ServiceNow and AI make IT services automated and seamless

Elisa has been investing in the ServiceNow platform and related AI solutions for years, both in its own operations and in the services it delivers to customers. One concrete example of this long-term development work is the Service Desk “Zero Touch” automation. It is changing the way IT services are delivered.

Jukka Alapiha, Technology Director responsible for AI development in Elisa’s IT business, explains how the “Zero Touch” vision is already a reality at Elisa:

“When someone calls the Service Desk, the support specialist only needs to talk and solve the issue. AI transcribes the call, identifies what was discussed, creates the ticket and records its content. If the matter was resolved during the call, the specialist simply presses a button, the AI closes the ticket and sends a message to the customer. All documentation work has been outsourced to AI.”

Automated IT service management speeds up the handling of support requests and improves their quality, while also making it easier to cover for colleagues.

“Because we’ve been automating IT service management ourselves for years using the ServiceNow platform and AI solutions, we can tell our customers in practical terms what works and what doesn’t. For example, in one of our new customer engagements, AI recorded half of the support requests coming into the Service Desk on behalf of the specialist,” Alapiha says.

This leaves specialists with more time to help with the most challenging support requests.

ServiceNow, which enables “Zero Touch” automation, is a cloud-based platform that digitizes and automates companies’ workflows by seamlessly connecting employees, processes, and systems on a single platform. In Finland, it is used by around 80% of the 200 largest companies as well as by central government.

Want to read the article in the original language? Here’s the link to the Finnish version on Elisa’s website:

https://yrityksille.elisa.fi/ideat/servicenow-ja-tekoaly-tekevat-it-palveluista-automaattisia-ja-sujuvia/

Years of investments are paying off

What sets Elisa apart from other players is its ability to combine the ServiceNow platform with AI solutions that have been tested in Elisa’s own operations.

“ServiceNow plays a central role in the IT market. It is the engine behind production-grade IT service delivery in large enterprises—essentially an IT operations management system. We’ve invested in it for a long time so we can offer our customers the best possible quality,” says Ville Rautio, CTO, IT & AI at Elisa.

These investments have been aimed at tangible benefits: faster lead times and better data quality. When data is high-quality, AI can truly show its capabilities.

“The ServiceNow platform and AI help create more and better data, which enables us to start doing connected analysis of what has happened and why. Then we automatically get reports on how, for example, a change in IT services affects the volume and quality of support requests. Data-driven analysis is a new area we’re developing, and customers have been very interested in it as well,” Alapiha says.

The accumulating, high-quality data can also be used to improve knowledge management, for example by using AI to automatically create instruction articles based on resolved tickets.

Partnership with The Cloud People at the heart of continuous development

Elisa’s ServiceNow development is supported by close collaboration with The Cloud People (TCP). The partnership began around three years ago and is built on a clear division of responsibilities and openness.

TCP is a ServiceNow-specialist company employing around 400 experts.

“I dare say TCP is the best possible European ServiceNow partner,” Ville Rautio says.

In the partnership, The Cloud People is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the ServiceNow platform, ensuring it runs smoothly, evolves, and stays in top condition. Elisa, in turn, defines what it wants to achieve from the platform, both in its own operations and in the services delivered to customers.

“Elisa brings strong IT service expertise and AI capabilities. We bring ServiceNow best practices, a continuous development pace, and scalable resources,” summarizes Mikko Pääkkönen, Country Manager of The Cloud People Finland.

"At the heart of the collaboration is ensuring that our shared customers can benefit from the same investments and operating models that Elisa uses itself."

Despite its size, ServiceNow is still developing rapidly like a growth company and today, virtually all of an organization’s information systems can be integrated into it to automate workflows.

ServiceNow Finland’s Sales Director Juha Levo describes ServiceNow as a kind of company-wide AI air-traffic control tower and management system for operational execution and automation.

“Elisa and TCP are an agile and dynamic player in our ecosystem. Together, they can provide end-to-end services to customers. The customer gains good visibility into both their technical infrastructure and their services, which enables improving service productivity and quality,” Levo says.

ServiceNow and AI are at the evolving core of Elisa’s IT services. Investments will continue, and new use cases will be developed together with customers and partners.

Would you like to hear more about our intelligent IT solutions? Elisa’s experts will help your company bring new momentum to IT services. Explore our services and get in touch—let’s talk!

Here is the link to the original Finnish text on Elisa’s website.

https://yrityksille.elisa.fi/ideat/servicenow-ja-tekoaly-tekevat-it-palveluista-automaattisia-ja-sujuvia/