Advantages and Disadvantages of AI-powered IT Support

The big thing in business computing is AI, or artificial intelligence, and businesses are implementing it to solve a lot of repetitive issues that free up their employees to serve other roles. One such area is for IT support. But is it worth it to chat with a robot when something as imperative as IT is on the line?

How IT Support Normally Works

Your standard IT support usually involves some sort of remote access, which allows IT professionals and help desk employees to assist your team with troubleshooting.

Most problems can be solved without an on-site visit, aside from hardware issues, but more often than not, it’s better to just replace the malfunctioning hardware and keep it running as long as possible. If you’re following this method of IT support, chances are there are a lot of support tickets floating around. It makes sense why companies would want to automate some of these support tickets and ensure time is spent where it’s best used.

But what are the pros and cons of AI-powered IT support, and should you consider it?

The Advantages

The biggest advantage to AI-powered IT support is that you free your technicians from the “lower-hanging fruit” issues—the ones that are easy to solve and repetitive.

Think about it like this: if an employee needs help with something easy, wouldn’t it be more efficient to have an AI chatbot handle the task so your technicians can focus their efforts on bigger issues? It’s a cost-effective solution, even if it does raise more than a few eyebrows at this time. AI can also analyze system logs, track performance metrics, and recommend proactive measures, all of which can take time that you may (or may not) have.

With this data in hand, knowing how to approach certain incidents suddenly becomes a lot easier, and you make your IT more efficient as a result.

The Disadvantages

The greatest disadvantage of AI-powered IT support also happens to be the greatest disadvantage for any AI-related technology: a lack of empathy and contextual understanding.

AI runs on data, so naturally, its responses are going to be fueled by what makes sense based on that data. If you don’t have data to help AI engage in machine learning, then it won’t be effective when you need it to be—particularly for situations where a human perspective might inject a bit of much-needed empathy and understanding. There’s also the issue of transparency, where AI can generate information that is subject to bias and manipulation, so addressing these issues is a must for any business utilizing AI-powered IT.

And then, of course, you have those who would use AI-powered technology against your business… but we’ll cover that in more detail at a later time.

Our Advanced Technology Gives Us the Edge

Macro Systems combines the latest technology solutions with a human perspective to deliver a service only possible by knowledgeable, hard-working IT technicians. If you’re looking for expertise, you’ve come to the right place. Give us a call at 703-359-9211 to learn more.