MGM doubles productivity and transforms IT service desk with ServiceNow

Information technology permeates every aspect of MGM’s operations
As one of the premier integrated resort operators in Macau with two properties, MGM MACAU and MGM COTAI, MGM’s business is inextricably linked with technology. From gaming floors to hotel rooms, IT powers guest experiences, hotel operations, security, and more. Effective and responsive IT support is mission critical, with every second of downtime directly affecting both guests and revenues.

MGM’s IT service desk faced high call volume and couldn’t add more staff
MGM faced a significant challenge–one that is shared by other hotel operators in the region. IT professionals are in high demand in Macau, and unemployment is low. This, combined with the repetitive and stressful nature of IT support work, made it incredibly difficult to hire and retain IT support staff.

At the same time, MGM still relied primarily on phone support, placing a major burden on its service desk.

Alex Ding, MGM MACAU’s Director of IT Technology, explains, “Agents can only handle one call at a time. As a result, our service desk was so overloaded that we had incredibly high call abandon rates during peak times. Prioritization was also a major issue since we didn’t know how important a call was until an agent answered it. And, because we were always under pressure to move on to the next call, our first call resolution rates were far too low.”

By adopting chat using ServiceNow Connect Support, MGM doubled agent productivity
To address these issues, MGM decided to adopt chat as its primary support channel with ServiceNow Connect Support. 

According to Alex, “Because we were already using ServiceNow IT Service Management, moving to chat was technically simple, so most of our effort went into driving adoption. The results were great–with chat, we doubled agent productivity in the first two months.”

With ServiceNow, MGM removes wait times, deflects 16% of incidents, and responds within five seconds
Chat was just the first step. Now that the channel was in place, MGM decided to add ServiceNow Virtual Agent chatbot. Alex says, “The whole process only took us 11 weeks, including identifying high-volume incidents, developing corresponding Virtual Agent conversations, testing, and end-user training. Within two months of launch, our deflection rate was already up to 16%. And, users now get a response within five seconds–instead of waiting impatiently on the phone.”

MGM uses ServiceNow Virtual Agent to break down support barriers for IoT-enabled guest rooms
Deflection wasn’t the only driver. In fact, supporting guest rooms was perhaps the single biggest reason why MGM adopted Virtual Agent. According to Alex, “We use IoT devices to control everything from turning on televisions and lights to closing the curtains. Supporting guest rooms is no longer about facilities–it’s about IT.”

However, MGM employed more than 2,000 housekeepers, and many of these couldn’t type in English or Chinese. Because of this, they couldn’t use live chat to report a guest room issue. Instead, they had to phone a back-of-house team, which then reported these issues to IT. Alex explains, “Our back-office team was costly and overloaded. Worse still, waiting for them to relay incidents caused significant delays. When a guest is in a room and can’t turn the air conditioning or watch TV. That’s just not acceptable.”

With ServiceNow Virtual Agent, MGM built an ingenious solution. Rather than having housekeepers call in guest room issues, Virtual Agent now lets housekeepers simply choose items from a menu, using a standard language and number focused entry. Alex says, “Housekeepers simply click on the affected device in the list–for example, the TV or air conditioning–and enter the number of the room. It takes minimal computer skills, and they only have to type numbers. Virtual Agent creates an incident right away, so we respond more quickly and don’t waste the back-office team’s time. We’ve also taken the same approach with other services. For example, users can unlock their account just by giving Virtual Agent their employee ID and badge number.”

MGM plans to grow ServiceNow usage from 25% to 50% via additional services and mobile adoption
Now, ServiceNow Virtual Agent is MGM’s primary target support channel for more than 10,000 users. Users even go through Virtual Agent to request live support. Looking forward, the integrated resort operator will focus on increasing Virtual Agent use by driving mobile adoption, with more than 4,000 users already using the mobile app today. As usage and the services offered increase, MGM forecasts that 50% of its incidents and requests will come via Virtual Agent.

Alex concludes, “With Virtual Agent, we’ve transformed IT service delivery. Users now get an instant response, it’s easy for them to use, and it’s dramatically increased our service desk productivity. It’s been a real success story.” 

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