The Real Talk: Your Knowledge base will never be perfect

[dereknohr]

One thing I keep hearing as I talk to my peers about turning on AI is:   I'm not sure that our knowledge is in a state where it will make AI beneficial. 

I get that but I think it's more of a delay tactic than an actual reason to not get started. 

Yes, KBs exist from systems which were retired years ago

Yes, the process changes so frequently that the moment you hit publish, it needs to be edited again

Yes, there are whole businesses processes not in/connected to ServiceNow

Despite your view of your data, is it enough to not take the first step?   

Turning it on and prompting the common user questions will tell you if your data is garbage or if it's  performing 'good enough'.   Don't let perfection get in the way of you getting started.

What's the worst which would happen if you go live with sub par knowledge?   Scare me straight.

[briannuernb]

I would start with a smaller group with access prior to turning it on for the masses.  This is how we approached it to ensure much of our knowledge was ready. Think about your top questions that your service desk or your users are asking/searching for.  Test it out to see if the answers it provides make sense. If the answers are off the wall, revise the KB.  Any AI is only going to be as good as the foundation it has to build its information from, and nowassist is double dependent on that foundation. As far as scaring you straight, it depends on the industry you are in 🙂

[Nia McCash]

One of the worst things I can think of is that the AI implementation ends up being garbage (eg. a chatbot performs poorly and gives a useful answer only half the time at best) and therefore dilutes confidence in any future AI implementations. 

But still, I take your point and the reminder that we shouldn't let perfect be the enemy of good.

[katiegreen1]

My game plan is to start working with the Knowledge Base owners and start a content inventory and cleanup. We just installed the Knowledge Center which I believe will help us some. Like you said cannot let perfection get in the way of getting started. Just gotta make progress!

[joycoats]

I always follow the 80/20 rule. You will never be 100%. Our approach to is to use reporting to identify the top used knowledge articles and start building a plan around those