Toyota, a major player in the global auto industry, is revamping how its employees interact with digital tools. This year, the company aims to scrap its old-school IT service desk in the U.S., or at least cut down IT help desk calls by 80%. They’re leaning heavily on automation, predictive analytics, and virtual assistants to make this happen. Zakir Mohammed, who manages AI and automation at Toyota, points out that traditional service desks are often reactive, causing lengthy waits for help.
Imagine needing new software: you’d submit a help desk ticket and perhaps wait two to three days for IT to respond and schedule time for an installation. Frustrating, right? According to Mohammed, many employees stopped opening tickets altogether, leading to unresolved issues and burnout. Recognizing this unsustainable model, Toyota is moving toward a proactive approach.
The company partners with Gartner, which recommends tools that enhance employee experiences with technology. Gartner’s digital employee experience management tools track and improve how employees feel about their tech support. These tools can analyze data from devices, software, and employee feedback, paving the way for self-healing features and enhanced interactions with self-service portals and chatbots. Mohammed notes promising options in this space, but they’ve landed on Nexthink as the best fit for their needs.
With Nexthink’s DEX technology, Toyota’s 100,000 employees now have IT issues diagnosed and resolved before they even reach out for help. They started with a test run involving 100 users, which provided insight into common problems. The challenge? While there were tools for monitoring applications and infrastructure, they lacked the ability to assess individual user experiences. “People are a business’s most valuable asset,” says Mohammed, underscoring the need to track how technology impacts their work.
After the initial pilot, Toyota expanded the program to 30,000 users. This rollout brought not only increased data collection but also automation into the mix. Now, the IT team has clear visibility into user devices, allowing for a smoother digital process and automation of many support tasks.
Nexthink also aids in predictive maintenance. If a laptop battery is projected to decline in performance, the IT team gets notified to replace it before it fails. “This information helps us act before problems arise,” Mohammed explains.
Additionally, Nexthink helps reclaim unutilized software licenses. “We pay for software that might not even be used,” he notes. By scanning for applications that haven’t been used in 90 days, Nexthink sends automated messages to users, prompting them to confirm if they still need those programs. A simple click can reclaim the software without fuss.
Toyota is also experimenting with a virtual assistant, aiming to create a tool akin to ChatGPT for its employees. This assistant helps turn user requests into actionable tasks for Nexthink, streamlining the process of getting software. Need PowerBI? Just ask the assistant, and it takes care of the installation, notifying you when it’s done.
The effort to cut down IT help desk calls via proactive solutions and virtual assistance marks a new chapter in Toyota’s digital employee experience strategy.