With so many options out there, how do you know which one to pick?
If you have ever done a simple internet search for “IT Help Desk” you know exactly what I am talking about. The sheer number of results that come up can be overwhelming. How do you know which one to go with? What are the most important features to look for? People ask us this all the time. That’s why we put this guide together to show you the ten things you should look for.
1) Leverage Your Investment
Many solutions ask you to pay for technology that duplicates what Office 365 and SharePoint already do. If you already have Office 365 or SharePoint, why not leverage your existing investment and go with an IT Help Desk that leverages that investment? It will not only save you money, but it will also integrate well across your organization.
2) Online or On-Premises
Not all solutions are built equal. Look for an option that can operate either online or on-premises. Many are built with just one set up in mind but choosing an option that works on both is best. Not only does this guarantee it can meet your current needs, but it can also grow with you as your organization’s needs change over time.
3) Omnichannel Support
Studies show that providing users with different options to contact the help desk increases satisfaction. Look for a solution where users can use email, web, portals, bots, texting, and more. When you allow people to connect with you using their preferred method, you can also increase engagement. This can also have a ripple effect of helping close tickets faster since you can communicate with users on their preferred channel. It may sound simple, but this can have a big impact.
4) Easy to Use
One of the biggest regrets buyers have is opting for a solution that requires extensive training or coding. Not everyone is a coding wiz and even if you are, everyone else might not be. Look for a solution that is intuitive and easy to use. An ideal solution will be easy to pick up, customize, and train others on with little to no coding needed. Picking the right solution up front will save you a lot of time long-term.
5) Thorough Reporting
There is an old saying, “what gets counted gets done” and tickets are no exception. Look for an IT Help Desk solution that offers solid reporting right out the box, but also offers the ability to customize reports. More often than not, those custom reports pay off down the line. They can even save time and improve performance – two things just about any organization can benefit from.
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6) Custom Knowledge Base Articles
This is another feature that many people don’t realize before getting deep into a project. Having the ability to create your own Knowledge Base articles is a huge value-add. It saves massive amounts of time and resources down the line. You may not know what to do with this when you first get an IT Help Desk. That’s ok. You will. Keep it in your back pocket and create articles for FAQs and common issues as you notice trends. This can also reduce the workload and number of tickets your team needs to manually handle since users will be able to check the knowledge base before opening a ticket.
7) Email Conversion
Any respectable IT Help Desk should convert incoming emails to tickets automatically. The whole point of a solution like this is to save you time but simply converting emails to tickets is not enough. Look for a solution that also links subsequent emails under the same ticket. That will help prevent overlap or the possibility of not seeing a subsequent email with pertinent information. Again, it sounds simple, but this can be essential in preventing miscommunications if a user submits multiple tickets or emails around the same time.
8) Automatic Ticket Routing
The biggest benefit of having a good IT Help Desk solution is the amount of time it saves. You would be surprised to learn just how many IT Help Desks then require you to manually assign and handle each individual ticket. A good solution will allow for automatic routing to get tickets to the right person (or group) automatically, right when they come in.
9) Internal Help Desk/External Customer Support
A proper solution should be able to be used for either internal help desk needs or external customer support…or both. Many solutions are only meant for one or the other, but a good option can be applied throughout the organization to further leverage your investment. Think about it. If you are making the investment, why not choose an option that you can leverage throughout your organization? Solutions built for internal and external use also tend to be more robust so even if you only need it for one or the other, having the extended capability can still be worthwhile.
10) Mobile Compatible
With more and more work done from our mobile devices, it is a no-brainer that our IT Help Desks should be mobile-friendly as well. In fact, did you know that mobile devices are the preferred work platform for many members of the younger generations? With Gen Z and Millennials becoming a larger and larger part of the workforce, this is not a feature you want to overlook. Studies show that allowing users to connect and work using their preferred technology increases productivity and improves workplace satisfaction. Surprisingly, some solutions are still meant exclusively for desktop so be sure to double check this one in your search.
Conclusion
All in all, there are a lot of options out there but making sure you select the right IT Help Desk solution is key. That’s why we built the #1 Comprehensive Help Desk. We know it can be overwhelming so we wanted to simplify the search and provide a cost-effective robust solution that can be used to do just about anything you need to do.
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