Want scale? Try an AI-assisted service desk.
A new video series looks at the competitive advantage of ITSM that automates, learns, and scales
Key takeaways
Today’s employees expect consumer-grade support and legacy systems fall short
An AI-assisted service desk is an engine of growth: When AI handles repetitive tasks, human agents can do more
Intuitive design reduces barriers to entry and speeds adoption
The service desk is changing faster than most organizations realize. Not because of a single technology breakthrough, but because the gap between what employees expect and what traditional support models can deliver has become impossible to ignore. AI is baked into most tools, but can it scale?
A new video series from Freshworks, “Inside the AI-Assisted Service Desk,” dives deep into this conundrum with ITSM analyst Stephen Mann. For decades, Mann has tracked the evolution of service management, from manual processes to today’s AI-powered platforms. “AI-assisted service desks,” he says, “change the playing field. They combine automation, intelligent routing, and real-time insights to create a faster, more accurate, and better support experience.”
If you're wondering whether this shift is urgent, ask your employees where they go when they need help fast. For a deeper look at the framework behind this series, explore the 2026 Service Desk Blueprint.
Learn more in the episodes below:
AI-assisted service desks are fundamentally different architectures
An AI-assisted service desk isn’t a chatbot bolted onto legacy tools. It predicts issues before tickets exist, auto-triages with NLP and machine learning, guides agents through complex cases, and frees teams to focus on higher-impact work.
AI adoption is more accessible than you think
AI in ITSM doesn’t require massive infrastructure or rare skills. Modern platforms already offer ticket summarization, intelligent routing, and knowledge surfacing to reduce manual work, scale sustainably, and focus on problems that require human judgment.
Service management is breaking out of the IT silo
HR, finance, and facilities face the same service challenges as IT—often without the right tools. AI-assisted service desks enable enterprise service management for support, intelligent routing, fewer handoffs, and unified insights across the organization.
Asset and knowledge management are accessible and intuitive
Asset and knowledge systems have long frustrated IT leaders. Spreadsheets go stale, articles decay, insights get buried. AI changes that by automating discovery, predicting failures, surfacing knowledge in real time, and keeping content up to date.
The 2026 service desk looks nothing like 2020
Traditional service desks were built for tickets, not experience. In an AI-first world, XLAs and knowledge matter more than volume. In this final episode, Mann previews the 2026 AI Service Desk Blueprint.
