With information technologies playing a major role in the life of all 21 st-century companies, a number of issues arises daily. IT help desks are designed to provide the necessary support to employees who are having IT-related problems.
An efficient help desk no longer consists of a human IT specialist that gives advice to your staff. It’s a combination of expert advice and software that can assist with all types of troubleshooting.
Let’s take a closer look at 7 IT help desk best practices that can improve your organizations’ bottom line.
1. Find the Right Talent
While software can help with IT issues, human specialists have the last word. By finding the right people for the job, you can improve the quality of IT support in your organization. These experts should have a thorough understanding of how your company works and the common issues employees face.
Choosing the right talent, you can streamline help desk operation and ensure success without downtime. If your company doesn’t have time and resources to hire new specialists, you may want to consider outsourcing help desk responsibilities.
2. Build a Knowledge Base
One of the best practices for help desk is self-service. While many employees prefer to contact IT experts after encountering minor problems, it’s often much easier to find the answer on their own. For that, you need to build a robust knowledge base. By collecting help desk materials in one place, you can give your staff a valuable problem-solving tool.
As you are designing the knowledge base, pay special attention to knowledge base navigation. Make it easy for employees to find answers to their questions. Some companies choose to use special platforms with AI-powered navigation to ensure smooth access to the knowledge base.
3. Use Multiple Communication Channels
When an IT problem arises, it could lead to some serious downtime. To be able to address the issue quickly, employees need to have direct access to the help desk. When considering help desk best practices, you need to emphasize communications.
Your IT help desk should be readily available to your staff through the channels it uses the most. From phone numbers and email to social media and internal collaboration tools, employees need fast and smooth access to IT assistance.
4. Generate and Analyze Reports
The data collected by your help desk team can provide valuable insight into the way your company works. By generating and analyzing IT help desk reports, you can find out what issues your employees face frequently.
This can help you figure out how to minimize the most common problems. As a result, your organization can run smoothly. If you are planning to use IT help desk software, choose the program that can create detailed reports.
Information you get from these reports can also be used to improve your knowledge base.
5. Optimize Performance
Even if you take full advantage of the main IT help desk support best practices, there is always room for improvement. Your help desk can work better. To find out how, you need to monitor helpdesk KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
Create a list of KPIs for your help desk team. From response time to the number of solved problems, you can get valuable insight into how your system is working. If the IT help desk performance metrics aren’t as good as you expect, you can go further to identify the problem.
Consider reevaluating your IT help desk performance at least once in six months.
6. Ask for Feedback
Your employees are the main beneficiaries of the IT help desk. To find out how well the system is working, you need to ask your staff. Consider creating a performance evaluation questionnaire that can give you the best understanding of how the help desk works. Give it to your employees at least twice a year.
Once you get feedback, make sure to act upon it. Besides improving your company’s operation, reacting to feedback can improve employee satisfaction rates. You can also ask for feedback from help desk specialists.
7. Streamline Automation
No matter how big or small your company is, the majority of help desk requests are generic. Instead of asking your help desk specialists to answer hundreds of similar questions a day, implement automation.
This involves taking advantage of proper IT help desk software. Notably, advancements in AI technology, like the powerful language model CHAT-GPT, are revolutionizing automation in support, capable of handling complex inquiries and simulating human-like conversation for a more interactive and efficient support experience. By 2023, the market for help desk software solutions is expected to go up $11 billion.
Instead of creating a custom reply to each ticket, your help desk specialists can now leverage this technology to create automated responses, saving them a tremendous amount of time.
IT Help Desk Best Practices: The Takeaway
By taking advantage of these IT help desk best practices, you can streamline employee assistance and improve your company’s operation. While creating a help desk may seem costly, this tool has a high ROI.
Even a minor IT problem can lead to a serious problem or downtime. By investing in an IT help desk you can prevent IT issues and help your company function properly.
Many companies choose to outsource IT help desk functions to managed IT support providers. To find a suitable company, consider using the ITcompanies.net directory.
IT Helpdesk Best Practices FAQ
What is the purpose of an IT help desk?
The IT help desk provides support to employees experiencing IT-related problems. This support combines expert advice and software for efficient troubleshooting.
What is the importance of hiring the right talent for an IT help desk?
Human specialists are key in improving the quality of IT support. They should have a thorough understanding of how your company operates and the common issues employees face. The right talent can streamline help desk operation, reducing downtime.
What is a knowledge base in the context of an IT help desk?
A knowledge base is a collection of help desk materials gathered in one place. It acts as a self-service tool that allows employees to find solutions to their problems independently, thus reducing the workload on the IT help desk.
Why is it necessary to use multiple communication channels for IT help desk operations?
Having multiple communication channels ensures employees have quick and direct access to the help desk when they encounter IT issues. These channels could include phone numbers, email, social media, and internal collaboration tools.
How can generating and analyzing reports help improve an IT help desk?
Reports provide insight into the common issues faced by employees, aiding in problem minimization and helping to optimize the organization's operation. The data gathered can also be used to improve the knowledge base.
What are the benefits of outsourcing IT help desk functions?
Outsourcing IT help desk functions to managed IT support providers can be beneficial for companies that don't have the resources to maintain an in-house team. It provides professional IT support, reduces operational costs, and allows the company to focus on its core business activities.
