# Understanding employee experience with Spark

Spark is a conversational IT agent that serves as the first point of contact for employees when they need IT assistance.

Unlike traditional chatbots that rely primarily on predefined scripts or static knowledge bases, Spark follows an agentic approach. It can reason over employee context and execute IT-approved actions to diagnose and remediate issues.

Spark leverages extensive device context and Digital Employee Experience (DEX) data, enabling more accurate analysis and targeted resolution. By combining contextual awareness, action capabilities, and learning from resolved incidents, Spark accelerates issue resolution and reduces the need for manual IT intervention.

Spark is accessible through a supported workplace communication interface, providing support within a familiar environment.

## How Spark works

**Spark** connects with employee requests through the communication channel, runs a diagnosis, and attempts issue resolution.

<figure><img src="/files/BiIQ5NWftD2yT6HTnLjo" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

The **Spark** workflow consists of the following steps:

{% stepper %}
{% step %}
**Employee initiates conversation**

The employee submits a request through a configured communication channel.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Spark interprets the request and evaluates data**

Spark interprets the employee request using natural language processing. Based on the request, Spark gathers and evaluates the following data sources:

* Nexthink datasets for user or device diagnostics, limited to the employee's own data.
  * If an employee uses multiple devices (desktop, laptop, or virtual desktop), Spark identifies the relevant device based on context and asks for confirmation. It can list up to 3 most recently used devices.
* [Imported knowledge base articles](/platform/user-guide/spark/setting-up-and-managing-spark/managing-spark-data-inputs/managing-knowledge-sources.md)
* Service catalog ingested from ServiceNow
* Past ticket resolution data from ITSM.
* [Available actions](#spark-actions), including:
  * built-in agent actions
  * custom remote actions or workflows for diagnostics or remediation.
* Nexthink Adopt application guides
  {% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Spark provides a response**

Spark responds to the employee by providing answers or potential solutions. Depending on the situation, Spark can:

<details>

<summary>Provide self-help guidance or detailed information</summary>

If no automatic remediation or service request is required or no relevant remediation actions have been made available through configuration, Spark provides guidelines to help the employee address the need. This guidance may include the following resources, relevant to the employee’s request:

* Links to related knowledge base articles
* Links to Adopt guides, displayed directly in the target application as step-by-step overlays.
  * Shared links redirect the employee to the relevant web application page
  * The guide launches automatically. Refer to [Creating guides](/platform/user-guide/adopt/guide-creation-and-management-from-nexthink-applications/creating-guides.md) to make guides available for Spark.

<figure><img src="/files/2LZ8jDN8MXAXuFLVZ1zf" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="info" %}
Spark only shares resources that meet visibility conditions applicable to the employee.
{% endhint %}

</details>

<details>

<summary>Handle service request</summary>

When an employee’s question indicates a need to submit a service request, Spark searches the service request catalog to identify the most relevant option. It then recommends the appropriate request, providing a direct link along with clear submission guidelines to help the employee complete the process quickly and accurately.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Request employee authorization for automated remediation</summary>

If relevant remediation actions are available, Spark requests employee authorization for automated resolutions of device issues.

</details>
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Spark follows up on the request**

Spark then communicates the outcome, confirms whether the issue is resolved, and asks the employee if further assistance is needed.

If unresolved, Spark escalates the support request to the service desk with full context.\
Spark only escalates requests in the following cases:

* After exhausting relevant automatic actions and user troubleshooting
* Receiving an explicit escalation request from the employee
* Running into issues that require administrative access that the employee does not have
* Encountering technical limitations that prevent Spark from providing an effective solution

{% hint style="info" %}
Spark may suggest and initiate resolution measures, but all device remediation actions require user approval.
{% endhint %}
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

## Context and data inputs

To provide relevant responses, Spark uses a combination of static and dynamic data sources:

* **Contextual Nexthink data and capabilities**: Device health, diagnostics, user metadata, remediations and Adopt guides from Nexthink Infinity.
* **Knowledge base articles**: Knowledge base articles [manually imported](/platform/user-guide/spark/setting-up-and-managing-spark/managing-spark-data-inputs/managing-knowledge-sources.md) from the ITSM.
* **Service request catalog**: Catalog structure, forms, and request metadata ingested from ServiceNow, which Spark can use to identify and recommend service requests and provide associated guidelines. Refer to [ServiceNow Request Catalog connector](/platform/configuring_nexthink/bringing-data-into-your-nexthink-instance/integrating-nexthink-with-third-party-tools/inbound-connectors/connector-for-servicenow-request-catalog.md) for more information.
* **Local endpoint data**: Real-time data retrieved from the user’s device via the Nexthink Collector to support accurate, context-aware troubleshooting.
* **Past ticket resolution data:** Resolution notes for incidents resolved by support agents. Spark can use them to suggest remediations and continuously reduce manual interventions and escalations. Refer to [ServiceNow Incidents connector](/platform/configuring_nexthink/bringing-data-into-your-nexthink-instance/integrating-nexthink-with-third-party-tools/inbound-connectors/connector-for-servicenow-incidents.md) for more information.

Consequently, Spark relies on [specific NQL data model tables](/platform/user-guide/spark/spark-nql-capabilities.md) to query Spark-user interaction data.

{% hint style="info" %}
Personal data handling is covered under the Nexthink Data Processing Agreement (DPA). Spark processing is user-specific and restricted to the customer region.

Spark never provides data from other organizations.
{% endhint %}

## Spark communication channels

Employees can access Nexthink Spark through Microsoft Teams or through existing enterprise chat entry points integrated with Spark. This gives employees flexibility to start IT support conversations from the tools and conversational interfaces they already use.

### Spark in Microsoft Teams

Within Microsoft Teams, employees can open Spark from the Applications panel and start a conversation to receive secure, AI-powered assistance.

Log in to Nexthink Community and read more about [Spark Microsoft Teams app architecture](https://docs.nexthink.com/security/product-security/spark-teams-app-security).

### Spark in enterprise AI agents

#### Seamless integration with AI agents (A2A)

Organizations using enterprise AI agents can integrate them with Spark through the Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol. With A2A, employees can start and continue their support journey in their existing chatbot while the agent discovers, invokes, and tracks Spark capabilities in the background. This allows Spark intelligence and Nexthink context to support the employee experience without disrupting the conversation flow.

Refer to [Spark Agent2Agent integration](/platform/configuring_nexthink/bringing-data-into-your-nexthink-instance/integrating-nexthink-with-third-party-tools/spark-agent2agent-integration.md) for more information.

#### Chatbot-to-Spark handoff

Employees can also initiate their IT requests through a supported enterprise chatbot. If the issue requires advanced support, the chatbot transfers the conversation to Spark using the configured Handoff API. The full context of the interaction is preserved, allowing employees to continue the resolution seamlessly in Microsoft Teams with Spark.

Log in to Nexthink Community and read more about [Spark Handoff API](https://docs.nexthink.com/api/spark).

## Spark Actions

Spark can perform actions to diagnose and remediate employee issues. These actions are enabled by Nexthink administrators after IT approval. Before executing a remediation action, Spark requests confirmation from the employee. Built-in diagnostic actions are excluded from this requirement and may run in the background without interrupting employee work.

Refer to [Managing Spark actions](/platform/user-guide/spark/setting-up-and-managing-spark/managing-agent-actions.md) for more information.

## Supported languages

Spark detects the employee’s language from message content and delivers responses in that language, enabling employees to interact in their preferred language across most LLM-supported languages.

* If the language cannot be detected or is not supported, Spark falls back to the tenant language, currently English or Japanese, and informs the employee accordingly.
* Escalated tickets are generated in the tenant language, English or Japanese. They include a short description, actions taken, and the conversation transcript. Additional fields may contain the same content in the original employee language.

<details>

<summary>Supported languages</summary>

```
am, Amharic
ar, Arabic
az, Azerbaijani
be, Belarusian
bg, Bulgarian
bho, Bhojpuri
bn, Bengali
bs, Bosnian
ca, Catalan
cs, Czech
cy, Welsh
da, Danish
de, German
el, Greek
en, English
es, Spanish
et, Estonian
fa, Persian
fi, Finnish
fil, Filipino
fr, French
ga, Irish
gu, Gujarati
ha, Hausa
he, Hebrew
hi, Hindi
hr, Croatian
hu, Hungarian
hy, Armenian
id, Indonesian
ig, Igbo
is, Icelandic
it, Italian
ja, Japanese
jv, Javanese
ka, Georgian
kn, Kannada
ko, Korean
lb, Luxembourgish
lt, Lithuanian
lv, Latvian
mk, Macedonian
mr, Marathi
ms, Malay
mt, Maltese
nan, Southern Min (Hokkien)
nl, Dutch
no, Norwegian
pl, Polish
pt, Portuguese
rm, Romansh
ro, Romanian
ru, Russian
sk, Slovak
sl, Slovenian
sq, Albanian
sr, Serbian
sv, Swedish
sw, Swahili
ta, Tamil
te, Telugu
th, Thai
tr, Turkish
uk, Ukrainian
ur, Urdu
vi, Vietnamese
wuu, Wu Chinese
yo, Yoruba
yue, Cantonese
zh, Mandarin Chinese

```

</details>


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