Maintaining documentation of problems is important, as it can help you deliver more efficient service and spot patterns. It can also give you a good idea of the effectiveness of your help desk.
Computer problems crop up regularly in business. These range from forgotten log-in credentials to employees accidentally introducing malware onto a company network (and there are so many opportunities to do this, including infected email attachments and disreputable e-commerce links clicked on during Cyber Monday shopping). Furthermore, your own customers may encounter problems requiring IT assistance, such as a problem with your website.
A well-managed IT help desk is critical for saving your business significant amounts of time and money. But it’s possible that there are serious problems with your help desk. These can include the following:
- Poor documentation. For example, you aren’t keeping track of when a problem started, who reported it, what devices or software it involved, it’s level of priority, and when (or if) it was resolved. Maintaining this kind of documentation is important, as it can help you deliver more efficient service and spot patterns of problems; it may be that a certain problem keeps repeating, or that a set of problems are all related. Documentation can also give you a good idea of the effectiveness of your help desk.
- Poor flow of information. When people report their problems to you, it’s possible that it takes you too long to get the information you need from them. It’s also possible that you yourself are unclear. Maybe for the simpler problems, you don’t have a well-written, easy-to-navigate FAQ page. And maybe you don’t describe the required solutions in a clear way.
- Inadequate staff. It could be that your help desk is understaffed. You don’t have enough people dealing with your IT problems, which consequently build up in a backlog and remain unresolved for too long. Your current staff may also not have anyone to consult with for trickier and more time-consuming issues.
Do any of these problems sound familiar to you? Are you getting bogged down in inefficiency, lack of clarity, poor communications, and vague documentation? Is your staff overworked? Don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re available to offer you help desk support so that you can better meet your company’s IT needs.