#GoToGetsIT: This article is part of an ongoing series from GoTo’s thought leaders on the frontlines: Our Solutions Consultants deeply understand our customers’ unique challenges and connect the right solutions to meet their goals using GoTo technology. Here, they share their industry knowledge on what it takes to help businesses everywhere thrive in a remote or hybrid world.
The value of an IT helpdesk will only increase as businesses continue to rely on technology to support their operations. Whether you are supporting employees, customers, or both, a well-managed helpdesk can make or break satisfaction and loyalty, which is why best practices must be followed to ensure peak performance.
First, adopt the right tools
The right tools can assist a helpdesk in providing exceptional service, especially if they include multiple capabilities within an all-in-one solution. These might be incident management, problem resolution, and remote support software, as well as workflow automation, collaboration, and knowledge management.
Once you have the right toolkit, here are some best practices to follow and how the right technology can help:
1. Set clear objectives and metrics
Set clear objectives and track critical business metrics such as first-call resolution rate, average response time, and customer satisfaction rate. Helpdesk reporting and analytics capabilities can assist you in identifying areas for improvement and tracking progress toward your objectives. With these metrics, you can quantify the effectiveness of your helpdesk, understand where it excels, and identify areas that need improvement.
2. Use a ticketing system
A robust helpdesk ticketing system ensures nothing slips through the cracks. This should allow you to easily keep track of all customer requests, assign tasks to team members, and ensure that all issues are resolved as soon as possible. By using a ticketing system, you can effectively manage and prioritize customer requests, monitor the status of ongoing issues, and ensure that no issues fall through the cracks.
3. Prioritize requests
Prioritize customer requests based on urgency and impact. To ensure that the most critical issues are addressed first, look for a tool that lets you create custom workflows and automate tasks. With the right tool, you can automate the triaging of issues and prioritize them based on their impact on business operations. This will help your team address the most urgent issues first, reducing downtime and ensuring that your customers are satisfied.
4. Provide self-service options
Reduce the workload on your helpdesk team and improve customer satisfaction by providing self-service options. A comprehensive knowledge base can assist customers in quickly and easily finding answers to their questions. This will help customers resolve issues quickly without needing to contact the helpdesk, freeing up your team's time to focus on more complex issues.
5. Train the helpdesk team
Training can be a drag on your valuable resources. It can help greatly if your software vendors offer training and certification programs to help your helpdesk team stay up to date on new tools and technologies while also improving their customer service skills. A well-trained helpdesk team is critical to ensuring that your customers receive the best possible service, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
6. Encourage collaboration and communication
Collaboration tools can assist team members in working more effectively together. Team messaging and video conferencing facilitate communication and ensure that everyone is working toward the same goals. With these tools, your team can collaborate on resolving issues more effectively and efficiently, improving your team's productivity and reducing resolution times.
7. Monitor and analyze customer feedback
Understanding the customer's point of view allows you to make better decisions and improve your service. Reporting and analytics capabilities make it simple to monitor and analyze customer feedback. By analyzing customer feedback, you can identify trends and patterns in the issues reported, and address the underlying causes of those issues.
8. Continuously improve processes
You can ensure that your helpdesk team is always operating at peak efficiency by reviewing and improving your processes on a regular basis. Workflow automation capabilities can assist you in streamlining your processes and eliminating inefficiencies. By regularly reviewing your processes and improving them, you can ensure that your team is operating at peak efficiency and providing the best possible service to your customers.
Put these helpdesk best practices in action
You can provide exceptional service to your customers and improve customer satisfaction by following these best practices and utilizing an all-in-one IT management and support solution like GoTo Resolve. Expect increased loyalty and revenue for your business in return.
