Tips on Creating an Effective Helpdesk

An effective helpdesk can be critical in strengthening your overall managed IT strategy. Resolving your clients’ complex tech issues efficiently and keeping customers happy are the key components of creating a strong and effective helpdesk. According to a recent survey by PR Newswire, the average worker wastes 22 minutes a day on tech glitches. 

Remaining diligent in maintaining clear and thorough notes on clients’ issues while keeping records of previous tech problems are some tips to keep in mind when structuring your helpdesk. Quick responses, highly trained staff, and good software will all be helpful in boosting your services and creating an effective helpdesk.

Maintain quick response times

If one of your clients has contacted your helpdesk, it’s because they haven’t been able to solve the IT issue themselves. With most offices being dependent on their technology running effectively and properly, clients can get frustrated quickly when something goes wrong. While you might not know the exact solution to the problem, it’s important to make sure clients receive quick responses while you work towards a solution.

Though you may have many client issues to deal with, it’s important that you make sure to reply to your clients quickly and in a helpful manner to put them at ease. The problem might be complex and require extensive time to fix it, but prompt responses and continuous updates will improve your clients’ overall experience and keep your helpdesk effective.

Keep clear and thorough notes

Your clients have likely invested time and money into managed IT and expect a comprehensive service to match this.

Going through the same tech problem multiple times while talking to a different member of your team each time is one of the most frustrating situations for your clients. This can be easily avoided by keeping comprehensive and clear notes on past and ongoing issues so that anyone who assists the client will have a strong understanding of the issues and feel confident taking the necessary steps without having to clarify details.

As a managed IT company it’s your responsibility to ensure that your clients receive satisfactory service, keeping notes on their tech issues is one way to do this.

Use helpdesk software

When choosing suitable helpdesk software, look for a solution that is not only easy for all members of the team to use but also comprehensive in what tools it offers your company. Opt for software that will ensure your helpdesk operates effectively while making it easier for your clients’ tech issues to be solved promptly.

The software should make it easy for tickets to be assigned quickly to available team members. Most help desk software will come with an interface showing each agent’s current list of tasks and availability. You can also find software that will automatically assign tasks as they are put into the system. 

Think about setting up a self-service knowledge base. This feature will help users solve their own problems instead of having to speak with your team. A knowledge base can be a great way of solving clients’ issues quickly and effectively when the issue is of a low-complexity level. Your helpdesk software should allow for users to get in touch with your team via text, email, social media, and internet chat. Consider incorporating a telephony system to allow users to create tickets through a phone call.

Some software even comes with the option to set up automated responses to speed up your response times and boost customer satisfaction. This is a great way of responding to frequently asked questions without using up the team’s time which could be better spent solving complex issues. Your clients will also be pleased that their issues are promptly responded to.

Learn from previous tech issues

Clients often have the same or similar tech issues over and over again, use this to the advantage of your IT team. Instead of wasting time researching solutions to the same or similar problems, by keeping a strong record of past problems, you will be able to use them for reference when solving similar problems with other clients.

Hire a diverse set of skills

Make sure you have a diverse set of workers on your managed IT helpdesk team so you don't rely on just one go-to IT team member. While some people might excel at resolving tricky IT issues, others might be best suited to talking to clients and making sure they receive outstanding customer service. A helpdesk team that contains a balance of good customer service and high-level technical skills will ensure that your clients are happy with the overall managed IT service that you are providing.

Ask for feedback and actively improve from it

Asking your clients for honest and relevant feedback is key to making consistent improvements in your team and maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. A good way to collect feedback is by creating a survey and sending it out to your client base a couple of times a year. Avoid adding so many questions that clients become frustrated and give up before finishing the survey, though do make sure that it is thorough enough that clients can give an honest opinion on how they feel about your helpdesk and managed IT services.

Once you have a set of responses, go through them with the whole team and devise a strategy for how you might improve your team.

Sending out regular surveys is a great way to touch base with your customers and make sure that they are satisfied with your services. Make sure to use the collected data to your advantage by devising strategies to improve your managed IT and helpdesk services.

How Coordinated can make your helpdesk more effective

In-house IT teams can get frustrated quickly if they have to solve the same issues over and over again. Software problems and technical glitches can be time-consuming issues that take up your IT team’s valuable time. Coordinated can provide your company with helpdesk services, freeing up your IT team, allowing them to work on more important revenue-generating projects. Our helpdesk will be able to eliminate many of the small problems that take time to identify and solve, increasing the effectiveness of your IT team.