Key Features of IT Help Desk Software

The primary advantages of an IT help desk software application are indisputable – increased staff efficiency, minimized support costs, optimized performance of mission-critical business systems, and improved employee morale and loyalty.  But, what makes today’s IT help desk software solutions so valuable?

An IT help desk software package offers a broad range of fully integrated features and functionality designed to simplify, automate, and accelerate internal help desk and technical support processes across an entire enterprise.  Some of the key capabilities of today’s most commonly-used IT help desk software solutions include:

Self Service

IT teams are often bogged down answering routine questions or responding to common, yet easy to fix, technical problems.  IT help desk software empowers employees to address simple inquiries and issues on their own by providing around the clock online access to troubleshooting tips, problem resolution advice, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and other helpful documentation.  This allows support personnel to focus their efforts on the more complex issues that require in-depth technical expertise.  

Multi-channel Communications

IT help desk software allows for real-time communication between support staff members and employees, including those located in remote, branch, or “virtual” offices.  Most solutions on the market today provide facilities for Web-based job ticket opening, email support, and live chat/instant messenger integration, to speed up and enhance help desk interactions.

Activity Tracking

With an IT help desk software system, the status of open issues and all related tasks can be monitored by any authorized user at any time.  From the time a problem is reported, until it is resolved and closed, managers, support staff, and other stakeholders can instantly track activities from start to finish, to prevent delays and ensure prompt resolution. 

Reporting and Analysis

Vital patterns and trends exist within help desk data.  But, without an IT help desk software application in place, that insight remains untapped.  Are specific business applications giving users more problems than others?  Are certain hardware components proving to be unreliable?  What are average response times?  IT help desk software provides the answers to these and other important questions through in-depth analysis of help desk information. 

Dynamic Resource Allocation

Different technical support professionals have different backgrounds, educations, and skill sets.  But, without IT help desk software, that knowledge is rarely centralized and accessible, making it difficult to match the right team members to the right problems.  IT help desk software not only makes it easier to assign personnel to open job tickets based on their area of expertise, it enables more effective workload balancing by automatically allocating resources based on availability. 

Real-Time Alerts

Support breakdowns, unusual or highly-complex problems, or major system issues can occur at any time – wreaking havoc on mission-critical business operations.  Most IT help desk software applications have the ability to immediately alert supervisors and managers when these types of instances occur, based on pre-defined criteria.  For example, a supervisor will receive a page or an email alert when issues go unresolved for an extended period of time, or when an employee reports the same issue multiple times.