If your helpdesk support staff acts as the voice of your IT department, then your helpdesk software acts as the Face of IT.
Which IT service desk features do your users want? They want anything that will make short work of telling IT the problem they’re having, getting it fixed and getting productive again. If the service desk software makes that easy, then the Face of IT is pretty. If not, well, then not so much.
And what does your IT service desk staff want? They want whatever it takes to suck up all the necessary information, diagnose a user’s problem pronto, fix it and close the ticket. If they have to jump through hoops and click a dozen buttons just to open a ticket, then the Face of IT doesn’t look so great to them.
Features of help desk software ya gotta have
A few months ago I posted that any IT helpdesk or service desk worth its salt should be an integrated aspect of your organization’s approach to unified endpoint management (UEM). That’s because sooner or later, IT plays an important role in the management and security of every endpoint (device) in the place. And, if IT knows about it, they should be able to manage and support it through a ticketing system.
We’ve released a white paper called The 10 Key Features You Need in a Service Desk Solution. If you’re in the process of buying — or, heaven forbid, using — service desk software that doesn’t include these ten features, then it won’t be long until you wish it did.
Here are a few of the features that keep the Face of IT looking good and working well for your IT support staff and your users:
- Correct ticket assignment — Helpdesk software with configurable policies allows you to assign tickets based on factors like the support technician’s location, area of expertise (like networking, printing, spreadsheets and word processing) and current workload. Software is usually more flexible than headcount, so if your human resources are tight, make sure your service desk software features aren’t.
- Automation — What better way to beautify the Face of IT than to prevent problems from occurring in the first place? By automating functions like updates and patches, you plug vulnerabilities before users are affected. And, on the IT helpdesk side, automatically converting email that users send to support@ and helpdesk@ into tickets reduces the burden on staff.
- Two-way communication — Think of your helpdesk software as more than a ticketing tool; think of it as a communication channel between users and service desk technicians. Users want to be able to get their point across easily, by pasting screenshots from their desktop directly into a service ticket, for example. Technicians want to keep users apprised about service availability and ticket status through email notifications and web portals.
- Self-service capabilities — “IT helps those who help themselves.” Make that your motto by equipping users with service desk tool features they can operate on their own. It’s easier on both users and technicians when users can reset their own passwords, review their hardware/software inventory, use a knowledge base and install/update IT-approved applications.
- Escalation and routing — Workflow obstacles in the helpdesk just add insult to the injury of the user’s technical problem. Smart helpdesk software includes rules for escalating ticket ownership when the service-level agreement (SLA) has been breached, and for automatically assigning tickets based on the technician’s expertise.
An IT systems management tool that includes the best features of service desk
Read our white paper, The 10 Key Features You Need in a Service Desk Solution. (Actually, it contains plenty more than ten features you can consider as you spec out your next IT service desk.)
And here’s the kicker: Your service desk doesn’t need to be a separate purchase from the rest of your IT service management. Instead of shopping for just “service desk,” shop for unified endpoint management (UEM) to find most of the IT features you need in a single package. Look for one-stop management of everything from assets through licenses, servers, patches and software distribution, plus service desk.
That makes for a pretty Face of IT.
