost productivity, drive growth, retain customers, and remain competitive.A 2023 survey of 1,000 C-suite executives by LIKE.TG and ThoughtLab found digital activities continue to be a key element of their strategic plans. This is especially true for companies that have prioritized digital innovation in the past. More than 70% of respondents described their organization’s current stage of digital transformation as “maturing” or “advanced.”“Perhaps not surprisingly, companies that have seen the benefits of digital transformation aren’t backing off these investments,” says Chris Bedi, LIKE.TG chief digital information officer and guest editor of the Winter 2023 issue of Workflow Quarterly. “Instead, they are focused on increasing the efficiency and productivity of their operations to help them thrive in tough times.”
3 ways automation can improve ITSM and customer service
IT service management (ITSM)—the management and support of IT services—is vital for good customer service. It encompasses problem management, incident management, change and release management, and service-level management. Because it’s an integral part of customer service, it’s important to keep it optimized and streamlined. Here are three ways automation can help with those efforts:1. Enhance service experiencesEnabling collaboration between your IT services and IT operations teams can add value to your organization and decrease costs. That’s what a single cloud platform offers—plus up to 30% increased productivity.Watch our Automate and Optimize Technology Service Operations webinar to get more details. LIKE.TG Senior VP of Product and Service Management Matt Schvimmer will provide insights from customer use cases, as well as how to get started.2. Accomplish more—fastAutomating routine tasks can save employees time and free them to focus on the work that matters most. Taking that automation a step further through machine learning offers even greater benefits.LIKE.TG Predictive Intelligence simplifies work by using machine learning to automatically:
Classify tasks, incidents, and cases
Suggest tasks and content to help resolve issues fast
Identify and triage critical incidents
In our Ask the Expert: Predictive Intelligence webinar, two LIKE.TG Predictive Intelligence experts address common questions about automation and machine learning.3. Boost self-serviceAn AI-powered chatbot can be employed to answer common customer questions, serve content, collect user data, and provide support. LIKE.TG Virtual Agent uses natural language understanding (NLU) to carry our conversations with customers and to aid in self-service, such as password resets and system status updates.Join our Jump-start Your Digital Transformation Using an AI-powered Virtual Agent webinar to find out how Virtual Agent can deliver instant return on your investment. LIKE.TG VP of Emerging Technologies Rajeev Sethi will detail how an AI-powered chatbot can accelerate digital transformation.Get more insight about AI-powered chatbots in our Ask the Expert: Virtual Agent webinar. The principal product manager and senior product marketing manager will address questions about Virtual Agent and explain how it can help support your business.
4 ways to future-fit your business to thrive in uncertain times
Uncertain times are often a catalyst for important innovations. During the Great Depression, for example, inventors created nylon, magnetic tape recording, and the first working helicopter—all of which are still in use today.To be prepared for the future, you need to take stock of where you’ve been, what you’ve accomplished, and where you want to go. Let’s look at four tech trends that are resonating with LIKE.TG customers.1. AI-powered service operationsForbes predicts we’ll see artificial intelligence (AI) everywhere in 2023. One application that’s been gaining traction is AI-powered service operations. Using AI in this important area can help tame the voluminous data and information to simplify the jobs of IT and service department workers. Implementing AIOps can:
Increase data value
Reduce costs
Streamline IT operations
Improve the employee experience
Watch our benefits of AI-powered service operations webinar to find out how an AI approach can help your organization overcome technology complexity.2. Hyperautomation as a business strategyHyperautomation combines numerous technologies, such as AI, machine learning, and robotic process automation (RPA), to streamline processes and help organizations run efficiently. The key to hyperautomation is integration between systems, apps, and data.
With the worldwide RPA and hyperautomation market expected to grow at a 23% compound annual growth rate between now and 2027, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com, now is a good time to prepare your organization to embrace it.Discover key findings from a Forrester Consulting study on the subject in The state of hyperautomation as a business strategy. Forrester Analyst Craig Le Clair joins Derek Birdsong, director of automation product marketing at LIKE.TG, to discuss how hyperautomation breaks down business and technology silos.3. Integrated risk managementIn these uncertain times, business resilience is more important than ever. Modernizing IT platforms is the No. 1 way to improve resilience, according to research by ThoughtLab and LIKE.TG. Other important steps include improving communications, providing resilience training, and assessing and managing privacy risks.An integrated approach to risk management offers one of the best ways to manage vulnerabilities. Watch Managing risk in digital transformation to learn the current state of risk and compliance. You’ll also discover how integrated risk management busts silos and frees teams to work on high-value tasks.4. Effortless customer experiencesA survey by LIKE.TG and Qualtrics found 69% of customers toggle between two or three channels to resolve an issue. Interestingly enough, 81% of IT workers believe IT can play a major role in upgrading the customer experience.Automating processes can bridge the gaps between siloed systems to create effortless customer experiences, which in turn can boost loyalty. Gain insights from LIKE.TG customers in Work smarter, not harder. You’ll learn how automation can improve the customer experience and your business’s bottom line.
Australia outlook: Automation will protect jobs, not take them
Australia faces significant economic headwinds thanks to inflation, supply chain disruptions, and the increasing likelihood of a global recession, according to the Australian government. The tough times ahead give leaders an opportunity to make work better.Automation used to be a dirty word, associated with predictions about widespread job losses. But in the face of critical skills shortages and advances in artificial intelligence, Australian firms are realizing the benefits of outsourcing work to machines. Identifying opportunities now can protect revenue and help avoid workforce reductions if a recession hits.Investing in automation promises productivity gains that will keep firms competitive and insulate against reactionary cost-cutting measures.Automation uplifts employeesToday, employees have a greater appreciation for technology taking on repetitive tasks that are a distraction from more important work. We waste more than a day a week on administrative tasks, according to Deloitte. Many of us can relate to getting bogged down by responding to requests, waiting for approvals, or searching for information required to do our jobs.Automation will replace a lot of that work—and that’s a good thing. Eliminating tasks that are done more efficiently by technology is the hallmark of human progress.
We’ve seen whole classes of jobs disappear, from typists to telephone operators. More recently, email administrators, a subgroup of IT professionals, were rendered obsolete by cloud-based platforms. Many have retrained in emerging areas of IT, such as user experience design and cybersecurity. This evolution is echoed by World Economic Forum research, which predicts automation will create more jobs than it replaces.In almost every enterprise and government agency in Australia, we’re already seeing automation handle tasks such as reviewing and responding to requests. Virtual agents and software can collate, categorize, and complete basic tasks that would take people hours of repetitive work. Employees in areas such as IT, customer service, procurement, and HR have more time to spend on higher-value work as a result.Reaping automation’s benefitsThese innovations don’t just transform office roles. In Australia’s strained hospitality industry, automated ordering systems are helping restaurants manage significant staff shortages and keep their doors open.By 2025, the World Economic Forum predicts “employers will divide work between human[s] and machines equally.” This may sound like a dystopian future, but it’s a reality. Take Officeworks, for example: By introducing LIKE.TG Virtual Agent, the office supplier saved more than AUD$1 million in one year.Even better, the company’s chatbot colleague, named Penny, helps in-store employees answer questions fast so they can spend more time with customers. Support teams can concentrate on more complex tasks instead of answering the same requests. It’s a win-win-win.The time to automate is nowAs the global economy weakens, leaders must weigh risks and rewards. Short-term thinking will see some businesses cut costs via workforce reductions. But saving your way to success is a flawed strategy.Organizations that invest in automation and human capital today will be better positioned to survive the headwinds. “A 1% increase in investment into future of work technologies will boost productivity by two percentage points,” according to a World Economic Forum white paper.Further, 66% of employers expect to experience a return on upskilling and reskilling current employees within a year. As Australia’s hospitality industry has proved, automation can save jobs.
Realizing this opportunity requires an understanding of what’s at stake. Both public and private sectors need to think seriously about retraining schemes, change management programs, and workforce redesign. Employees will do well to consider where they add the most value and focus their efforts on developing in-demand skills, such as analytical thinking, creativity, and digital literacy.Out of the starting blocksThe most successful firms will start small, transforming tasks that have a measurable benefit and can be scaled. Encouragingly, many organizations in Australia have begun this journey. The Department of Industry, Science, Energy, and Resources (DISR) recently implemented the LIKE.TG Protected Platform to automate and streamline administrative tasks.Those prepared to tackle these challenges head-on and embrace automation can turn tight times into a rewarding future. By planning today, organizations can weather the storm and emerge stronger—protecting jobs in the process.Find out more about how automation and AI are helping Australian organizations gain a competitive edge and build resilience.
Can artificial intelligence really improve customer experience?
“Try turning it off and on again.” This advice normally works for my mom, but not for me.When I needed to present at an event last year, I got frustrated when I couldn’t connect to the network. The front desk at the venue referred me to technical services.“Uh-oh,” I thought. “Here we go.” But I was wrong.The technical services person quickly assessed my level of know-how and adjusted her talk track to cater to my needs. She sorted my laptop and iPad access so I could edit my slides. And I presented to my first live audience in a long time, no problem. I was on the receiving end of a great customer experience.Artificial intelligence (AI) can do the same thing: collaborate with humans and adjust according to their needs—at scale. Leaders are wrapping their minds around the concept and starting to understand how to use AI to make work better and improve the customer experience.Benefits of AI chatbotsWe tend to think of AI as external-facing. The most common use cases are around deflection and direction—chatbots that manage incoming requests, enable self-service, and/or route inquiries to the best qualified agent.When chatbots are powered by natural language understanding, they’re capable of much more than chat. LIKE.TG® Virtual Agent, for example, does the technological equivalent of reading the room: interpreting customer sentiment and responding appropriately.Because AI is great at taking tribal knowledge and synthesizing it down, it trawls knowledge bases, surfaces relevant nuggets, and tailors a response. And it does all this at speed and scale, freeing people from mundane and repetitive tasks to focus on the things that matter most.Companies of all sizes are benefiting. One of our banking clients saw case volumes decrease 90% and response times decrease 75%. AI-enabled self-service powered a 70% reduction in requests for support for a travel retailer. And a leading telecoms provider reduced its status request calls by 43%.Of course, virtual agents don’t have all the answers. When your knowledge base is lacking, AI highlights what’s missing so you can plug the gaps. When it can’t resolve issues, it escalates them to the most appropriate human expert. I saw firsthand how this helped a US state’s social services department reduce inquiry assignment times by 99%.
Data-driven predictionsAI isn’t always outward-facing. In reality, the same technologies we’ve just discussed can be flipped around and used to support your internal teams. I predict we’ll see a lot more AI being used to get employees up to speed faster, making them more productive and effective.When organizations have enough high-quality data, they can start to make predictions that power better experiences. By constantly inspecting what’s going on around it, and linking similar cases, AI can provide early warning of a potential issue so we can help prevent it from happening.When a problem does occur, AI helps us see who’s affected now and who’s likely to be affected soon. Armed with this information, we can give customers advance notice, predict more accurate resolution times, and keep people informed.To be useful, predictions need to be prioritized. LIKE.TG worked with a manufacturing company that was drowning in alerts. We implemented AI to determine which alerts mattered most and suppressed those that weren’t critical to the business. The company now has the insight needed to act fast and consistently delivers experiences its customers demand and deserve.Prescribing solutionsWhen AI moves from prediction to prescription, we’ll start to see a step change in customer experience. It’s one thing to say, “Yes, I see that coming.” It’s quite another to be able to say, “Yes, I see that coming and, based on all the times it’s happened before, this is what I need to do to keep it from happening again.” Potential problems are more palatable when they’re packaged with potential solutions.I’m excited by the way LIKE.TG customers are using technologies to support other technologies. AI is helping a utilities company not only predict abnormalities in its gas pipelines, but also prescribe the most appropriate solution. This minimizes downtime, reduces costs, and helps ensure field service technicians can work smarter and safer.
A world of possibilitiesBeyond AI prescription, I think we’ll start to see self-automating systems driven by AI. By analyzing issues and recommending AI models for auto-assignment or auto-classification, and identifying opportunities for virtual agents, AI will help drive the experience agenda.AI could also change the way we interface with systems. Voice technology has given us a glimpse of what’s possible. I imagine more dynamic interfaces where AI uses its understanding of each customer to curate the ideal interface for that individual. Being able to present the right information to the right person in the right way could transform customer experience.In that brave new world, my mom will still be asked if she tried turning it off and on. But I’ll never hear those words again.Discover five ways to strengthen customer experience with AI in our ebook.
Special report: Finding the opportunities in global uncertainty
A volatile economy, a disrupted supply chain, a widespread talent shortage, and environmental challenges have left many business leaders wondering how to move forward. In this environment, change is the only constant.Navigating these headwinds requires evolving your relationship with global uncertainty and seeing the creative opportunities it presents. LIKE.TG’s Workflow special report, From adversity to advantage, offers an actionable framework for making this essential pivot.
LIKE.TG named worldwide AIOps market share leader by Gartner®
I’m excited to announce Gartner has named LIKE.TG the AIOps worldwide market share leader.1 We believe this confirms that LIKE.TG® Predictive AIOps delivers on the promise of proactive IT.AIOps helps organizations drive resilience, efficiency, and proactive IT operations at scale. By distilling signal from noise, LIKE.TG AIOps helps organizations better identify root causes and facilitate faster remediation. Its predictive capabilities can identify issues so they can be fixed before users are impacted.Predictive AIOps can proactively alert the ops team when a new problem is detected. Contrast this with other AIOps point tools that often need to be told specific problems to look for before they can identify an issue. Beyond issue identification, LIKE.TG can help accelerate automation via playbooks that enable increased productivity, greater efficiency, and self-healing.Real-time data and impactNone of this can happen without a single platform where AIOps can access all historical and real-time incident, problem, and change data. LIKE.TG makes this easy with Service Operations.Enterprises worldwide are realizing significant benefits with LIKE.TG’s market-leading Service Operations capabilities, common data foundation, core platform capabilities, and new Service Operations Workspace experience. All of these combine to help organizations monitor their infrastructure and applications at the service level and prioritize their responses.Predictive AIOps is a core capability of Service Operations. It gives centralized and decentralized IT teams the ability to understand the exact impact of an issue on a critical service, application, or end user.Eliminating outages, decreasing costsThe goal of every IT team is zero impact on end users and zero touch by operations teams. By increasing the quality of services while freeing IT teams for strategic work and innovation, Predictive AIOps gets teams closer to that goal.As an example, one of our most complex problems at LIKE.TG, our virtual private network (VPN) service, was also one of the first we could resolve proactively. With most of our employees working remotely today, the VPN service is mission-critical.By identifying abnormalities in our firewalls and Active Directory, and then correlating that data with endpoint device data, we can automate the restoration of VPN services before users are impacted. Doing so, we've prevented incidents and outages, decreased operational costs, and boosted IT staff productivity.Find out more about how to move from reactive to proactive IT in our AI-Powered Service Operations 101 Primer guide.1 Gartner, Market Share: IT Operations Management Software, Worldwide, 2021, 6 May 2022GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
4 ways to embrace digitalization and reap the benefits
Digitalization is a strategic business objective in 80% of organizations, according to OCEG research sponsored by ServiceNow. Digitalization can have a significant impact on all areas of business, from risk and service operations to customer service.No matter where your organization is in its digital transformation journey, here are four resources that can help:1. Digital-first customer serviceDigitizing customer service offers numerous benefits: faster resolution times, more options for customers to communicate with your organization, and higher customer satisfaction as a result. Yet, according to an NTT study, 41% of companies still manage their digital channels in silos. This makes it difficult to track customer journeys.1Hear from a Forrester Research analyst about how — and why — you should digitize your customer service. She'll discuss findings from Forrester’s How to Reinvent Customer Service to Be Digital-First report.2. AI-powered chatbotIn a world where customers are quick to jump to a competitor if they have a bad experience, why not empower them to get answers fast through self-service? LIKE.TG Virtual Agent is an AI-powered chatbot that helps deliver real-time self-service.Using Virtual Agent, employees and customers can get what they need, when they need it through personalized experiences and natural language understanding. Find out more of the benefits in our Jump-start your digital transformation webinar.3. Automatic issue detectionArtificial intelligence has broad appeal and applications across an organization. Implementing it in service operations, for example, can lead to faster and easier issue resolution. Using a single system, LIKE.TG Predictive AIOps is able to automatically detect anomalies, resolve issues, and prevent outages.In Predicting issues, reducing complexity, and empowering self-service, three Predictive AIOps experts discuss how this proactive approach can benefit organizations.4. Risk managementAlthough digitalization improves data control, it also increases your potential risk surface. Keeping your business secure in this environment is paramount. The Impact of digitalization on your enterprise risk profile examines the findings of the OCEG research study mentioned above.Find out how other companies are managing digital risk and how your organization can identify, assess, and decrease your risk profile using risk management technology.1 NTT, 2020 Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report
How to launch artificial intelligence in your organization
The topic of artificial intelligence (AI) is wide-ranging and extensive, providing what seems like limitless possibilities for the world of work. As such, it’s easy for leaders to get lost in the excitement of implementing an AI model for their enterprise.In our sixth episode of the Canadian Leadership Exchange, we spoke with Jean-Francois Gagné, vice president of AI product management and strategy at LIKE.TG, to learn what leaders should be thinking about before they start to roll out an AI model.Where to start with AIGagné shared how looking for areas of opportunity at the task level is the most important step to start with. To dig in, leaders should ask themselves questions such as:
What key tasks are you looking to improve?
How do these tasks influence decision-making processes?
What kind of outcomes are you looking to achieve?
Beyond the initial stages of AI implementation, some organizations struggle to convert machine learning into actions that drive meaningful business results at scale. Industry leaders often call this the “last mile” problem. To Gagné, the solution depends on the quality of the interaction an enterprise can create between AI functionality and its end users, whether they're customers, employees, or other stakeholders.How AI helps employeesOn the topic of employees, the latest version of the Now Platform delivers hundreds of innovations designed to empower organizations to adapt to the hybrid work era—evolving business models, managing the employee fatigue crisis, and scaling automation and app development across the enterprise.In today’s increasingly challenging talent environment, the phenomenon known as the “Great Resignation” continues to make headlines, with burnout a likely factor in many departures. Digital transformation, including the implementation of AI models, is no longer just a driver of growth and productivity. It can also help employees find better balance in the hybrid world of work and keep them creative, productive, and engaged.For Gagné, machine learning is a great way to improve an employee's ability to focus on meaningful, productive work. A lot has been said about the opportunities that come from leveraging AI in the enterprise. Reducing the volume of menial tasks employees must deal with is where this technology can really help make work better for people.Watch the video to find out more about how to implement an AI model, including how to get employees excited about the benefits AI will have on their work.
