Company: IBM
Company Description: IBM is a technology corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, with operations in over 171 countries. IBM produces and sells computer hardware, middleware and software, and provides hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from very high end computers to nanotechnology. IBM is also a major research organization, holding the record for most annual U.S. patents generated by a business.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Use of Technology in Customer Service - Computer Industries
 Nomination Title: AI and Automation transforms the IT support experience
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the nominated achievement since July 1, 2022, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- Outline the nominated achievement since July 1 2022 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 245 words used.
To assist IBM support teams in handling complex cases and speed time to solution, IBM created an AI cloud service called “Agent Assist.” As the name suggests, it assists support agents by pulling the most relevant information from a vast IBM knowledge base and provides recommendations and solutions to a newly opened support case. The intent of this effort is to help support agents solve clients' problems faster. Additionally, newly hired personnel can increase his/her productivity and reduce the time required to learn and resolve cases. This tool is meant to empower an agent to be more effective and efficient at the same time. Agent Assist uses Large Language Model(LLM) technology from IBM watsonx. This capability which has been co-developed by TLS, the Zurich Research Lab, IBM CIOoffice and Support SMEs.
Another tool that was developed by this team is called “On Demand Case Summarization”. The goal of this tool is to save time when reviewing or summarizing cases. Before this capability was available, one had to read through the case details to learn about a case, which can be very lengthy and may include many updates that can be repetitive. Reading through a case to understand the current status easily becomes a very time-consuming process. Now, with the availability of this tool one can quickly understand the case. All IBM personnel engaged in case resolution, including executives, support managers, support agents, and field technicians, can utilize this tool for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness.
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- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
- Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 186 words used.
International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, with operations in over 171 countries. IBM produces and sells more than 7000 computer hardware, middleware and software, and provides hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are one of the largest technology and consulting employers in the world, serving clients around the globe.
IBM Technology Lifecycle Services – a department of IBM Infrastructure division - provides world-class IT support, services and insights for IBM infrastructure products and multivendor data center environments—including servers, storage, networking, security and software. Support services are the backbone of any enterprise, ensuring seamless operations, maximizing uptime and delivering exceptional customer experiences. By providing timely assistance, resolving issues efficiently, and proactively addressing potential problems, support teams play a pivotal role in maintaining business continuity, enhancing customer satisfaction and driving innovation.
IBM Technology Lifecycle Services (TLS) leverages IBM watsonx AI, Automation and analytics-driven insights to provide comprehensive, proactive and predictive support capabilities for IBM Infrastructure as well as leading third-party systems and software, through alliances and partnerships.
- Explain why the achievement you have highlighted is unique or significant. If possible compare the achievement to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 246 words used.
As a developer of AI, IBM implemented AI to its own support services processes and tools.
Agent Assist is designed to:
- Help support agents quickly and effectively resolve support cases by providing relevant information and recommendations.
- Increase the productivity and efficiency of newly hired agents by reducing the time and effort required to research and resolve cases.
- Enhance the speed and quality of resolution, leading to increased customer satisfaction.
In 2024, the IBM FlashSystem support team utilized the tool in 78% of cases, resolving 13,000 cases without additional work. By harnessing this tool, the team improved time to solution by 23%, showcasing its substantial impact on operational excellence and client service.
Case Summarization tool included a range of innovative features:
- Case description summary: Generates a description of the case immediately after it's been opened.
- Case resolution summary: Saves support agents' time during case closure, improves the quality of the resolution description content, and creates data for use in further AI endeavors. Support agents are saving 2-3 mins per case.
- Incremental summary: Enables case summarization when the case is escalated, has a change in severity, or has changed to "client requested a callback."
In 2024, the Case Summarization tool was utilized for around 500,000 cases across various teams, generating high-quality summaries in 82% of instances. This yielded a 2-minute time-saving per case, empowering agents to dedicate more time to clients or develop new skills. It proved invaluable for intricate cases necessitating global team coordination.
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