What is a helpdesk?
A helpdesk is a customer service system to help customers find solutions to their inquiries and problems. Helpdesks are commonly associated with IT Service Management (ITSM) systems. It’s the primary way organizations track and resolve support tickets and help their clients get the best possible outcome from their help requests.
Why do businesses need a helpdesk?
Today’s businesses are no longer confined to geographical boundaries, with distributed offices, hybrid, or worldwide hubs. This can make it hard to provide timely help when needed. A helpdesk streamlines communication between customers and employees, ensuring that support is delivered quickly and efficiently.
Stop Answering the Same Questions
Capacity’s AI helpdesk will help you:
- Deflect more tickets
- Increase customer satisfaction
- Speed up time to resolution
The importance of a helpdesk or service desk and ITSM pyramid
The helpdesk (or service desk) forms an integral part of the ITSM pyramid. The helpdesk is the entry point for all customer help requests and provides a platform for customers to submit their issues, complaints, and feedback. This first level of support creates an organized flow of help requests that can be quickly addressed and resolved.
4 benefits of modern helpdesk software
A modern helpdesk solution can provide several benefits to organizations. It can help reduce ticket volumes by automatically routing inquiries to the right team or person and providing real-time notifications to track ticket progress. Additionally, it allows employees to remain organized with streamlined workflows and better customer communication.
Automation – Automated helpdesks eliminate manual work and help reduce ticket volumes.
Streamlined Workflows – A modern helpdesk system can help ensure that help requests move quickly between teams and agents, allowing faster resolution times.
Improved Communication – Helpdesks enable better communication between customers and employees, allowing them to get the help they need in a timely manner.
Comprehensive Reporting – With helpdesk systems, businesses can track their performance using reporting, helping identify areas of improvement or opportunities for growth.
3 steps to adopting a helpdesk
1. Establish a helpdesk team
It’s vital to form a helpdesk team dedicated to providing help and support. This team should manage help requests, resolve customer issues, and respond to inquiries quickly.
2. Choose the right helpdesk software
There are many helpdesk solutions available on the market today. Choose one that fits your organization’s needs best, such as features like workflow automation scheduling or mobile capabilities.
3. Train your help desk staff
It is essential to train your helpdesk or service desk staff on how to use any new software, especially a helpdesk platform, so the team has the confidence to handle customer inquiries efficiently.
How helpdesks work with asset management
By integrating helpdesks with asset management software, businesses can provide better help and support to their customers. Helpdesk systems allow for efficient tracking of assets, from hardware and software to service requests, PTO, and more. This improved visibility helps identify help requests more quickly, allowing helpdesk staff to focus on the customer’s issues and ensure that help is provided immediately.
3 examples of asset management in helpdesk software
Asset Management or a knowledge base can help both internal and external teams in a variety of ways, including:
1. Automated Asset Discovery
Asset management software can help helpdesk staff quickly identify which assets are associated with customer help requests, allowing for faster resolution times.
2. Streamlined Workflows
By linking helpdesks and asset management systems, teams can easily use automated workflows to assign tasks and manage help requests.
3. Comprehensive Reporting
Asset management systems help staff track their performance, including the number of help requests handled and the time it took to resolve them. This allows teams to identify areas of improvement and build better customer service processes.
Use this checklist to determine the right platform for your business:
Automation – Look for helpdesks that offer automated help and support solutions such as ticket routing and notifications.
Flexibility – Choose helpdesks with flexible plans that accommodate your organization’s budget, features, and customer base.
Security – Ensure that the helpdesk software is secure and compliant with industry standards.
Integrations – Select helpdesks that integrate with other tools like Salesforce or other CRMs so you can get a comprehensive view of customer data.
Usability – Find helpdesks that are easy to use and understand.
5 use cases for helpdesk or service desk solutions
Case 1: Helping customers with technical support
A helpdesk can help customer service agents quickly resolve technical support issues. By streamlining communication, help requests are routed to the right people or teams, and customers can get help quickly.
Case 2: Automating help requests for faster resolution times
Helpdesks with automation capabilities help organizations reduce help request volumes by automatically routing inquiries to the right team or person and providing real-time notifications to track ticket progress. This helps reduce resolution times and improve customer satisfaction.
Case 3: Analyzing performance with comprehensive reporting
With these systems, businesses can track their performance with reporting, helping identify areas of improvement or opportunities for growth and allowing companies to make informed decisions.
Case 4: Streamlining employee onboarding processes
Helpdesks help employees onboard quickly and efficiently by automatically routing help requests to the right person or team. Reducing manual tasks increases employee productivity while providing a better support experience for customers.
Case 5: Automating help requests for IT teams
Helpdesks help IT teams automate help requests for faster resolution times. This helps reduce manual labor and improve help desk efficiency by quickly routing help requests to the right individual or team.
The importance of a helpdesk in the current digital landscape
As businesses strive to provide help more efficiently and effectively, helpdesks are essential for any business that wants to stay ahead of the competition. They help organizations reduce help request volumes, automate help requests, analyze performance with comprehensive reporting, streamline employee onboarding processes, and gain better insight into customer data. By utilizing a platform, businesses can improve help desk efficiency while providing a better help experience for customers.
How helpdesk will continue to shape the future of workflows and processes in business organizations worldwide
Helpdesk systems help organizations stay ahead of the competition by streamlining help requests, automating help requests, and improving help desk efficiency. With platforms continuing to evolve, businesses can reduce manual labor and improve customer satisfaction with efficient ticket resolution times and comprehensive reporting capabilities. Helpdesks will continue to play a crucial role in shaping the future of workflows and processes in business organizations worldwide.
10 top IT helpdesks or service desks
Freshworks
Freshworks is a well-known platform with some usability issues. Many users have reported that the user interface is challenging to navigate and confusing for new users. Additionally, help requests are not always routed to the correct team member quickly or accurately, resulting in slower resolution times and decreased customer satisfaction.
Capacity
Capacity’s was built on deflection. What’s that mean? This comprehensive platform relies on AI to close over 90% of tickets before they ever reach a human. That means FAQs on your website or internal questions can give customers and employees immediate responses versus waiting for a live chat agent or an email. Get started for free here.
Stop Answering the Same Questions
Capacity’s AI helpdesk will help you:
- Deflect more tickets
- Increase customer satisfaction
- Speed up time to resolution
Jira Service Desk
Jira Service Desk is an all-in-one platform that makes it easy for businesses to manage help requests. It has many features, such as powerful ticketing and automation tools, help desk reporting capabilities, and robust integration options. Additionally, the user interface is intuitive and user-friendly.
Solar Winds Helpdesk
Solar Winds helpdesk is an IT system designed to help organizations streamline help requests and manage their helpdesks more efficiently. However, many users have reported that the user interface can be intimidating, making it difficult to find help requests quickly. Additionally, some users feel that the platform lacks certain features, such as automated ticket routing and comprehensive reporting capabilities.
ServiceNow
ServiceNow helpdesk is designed for businesses that need to manage help requests at scale. However, the platform can be more expensive than other solutions, requiring extensive configuration to get up and running. This can make it difficult for users with limited technical expertise to use the platform effectively.
Zendesk
Zendesk can be challenging for smaller businesses to manage their help desk requests effectively. The platform may be overwhelming for new users due to its complex user interface and navigation, making it difficult to find specific help requests quickly. The help desk’s ticketing system is not as customizable or flexible as others.
Vivantio Pro
Vivantio Pro helpdesk software is a platform designed for businesses of all sizes. However, many users have reported that the user interface can be challenging to navigate and slow to respond to, resulting in slower help request resolution times.
Zoho Desk
Jira Service Desk is an all-in-one helpdesk platform that makes it easy for businesses to manage help requests. It has many features, such as powerful ticketing and automation tools, help desk reporting capabilities, and robust integration options. Additionally, the user interface is intuitive and user-friendly.
Helpscout
Investing in a modern helpdesk is essential for businesses to stay ahead of the competition, reduce ticket volumes, automate help requests, streamline workflow, and gain better insight into customer data.
Hiver
Hiver’s helpdesk may be difficult for users to fully utilize, as it lacks other platforms’ comprehensive features and automation capabilities. Additionally, help requests may not be routed accurately or quickly, resulting in slower resolution times. This is especially detrimental for businesses that need help desk support right away.
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