Service Support Network for Automated Incident Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional computer-based products face costly and complex failures due to hardware and software complexities, misconfigurations, and unpredictable usage, leading to inefficient incident handling and high service costs, with automation in the diagnosis phase being particularly challenging.
Innovation Solution
A service support network combining automated and human-based components, including self-healing mechanisms, automated diagnosis through an orchestration engine, and uniform incident reporting to optimize the mixture of product-based, automation-based, and human-based support, minimizing costs by determining the optimal allocation of resources based on labor costs and redundancy levels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional call centers and customer engineers handle incidents manually, then human operators can diagnose and resolve problems, but service costs become significantly costly and complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments incident handling into multiple phases (detection, diagnosis, mitigation, restoration) and assigns different handling approaches to different phases. Automated systems handle detection and initial diagnosis, while human operators focus on complex mitigation and restoration tasks, thereby reducing overall service support complexity while maintaining effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an automation orchestration engine as an intermediary between incident detection and human operator intervention. This intermediary automatically routes incidents, performs initial diagnosis, and only escalates complex cases to human operators, reducing the direct burden on human operators and simplifying the service support structure.
2Reliability
If more human operators are deployed to handle incidents, then incident resolution quality improves, but service costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service capabilities where products automatically report incidents with standardized data, and automated systems perform initial diagnosis and routing. This reduces the need for human operator intervention in routine tasks, lowering service costs while maintaining resolution quality for complex issues that do require human attention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes feedback loops where incident handling outcomes are analyzed to continuously improve automated diagnosis algorithms and routing rules. This feedback mechanism ensures that human operators are deployed most effectively to high-value cases, optimizing the balance between resolution quality and cost.
3Adaptability or versatility
If products report incidents in inconsistent ways, then various product configurations can be reported, but noisy data is generated and organization becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal incident reporting framework that standardizes data collection across diverse product types and configurations. The standardized format ensures consistent, organized data while the flexible schema accommodates various product-specific incident characteristics, maintaining both adaptability and data quality.
4Extent of automation
If automation is increased in diagnosis phase, then service costs are reduced, but automation in diagnosis is particularly challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the diagnosis process into multiple stages, with different levels of automation applied to different stages. Simple, routine diagnoses are fully automated, while complex cases are escalated to human operators or semi-automated workflows, reducing the overall complexity of the automation system while achieving high automation levels where appropriate.
Data Source
AI summary
A technique includes providing a cost model to predict a total cost for supporting a computer-based product system. The cost model predicts preventive, reactive and deferred components of the total cost. The technique includes determining features of the support and computer-based product system based at least in part on the cost model.