subject: Advantages Of Helpdesk Software [print this page] What is a Helpdesk? What is a Helpdesk?
A Helpdesk provides a single point of contact between service providers and customers on a day-to-day basis. According to ITIL, it is the focal point for reporting Incidents (disruptions or potential disruptions in service availability or quality) and for users/customers making service requests (routine requests for services).
When customers have an issue they need help with, they get in touch with the helpdesk for resolution. Having a single point of contact helps improve customer satisfaction and perception of your support services. Customers know exactly where to go and how to get support with any issues they are facing.
What is Helpdesk Software?
Helpdesk software automates the tasks of the helpdesk. It provides a set of tools to log, track and resolve support calls. A helpdesk software could be a simple Issue Tracking system or it could be a fully evolved Service Desk software suite.
Why do you need helpdesk software?
If your company has a customer support element (whether internal or external, IT or non-IT related), you would greatly benefit from using a helpdesk system.
Modern helpdesk systems help teams to work more efficiently by automating most of the tasks that were done manually and also providing a rich set of self-help features for users/customers.
At one end of the scale, basic ticket tracking software enables helpdesk teams to resolve calls end-to-end, in a logical order and track the work they have done. This is sometimes adequate in a small company.
At the other end of the scale, you have comprehensive helpdesk and service desk software that provide more complex functionality, from the automation of incidents/requests and communications through to problem management, change and release management, asset management, and complex rules for priority allocation and ticket escalation. These comprehensive software solutions are mostly used by companies working within ITIL or another similar framework, although they can also be used by smaller companies looking to embrace such frameworks.
If your helpdesk work to SLAs and OLAs, youll soon find that tracking performance can be an arduous task without a dedicated helpdesk system. The sophisticated tracking and analysis tools within these applications enable management and team leaders to extract detailed analytics at the click of a button. If your organization has chosen to monitor the performance of the helpdesk team using KPIs, a good application should allow you to pre-set these metrics and produce detailed reports against your KPIs on demand.
How can the Rhea helpdesk software help?
Rhea Helpdesk software allows you to do the following:
-Provide a single point of contact to your end users
-Provide 24/7 support to your customers via a dedicated web portal
-Track your support calls (usually referred to as tickets) end-to-end
-Provide self-help pages to your customers in the form of knowledge bases, FAQs and Forums
-Help your support team look up past similar tickets, helping them resolve issues quicker
-Automatically send out end-of-ticket user surveys to customers for feedback
-Provide detailed reports on your support function
The web-based Rhea helpdesk software will help your customers and support team log in and create new tickets or provide updates to existing ones, using just a web browser, no matter where they are. This is especially ideal if your staff mostly works on site, or use mobile devices such as smartphones and iPads.
The Rhea helpdesk includes a customer self-service portal that provides a web view to your customers/end-users so they can create new support requests or check on the progress of their existing calls in real time. Providing this kind of access helps to satisfy customers that their issue is being worked on and takes away the need for customers to limit their support calls to 9 5 p.m. or to using the phone. It cuts down on follow-up calls from customers who want an update to their problem. The helpdesk software also provides automatic email notifications back to the customer with confirmation of receipt of the support ticket and with updates to the ticket as they happen, keeping your customers in the loop. Your customers can logon to the web portal at any time to see exactly how things are progressing and/or to provide additional details.
Helpdesk staff can use the Rhea Helpdesk software to log support calls and detailed resolutions for these calls. When new support calls come in, they can search previous tickets for similar issues and use the details to reduce resolution times. The Rhea helpdesk software also helps support staff perform bulk actions on two or more support tickets making them more efficient and saving time. They can use past resolution history to create detailed knowledge base articles and FAQs for customer self-help. Knowledgebase articles can include one or more attachments, which is ideal if you want to include screenshots for example or step-by-step guides. Customers can use the knowledge base articles in the first instance to see if they can find a resolution to their issue themselves and contact the helpdesk support only if they dont.
Management can use the Rhea helpdesk software to run complex reports that details how well the support team is working and also identify and manage issues with their products and/or services.
