Welp MagazineWhen managing an IT help desk, there are a host of catastrophes to consider which could derail the day to day smooth running of your operations.
The best cure for common ailments in this context is knowing what mistakes can be made, so here are some mishaps and their solutions which every help desk worker should be aware of.
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Misplaced or overlooked customer emails
The number one bug bear of any customer looking for support from a business is not having their correspondence noticed and dealt with in a timely fashion.
This can often happen as a result of a disorganized help desk, in which a hail of emails and other types of communication will pour in and leave employees swamped. Such a scenario will inevitably lead to some customers’ requests falling through the cracks.
This is where an email ticketing system will help you out of hot water. Being able to convert incoming messages into actionable, well-orchestrated tickets that are centrally accessible and trackable is a blessing for any support service. If you don’t have one, or you are not using the one you have optimally, then a change is needed.
Isolated employees
Another issue which is often overlooked in IT help desk teams is that of members being unnecessarily compartmentalized in terms of their workloads and their goals.
This could lead to individuals encountering issues which could be solved if they simply communicated and collaborated with their colleagues, rather than feeling that they need to surmount each challenge solo.
Once again, having a central system for communication and collaboration can help significantly in this regard. If everyone knows what others in the team are up to, and moreover has a means and a motive to request assistance and input from others when they need it, then all sorts of inefficiencies will be eliminated and productivity can improve.
Tackling tasks manually
Speaking of inefficiencies, in an age where automation is more readily available than ever before, it makes no sense to stick to older, manual processes for fielding requests from customers.
This is not just likely to lead to more work for employees, but can also add in the element of human error which could create consternation in previously loyal acolytes of your brand.
Even if your help desk primarily deals with internal support, that is no reason to overlook the advantages that automated tools provide.
Going back to the email ticketing solutions discussed above, the latest and greatest examples of these can ensure that employees are assigned tasks evenly and automatically, while also issuing notifications so that tickets can be resolved swiftly without delays getting in the way.
Improperly informed agents
Even if you have the right software tools and solutions to keep your IT help desk running like clockwork, this will count for nothing if the employees using them are not up to speed with the products and services you provide to customers.
This is an especially likely situation just after the launch of your latest offering, and so you need to be proactive about providing training to support workers. It is both frustrating and embarrassing for customers to find that the people they are in touch with know less about the issue than they do, so plan ahead and give team members the resources they need to succeed.
In addition to training, it is useful to build and maintain a central knowledge base from which employees can draw the info they require in real time.
These are just a handful of common IT help desk mistakes, so once you have fixed them, endeavor to look for other weaknesses to address as well.
