Jan 12 Release for SolarWinds Service Desk – SolarWinds Artificial Intelligence (AI) is Available in AU Datacenters, Service Statistics for Change Records, Data Masking for Custom Fields, and More
Happy New Year! As everyone settles into the routines of 2025, we’re excited to kick the year off with a new release. We at SolarWinds would like to take another moment to thank everyone for the great feedback and dedication to the product in 2024. If you missed our yearly release roundup, catch up here. Now, let’s dive into this release.
Expanding SolarWinds AI to More Regions with Availability in the AU Datacenter
SolarWinds® AI has changed the way our customers in the US and EU datacenters work and communicate with their end users. Now, we are happy to announce that SolarWinds AI is available to our premier plan customers in the AU datacenter. Our AU datacenter customers can enjoy all the following:
- AI suggested solutions surface the processes likely to resolve the issue based on the ticket's content. The product also flags missing information needed from the end-user to resolve the ticket, which can be requested by the agent.
- AI draft responses give agents suggested text to send as a response to the ticket submitter with all the relevant information they need. They can also create draft resolution text when a ticket is ready to be resolved.
- AI incident summary generates a summary of all comments and communication on the ticket, helping streamline collaboration as tickets get passed around to teams or agents.
- AI generated runbooks create formalized runbooks from attachments or free text, capturing processes, decision points, and dependencies and turning them into clear, structured workflows.
Built on the SolarWinds foundation of AI by Design, these capabilities are the ultimate helping hand for IT service management teams, using generative features directly within an agent's workflow to help drastically reduce manual and repetitive tasks, leading to empowered, high-performing teams and processes.
Changes to MyAccount Page for Enhanced Profile Customization and Efficiency
Included in this release is the restructuring of the "My Account" page, now renamed "Profile." The changes we’ve implemented are intended to enhance usability and personalization for teams and agents, as well as help align user profile settings with the ESM environment. Agents can now access preferences and settings relevant to specific service providers, as well as access their relevant account data, regardless of what service provider they’re currently operating in–all to improve workflow efficiency.
The addition of a new "Provider Preferences" tab allows users to manage service provider-specific details such as their role, default homepage setup, and incident display preferences. Notification settings are now streamlined with per-channel customization, providing better control over communication.
These changes prioritize clarity, relevance, and flexibility, addressing the challenge of global settings being previously disconnected from service provider-specific contexts. For more information, see General features and navigation for agents.
Better Visibility and Optimization Opportunities with Service Statistics for Change Records
The availability of service statistics for change records brings a critical enhancement to SolarWinds Service Desk by enabling organizations to monitor and optimize their change management processes effectively.
Customers can now measure key metrics such as time to assignment, first response, approval, and resolution, providing a clear picture of how efficiently change requests are handled. By introducing these metrics, managers and agents can identify bottlenecks, evaluate team performance, and streamline workflows to reduce SLA breaches.
Additionally, the feature helps ensure consistency in service analytics across incidents, problems, and changes, empowering organizations to compare efficiency across different ITSM modules. With access to these insights, customers can make data-driven decisions to improve service delivery, enhance process efficiency, and align their operations with business objectives.
For more information, see Incidents: Change service statistics.
Enhanced Security and Flexibility with Custom Field Data Masking
In this release we’re introducing the ability to specify custom fields for data masking. This feature offers Service Desk users more flexibility in safeguarding sensitive information. Admins can now determine which custom fields should be masked, providing enhanced control over data security, beyond standard categories like personally identifiable information (PII), payment card industry (PCI) data, and protected health information (PHI). This functionality helps ensure masked fields remain secure across all system objects, including incidents, assets, and exports – regardless of the platform.
With built-in governance via permissions, audit logs, and limits on the number of masked fields, organizations can ensure proper oversight and compliance. By tailoring masking to specific business needs, customers gain greater confidence in their ability to protect sensitive data.
Data masking for custom fields is currently available in Labs with the Premier plan. See Setup: Labs.
Enhancing Email Security and Functionality with a New Provider (Action Will Be Required)
We’re excited to let you know that SolarWinds is upgrading its email services by moving to a new provider. This change will help our support teams monitor and resolve email-related issues more effectively while enhancing security and helping ensure emails sent from SolarWinds Service Desk are properly authorized.
We’re implementing this change in two phases:
- Phase 1 starts on Jan 12, 2025.
- Phase 2 will be released on March 2, 2025.
Customer action will be required when Phase 1 begins so that the transition in Phase 2 goes smoothly. For detailed information, visit SolarWinds Service Desk is moving to a new email service provider.
Office Hours Reminder: Do you have more questions about your Service Desk setup or anything regarding Enterprise Service Management (ESM)? You can join us for any of our upcoming office hours and get all your queries and questions answered. View and book your slot using one of the links below:
Other notable enhancements
- New filters added to the time centric reports
- Other masking enhancements and improvements
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
See what else we’re working on.
Have a feature request? Upvote or submit your request here.