An IT help desk is a department, either within an organisation or provided by an external contractor, that is responsible for answering the technical questions of the end-users of an IT system. Most major IT companies have help desks to respond to questions from their customers. Questions may be handled by the help desk in various ways including email, telephone, website, or online chat.
Here are some of the key features of an excellent IT support help desk.
Qualified, friendly support staff
The key to any effective help desk is the people who provide the service. End-users of a help desk need to know that their enquiry is going to be dealt with professionally and quickly, therefore empathetic staff with strong interpersonal skills are essential to the delivery of the service. They must also possess the technical skills required to deal with the most common IT issues.
An effective ticketing system
Providing an exceptional standard of IT support to end users can’t be achieved without an efficient technology setup. Ticketing systems enable end-users to keep a record of the issues they raise, monitor the progress of the issues, and allow multiple stakeholders, with different levels of expertise, to collaborate on any complex problems. An effective ticketing system is, therefore, an essential component to a good quality IT support desk.
An efficient issue tracking system
An essential element of providing above-average IT support is the efficient recording of issues and bugs that end users are experiencing with the hardware and software they are using. IT support companies, therefore, need to ensure that the helpdesk agent, engineers, and managers can keep track of the issues through to their complete resolution. A good tracking system will keep the end-user up to date on the status of the problem.
Monitoring and analytics
An efficient IT support helpdesk should include analytics on the service provider side, enabling IT managers to gain insight into common issues and fixes for end users of IT systems. This valuable data can be used to help make the handling of future support tickets more efficient and satisfactory for the end-user.
A customer feedback feature
IT support companies need to learn from their mistakes and successes, so customer feedback is essential to this process. A good IT help desk should allow end-users to provide the support team with details of how they feel their issue has been dealt with, once the ticket has been closed.
Interested in a review of IT support for your business?
At help4IT, we have been providing exceptional help desk support to our clients since our inception in 2005. It is the foundation stone of our support packages. If you’d like a review of your IT systems, please contact us today.
