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| A graffiti artist's rendition of the word "value." (Photo credit: Rebirth Cycle) |
If you're just starting to think about purchasing help desk software or just had it recommended to you by your company's IT manager, you might have a few questions:
-What problems does help desk software solve?
-What value does it add?
-Why do I need it?
When I started migrating from email-based support to help desk software, I had the same questions. Email systems like Gmail were free while help desk software can be very expensive so the ROI of help desk software would need to be very compelling in order to justify a switch.
Here's what I've learned about the ROI of help desk software over the past 11 months using it both as a website owner and a help desk staff member.
1. Makes you money.
- Businesses. Not having help desk software with a ticket tracking feature makes it more likely that you'll forget the occasional customer email or misplace a sticky note that documented a customer call. Over time these human errors add up to many lost customers. Conversely, one delighted customer who spreads the word about your company's fast customer support response times and expert service will make you money.
- Managers. Good help desk software will help you get raises and promotions. If you have a help desk system in place that tracks customer support metrics and you can demonstrate constant improvement in customer satisfaction, then you've hit the first step of getting a raise which is showing measurable proof that you add value to the organization.
2. Saves you time.
-A good knowledge base incorporated into your help desk can reduce the number of support emails you receive by 50%.
-Ticket assignment features let you quickly delegate to topic experts rather than spending a lot of time mulling over a customer issue and trying to solve it yourself.
3. Reduces stress and improves morale.
- People who are organized are generally less stressed out. Being able to see everything that needs to get done in a single view makes you feel more in control.
- Clicking a 'ticket solved' button is magical. It offers reinforcement that you're getting stuff done and solving real problems for your customers. Some help desk software even offers a ticket rating system that can give you instant feedback on how fast and how well you solved the customer's problem.
4. Helps you make better decisions.
- Document and track feedback requests and bug reports to decide which product developments to prioritize.
5. Gives you more freedom.
- Stop being chained to your desk by customer phone calls. Try taking your organizations phone number off the website and give users a place to search for answers to their questions and submit support tickets.
- Help desk software backs you up when you need to be out of the office. An online ticket form and email integration system can take all the notes for you and can even send automatic replies to your users.
6. Fosters creativity and strategic thinking
- The fewer things you have to actively keep track of, the more room you have in your brain to be creative.
- Let your help desk software track the tedious details and minutiae while you focus on the bigger picture.
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