What are the top IT support services for managing help desk tickets and customer inquiries?

For most, a Ticketing System has always been either an application (Zendesk, ServiceNow, SDPlus, etc) to just a plain spreadsheet. Either format works what is critical is process documentation is aligned to the system that captures the requests. I have often seen process documentation just throw in the phrase "ticketing system" in the hopes that it is sufficient to "align" process to paper or in other times the tool dictates what is on paper. A ticketing system is the tool that allows us to capture information needed to complete the process . Therefore the salient elements of the process from Data of the Request, SLAs, Criticality, Prioritization, Escalation and Resolution that form part of the lifecycle has to be aligned to the tool.

ServiceNow -Comprehensive IT service management (ITSM) suite Advanced incident, problem, and change management Self-service portals and knowledge base Powerful automation and orchestration Extensive integration capabilities.

Top IT support services for help desk tickets and customer inquiries: 1. **Zendesk**: Ticketing, multi-channel support, automation, AI bots. Pros: User-friendly, scalable. Cons: Expensive. 2. **Freshdesk**: Multi-channel support, AI chatbots, collaboration tools. Pros: Intuitive, affordable. Cons: Advanced features in higher tiers. 3. **ServiceNow**: ITSM, incident/change management, automation. Pros: Enterprise-level, customizable. Cons: Costly, complex setup. 4. **Jira Service Management**: Ticketing, incident/change management. Pros: Integrates with Atlassian. Cons: Complex setup, learning curve. 5. **Zoho Desk**: Ticketing, AI assistant. Pros: Affordable, integrates with Zoho. Cons: Less intuitive. Choose based on needs and budget

A ticketing system is an essential tool in IT support that automates the process of logging, tracking, and resolving customer issues or service requests. It allows users to submit tickets, which are then prioritized and assigned to appropriate support agents based on predefined criteria. The system ensures that each ticket is monitored until resolution, providing transparency and accountability throughout the process. Advanced ticketing systems also include features such as automated workflows, integrated communication channels, and detailed reporting to enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Last year we have been presented with the challenge to rampup a service desk to support our portal. We evaluate several services, but one, just one was able to fit on our crosschecked needs (check agent performance, portal, forward calls according to role, monthly reports, support for tollfree, and price that could fit our budget) : Freshdesk, together with the set of tools from Freshworks.

Utilize remote support tools to provide timely assistance and troubleshooting to customers regardless of their location. Strategically, invest in secure remote access solutions, empower support staff with remote diagnostic capabilities, and prioritize user-friendly interfaces to enhance the remote support experience.

Essa modalidade de suporte traz diversos benefícios, incluindo rapidez na resolu??o de problemas, redu??o de custos operacionais, maior disponibilidade do servi?o e aumento da eficiência operacional. Porém, é fundamental garantir a seguran?a e a privacidade dos dados durante as sess?es de suporte remoto, implementando medidas adequadas de autentica??o e criptografia. Além disso, uma comunica??o clara e eficaz com o usuário final é essencial para proporcionar uma experiência positiva e satisfatória com o suporte remoto.

Permite aos técnicos acessar remotamente os dispositivos dos clientes para diagnosticar e resolver problemas. Reduz o tempo de resposta e melhora a eficiência na resolu??o de problemas. Exemplos: TeamViewer, LogMeIn, AnyDesk.

Me ha resultado muy útil usar Any desk y TeamViewer son prácticos incluso desde dispositivos móviles como servidor o viceversa. Claro los tiempos de los Directores y alta gerencia puede verse beneficiado por esto.

Isso já está amplamente implantado, até mesmo em empresas de pequeno porte. Gerando redu??o de custos e agilidade no processo.

Ao utilizar uma base de conhecimento bem organizada, as equipes de suporte podem economizar tempo na resolu??o de problemas, evitando a necessidade de reinventar a roda a cada nova quest?o enfrentada. Além disso, ela promove a padroniza??o de processos e procedimentos, garantindo consistência e qualidade no suporte prestado. Outro aspecto importante é a capacidade de atualiza??o contínua da base de conhecimento. à medida que novos problemas surgem e novas solu??es s?o descobertas, a base de conhecimento pode ser atualizada para refletir esse aprendizado, garantindo que as informa??es disponíveis estejam sempre atualizadas e precisas.

Develop a comprehensive knowledge base containing articles, FAQs, and troubleshooting guides to empower customers with self-service options. Strategically, organize content intuitively, encourage user contributions, and implement search functionality and analytics to facilitate easy access to relevant information.

There are lots of free wikis and other types of doc systems that have low learning curves. It's better to have something that involves less overhead to update content, but what's most important is agreement on a single system as the source of truth so it's actually kept up-to-date. The layout (content organization) should be a top-down design that everyone agrees is intuitive. Content itself should also be broken down by granularity so people don't have to wade through too much detail to find what they're looking for, but rather can drill-down to exactly what they need. Alerts from the metrics and monitoring system should have links to the documentation and vice-versa. Can test the overall quality by feeding it to your AI and ask questions.

Repositório de informa??es e solu??es que os clientes podem acessar para resolver problemas por conta própria. Reduz a carga sobre a equipe de suporte ao permitir o autoatendimento. Exemplos: Zendesk Guide, Confluence (Atlassian), Freshdesk Knowledge Base.

Generar la base de conocimientos es cada vez mas importante. No solo para ser un apoyo para el soporte, sino que también para sacar un mayor provecho a la tecnología de IA Generativa. Es fundamental comenzar a crear esta base de conocimiento, si es que no existe, ya que por un lado permite mantener el conocimiento dentro de la organización, y por otro lado, es un habilitante para implementar nuevas tecnologías que puedan aumentar no solo la eficiencia, sino que también la efectividad de los sistemas de soporte.

The proverbial silver bullet. Live Chat, and its nemesis Instant Messaging. Why would we have multiple user interface for the same modality? There should be an integration of Instant Messaging instead of Live Chat into the request handling process. This avoids copy-paste or the more often case documentation vacuum when requesters use Instant Messaging to connect to support teams knowing they will get their concerns resolved faster.

Ferramenta para comunica??o em tempo real entre clientes e agentes de suporte. Melhora a experiência do cliente ao fornecer respostas rápidas e personalizadas. Exemplos: Intercom, LiveChat, Zendesk Chat.

Nowadays the most common question is how to integrate AI. Most companies can just use a pre-trained chatbot, i.e. one that will not need additional "training" to adjust its parameters, but can rather simply be fed the company data via Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). Chatbots should first be deployed internally, both for assisting internal operations as well as assisting call center agents. This will likely reveal many updates needed to documentation, which in turn will likely reveal opportunities for automation. Once your chatbot reaches your call center agent benchmarks for quality, be honest when deploying the chatbot customer facing - a virtual agent with a face provides personalization opportunities, but never give a fake name.

En el chat en Vivo para el soporte se esta viviendo una revolución. La IA Generativa, y los LLMs, han habilitado una posibilidad donde no solo se puede automatizar y sistematizar los chat en vivo, sino que también permite a los ejecutivos tener acceso mucho mas rápido y efectiva a información relevante ante consulta de clientes.

Live chat is a great option to manage support and inquiries specially if its managed by a trained technician. If its managed by AI should be a model that actually solves problems not generate frustration on the user

Absolutely, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) also plays a crucial role in the finance and global business services domain. By leveraging AI, companies can conduct complex analyses to recognize patterns, make predictions, and make informed decisions. GenAI takes it a step further, allowing for the generation of new data, texts, or even images based on existing information. In the finance sector, GenAI could be utilized to automatically generate reports or analyses based on the collected data. This enables companies to save time while enhancing the quality of their reporting.

Uma das principais vantagens dos portais de autoatendimento é a capacidade de oferecer suporte 24x7, permitindo que os usuários encontrem respostas para suas perguntas e solu??es para seus problemas a qualquer momento, de qualquer lugar. Isso n?o apenas aumenta a satisfa??o do cliente, mas também alivia a carga de trabalho da equipe de suporte, permitindo que eles se concentrem em quest?es mais complexas e urgentes. Além disso, os portais de autoatendimento promovem a autonomia dos usuários, capacitando-os a resolver problemas por conta própria e reduzindo a dependência do suporte técnico. Isso n?o apenas agiliza o processo de resolu??o de problemas, mas também promove a aprendizagem e o desenvolvimento de habilidades dos usuários.

This would be the traditional process of providing users by providing users with a link and they can go to that portal to get support. One enhancement that can take this further is to already offer it in the error codes that a user gets. Embed the offer in the Knowledgebase. There should also be a 3 click type of experience for the user to resolve there concern or book their ticket and not an extensive form filling experience which the case handler will ask again when interacting with the requester.

Plataformas onde os clientes podem criar e acompanhar tickets, acessar a base de conhecimento e usar outras ferramentas de autoatendimento. Aumenta a autonomia dos clientes e reduz a carga de trabalho da equipe de suporte e oferece um suporte 24/7.

Es muy importante dar al cliente la capacidad de autogestionarse. No solo vas a lograr liberar recursos internos que antes estarían disponibles para atender a esos clientes, sino que también le entregas a tu cliente el poder de decidir como quiere interactuar contigo, y eso es algo que tiene un gran valor para ciertos perfiles de cliente.

I believe that integrating AI and GenAI into reporting and analysis tools can revolutionize IT support services. For example, AI can automatically detect patterns in ticket data and predict future issues before they become widespread. This proactive approach ensures that support strategies are continuously optimized, enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Os relatórios oferecem uma vis?o geral dos principais indicadores de desempenho, como tempo médio de resposta, tempo médio de resolu??o, volume de tickets de suporte e taxas de satisfa??o do cliente. Esses indicadores ajudam as equipes a avaliar o desempenho atual, identificar tendências ao longo do tempo e comparar o desempenho com metas e benchmarks. Além disso, as análises permitem uma investiga??o mais aprofundada dos dados, ajudando as equipes a entender as causas subjacentes de problemas recorrentes, identificar padr?es de comportamento do usuário e prever demandas futuras de suporte. Isso permite que as equipes adotem uma abordagem proativa para resolver problemas, melhorar processos e antecipar as necessidades dos clientes.

Leverage reporting and analytics tools to gain insights into help desk performance, customer satisfaction levels, and trends in ticket volume and resolution times. Strategically, use data-driven insights to identify areas for improvement, optimize resource allocation, and measure the effectiveness of support services in meeting customer needs and expectations.

Ferramentas que fornecem insights sobre o desempenho do suporte técnico, como tempo de resolu??o, volume de tickets, satisfa??o do cliente, etc. Ajuda a identificar áreas de melhoria e tomar decis?es baseadas em dados. Exemplos: Zendesk Explore, Jira Service Management Reports, Power BI.

Un ejemplo concreto es el uso de tableros de control con software como Power BI o apps creadas a la Medida esto ayuda a la visualización en cualquier parte del mundo, y he visto como peque?as empresas y grandes empresas apuestan por soluciones de este tipo.

Beyond traditional support services, consider proactive measures such as predictive analytics and proactive monitoring to anticipate and address customer issues before they escalate. Additionally, prioritize ongoing training and development for support staff to ensure they are equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to deliver exceptional customer service consistently.

Automation, this will help bring a proactive approach to IT support services for managing help desk tickets and customer inquiries. Leveraging on the insight obtained from Reporting and Analytics to ensure tickets are routed not just correctly but avoid breaching Service Levels. This can also help recover customer satisfaction by adjusting prioritization the case with annotations that the requester had a negative experience in the handling of the ticket(s). Automation can automatically generate tickets based on predictive analysis from error logs that a system may require a part replacement instead of waiting for a system to have a hard fault.

La IA Generativa y los LLM prometen cambiar como se da el soporte a usuario y se gestionan los ticket de soporte. Es importante entender como funciona esta tecnología, para poder dimensionar sus limites y como con ella puedo realmente dar un servicio 5 estrellas a mis clientes, que es lo que realmente importa.