What Is A Helpdesk, And How Can It Help Your Business?

One of the priorities of small and medium-sized businesses is to provide their customers with the best possible response in the shortest possible time. Do you know what helpdesk software is? Find out what the advantages of this tool are to optimize your customer relations. The service provided to customers and internal users of a company’s systems is fundamental to any organization.

Whether the request comes from a customer (external request) or an employee (internal request), suboptimal management of incidents and requests can harm the performance of your team’s performance and the reputation of your business. On the other hand, a quality service or support builds trust, improves the perception of the company’s commitment to the user, and helps to give it a good brand image.

Tools, also known as customer support software and helpdesk software, offer a solution to this problem, aiming to boost the productivity of your company’s technical support and customer service. Discover in this article the principles of a helpdesk, its functions, its main characteristics, and its importance for the management of your customer service.

What Is A Helpdesk?

The help desk concept is based on two elements: a human element but also a technological element. On the one hand, it designates the team responsible for handling technical questions and product incidents and, on the other hand, the specialized software used by this team to manage their work. This article focuses on the specificities of the digital tool, whose functionalities aim to:

Facilitate the management of incidents, questions, and requests from customers and end users (external requests),
Facilitate the management of these actions by employees and users of the company’s internal systems (internal requests).

What Is Helpdesk Software Used For?

This program aims to help companies better manage questions, requests, and reported incidents. This is technological support for the team in charge of answering questions from customers or those coming from company employees. Helpdesk tools are designed to centralize customer service or technical support and facilitate access to each request’s information and context. This solution can be adapted to the different communication channels the user chooses, whether a phone call, an online chat, a chatbot, a video call, or even a form on the website.

One of the main goals of this software is to offer solutions likely to offer the best possible experience in the shortest possible time to increase customer or employee satisfaction. When this objective is achieved, it can help build trust among customers or employees, thus positively impacting an organization’s reputation.

How Does A Helpdesk Work?

Typically, a support program is based on the following steps.

A person has a question to ask or a problem to submit and contacts the company through one of the channels offered by customer service (telephone, email, chat, etc.).
Customer support software collects information about the question or problem (person’s name, date and time of complaint, reason, etc.).
The question or problem is identified according to the company’s internal classification (for example, a technical problem with software, a complaint about a defective product, etc.).
The incident or question is assigned to an agent (the latter may or may not be specialized in certain types of incidents, depending on the request level).
The agent contacts the person to deal with the problem, usually indicating the time frame required for resolution.

Main Functionalities And Characteristics Of Helpdesk Software

Several help desk software are available on the market. The functionalities they offer vary according to the supplier, the sector for which the product was designed, or even according to the use for which it is intended (external or internal). The main features of a helpdesk tool include:

knowledge base management,
an omnichannel service,
automation of tasks and events,
data analysis,
Self-service solutions.

In summary, a helpdesk tool provides centralized support that helps users or customers of SMEs or large companies by giving them the best possible experience.

The Importance Of Combining A Helpdesk Tool With Optimal Customer Service

However, to ensure the effectiveness of a helpdesk solution, it must be associated with optimal quality of service. To this end, a technical assistance or customer relations team should focus on delivering a service with specific characteristics detailed below.

Quality User Support

This support turns requests into a user-friendly experience, which must be handled with patience and professionalism. This factor builds confidence in the company’s ability to do everything possible to resolve problems or concerns.

Immediate Attention

To ensure that the required attention is given as quickly as possible, offering 24/365 support or solutions may be advisable. Different channels and means of contact for submitting requests are offered. It is also possible to include an answers section that can provide a quick resolution, such as a combination of frequently asked questions (FAQs), chatbots, and live agents.

A Tailor-Made Experience For The Customer

The goal here is to provide a personalized experience. To do this, having a history allowing you to track and record the user’s problems and requests throughout their relationship with the company is essential. Which agents interacted with the customer? What is the status of his current request? Is it linked to previous queries? Here are some questions that history can help answer more quickly.

Dedicated Staff

The customer support team must be prepared and trained for the queries they will likely receive. It may be desirable to have specialized personnel in different areas to solve more specific problems without having to rely on other services for solutions.

How Can A Helpdesk Help Businesses?

Help desk software serves both to optimize the customer experience and to collect data to optimize customer service processes. Because they can allow you to centralize your customers’ feedback, they are also a medium likely to help you improve the products or services offered. Here are some of the benefits of help desks for a business.

Centralization Of Communication Channels (Omnichannel) And Monitoring Of Customer Support

Customers contact a company in many ways, whether by phone, email, chat, or video call. Not asking the customer to go through another channel helps the user experience. With help desk software, you can transfer customers directly from one channel to another. The help desk, on the other hand, maintains a record and history of interactions with the customer or employee. No matter which agent is dealing with him, he will always know what problems have been encountered in the past or what the status of the current problem is.

Internal Collaboration In Incident Management

When an incident requires the collaboration of different agents or teams, the helpdesk software centralizes and updates the ticket status. It also indicates who the primary agent responsible for the ticket is. By this principle, internal communication between teams is improved: no need to waste precious time finding out what actions have been taken or what information has been communicated to customers.

Information About Problems Reported By Customers Or Employees

This data can help improve products or services. This can be quantitative data, thanks to the data analysis function on all queries, or qualitative data, such as user comments on their particular case.

Updating The Classification Of Sections Searched By Customers Or Employees

This information from data analysis helps identify and review the most frequently encountered questions and problems. This data type can be used to create or improve specific sections related to frequently asked questions (FAQs) or the knowledge base.

Automation Of Tasks

This feature helps keep a constant workflow by automating tasks and notifications. A helpdesk tool can automatically assign or reassign tickets to specific agents based on problem difficulty or classification. In addition, automatic notifications and reminders to employees and customers inform them of the ticket status. On the other hand, automatic and predefined responses are helpful, for example, in the event of service or platform maintenance or temporary cessation of activity due to public holidays.

Criteria To Consider When Selecting Helpdesk Software

When choosing help desk software, it is essential to consider the team’s workflow in handling customer issues or requests. It is advisable to look for software that can adapt to existing processes because although these can be reconfigured, employees will get used to the new system more efficiently. Here are some criteria to consider when looking for a help desk program.

Ease Of Use And Technical Support

The ease of use of any program depends mainly on the prior knowledge of the personnel who will use it. It is recommended that employees responsible for using the software be able to test it and give feedback, such as during free demonstrations of the tool. This process can also help increase the use and adoption of the chosen solution.

It is also advisable to inquire about the type of technical support offered by the software vendor, whether it is available 24 hours a day, whether it is only accessible by chat, whether it includes telephone calls, or offers training for your team. In other words, carefully analyze the support service of the helpdesk software that interests you.

Integration With Existing Software

A study conducted by Capterra in 2022 revealed that integrating software into the existing technology ecosystem is essential for 37% of companies surveyed. Your business probably already uses different software daily, so it’s essential to know how compatible the help desk software is with existing software. These include, for example, internal or external customer communication programs, email, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, etc.

Scalability And Price

Take into account your company’s forecast growth or decline in activity. If your business grows, requests for technical assistance will likely increase; conversely, if your business activity slows down, requests for information could also decrease. Evaluate the flexibility and pricing of the helpdesk programs you are considering, such as the cost of adding modules or features.

Cloud-Based

Cloud-based applications are practical today, mainly if your team works remotely, whether all the time or a few days a week. Cloud-based help desk software allows employees to provide support from anywhere while the database is constantly updated and synchronized, preventing loss of information.