Self-service for Customer Service Management

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Self-service for Customer Service Management

    The Customer Service Management application enables ServiceNow customers to provide efficient self-service options through integrated portals. These portals combine knowledge articles, community forums, service catalogs, chatbots, and live agent support to empower customers and consumers to resolve issues, submit cases, and request services independently.

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    Portal Types and Capabilities

    • Customer Service Portal: Designed for business-to-business (B2B) customers to access self-service resources.
    • Business Portal: Also supports B2B customers with customizable widgets for tailored experiences.
    • Consumer Service Portal: Targets business-to-consumer (B2C) customers with the same self-service and Virtual Agent features.

    All portals integrate Virtual Agent for guided assistance and efficient issue resolution.

    Key Features

    • Service Catalog: Allows customers to request services and products directly from the portal, with tracking of open requests.
    • Knowledge Base: Provides searchable articles to help customers find troubleshooting guidance and solutions without agent intervention.
    • Community Forums: Enables customers and agents to engage, collaborate, and share solutions within an interactive forum environment accessible via the portal.
    • Chat and Virtual Agent: Offers automated conversational support that directs customers to self-service resources or escalates to live agents through Connect Support when needed.
    • Engagement Messenger: Extends access to information and services through third-party web applications outside the ServiceNow environment.

    Practical Benefits

    By implementing these self-service portals, ServiceNow customers can reduce support workload, accelerate issue resolution, and enhance customer satisfaction by providing accessible, intuitive, and comprehensive self-help resources. The integration of multiple channels ensures customers can find relevant solutions or connect with agents seamlessly.

    Next Steps

    To implement and configure these self-service portals, customers should refer to the specific guides for setting up the Customer and Consumer Service Portals and Business Portal. Additionally, configurations for chat channels and Engagement Messenger enable optimized customer interactions.

    With the Customer Service Management application, you can provide service for your customers through self-service portals that are integrated with knowledge articles, community forums, service catalogs, and chatbots.

    Customer and consumer self-service portals

    By using the Service Portal application, you can create portals that empower your customers to resolve issues and submit cases and requests for themselves. To help direct customers to the right portal resources, you can also activate the Virtual Agent application for Customer Service Management.

    Portal types

    You can configure three types of portals to support your customers and consumers:

    All portals offer the same self-service and Virtual Agent assistance features.

    Self-service on portals

    Service catalog
    With the Service Catalog application, you can create service catalogs where customers can request items, such as service and product offerings. You can enable customers to request items from the portal by associating one or more service catalogs with the portal. Customers can also track the status of open requests from the portal.

    To learn more about Service catalog, see Service catalog integration with the Customer and Consumer Service Portals.

    Knowledge base
    With the Knowledge Management application, you can create knowledge bases with articles to share information with customers on the portal. Customers can search the knowledge bases for information, such as troubleshooting or task resolutions, to resolve issues and answer questions.

    To learn more about searching the Knowledge base, see Search the knowledge base.

    Community
    With the Communities application, you can create forums for agents and customers to connect, engage, and collaborate with each other. On the portal, customers can search for community content that could provide the solutions and answers that they need.

    To learn more about communities, see Communities.

    Chat

    With the Virtual Agent platform, you can design and build automated conversations that help your customers get the help that they need.

    As customers answer questions and select options presented by Virtual Agent, they’re directed to a self-service resource.

    If customers want to chat with an agent, Virtual Agent hands them off to a live agent. To provide this resource, use the Connect Support feature.

    To learn more about chat, see Configuring the chat channel.

    Engagement Messenger

    With the Engagement Messenger, your customers can easily access the information or services they need from your third-party web applications, even if they’re located outside of the ServiceNow environment.

    To learn more about Engagement Messenger, see Set up Engagement Messenger.

    To get started with the portals, see Configure the Customer and Consumer Service Portals and Configure Business Portal.