An IT Help Desk, in its most simple form, used to be just an individual sitting at a desk with a phone who would answer queries and provide support for staff members on IT-related problems.
Gradually, as the needs of the market have shifted and companies grow in size and complexity in their structures, more sophisticated options are required.
IT Help Desks in 2024 will often deploy a range of technological solutions to enhance the effectiveness of their support and streamline the working process.
What Technology is Used by IT Help Desks in 2024?
HelpDesk
HelpDesk is a popular solution for IT support teams that provides a range of useful functions such as flagging tickets based on priority and who sent the request, search engine functions, allocation of specific tickets to certain departments or individual support admins and a number of features that make it useful for both smaller and larger businesses.
HelpDesk has a particularly user-friendly interface and UX design that is seen as both interactive and engaging by its customers.
With a range of customisation options and practical tools, it is appreciated by both the help teams using the software and the employees themselves who submit the tickets.
With any IT support request being handled quickly covering all hardware, software and networking issues, this means HelpDesk is highly commended by the end recipient of the support, as well as the IT help desk teams who find it streamlines and organises their work better than some competitors.
Freshworks
Freshworks is quite easy to pick up and adopt for IT help desks in the 2024 marketplace with its intuitive UI and global-wide search tools.
Freshworks does have a number of quirks and slight issues with the tool such as the “discuss” feature not really functioning across the service but still displaying the button for it and the mobile app being rather a letdown with no dashboard to view the tickets from.
There is also an issue with notification spam being reported by users, where excessive messages are pinging up on their phones with no option to group them together or organise them in a better way.
Spiceworks
Spiceworks is another credible option for IT help desks looking to better organise their workloads. Spiceworks gives a good overall view of who is doing what and provides continual monitoring of help request tickets.
Spiceworks has been particularly commended for its integration with existing systems, excellent helpdesk and inventory support, technical support teams and a good community.
The disadvantages of Spiceworks include
- You need to install an agent on each PC, which can be time-consuming and impractical depending on the nature of your setup
- The advanced features are limited
- The reporting capability is not especially detailed
- There is no email alert function
SolarWinds Service Desk
SolarWinds Service Desk is a brilliant tool for tracking incidents, solutions and known problems and provides IT help desks with a functional and simple interface that makes handling large volumes of queries much more streamlined.
Extra features like workflows and Jira integration set it apart from some competitors and SolarWinds has impressed users with its flexibility of the licence and how easy it is to create things like FAQs and solutions databases.
SolarWinds is also quite cost-effective and is particularly fast and reliable for most IT help desks operating in 2024.
Some of its limitations include the chat response from the SolarWinds agents that can take time to get a response, finding the right feature you need can sometimes be difficult and the integration options are somewhat limited.
Zendesk
Zendesk is one of the higher-priced options for IT help desks looking to boost their productivity through technology, although if the business demands it, the higher price may be worth it with some of the impressive options featured by Zendesk.
The software gives the end user the option to text, email, live chat or connect to the system via social media. Zendesk can connect with a variety of third-party communication sources, although you may need to download specific connection tools depending on the software.
Zendesk is slightly better from the management perspective as it allows you to track team performance as well as the support tickets themselves.
There are sometimes however issues with uploading and exporting data which can be deleted or end up going missing for no reason.
Also, it can sometimes be a steep learning curve for staff members and may require extra training for them to understand and use it effectively.
Benefits of Using IT Help Desk Software
The main advantages of most products that assist those in help desk surroundings is the organisation and visibility/transparency of known issues and how they are being dealt with.
In the traditional format where you just had an operator answering the phone and taking queries, the main issue apart from the lack of organisation is that nobody else knows what is happening with that support issue, apart from the person on the phone dealing with it.
With IT help desk software the staff, IT personnel and managers can get a good overview of the issues at both the granular level on each individual case whilst also gaining an overall picture of the status of operations in general. For example - several tickets relating to Wifi connections, maybe there is an issue with the router or hardware.
Using help desk software it is also much easier to track your team’s performance, how frequently are requests being completed, what percentage are resolved satisfactorily, which individual operators are most productive or helpful, etc.
Whichever help desk tool you use, while some may have more suitable features for your business and some have a few niggles and quirks with the software, it will still provide a much more effective help desk operation for your organisation than traditional formats.
Challenges Associated With Adopting Help Desk Software
Whilst helpful for organising help desk workloads, there can be several challenges to businesses that introduce new software for their IT departments without using an outsourced service provider.
Often IT departments have a range of software on hand but neither the time nor adequate training to properly implement these tools.
Simply introducing the latest help desk software to an already overburdened IT department may not be the answer, especially for medium and larger-sized businesses.
Rather than reducing workloads, the new software may add to your problems, cause more confusion and require more time and resources needed to train your staff on how to use the new system.
Advantages of a Help Desk Solution | Lyon Tech Services
At Lyon Tech we offer businesses a fully managed help desk solution.
This means that instead of simply providing IT departments with software that may be confusing, take up more working hours or require additional training - Lyon Tech provides a range of technology along with dedicated teams of support specialists who are ready to handle all enquiries and rapidly respond to any emerging issues.
Lyon Tech Help Desk teams work to ensure the ticket is seen through until completion with the problem fully resolved. This allows business leaders to continue with critical daily operations without the stress and inconvenience associated with IT troubleshooting.
At Lyon Tech our 24/7 help teams and engineers can deal with any IT-related problem and handle live incidents as they happen, working towards a speedy resolution with up-to-the-minute communications and progress updates.
Lyon Tech Help Desk provides support on a wide range of technical issues, including
- Network issues and Wi-Fi connections
- Cloud infrastructure and remote working
- Hardware fixes—printers and servers malfunctioning or failing to operate correctly
- Issues when expanding the business or introducing new systems and equipment
- Day-to-day troubleshooting on password resets, slowdown, or crashing systems
- Threats to cybersecurity or potential data breaches that need to be contained
- Interruptions to business continuity
- Websites failing to load or displaying other errors
- Transactions and payments not going through correctly
- Compliance reporting and what is required of your business
- Advising on any relevant software or solutions that may benefit your company and how best to implement these to align with your intended goals
Contact Lyon Tech
If you are looking for a professional help desk solution to take away the hassle and inconvenience associated with internal troubleshooting of IT problems, get in touch with Lyon Tech today.
Lyon Tech Help Teams are available 24 hours a day and can respond to any IT-related enquiry, ensuring full business continuity and efficient operation of all critical infrastructure and technology.
This means business leaders can rest assured that any IT or tech-related issues will be dealt with swiftly and effectively, leaving them to get on with running their business and providing the best service for their customers.
For more information, contact our expert advisors or find more details here on 24/7 Help Desk Support for Your Business.
