What Makes a Helpdesk Effective
Is your helpdesk helping customers to resolve their source of frustrations and complaints on time?
A helpdesk helps companies to build solid customer and business relationships while also allowing the organization to pursue new opportunities and develop robust strategies. However, a helpdesk contribution to your organization depends on its effectiveness.
Read on to learn about the characteristics of an effective helpdesk.
Skilled Staff
The biggest asset of any department is the team of employees. Don’t just put any staff on the helpdesk team. Instead, get people who are personable, tech-savvy and have an inclination for getting to the root of problems to handle such positions. In addition, your IT personnel should undergo regular training to stay on top of new trends.
Smart Tools
No matter how proficient and knowledgeable your employees are, they cannot deliver excellent service without the right tools and software. Your helpdesk team should be empowered with tools and software that are easy to use and have an easy ticket handling system. Depending on your business, tools that can handle billing may be necessary.
Metrics
Without metrics, there will be no way to tell how your helpdesk service is doing. Information such as waiting time and customer satisfaction rating can point you in the right direction.
Update your database regularly with new process data and give your team access to insights generated from such data so they can make better future decisions. Data alone says little, but it becomes valuable with good analysis. For example, your analysis may show a longer resolution time for new tickets. You may then decide that you need to hire more hands or tweak the ticket handling process.
Ticketing Process
Users should be able to open tickets through multiple channels including email, web portal, and even phone. Once there is a response to a ticket, the user who opened the ticket should be alerted via email to check on the status of the ticket.
Priority levels should be assigned to tickets as low, medium, or high by the system. This means that tickets with high priority level will be treated before tickets with either low or medium priority level.
Follow-up with Users
When a ticket is opened and there is no “quick fix”, the user needs to be informed on how long it will take to resolve the issue. Also, the current action being taken should be communicated to the user so they will be aware that resolution is on the way.
Users should also be notified if there is going to be a service disruption at a particular time to enable them to prepare. They will always appreciate open and honest feedback from your helpdesk.
Reduce Workload
There are certain issues that users may be able to fix themselves. Opening tickets for such is a waste of time and resources. Get users trained on how to fix simple problems by creating standard guides and procedures. In addition, there should be a general platform for sending guide or tutorials to users on how to use new applications so they can learn at their own convenience.
Neutrality
A helpdesk must not attach importance to a ticket for personal or sentimental reasons. Through this professionalism – a top-notch service will be delivered to customers.
Additional Thoughts
The above qualities of an effective helpdesk apply whether you use a third-party IT service or have an in-house team.
Give your customers a great service and they will remain loyal to your business. For additional questions about using or adding a helpdesk to your IT team, please feel free to contact us here at SDTEK.
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