Let talk about On-premise help desk software, its features the advantages and disadvantages, and why they were needed, find out this and more in this article.
Help desk software and why they were needed
A Helpdesk software helps streamline conversations across channels into a single place, track user requests, enable accessible communication with customers, and deal with other customer support-related issues. Both small-scale businesses and enterprises require helpdesk software to keep up with customer demands.
A helpdesk software allows help desk agents to answer customers’ phone calls, chat with them or call them from one place and not keep switching from one login to another. It also allows automating support tasks, allowing teams to dedicate themselves to tackling customer’s issues without wasting time on maintenance.
Helpdesk software allows for collaboration…
Helpdesk software allows for collaboration among teammates in a company and provides greater visibility as to who responds to a ticket, which customers have received replies, and which customers have not. They can also provide contexts for correspondents to better understand their customer’s queries. Correspondents can access previous transactions and conversations, which would help the correspondents understand the issue better.
As help desk software ensures a reasonable and timely response from the help desk team, it adds to customer loyalty. Moreover, the various metrics of performance for the help desk team are provided by help desk software which provides insights into the performance of the help desk team.
Companies have to consider a variety of factors before purchasing help desk software. They have to make sure that the software they choose fits with the style of support of the site and the customer support. Software with an easy UI saves costs on company training as correspondents can easily work without any special training. Companies have to remember that price is an indicator of a software’s usability, and a complicated user interface does not guarantee features.
On-premise help desk software
On-premise help desk software uses a pre-built infrastructure that can be deployed on a host server. An on-premise help desk software is flexible and provides users with the freedom to configure and allows them to change or add new features at any point in time. An on-premise help desk installs directly on the company’s hardware. This is especially suitable if the company plans on storing sensitive data within its premises. An on-premise help desk software and its hosted version have the same code base and features. Intranet users also get Windows-integrated authentication and can sign in from their devices.
An on-premise help desk software is easy to install and configure. Companies can set up their applications, database, and services according to their choices. The software allows companies to manage customers, train employees for further updates, and test applications. Perhaps what makes on-premise help desk software better is their pricing plans; while cloud-based help desk software work on a subscription basis, on-premise help desk software works on a one-time payment basis.
Features of an excellent On-premise help desk software
The on-premise help desk software operates without the internet. This is especially important because of the fear that internet shortages may affect productivity and make it challenging to access crucial data. With an on-site internet network from the servers, employees can access data from anywhere at any time. The requirement of a high-speed internet connection and ample space is lower than required for cloud-based help desk software. Having an on-premise help desk software allows companies to have their privacy in handling data as they do not have to depend on cloud storage companies to upgrade the software’s features.
A good on-premise help desk software should have a self-service portal whereby customers can create and check the status of their support tickets. This self-service portal allows users to avoid making calls and running behind representatives of the help desk. This service helps companies showcase their IT service portal and their professional image. The feature to check the status of tickets helps deflect tickets away from the IT help desk. The self-service portal allows users to stay updated about the developments of their tickets through automated notifications and communicate with the IT technicians in the self-service portal. Moreover, users do not have to wait to get each of their questions answered by a help desk representative; they can search for answers for frequently asked questions themselves.
A good knowledge base in…
A good knowledge base in on-premise help desk software is a win-win situation for companies and users. It helps customers solve specific problems themselves without relying on help desk representatives. Companies can customize the knowledge base as they please and share resolution instructions with technicians using the base. A good knowledge base has many texts, attachments, and images to each entrant of the knowledge base to uphold the knowledge base’s quality. The knowledge base should organize articles under relevant topics for ease of access for both users and technicians. To save time and project their usage of “advanced” technology, the knowledge base should have the auto-suggest feature and advanced keyword search capability to pull out the relevant articles with ease.
An on-premise help desk should effectively convert email requests from users into tickets and provide round-the-clock assistance. Moreover, the software should configure sites and manage them according to multiple locations and their time zones. It should associate technicians and support groups to sites and share knowledge articles, announcements, and custom request forms as needed. Help desk software with multilingual features is an added advantage.
Service-Level Agreements…
Service-Level Agreements or SLAs are metrics used to evaluate the performance of help desk services in handling customer queries. Incorporating SLAs into the IT help desk assures customers that their issues will be addressed within a specific time. Though SLAs are essential, different sites require different SLAs. The on-premise help desk should be able to construct site-specific SLAs. Use it to ensure better service levels from the help desk and configure response time SLAs to enable easy escalation of service tickets. The service should assign situation-specific SLAs by evaluating metrics like urgency, departure, VIP user, service category, and others.
Disadvantages of On-premise help desk software
Despite its numerous advantages, the shortcomings of on-premise help desk software seem to overshadow them. An on-premise help desk requires extra IT support for maintenance and managing servers. Though they may save money on the initial purchase. The subsequent costs of buying new hardware and software and upgrading them will burn a hole in the pocket. Though there is little to worry about external threats, internal threats can be detrimental. A malfunction or complete compromise of the system means a permanent loss of data and, more importantly, the loss of reputation. It is not possible to quickly escalate the company’s scale when using on-premise help desk software. This is because it requires replacing the existing hardware and software with newer ones, which is a costly venture in terms of money and staffing.