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When you look for any type of software, you have to make some basic decisions. For your help desk, those decisions become more crucial than in most other situations.

The reason is simple: you have to make sure that your technology stands up to the constant stream of questions, problems, and complaints your IT service team will receive.

That’s easier said than done. But if you take a strategic approach, you can get there. One of your first steps should be deciding whether you’re better served with cloud-based or on-premise help desk software.

Depending on where you look, advice on what works best for you will differ wildly. And of course, both alternatives actually come with advantages and benefits that are difficult to ignore. At the same time, once you realize just what you need, one emerges as the clear favorite. These are the 5 unique benefits of web based help desk software, which explain why you should only look for solutions that are based and built on the cloud.

5 Benefits of Web Based Help Desk Software

1) Widespread Accessibility

Let’s start with the obvious: if it’s built on a remote server, your team can access it remotely. That might not seem like such a big deal, until it becomes one. For example, imagine an IT technician staying home for the day but needing to work on an urgent problem. Imagine working in a distributed office in which IT help can be conducted from anywhere in the world.

Those are the benefits of widespread accessibility. Of course, external audiences will always need to access your software regardless of where they currently are. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore the same needs for your manager and technician team.

On-premise solutions are built on a local server, and cannot always accommodate that need. Even if they technically are built with access from remote locations in mind, the server might not hold up to that type of traffic and slow down or become unreliable. A cloud solution, on the other hand, prevents you from running into any of these problems.

2) Increased Security

Cloud-based solutions also tend to be more secure than their on-premise counterparts. That sounds counterintuitive, especially to seasoned IT professionals who have heard about the dangers that come with cloud computing. The good news is that many of these dangers are in the past.

Today’s remote servers are increasingly secure. They can withstand attacks much more easily than an on-premise system that might seem isolated, but can be attacked from multiple sides. That’s why the trend toward web-based applications, including help desk software, has been accelerating for years.

This security may not be a major issue right now. But in many ticket histories, you will find personal information. An attack in the wrong spot, and your company could be in significant trouble. Thinking about the security from the moment you look into software tends to be the right, and only acceptable step.

3) Continuous Backups

Security, of course, also matters beyond cyber attacks. Just as you don’t want hostile parties to gain access to your help desk software and ticketing records, you also cannot afford to lose that data either temporarily or permanently. Too much valuable information and history is stored on the platform, especially if you’ve used it to build a knowledge base in addition to its on-demand ticketing operation.

Continuous backups, then, are absolute key. They are possible to establish on an on-premise solution, but take time and money. You might even need a backup server just to store the data you may never even use. It’s a necessary evil, but especially for small businesses with limited resources, it’s an evil nonetheless.

With a cloud-based solution, it’s not an evil at all. That’s because these backups tend to happen continuously, and automatically. You don’t have to worry about a local power outage that might kill your server and backups. Instead, you can rely on the fact that your data is stored safely and always accessible.

4) Dynamic Updates

Every software platform eventually gets outdated. For some solution, that happens sooner rather than later. It might lead to security risks, or simply bugs that are not fixed until you update the system. Until then, they bother external users and internal experts alike.

Internally, the update process can be complex, which is why you probably don’t do it much for any on-premise systems. You have to create the backup, run the update, test everything in the new environment – and keep your system online as you do so. It’s not unheard of for companies to build multiple testing environments just to simulate the process and keep up.

Now, imagine a software where the maintenance end doesn’t fall on you. Where updates are dynamic, occur as needed, and do not affect your workload. That, in essence, is what web based help desk software can provide.

5) Increased Scalability

Finally, don’t underestimate the potential power of a solution that grows with your business. Growth, naturally, is the core goal of most for-profit entities. The last thing you want to do as your user base grows and your internal team increases its need is switch software and go through the entire implementation process from the ground up.

Fortunately, you don’t have to. Most online help desk platforms scale automatically, allowing your business to grow and take advantage of more of their features in a way that makes the most sense of your business. This inherent scalability saves you not only time, but significant budget down the road as your organization grows and expands.

Yes, on-premise solutions come with their own benefits. But these benefits, such as more internal control, don’t hold up to the advantages provided by web based alternatives. Once you know what you’re looking for, you know the best choice for your business.

It’s not just the security. It’s the ubiquitous access, scalability, and updatability. With a web based help desk system, you position your business and its IT operations and service for success not just now, but for the future in both the short and long-term.