Boost Productivity with ServiceNow AI Search: Features, Benefits & Use Cases

ServiceNow self-service is one of the key features powering the platform's ability to resolve issues quickly and deliver superior services. To further scale, improve performance, accuracy, speed, and customization, ServiceNow introduced AI Search, a new feature of the AI Search Assistant.

ServiceNow AI Search helps IT teams, customer service, and other departments work faster by quickly finding and suggesting the right information. It gives users a smoother, smarter experience across various ServiceNow-supported communication channels.

Understanding the Significance of ServiceNow AI Search

AI Search allows customer service representatives and other ServiceNow users to uncover information in the portal effortlessly. For example, agents can use AI Search virtual agent ServiceNow integration to access catalog items, Knowledgebase articles, or other information across departments to resolve customer issues instantly. Similarly, employees can access related Knowledge articles to solve issues by themselves without reaching out to IT staff, reducing IT Service Desk time.

AI Search ensures consistent user experiences and engagement across portals, Knowledge base, mobile apps, and chatbots. Especially in the competitive, digital workplace, where delivering consumer-like experiences to employees is critical.

The Analytics and Reporting solution helps AI Search administrators analyze search query traffic trends, review indexed records and configuration settings, and preview search query results.

Figure: ServiceNow AI Search Index

To improve search, AI Search maintains a search index that holds platform data, external content sources, technologies, and various ServiceNow applications like the portal, mobile apps, and virtual agents. Businesses can configure searchable content by configuring the AI Search index.

Administrators can plan search experiences by customizing the search profiles. The search profiles describe the sources from which the search must be carried out and linguistic search request characteristics, which include autocorrections to search words or keywords.

Here, every search profile characterizes a distinctive experience or specific user on ServiceNow. Admins can create search profiles, link to various sources, customize, and publish. To understand and deliver appropriate search results, AI Search uses an effective search query language. Using the auto-complete feature, AI Search can automatically show recommendations while the user is typing based on user search history, trending search queries, and intent predictions. Admins can alter the autocomplete to remove unwanted suggestions.

Admins can analyze search trends, number of indexed sources, configuration settings, search results, and associated analytics through interactive analytics and reporting dashboards.

Figure: AI Search Analytics Dashboard

AI Search supports English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. To further enhance search recall and to allow users to discover information in different forms, AI Search supports Lemma and Unicode normalization for all these languages. AI Search strictly adheres to security operations standards and makes sure information is only sent to authorized users.

Benefits of ServiceNow AI Search

ServiceNow AI Search brings numerous benefits to organizations. Let's explore some of the top benefits.

• Increased efficiency: Users can find what they need quickly. It enhances their productivity and reduces dependency on IT support.
  
  For example, Deloitte saw a 30% boost in search relevance and a 67% drop in support queries after implementing ServiceNow AI Search.
• Enhanced self-service: Users can solve problems independently with contextual search.
• Scalability: Supports both internal and external content indexing for robust enterprise-wide search.
• Better insights: Use the ServiceNow AI Search dashboard to monitor performance and optimize configurations.
• Language flexibility: Supports English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish, including Lemma and Unicode normalization.

Together, these benefits make ServiceNow AI Search a powerful tool for scaling digital service delivery across enterprise environments.

Features of ServiceNow AI Search

Here are the standout features of ServiceNow AI Search:

• Search Indexing: Includes both Now Platform data and external sources through IntegrationHub or external APIs.
• Search Profiles: Outlines what to search for, how to search for it, and who gets what results.
• Autocomplete Suggestions: Based on user history, intent, and trends, it offers intelligent keyword recommendations.
• AI and NLP Technologies: Leverages machine learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Natural Language Understanding (NLU), and Analytics to drive smart results.
• Dashboard Visualization: The ServiceNow AI Search analytics interface provides a breakdown of indexed documents, sources, and search profiles.
• Security Compliance: Based on access permissions, each result is visible only to users who are authorized to view it.

When comparing contextual search vs ServiceNow AI Search, the latter is powerful due to its intent identification, personalization, and real-time refinement capabilities.

Top Use Cases of ServiceNow AI Search

ServiceNow AI Search helps both customers and employees in finding what they need faster. Here are some powerful use cases:

1. Self-Service Portals

   Users and employees can find answers to their queries quickly. Whether it can be resetting the password, requesting a new laptop, or finding a company document. Based on the search query given by the user, AI Search provides smart suggestions based on the user's intent and previous searches. Therefore, users can solve issues without having to contact the IT teams.

2. Customer Service Resolution

   Support agents can easily find the catalog items and knowledge base articles to resolve customer queries. This reduces resolution time and better support and customer experience.

3. IT Service Management (ITSM)

   With the help of AI Search, IT teams can now find system documentation, incident records, and any requests quickly. Whenever an issue pops up, teams can search for similar incidents and the respective solutions to save time and avoid redundant work.

   A real-world example: Siemens cut search time by 50% and boosted technician productivity by using AI-powered document categorization in their ServiceNow environment.

4. HR and Employee Experience

   AI Search helps employees to find leave policies, onboarding procedures, or relevant training resources. By giving quick answers to employees, AI Search provides the best experience on HR portals, across any device.

5. Chatbots and Virtual Agents

   As virtual agents are integrated into ServiceNow, with AI Search, users can get answers to their queries via chat. The chatbot understands the user query and responds using contextual data. This is a key part of the AI search virtual agent ServiceNow capability.

   Learn more about how ServiceNow's Virtual Agent works, its benefits, and key use cases in our detailed guide.

6. Search Analytics and Improvements

   Admins can monitor user searches using ServiceNow's AI search analytics dashboard. It helps them find out what users are searching for, where they are struggling, and how to improve the search setup. These insights, powered by ServiceNow AI search analytics, help make search smarter over time.

   These use cases give an insight into how AI Search is transforming support functions into smarter, more proactive services.

   By combining AI, NLP, and contextual understanding, AI Search transforms self-service and IT support into smarter, more proactive experiences.

How to Enhance User Experience with ServiceNow AI Search?

Here are the steps and tips to achieve the best results using ServiceNow AI Search.

1. Configure Accurate Search Profiles: Define distinct experiences for every user group by customizing sources and language corrections.
2. Utilize Autocomplete Management: Modify predictive text by filtering irrelevant suggestions.
3. Monitor Analytics Dashboard: Use the ServiceNow AI Search dashboard to understand the behavior of each user and modify the settings accordingly.
4. Incorporate External Content: Extend knowledge scope by integrating third-party content using IntegrationHub or APIs.
5. Compare Capabilities: Use tools like ServiceNow Zing vs AI Search to determine the best fit. AI Search could be better with personalization and scalability.

To stay ahead, explore how ServiceNow is embracing GenAI and other smart innovations.

Additionally, if you are debating ServiceNow automation engine vs IntegrationHub, it's important to note that both support automation. But IntegrationHub plays a direct role in enhancing AI Search with external content for a more comprehensive search index.

Conclusion

Overall, AI Search supports a multilingual framework, advanced linguistic normalization, and robust security, making it an ideal enterprise search solution. Combined with visual reporting from the AI Search analytics dashboard of ServiceNow, admins can maintain peak search efficiency and relevance across devices, portals, and virtual agents. By leveraging the full spectrum of AI-powered features, ServiceNow AI Search can improve operational productivity, user satisfaction, and achieve self-service success.

Curious how AI is transforming other industries? Read how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing healthcare.

Need assistance to use the ServiceNow platform? Connect with our ServiceNow Experts!

FAQs

1. Can ServiceNow AI Search be used on mobile?

   Yes, ServiceNow AI Search works seamlessly across mobile apps, portals, and chatbots.

2. How does AI Search differ from ServiceNow Zing?

   Unlike ServiceNow Zing, AI Search uses advanced AI and natural language processing to understand user intent, offer personalized results, and support better scalability.

3. Does AI Search support multiple languages?

   Yes, AI Search supports English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish with Lemma and Unicode normalization.

4. Is AI Search secure?

   Yes, it respects role-based access control and only shows results users are authorized to view.

5. Can AI Search access external data sources?

   Yes, using IntegrationHub or APIs, AI Search can index external content alongside platform data for broader results.