New Virtual Agent integration automates time-consuming IT issues

Like much of the workforce, IT help desk teams have spent the past year implementing new tools and processes to adapt to the new world of hybrid work.

Many, for example, have turned to virtual agents, AI-powered enterprise chatbot tools that allow employees to quickly resolve common IT issues. Yet, despite the promise of virtual agents, many IT teams still find themselves manually handling everyday incidents. Some of the most common are virtual application and desktop session “resets.”

These resets can be caused by a variety of factors, such as networking issues, forgotten passwords, or misalignment with the IT organization’s chosen authentication policies. However, they all have one thing in common: They can be managed by virtual agents but are often still resolved by a slow, manual, IT help desk process.

Relieving IT and empowering employees

Today, ServiceNow and Citrix are introducing a new Virtual Agent integration to help relieve this burden for IT teams. Leveraging ServiceNow® ITSM and powered by ServiceNow IntegrationHub, the new solution plugs into the Citrix ITSM Connector app, allowing IT to automate the necessary reset actions within Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service.

With this integration, reset incidents can be resolved in a matter of minutes rather than hours, empowering teams to deliver fast, AI-powered, self-service experiences to all employees—regardless of their location or even what personal productivity tools they use. From mobile devices to collaboration tools and regular browsers, ServiceNow virtual agents are available when employees need them.

The new integration helps solve a significant problem for IT organizations. Reset incidents are not only time-consuming, but they’re also expensive. For example, IT service desks at organizations may get more than 10,000 reset incidents per year that need to be resolved manually, draining productivity and taking hours to resolve.

Powering productivity

Through this integration with Citrix, ServiceNow is building on its commitment to advance automated self-service across the enterprise, powering employee productivity and reducing costs for enterprises.

Poor employee experiences can have a dramatic downstream impact on customer experiences. Workers at healthcare providers, for example, need simple, secure, and consistent access to software for viewing authorized private patient records and appointment schedules. Slow resolution of IT incidents can impede patients’ ability to receive care, particularly when employees are working from home without access to another device.

Brian Nuernberg, manager of IT service delivery at North Carolina-based healthcare network Novant Health, says the organization has been challenged by the IT demands generated by remote work, particularly given the broader healthcare delivery challenges created by the pandemic.

“Secure and consistent access to Citrix Virtual Applications and Desktops so that employees have the appropriate level of access to key information is mission-critical,” he notes.

“With the Citrix ITSM Connector, we’ve been able to reduce the number of incidents resolved manually by 25%. We expect to more than double that number initially with the new Virtual Agent integration and see it increase as adoption spreads across the organization to unlock more productivity for our employees and provide the best patient experiences.”

The new integration is available now in ITSM Virtual Agent Conversations and the Citrix ITSM Connector from the ServiceNow Store.

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