Help Desk Software

By Richard L. Smith, SoftwareReviews.biz

Being a fundamental and core part of any good business service and operation, help desks are the ultimate weapons for addressing tricky issues that depend largely on the selection of the right kind of tools and efficient management. This, again, make the operation of the help desk a daunting task. But, before proceeding further, it is essential to know what a Help Desk is.

A central point through which problems and/or issues are reported and subsequently managed and/or co-coordinated, a help desk also stands for the core part of any service that brings together multiple resources to address an issue, from a wider perspective. Help desk users can be external or internal and make the function potentially critical, both for the smooth running of an organization as well as for enhancing the quality of direct support offered to the customers.

Help desks have come a long way since the advent of the concept in the remote past; what now has become every organization’s cuppa, was primarily introduced as a telephone support system.
Traditionally, it was the Call Centers that used helpdesks, to cater for customer enquiring on pre or post sale issues.

With the advent of Internet, helpdesks witnessed a major facelift; today they complement the buying processes and give the customers a direct route by replacing the continually expanding telephone call management systems. These Internet or Intranet based systems soon became a choice of the people due to a number of unparalleled benefits; they overcame the limitations of a telephone support helpdesk by being available on a 24/7 basis.

Today, every support department in an organization effectively provides a helpdesk. This, in turn, comes in aid for the staff to obtain assistance on a vast spectrum of physical and technical matters that pertain to the expertise of the department.

Before discussing the help desk software, it is important to know how they work, skipping which, can lead to the selection of the wrong software with minimum of the required features.

Traditionally speaking, a helpdesk receives calls and passes them through various support levels until resolved. Often referred to as first, second and third line support, calls are received and logged before assigning a ticket number to each of them, which acts as an unique identification. The call is then assigned to the appropriate person or team for resolving the problem.

There could also be a number of actions required and they need to be logged. Attachments of further information, screen shots showing the problem, related documentation etc. could be good examples; besides, requirements may also arise regarding the series of events that often need to be managed (e.g. ringing back, sending email updates). The help desk also keeps a record of the resolutions and should ideally run a knowledge base for resolving similar issues in future.

Help Desk is primarily a support service. Though human capabilities rule supreme, but it may also leave a record incomplete that cannot be relied upon. Add to this the interruptions made by the support requests and the whole thing turns out quite stressful. Thus came the requirement of a formal helpdesk application to allow the support departments easily record, track and resolve support requests in a controlled environment.

The Internet based helpdesk applications are designed to enhance the e-trade business processes; they also provide after sales support, records and associates the individual actions involving the support processes, keeps a knowledge base and also helps in identifying trends or major issues for ongoing improvements. While some of the Helpdesk software systems allow basic ticket logging, others integrate CRM systems fully, though the essential core elements (the recording and tracking of support requests) is a common feature for all.

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