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Businesses know that help desk software will assist their company with efficiency and productivity. And there probably aren’t too many business owners out there who do not need extra help facilitating the workflow.

The question then becomes what do I need my help desk to do and what help desk service is best for my needs. With so many different choices available it may difficult to determine what software is right for your company. That’s why it’s important to ask yourself these important questions before making your help desk software selection.

Questions To Ask Before Selecting Help Desk Software:

Is there a powerful ticketing system in place?

The first thing you want to ensure when searching for your new help desk software is that it has a powerful ticketing system. You want software that will seamlessly convert the incoming data into tickets so that your staff can quickly place them in the proper category, then route them to the proper department. In addition, you will want to have some flexibility in your dashboard with the tickets such as being able to view certain tickets based on a particular criterion, extract tickets to flag or label, and filter your search of tickets. It also helps to have further ticket capabilities to enhance your workflow. Being able to add notes to the tickets, send a ticket to multiple people or even merge several tickets into one ticket all allow your staff to work more efficiently.

Is it multi-channel capable?

If the help desk software that you are considering has channel limitations, then you limit the number of customers with which you can easily communicate. By offering ticket conversion from various channels including Facebook, Twitter, email, chat-based messages, and telephone calls, you will be able to connect with far more individuals. You may be wondering how you would even get a ticket from Facebook, Twitter, and so on. If your business has a Facebook page, then people may post a comment on your page from time to time. When they do, it can easily get lost in the shuffle of everything else. However, if you have a powerful help desk it will be able to take that post and convert it to a ticket. The same can be accomplished if a person posts a tweet on your Twitter account. This will provide your business with robust information that would take your staff literally hours to accumulate. Instead, help desk software such as the one Vision Helpdesk offers will deliver these tickets for the staff to look over. They can then determine if any follow up or another action is necessary.

Can I set up time-based billing tickets?

Sometimes your billing to a customer will be based on their ticket. Other times you may want to bill a customer based on the time spent doing the job instead. The right help desk allows for these options. In fact, Vision Helpdesk has several features within its ticketing section that make it extremely useful for businesses. For example, you can:

• Create an invoice
• Set up tax amount on the invoice
• Allow customers to pay within the system
• Offer different currencies for customers in different geographical locations

This will be a time-saver for the financial department.

How much automation can I have with the help desk?

Automation is the way of the future – and the present if you have a robust help desk. Completing repetitive tasks is a waste of time for your staff, which means you lose money. As computers and technology become more advanced, you will have the ability to automate more and more tasks. However, even now, many repetitious tasks that your staff completes daily can be completed effortlessly using automation. For example, you can set up rules for the help desk to follow when tickets come in. Some of the rules a help desk can apply to tickets include:

• Routing the ticket to the proper department
• Provide SLA rules for the ticket
• Define what rules will cause a ticket to be sent to the next department or escalated
• Set up auto close for tickets based on given criteria

What if my some of my customers don’t speak English?

Many companies work globally, which means they will be dealing with customers all around the world. Many of their customers may not speak English. However, your help desk can provide a translation portal that allows for seamless communication. In fact, this feature of the help desk can be set up for multilingual staff members as well. Several languages make it easy to accommodate all your customers and staff. In addition, customers have their own knowledge base in their native language making it helpful for them to obtain necessary information. This type of help desk software is essential in these times when so much business is global.

Can I produce internal reports?

It’s important to be able to assess how well the business is doing and to be able to measure and analyze the metrics. Having important statistics and information will be a boost when it comes time to present the budget to the boss. It’s also valuable for the manager to have to see what areas need further improvement or which areas are successful. A help desk equipped with the right set of tools will be able to dig deep and pull out data to provide company and client insights. You will be able to compare how well each department performed as well as how clients are rating your staff. Find out where most of your tickets are going and even find out how fast each employee responds to the ticket.

Automating your office and streamlining your workflow will enable you to take your business to the next level of productivity. Finding the best help desk solution will enable your business to see more results. To ensure that you obtain the right help desk software, make sure your it satisfies the above questions. At Vision Helpdesk, we provide CRM software that allows companies to create custom solutions for all their needs. For more information about our services, connect with us today.