Software Technology introduces its online help desk

Before the introduction of this online help desk Software Technology supported all of its customers either via telephone or email. Because we are a growing company with close to 100 clients who themselves may have several companies, customers would have noticed that it was becoming more and more difficult to get through to the help desk.

The help desk itself was having serious problems keeping up with the logging of all help desk matters. Additionally much time is wasted during a support telephone call as the customer service rep keeps the customer online while he/she works on the issue, even when both parties are silent and not communicating, and additional calls may go unanswered or may go to voice mail. Because most customers will expect immediate results, it will require a larger staff to provide support in real time, allowing each customer service rep to work during each call, a situation which is not financially viable. Short staffing may result in missed calls, which will result in a lower satisfaction rating from our customers. We had to step up.

We are now providing support both via email and an online help desk. This gives each customer two options to seek support. They can login to the companies online help desk and log their support request or they can send an email to the companies support email address. Our help desk has a feature that monitors their support email inbox and which turns valid support emails into help desk tickets, while rejecting spam emails. Thus, the company never has to deal with an email inbox again nor the problems which come along with it. All tickets are answered from within the help desk interface.

Benefits of Supporting Customers Via an Online Help Desk

Customers can login to the online help desk to seek support, never requiring them to use an email program. (Unless the customer prefers email).

Customers can alternately send an email to the support email address to seek support. The help desk will filter the email message, check it for spam, and then turn valid support emails into a help desk ticket just as if the customer had logged in to open a ticket.

Each customer support request is automatically given a unique tracking number, allowing the customer service reps and the customer to efficiently track the progress of the support request.

The customer having choosen the area in which they need support ensures that the ticket gets to the right person more quickly and efficiently

The customer can login to the help desk to view the progress of their ticket 24 hours per day. They can view the time the ticket was entered, the status of the ticket and the names of any support personnel involved in the ticket.

When a customer service rep responds to a ticket, the ticket is updated in the help desk and also, an email is sent to the customer to notify them that an update has been made to their ticket.

Tickets are listed in the order that they are received so customer service reps know which ticket is next in line in the queue.

When a customer logs into the help desk to create a ticket, they are given guidance by the help desk and prompted to enter pertinent information such as a category and subject and basic details. The help desk allows the administrator to put custom notes in the ticket creation area to further assist the customer in providing any details necessary.

From the customer service reps aspect, the support request is presented to them in an organized manner, with all of the details about the customer and their issue available in one screen.

In our busy customer service department, a manager or administrator can choose to assign certain tickets to a customer service rep of their choice.

A customer can choose to close a ticket they have open at any time. This is helpful when the customer solves his or her own issue. Allowing them to close their own ticket takes the ticket out of the queue, reducing the workload for staff.

When a CSR or a customer closes a ticket, it is archived and able to be viewed by a customer or a customer service rep. Further, because the ticket information is in a database, the customer service rep can search tickets based on the customer name, username, company name, etc., allowing them the ability to cross reference tickets.

The online help desk provides Knowledge Base software. If used properly, a companies FAQ topics will be displayed to the customer during the ticket creation process, encouraging them to view the relevant FAQ topics concerning their issue BEFORE they enter a ticket. This saves the customer time and reduces the amount of tickets in the queue.

The online help desk provides a walk through area which provides a step by step tour to a solution for the listed problems.

The online help desk provides an area where users can download specific material that may be relevant to their problem.

Our online help desk management solution, coupled with other means of support is one of the key means to improving customer satisfaction and/or retention. It will help provide a quicker support turn around. The result will be a faster, more efficient support department with happier customers.

Happy customers tend to be loyal customers. Loyal customers tend to be long-term customers.

But this is not all we are doing to improve service to our customers. Within the next quarter we will also be releasing our Learning Management System which will provide several online courses in the use of the software we develop and third party software we support.