Technology is everywhere. Smartphones, tablets, and computers are not only for entertainment. They help provide countless ways for businesses and customers to interact. As technology gets more advanced, few users can completely understand it. Issues seem to only get more complex. Technical issues can happen at any time.

A customer could forget his login or your website server could go down. Does your business have the right tools in place to keep track of issues? Are you sure that your staff is handling all problems appropriately? If your business uses computers, chances are you need help desk software.

How Does Help Desk Software Work?

– Help desk software creates an easy to track workflow for all your technical issues.
– When an employee or customer has an issue, you first create a support ticket.
– Next, since some issues are more urgent than others, you can assign that ticket a priority level. You can also categorize it with similar issues.
– Then, you can assign each ticket to a qualified person to fix the problem.
– Once the issue is resolved, the person requesting help can be emailed and the ticket can be closed.
– If any extra help is needed, you can reopen the ticket or a create a new one.

Benefits of a Help Desk System

– Never Lose a Customer Request Again
– A help desk system serves an important role in customer relationship management (CRP).

One common customer complaint is the lack of response from businesses when they have a question or an issue. Does your business primarily use an email client to address customer issues? If your expected email volume suddenly increases, you risk losing track of a few of those customer requests. Inevitably, some emails will get buried beneath others.

Perhaps your business also handles customer requests through a variety of channels like phone or social media. How are you currently keeping track? Just one customer inquiry slipping through the cracks can make your business lose credibility. Prevent negative customer service experiences like this by using one comprehensive help desk system.

Strategic Use of Staff and Resources

– A help desk system can also improve enterprise resource planning (ERP).
– If several issues are near each other, staff can arrange to take care of them all in a single trip.
– Requests can be prioritized, allowing your business to focus on solving the most critical issues first.
– With the ability to assign a specific person to a ticket, you can ensure that the staff member handling the issue is qualified to so.
– If a question comes up again and again, you can address it in a frequently asked questions database so your staff is only needing to spend time on new, critical issues.
– Users can access the help desk at any time online or by email. And when problems are fixed, they can be automatically emailed. – This frees staff from calling each user with updates.
– For reoccurring issues, staff can look at past tickets to quickly determine how best to address the issue.

Common Features

When it comes to help desk software, you definitely get what you paid for. Free versions are not comprehensive solutions. What do you want your help desk software to do?

Ticket Management

While every help desk system allows you some control over the way you can handle tickets, they can differ in how many tools they provide. For example, free versions may allow you to send automatic email notifications. But, they may not automatically track the time spent resolving each ticket. If time tracking is important to your business, then you would need to find a help desk system that best meets your needs.

Multi-Channel Support

Thanks to technology, customers can interact with businesses wherever they are. Save time by integrating with your customers’ preferred contact method. Phone calls can be recorded and automatically turned into support tickets. Even messages on Facebook and other social media sites can be imported into the help desk.

Knowledge-Base

Most help desk systems give you the ability to create a knowledge-base. Here, you can answer frequently asked questions and present solutions to common problems. When a ticket is opened for something that is covered in your knowledge-base, users can be directed to it first. Some help desk systems also allow users to contribute to the knowledge-base.

Reporting

Depending on which help desk system you choose, you’ll have access to a variety of reports. You can track ticket volume. You can also see at a glance which customers have the most issues.
You’ll also be able to track the performance of staff. How many tickets were assigned to them? How many did they resolve, and how long did it take? How many tickets had to be reopened? And how many tickets had to be reassigned to someone else?

Help Desk Systems Across Industries

Help desk software can work for small businesses. It can also work for something as large and complex as hospitals.
Retail stores may use a help desk system to get internal issues taken care of more quickly. When scanners or POS software malfunction, sales suffer.

Game developers, app makers, and websites that provide cloud-based services constantly update their products. Sometimes, those updates cause glitches that impact the usability of their product. Customers can immediately alert the help desk to get issues resolved as soon as they notice an issue.

Help desk systems can even help healthcare facilities follow regulations. Equipment failure in a hospital can be catastrophic. Hospitals can use help desk systems to schedule regular maintenance for equipment. It can also help organize detailed records of all previous issues.

Schools, colleges, and universities also struggle with a constant stream of technical issues. Staff need to maintain computers, printers, and projectors. They must also assist a huge volume of users that is always growing and changing. Demands on staff can be reduced by allowing individual users to submit their own help tickets. Users can also check the status of existing tickets.

As you can see, help desk software boasts a variety of benefits and features across many settings. Does your business encounter technical issues on a regular basis? Consider deploying a help desk system to streamline the process.