How embracing AI could help your IT department support remote workers more effectively?

Almost five years have passed since the onset of the Covid crisis, and while the memory of social distancing and lockdowns may have receded substantially, some of the changes the pandemic ushered in are well and truly here to stay. 

Chief among them is remote working. Here in Australia, it's become very much the norm, for non-frontline workers across a multitude of sectors. Prior to the pandemic, just 13 per cent of adults with a job worked from home all or most days but by April 2022, that figure had risen to 30%, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

The Australian HR Institute's Hybrid and Flexible Working – Practices in Australian Workplaces in 2023 report revealed that 53% of employees were working from home regularly, while 14 per cent worked continuously from home.

That's a status quo that seems unlikely to change significantly, ongoing robust negotiations between management and workers about just how to strike the balance between home and office time notwithstanding.

Systems to support a far flung workforce

For some organisations, the shift to remote working has necessitated the deployment of new platforms and processes, to enable remote workers to communicate and collaborate effectively with their colleagues back in the office and elsewhere around the country.

It's ICT investment that makes sound sense, but, in many instances, it's created an additional burden for the helpdesk teams responsible for frontline troubleshooting and support. Typically, they're being asked to do more with less to provide rapid resolutions to a greater number of issues, but with no commensurate increase in their headcount.

Helpdesks operating with legacy technology have been particularly hard hit, with ticket backlogs and long waits for resolutions the norm. 

It's frustrating for workers left stranded in limbo, holding on for a fix for hours or even days, and stressful for the helpdesk workers responsible for delivering it.

From an organisational perspective, meanwhile, employees not being able to complete tasks and assignments because they're experiencing issues accessing or navigating critical systems is a serious productivity drain, one business leaders can't afford to ignore.

Embracing AI in the helpdesk

In this instance, technology is not only the problem; it can also be part of the solution – at least for organisations that are prepared to swap manual ticketing systems and menu-driven chatbots for autonomous bots.

Unlike their predecessors, the latter leverage advanced AI and machine learning to understand and resolve a wide range of issues without human intervention. They're capable of learning from every interaction they engage in, can adapt to new situations and even predict potential problems before they occur.

The routing and prioritisation of tickets, for example, is a common cause of bottlenecks if performed manually. Draw on the power of AI, though, and it's a very different story: tickets can be automatically categorised and routed to the right teams and then prioritised according to urgency and complexity.

Likewise with knowledge management: AI-enhanced service portals can provide users with more accurate information and suggest relevant articles that address their queries and offer proven fixes for common issues. 

It's enabling technology that can slash wait times and free support teams up to focus on more complex fixes and on strategic activities that add value to the organisation. 

Providing better tech support for your team 

All signs suggest remote working is here to stay. It's good for individuals and organisations both, provided employees have the systems and tools they need to work productively from afar and speedy access to tech support when things go awry.

Judiciously deployed, generative AI applications can unlock new efficiencies and capabilities for ICT service desks. They make it possible for technical support teams to manage their workloads more effectively and resolve common issues at speed, irrespective of where users happen to be located.

If getting the most out of your remote workforce matters to your organisation, it's an investment in productivity and profitability that's likely to pay handsome dividends today and long into the future.