Intelligent Systems Report € December € 1995 € Volume 12 € No. 12

Automated Support on the Rise

Intelligent help desk systems at the corporate level have emerged in recent years as one of the "killer applications" long anticipated for the artificial intelligence industry (see ISR, April 1995). If current trends hold true, these systems will become even more prevalent.

Customer support organizations are implementing strategies primarily to reduce costs and handle their rapidly expanding client base, according to a survey commissioned by Advantage KBS (Edison, N.J.), a supplier of automated, intelligent customer support systems. The survey was conducted by Market Horizons, an independent market research organization, of 100 computer hardware and software companies.

Over half (54.2%) of the customer support executives surveyed cited containing or reducing costs as the main reason driving automation strategies. Over 45% said that because their client base is expanding, they are implementing intelligent software. Other reasons given for automation include:

Improving first-level problem resolution (33.3%);
Increasing customer satisfaction (33.3%);
Part of a reengineering program (20.8%).

Over 16% of those surveyed stated that one of the reasons for their customer support automation projects was either an increasing number of products to support or that the products being supported were more complex.

All of those surveyed who have software development programs underway are including problem resolution technologies in those programs.

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