As your organization scales, requests to your help desk will increase as well. Issues coming to your business help desk can present in many forms, such as the internet, devices breaking down, crashed applications, or clients seeking help working with certain products or tools. 

An increased number of requests can overwhelm any help desk if the right strategies are not implemented. If you are having problems managing your help desk, the five help desk best practices listed below are an excellent place to start to get things moving smoothly. 

Getting the Right Software

Nothing increases the efficiency of a system like automation. When used at the help desk, automation helps ensure that not a single request falls through the cracks. Also, a good help desk tool helps organize requests while prioritizing the most urgent tickets. 

An efficient help desk tool should help automate responses to frequently asked questions allowing team members more time to attend to other pressing requests. There are countless help desk automation solutions in the market, but not all may offer the quality of service you are looking to get. 

Therefore it is essential to ensure that you go for a recognized brand. If you are lost on where to start, this post on the best email help desk software in 2022 could be worth looking at.

Get the Right Talent

Anyone can work at a help desk, but not everyone can achieve the desired results, so you must be careful about hiring. Your best bet at getting the right hires for your help desk would be hiring help desk institute-certified personnel. 

Certified help desk hires better understand help desk best practices, especially asset management and customer service, and are easier to onboard. Alternatively, you could employ persons that have had experience working at help desks. Once you have the suitable hires, the next thing would be facilitating them to ensure you get the most out of them.

Get Your Workforce Trained

Getting suitable hires is great. But even then, you will need to train them regularly to ensure that they remain on top of their game and are up-to-date with emerging trends. A properly trained employee will spend less time resolving problems, thus increasing productivity. 

Besides offering formal training, creating a knowledge base that your employees can refer to when solving problems can be a huge plus in improving service delivery. 

Also, you may want to have clients have access to your knowledge base. Having access to a knowledge base means that your customers are better equipped to solve problems independently rather than by sending tickets to your help desk, thereby reducing the strain on your team.

Leverage Your Data When Making Decisions

Help desks generate and collect lots of data that can help make decisions to better its efficiency when leveraged. Some of the metrics you may want to track from your help desk include:

• Ticker resolution rates
• Time spent resolving tickets
• Average response time
• Most common tickets

You get a comprehensive view of your help desk performance by tracking these metrics, which can help develop solutions for the challenges. You can also use these metrics to predict what you are likely to encounter based on historical patterns allowing you to plan.

Follow Up On Resolved Cases

Most help desks stop at a resolution of a case. Doing so can see you missing out on critical information that can help you better your help desk, so you may need to follow up on resolved cases.

The best approach in follow-up is using a by requesting clients or employees to fill out a feedback or survey form. You can then use this information to implement changes that increase customer or employee experiences. 

As we emerge from a deadly and disruptive pandemic, the thought on the minds of many businesspeople is simple: how do I prevent a similar calamity from disrupting my business in the future? This question has several answers, which this article aims to address one by one. You’ll need to put in place the structures and policies that’ll protect your business from harm, all while trying hard to make use of opportunities that come your way. Learn more about how to make your business robust and responsive in difficult times below.

Contingency Plans

In 2020, no one had planned for a global pandemic that would see several of the world’s largest economies shut down for months on end. Making a contingency plan for such an event might seem foolish or even misguided. But, if you think about it, certain businesses were far better prepared for the disruption caused by the pandemic than others. Why was this? Because some firms had chosen to move their operations online already, modernizing and keeping pace with consumer expectations sooner than others. Making such decisions could well help you avoid catastrophe next time a disaster hits the global economy. 

Insurance

There can be no replacement for insurance for when times get tough in business. You can find business insurance online that’s geared up to help you whenever you hit a bump in the road – be that a loss of earnings from a situation that’s out of your control, or cover for legal fees in the event that a customer or employee takes you to court. Even the smallest businesses can benefit immensely from insurance policies, which are designed to ensure that enterprises can function with some confidence despite an uncertain future looming on the horizon. 

Cashflow

When difficult times strike, the first place you’ll probably look is your bank account. You’ll want to make sure that your personal account and your business account are both brimming with cash to help you navigate the unpredictable future you feel is in store. If your cash is all locked up in assets that will be difficult to cash in when there’s an economic issue affecting your business, you’ll find it more difficult to pay the bills and keep your business operational. The lesson? Make sure you always have a little cash stocked up and ready to go if you do face challenges in the future – many of which you simply cannot foresee. 

Employees

If you have a great team around you, you’ll be able to achieve great things despite the adversity that you might feel is against you. As such, investing in your team over time – and paying them a wage that makes them feel valued and respected – will help you when tough times hit. Instead of losing your staff to better companies or seeing your staff lose hope and motivation, you’ll see your staff come together to help you survive the difficult times you’re experiencing. Invest in your team in order to invest in your firm’s future. 

Prepare your business for difficult time with the above four tips – designed for businesses of any size.