Posts Tagged ‘IT Help Desk Software’
Choosing IT Help Desk Software – Least Expensive vs. Most Effective
Saturday, April 18th, 2009Choosing the correct IT Help Desk Software for your company is more than choosing the least expensive IT Help Desk Software. It is even more than balancing the value of the software with its cost. In fact, obtaining the right IT Help Desk Software is a function of aligning the business objectives with the IT investment and implementation. The idea is to implement software that assists the organization in obtaining optimum performance as measured by business outcomes.
Help Desk excellence for a company focused on customer relationships means that the IT Help Desk Software must be able to partner with each unit of the company in order to deliver value and help to customers. While the customer feels it is only the help desk personnel with whom they interact, there must be a means for Help Desk agents to interact with people in all areas of the company to truly solve the issues presented by the customers.
There are lots of good Help Desk software packages available. However, finding one that fits your company’s model and goals is more important than finding one that is inexpensive. The software must fit with the staffing. It must enable the staff to field and answer the customers’ issues in the most efficient yet complete method.
Because Help Desks serve a variety of functions from one company to another and even within large corporations, the Help Desk software must have capabilities that support the functions for which it will be used. In most cases the software will support a live help desk staffed by agents who give answers and advice in real time. A well-indexed knowledge base is a key to quick and efficient support of a live help desk. In many instances there will be an expectation that the customer or other personnel within the company will access the software to attempt to answer questions or solve problems on their own, so there must be an easily understood interface.
If the main function of the IT software for your Help Desk is to generate a help ticket for a technician, the categories and questions on the help ticket must be coordinated among technicians, IT support personnel, and customers. Simply asking standard questions of name, address, and problem encountered often does not give the technician enough information. In many instances, the wrong type of technician could be sent to the customer’s location or the technician would take the wrong parts or tools. Choosing the correct questions and the best software entails in-depth discussions with technicians and former customers to better understand what kinds of questions should be asked and what type of information is critical to a good outcome for the customer.
If the IT Help Desk Software cannot be customized for your company’s needs, it probably will only serve their needs for a short time and you will be looking for new software within five years as your products and your customers evolve. Inexpensive, out-of-the-box software will serve your needs initially, but cannot be changed in the little ways you will need every few months or the bigger ways you will need in a couple of years. Therefore, effective IT Help Desk Software is far more valuable that inexpensive IT Help Desk Software.
Choosing the Best Help Desk Software
Sunday, April 12th, 2009In many of the trade shows and international conferences that I have attended, I am often asked, “What in your opinion is the best IT Help Desk Software?”
My response is always, “The best for whom, or what?” I am also often asked, “What features do I look for in the perfect IT Help Desk Software?”
Again, my response is the same.
First you have to evaluate what you are trying to accomplish. An IT Help Desk for a Fortune 500 company with 10,000 employees and a large IT department is obviously entirely different than one for an IT Help Desk that serves 150 end user customers, and a help desk of 10 agents. Those same agents most likely are also looking after the needs of 25-50 employees within the same company.
Instead of looking for IT Help Desk Software that does “everything” you could ever imagine, evaluate your needs and utilize something that fits you more appropriately. Of course, you have to consider that you’ll want something that you can grow with, but like most CRM Software packages that have evolved over the years, you will probably only use 50-60% of whatever you acquire.
Great customer service is rarely rewarded, but bad customer service pays a huge price. A great IT Help Desk should be a part of the marketing department of any great company. After all, great customer service leads to future customers (and retains the current ones).
Consider the following:
You want a package that allows you to easily:
1. Customize to your company (and customer’s) needs
2. Look up customer’s information and see current and past tickets.
3. Communicate with fellow employees as well as clients.
Also ask the following type questions during the evaluation process:
1. Was the staff attentive and easy to reach during the evaluation process?
2. Has the company in question been producing software for several years?
3. How much automation is available to assist your Help Desk Agents?
4. Is there a knowledge base or history available to allow new users to shorten their learning curve?
A great IT Help Desk is like a CAT Scan. It is supposed to find and correct problems before they get worse.
It can also create good will within any organization to feed information to other team members so that they can head off problems before they arise, or allow the members to repair problems that have taken place.
Also make sure the system has a rules engine that can automatically initiate a Customer Satisfaction Analysis Survey.
Great IT Help Desk Software contains a way to carry out Customer Satisfaction Surveys. That result can then assess the client’s perception of how well your services meet their needs. It can measure the processes and methods to give management feedback on how well you are doing as a trusted IT vendor.
Last but not least, after you have created a feature and performance matrix of your needs, test the application in a real environment for at least 30 days to insure it meets your needs.