Help desk software is a software product used by customer service and IT teams to provide services to employees and/or customers. Its primary function is to help service teams systematically manage support requests, provide self-service options, track and report performance, and ideally a lot more.
When used by IT teams, help desk goals and processes are defined according to government and industry best practices such as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). “ITIL’s objective in dealing with issues is to restore normal operation of services as quickly as possible with minimal adverse impact on business operations.
Help desk software should give you the tools to make your customers feel heard. Basically, it works like this:
- Customers send questions about your business via email, phone call, text message, your website, chat or social media.
- The system converts each request into a ticket and automatically links it (if applicable) to the customer’s history
- Tickets can be assigned manually or automatically based on your business rules
- Agents can easily collaborate with other team members on tickets.
- When engineers resolve issues, they can notify customers through their preferred channels.
- Administrators can create workflows and assign different levels of responsibility to agents.
- With analytics, you can track customer satisfaction, internal KPIs, and more.
Why Use Help Desk Software?
The most important reason to use a help desk solution is that you have all the tools to satisfy your customers. The way we communicate today is constantly changing, and it’s impossible to predict which channel your customer base will shift to anytime soon. With help desk software, you can provide support to your customers through all your favorite channels when needed.
Additionally, help desk software is essential for optimal use of support agents. Using a help desk system can drastically reduce the number of incoming calls, giving your agents more time to solve more difficult problems. By making your customer service team work in the best possible way, they can handle more tickets in an easy and good way. This can improve your client retention and make your job run more smoothly.
What is the difference between Help Desk and Technical Support?
At first glance, help desk and technical support may appear to be the same. Both teams help customers solve problems related to purchased products or services, with the ultimate goal of satisfied customers. However, there are important differences in the goals of the two teams.
The technical support team is mainly responsible for solving technical problems of customers. On the other hand, the service desk is the point of contact in case of complaints from customers. The help desk team notifies the technical support team of any issues and ensures a good and quick resolution. A help desk can often resolve issues that do not require technical assistance. However, more complex technical issues are passed on to the technical support team.
The overall goal of both teams is to solve problems. But each team also has its own unique goals. The goal of the technical team is to use their technical expertise to solve problems completely and quickly. The goal of the help desk is to ensure that the entire experience, from submitting a request to solving a problem, is fast, stress-free and successful.
