Help desk software allows IT departments to automate customer service management. It serves as a platform where staff and network users can report issues and IT administrators can systematically address them. Most products use a ticketing system to log requests, prioritize, and queue them for completion, which saves administrators the time and effort associated with manual troubleshooting (e.g. phone calls, emails, repetitive office visits). Help desk software also increases employee productivity by allowing users to submit help tickets through an online portal, rather than leaving their work-in-progress to visit an IT manager.
Beyond one-off troubleshooting, help desk solutions offer smart tools for automating the resolution process, such as auto-assign features (allocate tickets to specific technicians based on skills required or issue type), shared macros (predetermined fix actions auto-prescribed for a simple or recurring issue), and self-help resources for your staff. Finally, reporting and analytics tools can offer valuable insight about your help center operations, such as average resolution times, trends in past tickets, and user sentiment.
Here are some common features found in IT help desk software:
- Ticketing/Issue management
- Custom SLAs (service level agreements)
- User/customer portal
- Self-help database
- IT purchase requests
- Asset scanning
- Reporting/analytics
- Integration with other IT tools (CMDBs, asset and systems management, etc.)
