Helpdesk Ticketing Systems

5 Best Help Desk Ticketing Systems for 2020

Introduction

When it comes to starting a business, there is a misconception that starting it is the hard part; but the real hard part comes when your customer base grows and you can’t micro-monitor everything. You will find it fast and easy to handle issues at the beginning because your business will be small but, as you grow, unexpected problems arise and you can’t deal with each one personally – this is where help desk software comes in.

What is a Help Desk Ticketing System?

When it comes to customer service, there is really never a time when people aren’t facing some sort of trouble. The IT support staff simply cannot handle all the calls, messages, and emails, especially when your business is slowly transitioning. A helpdesk ticketing system does exactly what the name suggests: each time there is a new issue, the software creates a new ticket with all the relevant information on it. This software handles most manually done tasks automatically and in less time. The real purpose of such a system is to let your customer service team perform with maximum efficiency. With its various features, the right help desk software can save up to 670 working hours a year, providing the ultimate communication service between the company and its users.

Features of a Help Desk Ticketing System:

When it comes to finding such software for your business, you will find a variety of them in the market. Each has its own unique features that determine how suitable it is for your specific requirements. Here is a quick rundown of all the qualities you should look out for before making your final selection:

1. Support Portal

   It is human nature to first try to find a solution yourself and then contact costumer service, so providing an external knowledge base reduces the strain on your agents; this can include product updates, troubleshooting guides, and frequently asked questions. When customers will easily be able to access this information, it will reduce your customer support costs. A good help desk system will have a built in support panel that allows the company to publish content externally.

   Also, better help desk systems will have a well-organized portal that helps users browse according to category; this helps them reach the information for their specific case more easily and helps deflect ticketing traffic away from your company even better. For further expansion on this self-service, you can allow the customers to post their queries on a public forum where other users can reply with helpful solutions.

2. Smart Inbox

   A smart inbox allows the system to automatically create a ticket with all the user information in one place. Users expect customer service agents to have their information and case-specific data at hand. The smart inbox feature not only connects the case tickets to the agent but also makes sure that the agent receives all relevant information to the case as well. It even stores the entire conversation between the agent and customer to provide context.

   The software is able to micro-manage a conversation with the customer right from the beginning. After generating the ticket, the system sends an automatic response to the customers so they know your company is alert and willing to help. The system also makes sure that two agents don’t handle the same ticket to minimize confusion on both ends.

3. Pre-Populated Templates

   When it comes to common issues, a help desk system can create a standard template that is automatically sent to the customer. Most help desk systems will store pre-made templates that the agent can quickly send to the costumers facing a common issue, but better software will have the ability to identify the common issue and reply using the prepared response without even bothering the agent – this way, your human resource department can deal with more urgent and unexpected issues.

4. Prioritization

   As a business grows, you will be contacted regarding all kinds of orders, queries, and incidents; this is where categorizing comes into play. A help desk ticketing software can automatically assign the tickets according to different types and send them to specialized agents so that an agent who is dealing with ordering information doesn’t have to answer questions regarding the use of the product.
   You can even prioritize the tickets according to their level of importance and urgency. The system can file minor issues away and give precedence to major issues, and it should be able to identify requests from a key client and deal with them at first priority; this is especially useful for companies that prepare custom orders for their clients and can assign each customer to an experienced professional who will deal with them exclusively throughout the collaboration.
   Categorization increases workflow because the important clients will be satisfied, major issues will be dealt with first, and most importantly your agents will be able to concentrate more on each case rather than having to jumble various information around and deal with all sorts of tickets.

5. Security

   When it comes to customer service, the customer’s details and personal information is attached with these tickets. As a business, you have to provide security and maintain your client’s trust which means investing in a system that hackers can’t get into.
   Make sure that your help desk system has message encryption so, even if an outside party intercepts the message, they will not be able to understand the contents. It should also include IP restrictions so only authorized personnel have access to customer data. The software should also have high-end anti-virus software as well so that no one can transmit corrupted files using this channel.

6. Incident Analysis

   Incident analysis is a feature that allows you to deal with problem management and provides a prevention service against future incidents. A better software will not only work on initial details, but will constantly analyze the queries being sent and work according to any changes. You might have to input a few common queries when you initially setup the system, but the system should be able to identify other recurring issues when it starts receiving tickets. If there is an incident, the system should be able detect its root cause and predict what future issues it could lead to and help the company prepare likewise. A system should evolve along with a business.

7. Performance Insights

   In addition to customer query insights, a good system will even evaluate the performance of the company’s team. Most companies work under some kind of service agreements and the software can judge how well the agents are performing according to these conditions; this can include amount of tickets dealt with and the average time taken to resolve an issue. Better software will have a feature to receive feedback to judge customer satisfaction with – this feature is necessary for the overall future growth of the company.

Top 5 Help Desk Ticketing Systems:

1) SolarWinds Web Help Desk

SolarWinds knows that time is of the essence when it comes to dealing with customers, so the entire layout of the software helps ensure timely response of all tickets. It even takes the liberty to notify superiors if a ticket is left unattended for longer than 45 minutes! To further aid customers, there is even an option where they will be able to verify the status of their pending issue. Of course, customers may solve their issue through the external knowledge support portal for self service.
This software’s best feature is that it is compatible with over 140 third party apps and can be used on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop so no user will ever face the problem of not being able to access it. A major setback, however, is its outdated layout which can be off putting to the company’s employees and customers both. The SolarWinds Help Desk is an annual subscription-based software.
Pros

• • Ensures time management
  • External support portal
  • Compatible with over 140 apps

Cons

• • • • Outdated interface
      • No prioritization feature

2) SysAid

If you want a help desk system that will grow with you, SysAid is perfect because it is built for businesses of all sizes across all kinds of industries. While this is mainly a cloud-based system, you can opt to have an on-premise installment per your choice.
However, the best thing is not the versatility it offers, but the high level management it provides. SysAid is a smart program that categorizes each ticket according to its requirement and then prioritizes it following the company’s urgency levels; this is great for ensuring timely management of more crucial tasks and making sure that the agent is connected to the right job. It also provides statistics on the performance of the agents.
Despite its many advantages, the system is a bit tough to use and it’s difficult to add in more categories. Also, if there is a ticket that you want to reassign to another agent, you might as well forget it because there is simply no such option.
From the customer’s point of view, they will be able to reach you through this system via multiple third party apps, phone, or even email. It also provides a self-service platform so that the amount of tickets coming into the company is reduced.
Pros

• • • • Versatile
      • Performance insights
      • Categorization
      • Support portal

Cons

• • • • Can’t reassign tickets
      • Difficult to set up categories

3) FreshDesk

FreshDesk takes a more modern approach to ticketing and connects not just to Google, phones, and emails, but even social media platforms; this makes it easier for clients to reach your company. While FreshDesk does offer a free version, it has very limited functionality so we wouldn’t recommend it; however, the paid plans are a force to behold. It will do all kinds of tasks for you like filtering tickets, categorization, prioritization, and skill-based assignment.
FreshDesk’s best feature is that it has a contact management hub that makes communication even easier because all the information related to a ticket and contact details are stored in one place for easy access.
Pros

• • • • Categorization and skill-based assignment
      • Offers a free version
      • Multi-channel compatibility
      • Contact management hub

Cons

• • • • No support portal
      • Free version has limited functions

4) osTicket

The first thing you’ll notice about osTicket is that it’s completely free. It is equipped with an automatic responder for whenever a customer sends in a request and it makes a thread where the entire conversation and information is stored. It filters the tickets according to category and routes them to the specialized department.
The best thing of all is that it has an agent-collision avoidance feature that makes sure no two agents will be working on the same case at once. osTicket is also open source, so you can customize it according to your needs.
Pros

• • • • Categorization and assignment
      • Agent collision avoidance
      • Auto-responder
      • Support portal
      • Free

Cons

• • • • Only cloud-based
      • Easily customizable
      • Only meant for small companies

5) Zendesk

Zendesk is one of the most popular help desk systems on the market. With its wide range, it can be used for almost all industries and will all kinds of communication platforms. The customizable support portal is well-equipped with all kinds of features. It allows customers to browse through other’s tickets and see the agents’ replies and even has a community forum where users can ask each other questions and discuss your product, which greatly limits the incoming traffic.
Zendesk can handle all types of business no matter how large with its customizable tools that allow you to categorize and prioritize tickets; it also sends the tickets automatically to the best agent to handle the problem.
Pros

• • • • Well-equipped support portal
      • Categorization and skill-based assignment
      • Customizable tools

Cons

• • • • Navigation is difficult for beginners

Conclusion

If customer service is manual, it doesn’t matter how efficient it is because human error is bound to mess up at some point; a software is void of such failure. Having a help desk ticketing system is a requirement of all modern companies.
We are sure that you will find the perfect ticketing system for your business with the help of the information provided in this article.