Help desk software is the lifeblood of a contact center.
It’s a powerful customer service tool that can help boost revenues.
Properly implemented, it can dramatically improve contact center operations, increase FCR rates, and boost customer satisfaction.
On a more granular level, help desk software:
- Minimizes employee work lags for unsolved tech issues
- Automates issue triaging, escalation, and prioritization
- Reduces manpower costs through self-service
- Identifies and addresses recurring issues
- Provides transparency into every service request
With so much riding on this tool, you can’t afford to saddle yourself with the wrong help desk software solution.
So if you’re considering buying help desk software, you might be interested in reviewing a recent report produced by Software Advice.
Report Methodology For Help Desk Software
This website helps organizations narrow down help desk software choices. Its goal is to find a solution that best fits your needs. For the report, the website analyzed the interactions of 385 potential help desk software buyers. It unearths key insights into buyers’ pain points and what companies are looking for in a software solution.
The report found that 155 buyers (40 percent) were already using a help desk software solution. Some were using old versions of a help desk software solution while others were using a beta trial or an outdated version. These organizations were looking to upgrade to a solution with more functionality.
That many of these buyers were looking to upgrade comes as no surprise. What comes as a surprise is that 139 buyers (39 percent) were still using pen and paper or an Excel spreadsheet instead of a software solution. Some companies were using nothing.
Given the importance of customer service these days, you’d think every company with a call center would have help desk software. It only makes sense.
Buying Held Desk Software Is A Challenge
One reason companies may cling to a manual method is that choosing help desk software can be a nightmare. Choices abound. The nightmare worsens if you choose a software solution that doesn’t fit your needs. Now you have to live with it daily.
Below are some considerations when buying help desk software—whether it’s your first time buying a solution or you’re upgrading your existing system:
The two most important considerations are pricing and features. For many, pricing is the consideration. It determines if the solution fits within the company’s budget—and that’s all they care about.
But don’t forget the solution’s features. They’re just as critical as price—maybe more so. Review the solution’s features carefully. They’ll tell you if the solution fits your needs. That in turn tells you if the solution is a good fit.
Additional Considerations For Help Desk Software
Two additional considerations are training and implementation. Managers often overlook these considerations when buying help desk software. You can’t afford to make that mistake. Here’s why:
Timely implementation can dramatically affect performance and ROI. A system with a long implementation can cripple customer service, cut FCR rates, and damage a company’s reputation—not to mention what it can do to customer satisfaction.
A long training period can also dramatically affect performance. It can cut productivity, hamper agent performance, and lower employee morale. Like a long implementation time, a long training period can cripple a company’s customer care center for months.
Implementation and training are harder to research than pricing and features. But given their importance, make sure you do your homework on these issues.
Outsourcing An Option
Choosing help desk software is a challenge. But not every company needs to or should have in-house help desk support. A better option for these companies is often offshoring this function.
Outsourcing can cut costs, increase company productivity, and boost customer satisfaction. More important, it can dramatically transform a company by enabling it to dedicate more resources to its core competences. And that can be a game-changer.
Let us put our proven experience in providing tech support for small and medium-size companies to work for you. Request a quote from our sales team.
