What’s the purpose of help desk?
You may argue that help desk software is perhaps a waste of time, and unfortunately for you, you have previously invested a lot of time and effort into it, however, you’ve never seen any results from it or you’ve never actually found a proper use for it? Overall, you think it’s a huge waste of both time and money.
However, once you have read this blog, you will come to realise that help desk software is a valuable and important asset within your business, as it provides an additional, useful support/investment to your team.
So, how is help desk software designed to help my business?
The main purpose of help desk is that it has been specifically designed to empower IT Professionals to work more efficiently because quite simply, help desk software eliminates many of the mundane tasks, that people normally associate with help desk procedures. For example; many small to medium businesses (SME’s) often need IT Professionals to assist with addressing help desk issues such as phone calls and logging issues, therefore having the help desk software as a support system, will help them save those valuable resources and you are able to deploy them elsewhere.
Help desk software uses email (as it way of communication) instead of an actual user, having to stop what they’re doing or calling upon their IT Manager for assistance. Therefore, users are able to send an email that covers the issue at hand and then the help desk will cleverly receive, log and allocate a relevant call ID to the issue, as well as forwarding it to the relevant operative who will provide the most appropriate and best resolution.
This option provides much more convenience for both parties, as it streamlines communication, ensures the process is organised and also enables you to put a relevant schedule in place, which will overall help your company deliver excellent service to your customers. This schedule will identify how long the resolution process should take, taking into consideration any necessary communication and downtimes, keeping both parties in the loop and satisfied.
Ways in which Help Desk Can Help Your Business
Arguably, there are many, many reasons why help desk can make yours and your colleagues jobs much easier.
We have selected the top 10 reasons why help desk software can make the job of an IT Help Desk Professional that much easier:
- Work more efficiently
When a customer has an issue, they are able to maximise their efficiency because they are able to contact the help desk via email, rather than having to phone or visit them. This saves a lot of time for your Help Desk Professional, as they are able to solve the issue in their own convenience (taking into consideration the agreed SLA) without being disturbed by a potentially irate customer`.
- Multi-Task Smarter
The great thing about the help desk is that IT Technicians are able to multi task through working on more than one problem, at any given time. IT Professionals are then able to prioritise accordingly, ensuring important and pressing issues are resolved first.
- “One Stop Shop”
Sounds so easy? Well, it is. Your customers can have a “one stop shop”, where they are able to report issues, find their own solutions (through an inbuilt knowledge bank) and ask for help all under one roof. Another benefit is that help desk software provides structure, and this ensures calls are resolved in a timely and organised manner.
- Tracking
Through help desk software, customers can be kept in the loop regarding the progression of their issue. Moreover, customers are able to view deadlines (and set them), as well as having the ability to add their own information to calls; as and when they need.
Fundamentally, the most important factor is customers are being kept aware of every action that has taken place. This will provide a positive reflection of good customer service, for your customers.
Keeping your customers aware of the progression is hugely important because it allows them the opportunity to raise any concerns they may have rather than having to wait to end of the resolution to raise any issues.
- Analysis
Analysing the call-flow is something that proves quite beneficial for a company because the information and data it generates can be used to create reports. These reports contain vital information, such as changing patterns and emerging market trends. This information in turn can used to analyse why certain issues are reoccurring, time taken to solve an issue etc. Once this analysis has taken place, an appropriate strategy to improve your customer’s help desk service can be implemented accordingly.
- Prioritising tasks
Different problems/issues need different priorities; therefore the magic of help desk software enables and empowers Help Desk Professionals to easily prioritise their calls in terms of deadline and importance. This ensures the urgent tasks are kept at the forefront and don’t fall through the net.
- Using the old, to solve the new
In the norm, many problems tend to reoccur and therefore, the help desk software has the ability to quickly solve customer’s issues through a fast search of previously solved queries to find an immediate solution. This saves a lot of time and effort for your Help Desk Professionals.
- Auto assign help desk calls
Help desk calls can be automatically assigned as necessary; for example, if you have two technicians, and one of them worked specifically on solving hardware issue and the other, specifically on solving software issues. Help desk software is then able to scan the incoming call, and route it to the most appropriate technician based on the nature of the call.
This will then save a huge amount of time for your professionals, which they can use more appropriately elsewhere.
- Customisation
Installing a help desk system within your business allows you to gather a huge amount of information in one place. It also has the ability to organise this information in a logical manner and carry out many different functions with it, as well as the ability to utilise the many built in information fields, as well. Many companies can use this information to organise their call accordingly and by category.
- Cost
One can argue that the biggest deterrent to organisations adopting any new piece of software is the cost that is involved. Depending on what technology your company is after, you could sometimes end up spending a huge amount of money, which is probably something a small/medium business couldn’t afford to do.
However, there is a product on the market called NeuQs that will provide you with the right solution at the right price which is free! Our cloud based help desk software, offers you three users for free, forever – which is the perfect solution for a small to medium business. If you require additional users, they are available for a small cost.
Alternatively, if you would prefer a downloadable version, this is also available with a free, no commitment trial.
So, now you’re wondering, is help desk software really needed within my business?
As identified by the above list, help desk software is purely there to make to improve the work patterns of your Help Desk Professionals, as it ensures all interactions are simplified, information is organised and the overall process to resolution is made more efficient.
Why not take the sensible option and opt for a software package, that is not only cost effective, but it actually says what it does, which is provide fast and efficient service for your customers whilst ensuring your costs are kept low.
NeuQs Free Help Desk Software 