Help Desk

5 Tips to Operate an Effective Help Desk

Darlene Lin

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The effectiveness of the help desk has a direct impact on the bottom line. The help desk is the primary channel between your customers and your organization. Providing an optimal help desk experience can improve customer satisfaction rates and cost efficiency.

Follow these five tips to improve your help desk operations:

• Create Guidelines
  There should be a standard procedure that is carried out when an incident is received by the help desk. For instance, when an incident is reported, it should be logged into a central system and then routed to an available agent. Once resolved, a notification should be sent to the customer that the issue has been fixed.
  Most help desk software solutions available on the market can help you automate some of these functions, increasing efficiency and lowering resolution times.
• Provide Self-Service Channels
  Creating a continuously updated knowledgebase can give customers the answers they need to commonly asked questions. Self-service channels empower customers to solve their own issues and free help desk staff to focus on handling more demanding issues, improving productivity and user satisfaction.
• Properly Train Staff
  Dealing with angry customers can be overwhelming for an inexperienced help desk agent, and speaking to an agent who doesn’t understand their issue can be frustrating for clients. To ensure that customer issues are handled properly and to reduce staff attrition, organizations should invest in training and provide staff with the tools they need to effectively resolve issues that come into the help desk.
• Set Goals and Track Performance
  Goals must be defined about how to achieve effective help desk operations. For instance, is your organization striving to improve first call resolution rates? Or, does management want to reduce the number of incidents sent to the help desk by creating new self-service support portals? Once these goals are defined, create and track metrics to determine which areas of your help desk are meeting your expectations and which areas need improvement. Once weaknesses are found, resources can be redirected to address these areas.
• Invest in Software Tools
  Deploying a robust help desk software solution can help your organization automate routine tasks, streamline support processes, and reduce resolution times. Before implementing help desk software, your organization must assess its needs and decide which help desk solution can best meet those needs. Thoroughly research and compare available options before making a purchase.

By following these tips, your organization will be better equipped to offer a help desk experience that will satisfy customers and improve help desk agent productivity.

What steps has your organization taken to improve help desk operations? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Want more on help desk technology? Discover and learn more about help desk by exploring the Business-Software.com customer service resource page, where we compile all our related blog posts, product reviews and premium offers.

[Photo courtesy of TechSmith Blog.]

• Consultant

Darlene Lin

Web Contributor, Business-Software.com
Expert in CRM, Social, ITSM/IT Help Desk, and ERP

Darlene is a web contributor, specializing in the CRM, Social, IT Management and ERP segments. She has several years of experience covering the software technology world, writing about the latest companies and trends and interviewing the founders of emerging and ...