The rise of artificial intelligence in the enterprise has brought with it new solution categories, including services such as Agent IQ that use natural-language processing to automate companies’ help desk operations. Most of these offerings focus on fielding inquiries from customers.

LogMeIn Inc., in contrast, is harnessing AI to help companies provide better support for their employees. The software-as-a-service giant today introduced a chatbot called Prompt.ai that can reply to questions in place of the information technology department.

The launch comes about a year after LogMeIn acquired help desk automation provider Nanorep Technologies Ltd. for $45 million. The startup had developed a chatbot that could draw on information in a company’s knowledge base, order tracking system and other applications to answer questions from users. Prompt.ai takes the concept a step further by enabling workers to request assistance without having to interrupt their workflows.

The service can be accessed directly in Slack, Microsoft Teams and the other collaboration services that knowledge workers use to communicate with one another. If Prompt.ai doesn’t have the answer for a given question, it escalates the inquiry to a human agent.

On the backend, IT personnel can customize the answers generated by the bot using content from their company’s knowledge base. A built-in analytics function tracks how users interact with Prompt.ai and uses the data to provide suggestions for improving the content. If a large number of employees ask a certain printer-related question, for instance, the bot might recommend that the IT department add an article that covers the topic.

LogMeIn unveiled Promot.ai alongside a new iteration of its GoToAssist service, which lets administrators remotely access a user’s device for troubleshooting. The offering has been rebranded as RescueAssist and updated with several new features. Among them is a browser plugin that allows workers initiate a support session without opening a new application, which LogMeIn said will speed up the process.

Photo: LogMeIn