8 Features to Look for in a Help Desk Ticketing System

For the unfamiliar, a help desk ticketing system is a tool that companies use to track if things are being done as they should. For each task or concerned customers, there’s a ticket issued with details about what was done, who did what and when, and what else needs to be resolved, among other information.

An ideal ticketing system should be designed to allow event registration, assignment of a ticket, tracking of changes on a ticket, sending ticket status updates to other departments, and closing a ticket to name a few.

 

The Help Desk Ticketing System: A Closer Look

An IT help desk ticketing system helps the IT service desk perform its functions efficiently such as serving as a point of contact between the service provider and the users.

It helps a company manage processes, tasks, service requests, and issues for the benefit of its community of users. The term “ticket” is almost always synonymous to an issue, a problem, query, or complaint that’s submitted to a specific team whether technical support, customer service, billing department, or sales department.

That said, you can tell a ticketing system is effective if it has the following features:

 

1. It is accessible and easy to use.

Automating your systems and processes is going to be pointless if not all customers will be able to use them. To counter this, you’ll want a ticketing system that should be accessible to all users via a web interface such as an intranet (for internal users) and the internet (for external users).

If you are using some third-party software, make sure the vendor’s system requirements do not precede your own. At the same time, ease of use means that it should be simple enough for customers to enter data or update their information, or for programmers and engineers to modify scripts on a ticket as needed.

 

2. It can send tickets through multiple channels.

Users should be able to send a ticket via phone, email, or through an account that’s been registered with the company website or system. The idea is for customers to be still able to relay their concerns should one of those channels encounter glitches. Some ticketing systems are also configured to receive chat messages submitted by customers.

 

3. It lets users view the status of tickets.

For customers, there is nothing more frustrating than not knowing what’s happening to an issue or complaint they raised with the company. Letting them view ticket status makes them feel more at ease and less hostile. Just be sure that there’s a way for public and private actions on tickets to be filtered, as not all entries on the ticket need to be made viewable to customers.

Internal teams or departments should also have access to ticket status since this is a good way to establish collaborative action and sharing of workload.

 

4. It provides customers an option to deploy self-service.

Although most help desks operate 24/7, some customers still prefer to do things on their own, and this is where a self-service portal is most handy. Here, you can put up FAQs, forums, and a shopping-cart style for product orders or service requests.

The idea is to provide customers quality support with more control on their hands at the time they need it, as well as in the platform they are most comfortable with.

 

5. It can track a ticket’s history.

A ticket history needs to be preserved for several reasons: to track the progress of a project or event, as a support document for disputes, or to trace where a problem originated. Even when a specific matter has been resolved, the ticket should remain in the system and marked as closed but never deleted since you’ll never know when you need to go back to a particular ticket history.

 

6. It has an efficient and a comprehensive notification alerts system.

A good ticketing system has various mechanisms to issue notifications about system activities to all end users. Any change in status, for example, will prompt a message through notification emails sent to customers. Such emails may contain a link to your portal, where all details about that particular activity are posted.

 

7. It supports grouping of related tickets.

Your help desk agents can maximize the use of a ticketing system that allows them to sort related tickets such as those that contain FAQs or recurring requests from users who may be new to the system. Related tickets may be collated so that it becomes easier for help desk agents to issue a uniform reply in one go.

 

8. It can be customized to accommodate your workflow.

Your choice of ticketing system should not cause you to feel tied up to its own limitations. Instead, it should be flexible enough to suit your needs

Since no ticketing system can accommodate each and every bit of your specifications, the system should offer a workaround in which you are granted permission to alter the source codes, so the features and functions become in sync with your needs.

 

If your ticketing system is anywhere near these attributes, your end users and help desk agents will be the first in line to benefit. For one, your customers get to enjoy the convenience of being able to communicate and follow up their concerns, and in turn, the staff assigned to the help desk can respond to the same in a timely and efficient manner. It’s a win-win situation for the business.

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