Getting the Most from Your Help Desk

Finding qualified IT help can be a challenge for most organizations, so how can you ensure that your IT staff is working on the most strategic components of your business and empower them to get to know the software better? When we think about help desk tickets, we usually just think of them as a way for users to report problems and for the IT team to provide a resolution. However, there is a lot more valuable data in those tickets than you may realize. The world of help desk support actually holds a gold mine of information about your organization and your users.

Did you know help desk ticket data can show gaps in training or areas where staff development efforts could be very beneficial? In these cases, the common theme in the tickets isn’t a network issue or system issue at all, sometimes it is end-user training. Many times, it is a small group of users creating a high-volume of tickets, or it can show there is a need for training across the board.

By identifying any gaps in training and addressing them with the right type of training, you can help users better master your technology systems while also reducing help desk tickets. IT will be able to focus on projects that require skilled resources and support your overall mission or the organization rather than be bogged down with basic support questions. Pinpointing these trends from the start and providing users the training and support they really need, helps your organization run more efficiently and lets your team focus on providing better care.

Organizations often struggle to identify how they can best support users with non-traditional schedules or those who are field-based. An organization’s help desk ticket data can help identify the peak times when users with nonconventional schedules tend to encounter issues, what applications they are using and where they are when they encounter problems.

That information is crucial. Especially if you are considering a self-service support tool verses the need to have a skilled IT support available.

In the world of help desk support, quick resolution times are usually the primary goal. However, an organization often doesn’t realize it can use the data from those help desk tickets to proactively resolve issues before they become user support needs. Taking it a step further, organizations can properly structure user self-service tools to eliminate the need to create a ticket before it makes its way to the help desk. Overall, it’s beneficial for users and IT resources to decrease the ticket volume and increase user proficiency.

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About the Author

Danielle Ross, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Managed Services

Danielle's roles include CIO, COO, Transitional CEO, Director of Quality and Compliance, and Director of Education for various organizations. Her experience inludes service deliver leadership for intellectual/developmental disorders, mental health, and addiction treatment programs. Danielle is often called upon to provide leadership and staff development training and consultation services across the United States.