Nearly every company has some kind of help desk. In a small company, the help desk consists of the person who answers the phone or responds to the company e-mail. Particular questions may be passed on to a service manager or a product manager or member of his team. In mid-sized companies, there is usually a dedicated person or small team that respond to phone calls and e-mails. In larger mid-sized companies and all large companies the help desk is much more sophisticated and includes tracking issues and inquiries and making sure all questions are answered and issues are resolved.
In the smaller companies tracking is done with pencil and paper or an Excel spreadsheet and e-mail or cell phone. However, it does not take long to realize that those methods will not work for companies with more than 50 employees and more than a few inquiries or issues a week. Some specific software is needed.
How much the help desk software does will depend on the company, the type of business they do, the type of customers they have, and what else they would like to accomplish with the software.
Help desk software can track customers, track customers’ issues, and even track employees. Help desk software can bring together all the information the company has about a customer even if he purchased different types of products in different locations at different times. It can automate services and retrieve data instantly.
The majority of help desk software can be customized for the company in a variety of ways. Customers can submit trouble tickets through e-mail, a web form, or other methods as desired. Various departments can access only the information allowed to them for their purposes. Knowledge centers can be built in that help to answer customers’ concerns before they even submit a trouble ticket. And the software can even prospect sales and track contacts and create sales campaigns.
If you feel your help desk is not large enough to need ‘real software,’ you need to re-think that decision and investigate what help desk software could do for your bottom line.
