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Guide to Choosing the Best Help Desk Software


Posted: 11th September 2020 08:47

Whatever the specialisms of your business may be, it’s highly likely that many of its processes will be aided by the implementation of a help desk. However, there is a very broad range of these resources available, with each tool tailored carefully to suit certain specific needs. Because of this, it’s easy to accidentally invest in elements of help desk software that you don’t particularly need. In this article, we’ll reveal some of the questions you should ask yourself about your business before settling on your chosen software. Remember, many of the resources available can be closely tailored to your needs, so don’t forget to speak about your company in minute detail when making enquiries.

Will Your Help Desk Be Used by Customers, Employees or Both?

Some setups work better as public facing entities, while others are more suited to internal matters. Decide what you want - is it a customer portal designed to help users with service requests, complaints and queries, or is it a resource for staff to use as more as an IT help desk to fix their tech issues? Of course, you can arrange for the same software to cover both - just be sure that there is no crossover and that customers are not able to access private internal information and data.

What Does Your Company Do?

By their design, some help desks are better suited to businesses that provide certain products like those by clicking here or pieces of equipment and others work better for organizations offering services. Which is what can often appear clear from the moment you start shopping around, but with so many niche providers in existence, it’s definitely best to be clear about the exact features you require before you begin. The size of your company can also affect the types of tools you’ll need. It’s possible for smaller businesses to make use of smaller-scale resources while bigger, more complex organizations are likely to need something more.

Will You Be Managing or Outsourcing Your Help Desk Services?

You can arrange for your own IT or customer service team to man your help desk, or you can decide on a Software as A Service (SAAS) option, where an external team will take charge of these interactions and processes. This decision can be based on the size and complexity of your company as well as the importance of branding, as an internally managed resource may be easier to make your own and expense, where you probably won’t need to pay an annual salary to SAAS providers, just a service fee.

Consider Data Collection and Analysis

Besides streamlining services or internal tech support, one major reason for implementing is a help desk metrics analysis. The collection of data and the production of clear reports can be made far simpler and straightforward when using a tool of this kind. You should determine the types of data collection that are relevant to your company’s requirements and the information that will help in its growth and improvement. This will help you to decide which tool is best suited to your business’s analytical needs.

What Kind of Security Will You Need?

When you’re on the lookout for the right software, you should be very selective when it comes to cybersecurity. The data that is retained and shared via this resource needs to be well protected at all times in a manner that is relative to its sensitivity. It’s a good idea to conduct a kind of data protection