Help desk is a resource in a business enterprise or an entity that is designed to help a customer or the end user with information or solutions regarding goods or services provided by the entity. Before the evolution of technology, help desks in most entities involved a section within the company premises, where a customer can call or visit to get assistance. The chief function of a help desk is to provide solution or information about a good or a service.
Help desk software refers to a customer relation management program which helps in solving a customer’s problem. Help desk software helps a company automate help services to its customers as much as possible. It consists of three vital systems. Namely these systems are:
Ticket management – This system allows the management to listen and respond to customers’ queries. It also ensures the executives to get customers’ feedback from social media sites like Facebook and twitter. The software has a capability to pull enquiry emails from the server and list them in one area for the management to respond to them. With this software the management can also pick and respond to calls.
Automation suite – This system allows the help desk manager to redirect a customer to the company executive who can deal with their query comprehensively. It also allows the help desk coordinator to monitor a problem which is taking too long to be solved. They can assign supporting personnel to support a situation where a response has not been delivered to a customer.
Reporting / optimization – This software helps the manager of the company get an idea how issues are resolved by the help desk. It helps them to know the workload on the help desk, the type of queries being answered and the time that help desk agents take to resolve them.
Features of a Help Desk Software
- Ticket management and tracking – this is the system that deals with recording and tracking customer queries from the time they are received to the resolution time. Effective help desk should be able to organize these queries efficiently. The efficiency of an organization depends on the problem resolution time and ability.
- Point of contact – This is where the customer can get in touch with the management i.e. via email, calls, and online chats among others.
- Historical incidences – A good help desk must be able to offer self service based on repetitive queries. These are classified by the system into FAQs and the system can automatically redirect a customer if such queries arise. This helps to free up customer care agents so that they can attend new queries.
- Quick implementation and support – This feature allows for quick customer support and hence saving time. An agent can directly solve any problem without referring the customer to the higher authority.
- Automation- The feature allows the system to resolve predictable or repetitive queries automatically. This service is fast hence vital as it convert calls and emails into ticket, directing them to suitable agents and notifying the coordinator on an impending or a solved ticket.
- Dashboard – This feature allows agents to see important data e.g. incoming calls and new tickets when they log-in.
Comparing Popular Software Choices
- Freshdesk - It has multi-channel support, automation, self support services and integrated game mechanics. It is suitable for both large and small enterprises.
- Samanage - It is help desk and asset management software with a reporting and alert system. It is suitable for large and small businesses.
- LiveAgent - It has a social media support, email integration and live chat support. Its vendors have a 24/7 support.
- Zendesk - The support system includes web, live chats, emails and social media. It is currently the most used help desk software in the world since it can process thousands of tickets per day and hosts 5 to 500 agents.
- Salesforce's Service Cloud – It poses a Salesforce suite and can support multi-channel features including video and social media.