With the rapid advancements in Information Technology, the lives of employees and customers have gotten a lot easier. For most companies, the IT service desk comes under immense pressure. Support teams have to feel the heat of managing higher volumes of requests and issues and even deliver cheaper, faster, and better service. Support experience has been evolving as an increasingly crucial aspect of the IT service desk. There are many strategies that you can employ within your organization to ensure that your delivery meets the expectations and needs of the user. Here are some ideas that can help you in quickly improve your IT service desk:
Understand the expectations of the users from the IT service desk
Examining such questions can help you in establishing user-focused and relevant service-level agreements. For example, if your customers or employees demand an email response within 2 hours, you could create an SLA about the same expectation. When you gain clarity, you will be able to set more relevant objectives and goals for the IT service desk team. From communicating a password reset link to providing technical assistance, your IT service desk team members would be able to meet the user expectations.
Streamline knowledge management
Every company has a lot of available collective knowledge.
In this day and age, due to digital advancement, knowledge is easily accessible. In fact, streamlining knowledge management can have a significant influence on the efficiency and productivity of your organization. Here is how you can do it:
- Create an IT-related support team that has the content and experts on the subject matter
- Encourage collaboration and dialogue among employees
- Build a solid review strategy for every knowledge article
- Make it more straightforward for users to communicate knowledge with others
Improve your IT service desk using the right tools
Embracing the exemplary IT support tools might sound such as a substantial year-long project however it should be. You could always start small based on your team’s objectives and size. You could opt to go for an IT service desk resolution for advanced management features. In addition to primary ticketing, you can use tools and resources for ITSM processes such as Change Management, Knowledge Management, Service Level Management, and Asset Management.
Build an extensive knowledge base
If your support agents waste some valuable time answering employee questions about basic support, you can empower your employees with an extensive knowledge base that answers their questions focused on IT. Your internal knowledge base would act as a central repository where your users could find content structured to help them in solving problems, such as how-tos, tutorials, or help articles.
Ensure that handoff and escalation process are well understood
The IT support department of your company has various levels and tiers. In case a user needs a process to be handed off to a different team or escalates an issue, you need to have a protocol in place. This will not only help in rapidly resolving the issue, but it will also free up your lower-tier IT support team who do not have the skills, knowledge, or authority to solve such issues.
Invest in training your employees
You should invest in regular training for your IT professionals. You could utilize IT training software to develop online courses tailored for your IT team and help them in honing their skills. This training will help your employees in solving advanced issues.
Align IT goals with your business objectives
Even though IT is a different department altogether, your IT goals need to overlap with your business objectives to a certain extent. The IT service desk team needs to be well aware of critical times for your company, such as the annual sales week or the launching of a new product.
Conclusion
A lot of people believe that IT is just about technology, especially about the use of automation to deliver better outcomes and speed up workflows. However, the fact is that people power IT. When your employees from different departments function together towards a common goal, you can start participating in better results. Facilitate dialogue between various departments and request them to tell you how IT can help you in achieving their goals. For instance, your sales team may request better security for sensitive customer information.