Customer Service Automation
IBM HR needed to replace fragmented, multi-channel support and repetitive manual work with a single service experience that could answer policy questions, execute transactions, and route complex cases consistently across a global workforce.
Reported impact
AskHR reduced HR operating cost, cut support tickets sharply, achieved high containment and manager adoption, and shifted the HR operating model toward hybrid automation without removing human support for complex needs.
IBM evolved AskHR from a virtual assistant into an agentic HR support layer powered by IBM watsonx Orchestrate and deep enterprise-system integration. The service exposes more than 7,000 policy pages and automates more than 80 HR tasks through a conversational interface that classifies employee prompts with compliant large language models, routes them to the right HR domain, and either triggers a backend task or returns an AI-generated answer in the user’s preferred language. Behind the scenes, AskHR connects to systems such as Workday, SAP, Concur, and SAP SuccessFactors so employees can retrieve payslips, submit vacation requests, obtain verification letters, or receive personalized payroll and policy guidance, while managers can initiate transfers or organizational updates. The two-tier operating model keeps routine work with AI and escalates only complex needs to human advisors, giving IBM a hybrid digital-labor pattern for HR service at global scale.
An employee or manager submits an HR question in natural language, watsonx Orchestrate classifies it and routes it to the relevant HR domain, AskHR generates a compliant response or triggers a workflow in Workday, SAP, Concur, or SuccessFactors, and only the more complex requests move to human advisors.
“Behind the scenes, complex HR processes are streamlined through deep integration with enterprise systems such as Workday, SAP and Concur.”
“Over the past six years, IBM has continuously refined their internal virtual agent, AskHR, to automate more than 80 HR tasks and handle over 2.1 million employee conversations annually.”
“The AI agent helped contribute to a 40% reduction in the HR team’s operational costs over the past four years.”
“The adoption of AskHR has reached 99% among managers.”
“the team integrated IBM watsonx Orchestrate to enhance AskHR’s gen AI and agentic automation capabilities.”
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