What to Look for in a Help Desk Solution

A help desk solution can make your business life smoother and more productive. Your best bet to find the right solution for your needs is to give some forethought as to how you want your help desk to function. With that in mind, check out available help desk solutions that fit your budget and goals.

Establish Departments to Maximize Your Help Desk Solution

Any help desk solution is going to give you a structure for delivering your customer service. The most common structure for doing so is by establishing departments. You will need to give some considered thought as to what departments you would like to have. How do you decide? Well, do you have help desk staff who are already assigned to particular products? If that is the case, then the easiest and smoothest way to determine your departments will be by product. If you can maintain some of the workflows that you already have in place, the changeover  will be that much simpler. If you don’t already have staff assigned in that manner, then you might consider creating departments by website or according to request issues. If you don’t have a help desk staff yet and are working alone, don’t neglect this step because at some point your business will grow and having thoughtfully constructed your departments will make things easier down the road.

Your Help Desk Solution Needs to be Balanced

Whichever solution you choose, help desk software is designed to streamline your tasks and speed up your ability to resolve customer issues. Now is a good time to sit in the chair your customer occupies and consider what he will see and how he will feel as he interacts with your new help desk solution. When a customer has an issue, where should he go initially to seek an answer? From the customer’s end, he needs to encounter a well-planned support flow. A well-planned support flow will achieve the optimal balance between being readily available to the customer and slowing down the waterfall of incoming tickets to the help desk. For example, perhaps that first thing the customer should encounter when seeking assistance is an FAQ list. Helping the customer resolve some of his own issues is one way that a help desk solution can reduce traffic at the desk. However, if the FAQ list is confusing or if the customer must spend too much time seeking his own answer, you will likely end up with a dissatisfied client. One answer to this dilemma is to categorize your FAQ list. Make the list quick and easy to use. Also, don’t force the customer to stay there too long. Experts suggest that customers should be able to access a trouble ticket within one or two clicks.

Help Desk Solutions are Waiting to Be Tried

Giving thought prior to choosing your new help desk solution is sort of like writing a classified ad. Now you know who you are and what you are looking for in your new partner. There are plenty of help desk solutions out there. Some even offer free trial periods. Enjoy the search and make the most of your decision.