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Your business is global. Your employees, clients and vendors are far and wide. As you try to bring people together virtually, there will be times when technical support will need to be called. How can you ensure that your IT department, especially your help desk, has the right tools to manage support calls and tickets?
What is the right IT ticket solution? There are many IT ticket solutions on the market like Zendesk, Gemini and Freshdesk to name a few. Each offers a number of features, ranging from live chat to ticket deflection. What will work best for you? You know your business and your team. However, in this virtual age, you need a solution that will support new forms of communication from conference room technology to wireless presentation. A ticketing system that can be accessed by many from multiple locations requires flexibility to meet company needs.
These are 5 simple ways to selecting the right IT ticket solution:
Do your homework. Is your current solution working? Examine how employees are currently communicating with your help desk. If possible, conduct a company-wide survey to gather feedback on the current support structure and process. Share that information with your IT support team. Brainstorm on ways to improve efficiencies and identify features of an IT ticketing system are mandatory, nice to have or not needed. This will help you to budget wisely and evaluate costs of implementation and maintenance as many providers work on a subscription basis.
The bells and whistles. The “hot” features sure look great, but are they really necessary? Don’t be sold on looks alone. For instance, Gemini offers email integration and a Knowledge Base. Freshdesk has added features like live chat and social media integration. What you should consider is how the platform operates and fits into your team’s structure and processes. For example, you should evaluate if you can dedicate team members to live chat. Ask providers for a demonstration of the solution, and have help desk team members participate. If providers can provide you with a trial to test the solution and its features, go for it! Many solutions also come with free trials, like Zendesk provides, which will allow your team and other key employees across departments give proper feedback and recommendations.
Global technical support. As your company’s employees are connected across multiple countries, platforms and devices, you’ll need to have an IT ticket solution that everyone will be able to access and work together. IT support teams will also need a way to communicate with them on an as-needed basis through devices and across time zones. Some solutions, like Freshdesk and Zendesk, offer mobile applications for Android and iOS.
Language and translation. While your company may do business globally, does everyone speak the same language? Maybe or maybe not. You might need to consider multi-language support for your ticketing solution, especially if you embed frequently asked questions or a knowledge database. For example, Zendesk offers support for over 40 languages, which administrators can configure through account settings. Having content available in more than one language may help employees readily obtain answers rather than getting lost or misunderstood through tickets.
References and recommendations. When considering IT ticket solutions, some providers might provide you with references from their client pool with whom you can discuss how the solution has worked for them. You may also want to gather references and recommendations of providers from colleagues or your professional network. The feedback you gather may be useful in determining a final list of top providers to consider or select.