Help desk software is designed to help IT departments solve technical issues quickly and work more efficiently. How? A help desk organizes information and streamlines workflows. A help desk software, often a subset or part of a service desk software, eliminates the need for IT support specialists to manually log issues, sort through emails to find the root cause of problems, track the status of issues manually, and let requests slip by.
The help desk system automates the issue resolution process, centralizes information, and keeps everyone informed with email alerts. Instead of finding tech support to help you, employees can submit a ticket via email or a web-based form to the helpdesk team. It will allow the help desk software to receive automatically, log, and assign the issues to the right help desk technicians, making it easier for everyone involved.
Help desks streamline communication and keep detailed records about all issues submitted, making it easier for updates to be tracked and reported on the work done (ideal for end-of-year reviews). There are many ways that a help desk can improve your life and make your business more productive. It is why help desk software has been deemed one of the best IT practices. It can be a huge benefit to almost all companies.
Help desk software must be used by any large organization dealing with customer and employee requests. It can be difficult to centralize support requests, and many will fall through the cracks without this tool.
You may be asking yourself, “How does helpdesk software work?” Knowing the answers to these questions and what features to look out for when selecting the right tool for your business is crucial. This article will explain what help desk software does and how it works. We will also talk about three important help desk features you should look out for.
HOW DOES DESK SOFTWARE WORK?
You’ve likely used help desk software if you have ever submitted support tickets online. A help desk provides support channels to customers and employees, such as live chat.
The help desk software automatically creates a ticket for you once you have submitted a support request. All support requests from all channels go to the same “inbox” and are assigned to a support specialist.
The agent in charge will answer any questions you may have and help with any technical problems. You will be happy if they succeed. If they fail to find a solution, your ticket can remain open until they resolve it.
Different help desk solutions may offer tailored features to your business or make your job easier.
These are 10 ways that help desk software can make your life easier in IT and at work.
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More efficient
That is easy for office workers to submit problems and have their tech issues resolved faster. It allows everyone to be more productive and spend less time fiddling with their fingers. IT professionals save time and can focus on more important tasks.
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Multitasking smarter, even while on the move
IT professionals can use help desk systems to categorize and prioritize issues quickly. It allows them to choose which issues to tackle first. A tech might need to deal with multiple issues at once from the server room. It makes it easier for them to make better use of their time.
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One-stop for all your IT needs
Most help desk systems have a portal that allows users to create tickets and view open issues status. Users can also close tickets when they are resolved. You can also use the portal to communicate important information (e.g., planned downtime) to reduce unnecessary tickets.
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Customize to meet your needs
A help desk ticket contains a title and description for each issue. A company can add custom fields to provide more detail and better categorization. For example, the department, building address, floor number, or peanut butter preference… and then create reports.
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Improve overall workflow
Help desks allow you to track metrics such as the average time to resolve tickets. IT managers can then run detailed reports to identify trends. If you discover that tech is extremely skilled at a particular task, you may want to pass on all the related tickets to them to maximize efficiency.
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Prioritize important tasks
Different tickets require different responses depending upon their severity. It is much easier to replace a mouse for one person than fix a failed server, which affects the whole company. Technicians can quickly prioritize and sort tickets using a help desk system. It allows high-severity tickets to be addressed quickly and less likely to slip through the cracks.
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Auto-assign help desk tickets
The best help desk software will automatically assign tickets based on certain criteria. You can, for example, send all hardware issues and software issues to Steve. You can also assign all tickets in Accounting or Marketing to Sally and any ticket containing the word “password” to Mary.
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Set expectations and stick to them
A help desk makes it easy to track, communicate, and change due dates. It is beneficial for both the IT professional and the employee who submitted the issue. Help desk technicians can assign due dates manually or automatically and sort tickets according to the completion date.
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Don’t reinvent
Some tech problems reoccur regularly. You can keep track of any tickets and upload files to help you solve your problem. Any IT department’s helpdesk member can later search through older tickets to find similar problems.
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Let me know what you are worth
You can help desk reports to see how many tickets have been resolved within the past week, month or quarter. It is useful for you as well as your entire IT department. These reports can identify technology problems and show IT professionals’ value to a company.
Do I need a help desk?
A help desk is intended to simplify the lives of IT professionals. Help desk functionality simplifies interactions, organizes information, and streamlines processes.
Once they begin to see a steady flow of problems, most companies realize the value of a help desk and need more organization.
Software cost is the biggest barrier to help desk implementation for businesses. Some options can cost thousands of dollars. Help desk software can help companies save money and operate more efficiently over the long term.
It’s easy to set up a help desk with free software such as Spiceworks. Download a free help desk software for your company and try it.
