Meet the New Team Member

You will beat the routine with a chatbot that never sleeps

S

ny repeated questions, requests for advice or assistance with a manual can easily be handled by artificial intelligence in the form of a chatbot. At ŠKODA AUTO, a number of departments are already working with this tool (see Where and How IVA Helps). This is because the chatbot is part of a growing family of applications that automate the processes we are used to completing on our computers and mobile phones or by calling a Service Desk. Interestingly, its user interaction is almost exclusively based on its chat interface – e.g. a chat embedded in a website or one of the widespread chat applications like Facebook Messenger, Skype for Business, WhatsApp etc. It primarily communicates with the user in the most natural way – in writing or verbally. “The main advantage is the ability to use a chatbot to communicate at any time and without waiting. It works online 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition, it will serve multiple customers at the same time”, explains Filip Kulka from the FIO/5 department, who is in charge of artificial intelligence and automation.

ŠKODA customers and employees send numerous recurring requests to our various departments every day. That is why our IT department designed our intelligent virtual assistant (IVA). Thanks to its algorithms, our assistant solves the most common situations so that only more complicated questions reach our experts. Thus, the chatbots freed the hands of many of our workers who can concentrate on more creative or complex work that matches their qualifications. In addition, this feature can be used in most of our departments. This is precisely what the SVP (SKODA Verbesserungsprozess) activities aim to achieve. Their goal is to provide a paperless office for the entire company.

Chatbot technology is currently in use in three departments, and we are already working to deploy it at our three other departments. Štěpán Vorlíček

Where and How IVA Helps

IT Point and Service Desk

Over 1,000 inquiries about various issues reach the Service Desk via business phones every month. When handling a similar situation, our employees would turn to the operator and then to our IT specialists. However, our Chatbot IVA can respond to their inquiries itself. It will also help in a situation where mobile phones are undergoing massive change, and our IT Points may not be able to handle such a huge workload. Our chatbot can link calendars and suggest appointments at times that fit everyone involved.

Legal Department

Are you often looking for confidentiality agreements or its templates? All you need to do is to enter what you are looking for by business name, its business ID or department (of submitter). Chatbot IVA will look for a confidentiality agreement based on the parameters and display all the information. Otherwise, it can direct you to create it in the ELO app

Purchasing

The only chatbot that is not only an internal matter but also handles external inquiries is at the Purchasing department. It helps our external contractors who are not sure how to complete their registrations on the car manufacturer’s website.

Where They are Preparing Their Chatbots

Quality

A chatbot will already support our Quality department during the first quarter of this year. If its employees cannot get into the system they need for their work, they have previously had to solve it directly with support by phone or via e-mail. Now, our chatbot will offer them assistance. It will be able to verify their access permission and employee card if their login is denied. Alternatively, you can use our chatbot to apply for the (re)assignment of access roles.

Finances

Another new feature that is coming soon is a chatbot that will help employees to bill business trips directly in @SMART Apps. 

HR and Recruitment

Our HR department colleagues will soon get rid of their handwritten documents for recruiting, which they used to enter into their computers. Our chatbot will enter all their data directly into our system. This new feature will also be launched very soon. 

Would you need a chatbot at your department as well? Contact us at skoda.it.ai@skoda-auto.cz

@SMART Application

Do you wish to process your employee interview results effectively, comfortably and quickly?

eMAG

An employee interview (or MAG, abbreviated from the German Mitarbeitergespräch) is a two-way dialogue between a supervisor and his/her subordinate and is a key tool to motivate, manage the performance and assist in the personal development of technical-economic employees and foremen. Your simple and quick processing of its results is ensured by the eMAG application, which is designed for the electronic versions of interview outputs. The data entering itself is very intuitive. The individual forms can be completed through either the supervisor’s or his/her subordinate’s computer. A lot of data (such as time range, employee data and more) are already automatically pre-filled in the application. It is this step that accelerates your work. Approval and potential modifications of the system-filled forms take place via the EBP/eCockpit, and they are completed by the supervisor or the employee, who did not enter any data into the application. If the approver disagrees with the information provided, he/she may return the form with comments to help with modifications. RED

9,863

interviews took place via the eMAG Application last year

News at ŠKODA Space

Mobile app, to-do list and an abundance of information. These are the features you will find at ŠKODA Space. We are currently working on additional features so that our portal is fully functional after we shut down the current version.

Already Running

Portal Contents Search

The basic search and results filter already work on the portal. Now, you can click through to the relevant content directly from your list of search results once you have entered your desired term.

Mobile Application

Your simple login is here! Our business mobile phones feature our ŠKODA Space application. For iOS mobile devices, your login through both the first and second factor is fully automatic. We are developing one for Android users, too.

Task List

It features the same items and to-be-approved tasks as on our current portal. For example, you can process BWAs, IT requests, EBP items, improvement suggestions and much more.

Fuels

On the home page, in the Me section and in the Useful menu, our service car users will find a new portlet with information on fuelling and washing their car during the selected period.

What is Coming?

Manual

Our comprehensive manual will guide you through the most frequently used features of our new portal. 

Kiosks

Starting in mid-March, ŠKODA Space will also be available at the production information kiosks.

Contact Cards

This feature will allow you to download a contact card to your Outlook Address Book or onto your mobile phone.

Favourite Links

At ŠKODA Space, you will find the same favourite links that you have created on our current portal. You can find their list in the Me section.

Meals Summary

The summary you know from the original My Portal section can be found in the Me section and the Useful side menu.

Attendance

You will be able to view your last arrival, departure, recommended work breaks and a link to your attendance sheet.

Favourite Contents

If you select any tracking of specific information and news, the system will notify you of updates.

Notifications

ŠKODA Space will notify you of your new tasks or updates of our tracked news and information pages.

Did You Know That..

... you can access ŠKODA Space from your own private computer or mobile phone? Just open www.skodaspace.cz and enter your username (DZC) and LDAP password.