Redefine your Support with AI Powered ServiceNow Virtual Agent Chatbot
Written by Saddam Hussain
Technical LeadVirtual Agent Chatbot
ServiceNow Virtual Agent is a SaaS-based platform that delivers strategic user assistance through conversations within a messaging interface. Use ServiceNow Virtual Agent chat bot to design and build automated conversations that help your users quickly obtain information, make decisions, and perform everyday work tasks.
Benefits of Virtual Agent Chatbot
Implementing a virtual agent chatbot to handle common requests and tasks enables users to get immediate help, day or night. Providing virtual agents on user-friendly channels such as third-party messaging apps offers a convenient way for on-time delivery. In addition, a virtual agent provides personalized customer experiences by applying and remembering user information during the conversation.
- Redefine support experience: Give employees and customers an experience they’ll love by automating common requests.
- Provide self-service anytime: Let users get resolution in seconds—no need to wait for an available live agent.
- See immediate business value: Get an instant ROI with guided setup, pre-built conversations, integrations, and configuration tools.
- Increase agent productivity and deflections: Route issues to a chatbot automatically, yielding higher productivity, reducing call volumes.
- Customized experiences: Deliver services that use the context of Now Platform data to deliver unique and personalized conversations anytime.
- A unified platform: Avoid data breaching and business privacy control risks. Model training and conversations stay within a safe digital platform.
- Multi-channel support: Integrate with a channel that supports conversational experiences to connect with users wherever they are.
Conversational Interface
The Virtual Agent conversational interface facilitates an automated messaging session between the user and the virtual agent. The web client interface makes use of the Service Portal web widget to configure for custom service portals. The device is available in the CSM, HR Service Delivery, and ITSM Service Portals in ServiceNow.
A unified conversation includes the following:
- A default welcome alert from the virtual agent leads to the first prompt for the discussion. The initial prompt confirms the user's type of question or selecting the favorite from the given topics.
- User response to the initial prompt: The user chooses the topic for checking an IT ticket.
- It exchanges the Series of prompts, acknowledgments, and responses between the virtual agent and the user until they reach their milestones or process their tasks. In addition, you can access different rich controls available in the bot prompts, for example, choice lists with buttons or images to select an item.
- Closing message to end the conversation.
Conversation Options
When users start a conversation with the bot, they can enter a request or see a list of everything the bot can help. First, the chat window flashes all topics accessible to the user. Then, users use the search box and filter the list of issues if they choose everything.
Manage the Conversation
The conversational interface offers users several options to manage the conversation. For example, users can stop the current discussion and initiate customer support to access a live agent for immediate assistance.
Live Agent Transferring
When they transfer users to a live agent, the chat window header indicates that they are now interacting with a live agent. In addition, the send icons and attachments in the chat window offer uploading an image, text, or PDF file and sending it across to the agent.
Working with File Attachments During a Live Chat
During the live chat, users can attach a file of any type (for example, an image of, text, or PDF file) and send it to the agent. Then, the system automatically performs a virus scan on the file attachment. Finally, it sends the file after the successful scan.
- If the scan fails, a message notifies the user about the scan failure and asks for file correction and upload.
- In case of a time-out (the upload takes too long or virus presence), a message alerts the user that it couldn't process the file and asks them to try the file upload again. Note: All chat clients support file attachment uploads, except for the mobile chat client.
New Message Alerts
Users get both audio and visual alerts while receiving messages from a live or virtual agent.
- The visual indicator displays the total number of messages received in the Service Portal window. When the user opens the chat, the indicator number closes.
- The default sound notification uses the sn_va_web_client_alert.mp3 audio file.
- We can change the sound that requesters hear by uploading your audio file. For details, see Manage audio files.
- To turn off the audio notification for the instance, use the system parameter sysparm_disable_audio_notifications=true. For example: https://
.service-now.com/nav_to.do?sysparm_disable_audio_notifications=true
Purpose-Built Conversation Topics
ServiceNow has innovative templates and pre-built natural language understanding (NLU) models for the HR, IT, and CRM conversations to deploy self-service experiences for immediate business value.
The virtual agent can add tools to identify critical topics through machine learning analysis of incident data, then recommend pre-built conversations with a single click. Employees and customers can then use straightforward language to get immediate help like shown in this preview of example phrases:
- IT Service Management
- How do I reset my password?
- How do I order a new monitor?
- Do we have any outages right now?
- I need help with my laptop technical issue.
- HR Delivery and Services
- I need to add emergency contacts to my profile.
- I have a problem with my payslip.
- How do I apply for comp-off leave?
- Customer Service Management
- I have a problem with my last laptop order.
- What is the status/state of my last order?.
Enjoy Real-Time Service Experiences
The Now Platform enables Virtual Agent to natively access ServiceNow data and provide a personalized experience across desktop and mobile. The virtual agent uses the service menu, NOW platform data, and knowledge base articles for solving common requests.
Virtual Agent Designer
Virtual Agent Designer offers a graphical interface for anyone to build and test conversations using a simple drag and drop designer to deliver a matching look and feel representing your brand value.
Developers can access the tools to build advanced scenarios with support for previews, testing, branching, looping, and scripting that connect to third-party APIs.
NLU Workbench
Create and tune sophisticated models specific to your organization's vocabulary and acronyms without writing a line of code. Instead, enable anyone to define intents and connect entities to your Now Platform data by entering sample sentences and synonyms.
Incident Auto-Resolution
Free up valuable agent time for high-priority or more complicated issues. Incident auto-resolution identifies user intentions in matters submitted and, if an existing Virtual Agent topic can resolve them, proactively initiates a conversation with the end-user. If additional assistance is needed, a live agent will promptly assist the end-user to resolve the issues.
Live Agent Handoff
It can seamlessly transfer chat history and conversation context to a human agent to allow experts for each topic to jump into the conversation, understand the situation thoroughly, and quickly resolve the request.
Conversational Analytics
The virtual agent comes equipped with powerful and fully customizable analytics capabilities that give administrators insights into user interactions. In addition, these real-time dashboards come from a single data source that enables C-level executives to make quick, informed decisions at a glance.
Gain quick visibility into ticket deflection rates and cost avoidance
Understand how Virtual Agent can boost your company's resolution delivery.
Determine escalated topics to the virtual agents.
Meet Real-Time Employees and Customer Solutions
Leverage innovative integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Facebook Messenger, Workplace by Facebook, and WhatsApp that extend Virtual Agent or offer customized integrations with any channel.
Bring the power of Virtual Agent to users by integrating with any messaging interface.
Provide a seamless experience by integrating with a primary bot that manages communication with Virtual Agent
Collaboration with Royal Cyber
Ready to talk about the details with Royal Cyber team? Virtual Agent comes with our custom packages to fit your business needs. As a ServiceNow Certified Partner, we can help you adopt enterprise chatbots. For more information, you can email us at [email protected]
1 Comment
Awesome post, thanks for sharing.