Top 10 Help Desk Solution

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Help Desk software is a software application developed to capture, track and maintain customer queries online. It is a one-point contact for customer issues and their fixes.

It’s a software application which is developed for the service persons for keeping a track of their customer’s request, and as a result of which they can deal with the customer issues very easily.

This facility provided by companies to the customers, in turn, increases the customer’s interest in the business deals as a lot of work for the customer is being handled by this software application.

Back were those days when businesses were mostly done face to face and the client’s service persons had to visit each customer individually to resolve their issues and which indeed wasted a lot of time, money and effort.

However, the introduction of Help Desk Software has changed the way of doing business deals as it manages the issue tickets online, automates most of the suites and gains accuracy in reporting and optimization.

Help Desk software has become a single-stop point for the customers and employees for reaching out to any issues. It is designed with many good features to resolve the customer’s issues and nowadays it is becoming a necessity for every client.

There are many types of help desk ticketing software like basic help desk, enterprise help desk, open-source help desk and so on. We will learn more about them in this article.

Top 10 Help Desk Solution
What is the Best Ticketing System?
How can I Improve my Help Desk?
What is Help Desk Software used for?
How do you Manage a Help Desk Team?
How can I Improve my Service Support?

What is the Best Ticketing System?

As a central point of contact, an IT ticketing system saves time by routing all service requests into a single help desk and implements workflows that prioritize and resolve issues. Departments across the organization can easily ask and get the help they need, enabling employees to focus on getting their work done.

Let’s take a look at our picks for the best ticketing system available.

1. Hubspot

HubSpot’s Service Hub delivers a 1:1 support experience that delights your users while improving overall team productivity. You can set up a company email alias for IT support, or a knowledge base for internal documentation.

This ensures that service information is readily available for every member of your IT team. Additionally, you can use HubSpot’s customer feedback software to survey and proactively measure customer sentiment.

Incoming requests convert to tickets and are managed in a drag-and-drop pipeline. Automation, bots, and integrations improve efficiency and since it’s built on HubSpot’s leading CRM, you’ll have more context for every customer conversation.

With these tools, your IT support team can respond to and resolve tickets faster, keeping service operations smooth and steady.

Price: Free

2. Samanage

Samanage is an ITSM (IT Service Management) platform that empowers support teams to collect, address, and deliver services consistently within your organization. Employees can quickly submit requests and report incidents through a customizable service portal.

You can also set automation rules for ticket routing or service approvals, and establish processes for problem management, asset management, change management, and more.

Samanage lets you document and publish common processes and best practices in a knowledge base. Users can then reference these articles to solve problems on their own, and agents can insert them into their responses for faster resolution.

Price: $29/month

3. HappyFox

HappyFox lets agents receive and create tickets via email or through a customizable support center, so you can manage issues regardless of where they were reported.

Tickets are displayed in the “Ticket List” page, with layout options like “Card View” or “Kanban View” so your agents have a better understanding of the current workload. If you adopt the premium plan, HappyFox lets you create and manage assets within your organization, while linking them to tickets when relevant.

Price: $29/month

4. Jira Service Desk

Jira Service Desk enables your support team to create multiple projects for organizing and processing requests. If you find yourself providing support for several products, areas, or departments, you can create service desk projects for each topic, and have your users submit requests using their respective email address.

Jira works hand-in-hand with Confluence so you can build a knowledge base to house your internal documentation. Users can then self-serve and solve simple issues, allowing your agents to focus on solving more complex or urgent requests.

Price: $10/month

5. Mojo IT Helpdesk

Mojo IT Helpdesk integrates seamlessly with G Suite so you can build your IT help desk right on top of your Google domain. Once your help desk is up, users can submit service requests via their preferred channels, all of which are converted into tickets and managed in one central location.

Price: Free

6. Freshservice

Freshservice is an ITSM service desk built to help support teams provide timely IT services. This includes incident management, SLA management, asset management, and self-service options. The Freshservice dashboard displays a comprehensive view of team performance and helps you pinpoint opportunities to improve your service.

Price: $25/month

7. Zendesk

Zendesk can easily be set up as an IT service desk that reports incidents, events, problems, and service requests from multiple support channels.

You can even expand Zendesk’s functionality by integrating your IT help desk with apps and tools your team already uses. Your team can also track key metrics so you can make informed decisions about how to address common problems that impact service operations.

Price: $5/month

8. Vision Helpdesk

Vision Helpdesk can be configured with modules specifically for incident management, problem management, CMDB (configuration management database), and other services your IT support team provides.

To boost team performance, Vision Helpdesk lets agents collaborate within the help desk, gamify daily tasks, and implement task management to complete projects on time.

Price: $15/month

9. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk equips your IT team with the tools they need to resolve tickets efficiently. If you’re currently using Zoho CRM for organizing user data, you can sync your database to Zoho Desk and have access to your users’ existing ticket history, activity, and happiness rating.

Price: Free

10. ServiceDesk Plus

ServiceDesk Plus is an advanced IT ticketing system that includes options to use a cloud version or install it on-premises. ServiceDesk Plus offers large IT teams the flexibility to purchase add-ons for live chat, incident management, change management, asset management, and project management.

And, Service Desk Plus’s premium plans let agents provide customers with real-time solutions via remote access to the client’s desktop.

Price: $10/month

How can I Improve my Help Desk?

Great customer service is not just about efficiency and the speed of resolution. It’s not always about first contact resolution. It’s not even about having the smartest and most knowledgeable service desk agents waiting for the next end-user call.

And of course, having fit-for-purpose help desk or ITSM technology can help but even the best technology can’t help if there are still people and process issues. Here are some helpful tips for you.

1. Don’t treat end users as asset, or ticket, numbers. Remember that you’re dealing with human beings – they have expectations, they have feelings, and they will expect to be treated as a person.

Treat them as you yourself would wish to be treated when calling a B2C help desk. If you are feeling brave, why not consider them to be customers (even though they aren’t personally paying for their IT services or support).

2. Remember that end users are more important than your help desk scripts. If your help desk has a helpful script library or knowledge base, remember that they’re only guidelines. Not every incident is going to fit a script, and forcing an end user and their incident into an unsuitable script isn’t going to help you or them.

Again, understand that you’re dealing with a human being, plus remember that not all incidents have been experienced and resolved before. Also, don’t forget that it’s okay to say that you don’t know how to solve a particular issue; be honest and your end user will respect you a lot more for it (provided you eventually get them assistance of course).

3. Listen! Don’t just take in the end user’s words either; also note the tone of voice that the end user uses with you. Do they sound frustrated? Do they seem relaxed about the issue? Do they sound confused or worried?

To you (and the IT department), the end user’s issue may be of low priority, but to them it could feel like the end of the world. In short, make sure that you always understand how your end user feels about the situation they are discussing with you, such that you can speak to them in the most appropriate manner.

4. Say sorry rather than being defensive. Regardless of whether or not an issue was your fault, apologize on behalf of IT as a whole for any inconvenience caused by the IT issue. It doesn’t make a blind bit of difference to the end user as to who caused it.

However, what they don’t want is a defensive help desk agent to pass the buck, especially by intimating that it might be a “user error.” Ultimately the end user just wants someone to take pseudo-responsibility – “it’s me not you” – for the issue they are facing and to help them to fix it.

5. Collect regular end-user feedback. Encourage and welcome suggestions on how IT support can be improved. Also encourage positive feedback on excellent service given. In terms of improvement-based feedback, make sure to act on it, otherwise what’s the point?

Plus raised and unaddressed end-user issues can cause even more customer dissatisfaction/perception issues, so even if the improvement is not fully possible, respond to the feedback to explain what can be done.

6. Communicate beyond the help desk calls. Be sure to market the sterling work of your help desk, and the wider IT organization, to the rest of the business. For example, let everyone know about your latest initiatives to improve IT support – especially when improvements act on end-user feedback.

This self-promotion is “Help Desk 101” for the most-successful help desks. On the flip side, you also must be sure to give advanced notification of upcoming issues/downtime, and the reasons for it.

7. Get out of from behind the service desk. Get out into the business – some call it a business or customer safari – to see how end users are using the IT services your IT organization provides. Take the time to understand IT from their perspective and to truly understand how IT operations and support impact their jobs and the business.

You never know what you will learn, but we imagine that there will be instances where you can explain how your end users can get more from the IT they are using. You will also have light-bulb moments, as you see how the real-world use of technology is responsible for numerous IT issues and even problems.

What is Help Desk Software used for?

Help desk software refers to a computer program that enables customer-care operators to keep track of user requests and deal with other customer-care-related issues. It is what makes customer-care service efficient and enterprising.

Generally, help desk software is part of an umbrella category called the service desk, which includes asset management and IT service management. Oftentimes, the two terms are used interchangeably. Nevertheless, help desk software specifically refers to the system that addresses customer queries.

Help desk software automates customer services in diverse ways. It typically consists of at least three parts. These include Ticket Management, Automation Suite, and Reporting/Optimization.

Help desk software has a point of contact for customers to send their queries and a ticketing system that tracks and organizes issues for faster resolution. It may also have a feature that aggregates and organizes queries and answers into a knowledge base, such as FAQs or guide articles.

It may accommodate multiple points of contact; a working dashboard; and analytics section. It may also have a feature that allows agents to escalate issues to a higher level.

More advanced help desk applications feature online chat, insights and analytics, automated processes, multiple contact channels, reporting tools, collaboration tools, and a CRM feature.

How do you Manage a Help Desk Team?

Companies are leaning even more heavily on technology to keep their customers and employees connected while the world is in survival mode. Beyond communication tools like Slack and Zoom, you need a great internal help desk to keep things running smoothly.

But where do you begin? Here are some tips.

1. Create a service catalogue

The first thing to do is develop an IT service catalogue. This roadmap should be designed with the end user in mind, and include all the information they need to open a ticket and request service. It should be written clearly with easy to understand instructions. Some of the key pieces your service catalogue needs are:

Catalogue item name
Category (software, hardware, support, infrastructure)
Approval structure
Cost of service
Security and access permissions
Issue tracking process
Delivery expectations
Point of contact for questions

2. Offer a knowledge base or self-service portal

One of the big problems employees run into when asking for IT help is knowing who to ask in the first place. Institutional knowledge never seems to be written down, and it’s changing constantly. An internal help desk or directory-based workflow helps direct questions automatically to the right department.

Once your service catalogue is hammered out, make it easy to access in a self-service portal. And make that portal simple to access — for example, by keying “IT help” into a browser.

Help desk software should always come with an option for a knowledge base. Often, people are just looking for a quick solution to a simple issue. Rather than submitting another ticket, a knowledge base allows employees to search for and resolve issues on their own.

This reduces the strain on the ITSM team so they can solve more complicated issues that need 1:1 support. And, it empowers your users with the tools they need to do their jobs.

3. Develop a culture of helping within the help desk

If the help desk manager is too focused on minimizing costs, then you end up delivering poor customer support, according to SaaS expert Matthew Monahan. If, however, you focus on giving the users everything they need to get their jobs accomplished, then you win – twice.

Monahan says the first win is that your team will become more proactive, looking for opportunities to help users before waiting for them to report problems. The second win is that your user base will come to view the help desk as a partner in problem-solving, rather than people to yell at when things go wrong.

Make sure you communicate. How long should customers expect it to take for a response? How long does it take to resolve tickets, and what priority level is their ticket? Make sure everyone in the company knows — this can help reduce frustration for all involved.

4. Hire good employees to retain great employees

It’s one thing to hire great people, and it’s another to keep them — and that has a lot to do with your employee experience. Research by Gartner found that engaged employees who felt personally invested in their jobs were more willing and empowered to impact customer experience.

On top of that, since 2009, a portfolio of Fortune’s “Best Companies to Work For” companies outperformed the S&P 500 by 84.2 percent.

There are some things you can do to set yourself up for success. Invest in customer service training to equip your team with the tools they need to succeed.

You can engage your more tenured agents to help with onboarding and training, too — they have a treasure trove of valuable knowledge to share, and it can make them feel valued.

Look for job candidates who are not only technically able to do the work, but also passionate about helping other people. You are, after all, running a help desk.

5. Build a workflow that tracks issues end-to-end

Providing seamless internal support is key to a company’s success. Both the customer and the help desk staff should be able to see the status of the issue at a glance.

This helps reduce anxiety and frustration for everyone involved, which is a better overall customer experience. Any help desk employee should be able to jump in on any ticket at any time and see the entire workflow of the issue so they can move it toward resolution.

How can I Improve my Service Support?

Here are a few customer service tips for identifying ways to better serve customers:

1. Strengthen your customer service skills

First, it’s important to make sure that your customer service team has the right skills for your managing customers’ needs. No amount of CRM software can compensate for shortcomings in this area. But what skills should you be looking for in a customer service rep?

Empathy, patience and consistency. Some customers will be irate. Others will be full of questions. And others will just be chatty. You must know how to handle all of them and provide the same level of service every time.
Adaptability. Every customer is different, and some may even seem to change week-to-week. You should be able to handle surprises, sense the customer’s mood and adapt accordingly. This also includes a willingness to learn– providing good customer service is a continuous learning process.
Clear communication. Ensure you convey to customers exactly what you mean. You don’t want your customer to think he’s getting 50% off when he’s actually getting 50% more product. Use authentically positive language, stay cheerful no matter what and never end a conversation without confirming the customer is satisfied.
Work ethic. Customers appreciate a rep who will see their problem through to its resolution. At the same time, you must have good time management skills and not spend too much time handling one customer while others are waiting. Stay focused on your goals to achieve the right balance.
Knowledge. Ultimately your customers rely on you for their knowledge of your product. Stay informed enough to respond to most inquiries and know where to turn if the questions become too detailed or technical for you to answer. But don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” either. Customers will appreciate the honesty and your efforts to find the right answer.
Thick skin. The customer’s always right… right? The ability to swallow one’s pride and accept blame or negative feedback is crucial. Whether your team works directly with customers or looking for feedback on social media, they’ve got to keep the customer’s happiness in mind.

Not sure if your reps have the right customer service skills? Survey or interview your customers to understand whether your service team is showing each of these traits.

Running a customer feedback survey through your CRM program, at the point of sale, or when you send customers an invoice is a great way to see where your team’s skills do and don’t measure up.

2. Look at every touchpoint

A bad customer experience at any point in the customer lifecycle can ruin your relationship. In addition to making sure the right skills are demonstrated, you need to be sure they’re being demonstrated consistently.

Pay the most attention to key touchpoints, but make sure you have a full view of the customer experience, or you risk lapses in service that can really hurt business.

3. Improve your customer interactions

If your staff has the necessary skill set, that’s a good start. But they still need to relate to your customers. Here are some tips for making sure customer service is both thorough and well received:

Ask reps to try to identify a common ground–like shared interests–with the people they help. Having this point of understanding makes conflict easier to overcome by humanizing the relationship, and it endears customers to your rep (and ultimately your company).
Practice active listening so your customers feel heard. Clarify and rephrase what the customers say to ensure you understand them. Empathize with and reflect their feelings by saying things like, “That must have upset you” or “I can see why you feel slighted.”
Admit your mistakes, even if you discover them before your customers do. This builds trust and restores confidence. It also allows you to control the situation, re-focus the customer’s attention and resolve the issue.
Follow-up after a problem is solved. Make sure the issue stays fixed and that your customers were satisfied with the service. Sending an email, or even a feedback survey is an excellent way to let the customer know you’re still on their side.

4. Enhance your customer service strategy

Your staff may have the skills and know-how to interact with your customers. But what organizational strategies can you employ to please customers? Practice proactive customer service by making your customers happy before they come to you with problems. Here’s how:

Get personal. Your customers want to feel like they have access to real people, not bots and FAQs. Offer more than just automated email responses, and do not let your telephone prompts or website send them down a rabbit hole. Take full advantage of social media (such as Facebook, Twitter and Yelp) and write responses when your customers post on your page. Post photos and bios on your website. This shows your customers that you are real people working on their behalf.
Be available. Part of the personal touch is making sure your customers can reach you. For example if your business is primarily online, meet in person occasionally with local customers and offer video calls (such as Skype) for those farther away. Work early and late when needed, especially if your customers are in different time zones. Even providing customers with your physical address helps build their trust and reminds them that your company exists off the internet as well.
Cater to your customers. Make sure you are fully meeting your customers’ needs. Consider assigning reps to specific customers so they can build a relationship. Offer VIP treatment for your best customers to let them know they are appreciated. What special services might your customers like? Set up focus groups, interview customers, or run a survey to get ideas.
Create communities. Your customers will feel even more valued if you treat them as important members of a community. You can bring various customers together in numerous ways, including webinars, interactive websites, social media, trade shows and conventions. And don’t forget that while your customers come to these forums to learn from you, you can learn as much–if not more–from them.

5. Make sure your reps are engaged

You can have the best customer service skills and the best training in the world, but if your reps are checked out, it won’t matter at all. Improving employee engagement is another way to make sure customers have a great experience.

Dissatisfied employees are unlikely to come forward with their problems, so consider an anonymous suggestion box or an employee engagement survey to see what makes your employees tick.

You’ll want to know how your customer service team feels about working conditions and compensation, opportunities for career advancement, training and their peers.

Since engagement can vary from industry to industry, you may also want to look at more specific data through a service like SurveyMonkey Benchmarks.

6. Give your customers a way to provide feedback

No matter how proactive you are, you’ll never be able to get in front of every customer issue. To make sure you learn about the good, the bad, and the ugly experience your customers have, create an easily accessible way for customers to give feedback.

Read Also: How to Make Money After Work Hours

Whether it’s a phone survey at the end of a service call, an email survey sent directly from your CRM tool, or a form on the “Contact Us” page of your website, creating a means for customers to give feedback makes it easier for you to learn what needs improvement. It also helps keep unhappy customers from voicing their displeasure on highly visible places like your social media pages.

Whatever steps you choose to take, remember feedback’s importance to customer satisfaction. Unsure what your strengths and weaknesses are? Don’t know why the numbers are dipping? Make an effort to get closer both to your customers and your reps.

Not only will you discover touchpoints and skills that need improvement, but your customers will see that are dedicated to providing top-notch, proactive customer service.

Finally

There are always dozens of other IT support software and helpdesk tools clattering for your business. The helpdesk software options in this article are just a few of your options but a little bit of digging is sure to uncover more.

Don’t be afraid to spend time on research and development. You only want to settle for the tool that is absolutely right for you and your team.

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Top 10 Help Desk Solution

What is the Best Ticketing System?

How can I Improve my Help Desk?

What is Help Desk Software used for?

How do you Manage a Help Desk Team?

How can I Improve my Service Support?

Finally

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megaincome

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Top 10 Help Desk Solution

Top 10 Help Desk Solution

What is the Best Ticketing System?

How can I Improve my Help Desk?

What is Help Desk Software used for?

How do you Manage a Help Desk Team?

How can I Improve my Service Support?

Finally

About Author

megaincome

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