Having an in-house IT support team brings a host of advantages and stands to add plenty of value to companies, in the form of dedicated service, personalized advice, and secrecy, among other things. However, given the substantial overheads that come with such teams, it is absolutely essential for them to stay on top of their game, and be well-equipped to handle issues and deliver services effectively.
An internal help desk is known to substantially enhance productivity by bridging gaps between teams, empowering employees with a knowledge base, and keeping track of conversations, essential metrics, and KPIs.
Even though there is no shortage of help desk software available across different price points, there are a few essential features that remain critical for the effective functioning of any support team.
1. Knowledge Base
A knowledge base is essential to empower employees and help in the rectification of certain basic issues without requiring the raising of a ticket. An effective knowledge base, with clear, and concise instructions should substantially reduce the burden of support teams, all the while minimizing downtime on the operations front.
Most of the cloud-based help desk software provides a knowledge base (KB) portal as a norm these days, but there are some that work better than others. A well-structured KB supports the entire system of knowledge management, resulting in a learning organization.
2. Service Level Agreement (SLA) Information
SLAs remain relevant even for internal support teams, especially when assigning goals and objectives while holding teams accountable for the same. When a new ticket is raised, its urgency can be determined based on any potential SLA violations.
A help desk that provides the necessary flexibility and customization to align your operations with SLA terms and requirements can be very useful. Not all solutions offer this at the moment, and this is often a premium, or enterprise-level feature that is often purchased as an add-on.
3. Support For Multiple Brands
A multi-brand help desk software can help provide support across a number of different brands, products, or teams, with unique branding, and relevant templates that reflect the same. If you feel that your support team is under-utilized, you can make use of the same resources to offer services organization-wide, or across different organizations to maximize value.
This is again a premium feature or a paid add-on, and often comes with unlimited portals, mailboxes, and email addresses to reflect the different brands, and products being supported.
4. Automated Workflows
Service desk efficiencies and productivity and be supercharged with the aid of automated workflows, through which many routine requests can be processed seamlessly, and with minimal human involvement.
There is a lot that is happening in this space, especially in recent years, with many help desk solutions offering automation templates, and extensive options for customizations allowing for use cases across industries and niches.
5. Multi-Channel Deployment
At most organizations, internal tech requirements spread across devices, frameworks, and systems, making it necessary to offer multi-channel support. Use cases can also vary depending on the nature of work, for example, field teams might have to raise requests via their cell phones, which brings added complexity to the support system.
Fortunately, leading help desk solutions are going all out in terms of multi-channel deployment, allowing for seamless interactions across devices, channels, and more.
Final Words
There is a lot happening in the increasingly competitive help desk niche, with plenty of features being rolled out that can easily support an internal IT support team. With a thorough analysis and selection, a help desk will only serve to enhance the remarkable benefits of an in-house support team.
