The IT Support Assistant
An interactive, AI-based solution that leverages Watson Assistant technology to help IBMers with their most common IT Support questions.
The assignment: Work with a large, cross-functional design and development team in a rigorous Agile environment to create — and iterate on — a chatbot that allows IBMers to bypass the help desk, empowering them to troubleshoot common IT Support questions on their own.
My role: Lead conversation designer on the IT Support Assistant, working closely with UX and visual design to create human-like conversational responses that engendered trust and confidence in the assistant. In collaboration with the Help Desk content team, I surfaced critical information relevant to user queries, crafting responses that would avoid cognitive overload. I was also tasked with developing a positive tone that would encourage users to work with the Assistant, rather than immediately ask to be transferred to a live agent.
The IT Support Assistant in action
A pop-up introduces first-time users to the IT Support Assistant. The Assistant introduces itself by offering suggestions on topics it can help users with, as well as informing them they can type a question in the field below.
Once the conversation begins, the Assistant surfaces relevant information and gives users the option to receive more details by selecting links in the text, and takes users to a page with information on troubleshooting the issue, bypassing the Help Desk.
Managing downvotes and request for live help
Because the intention of the IAssistant is to encourage users to troubleshoot common IT issues, I created dialogues that would steer users from the live support option prematurely.
However, the intention wasn’t to frustrate users or have them abandon their attempt at resolving the issue. After two downvotes, the agent volunteers to connect the user to live support options.
Not every issue can be solved by the user, and the Assistant acknowledges this. Crafting language that encourages users to attempt to troubleshoot on their own before requesting live support was a key ask of the IT Support Assistant design team.