Helpdesk !! , the word has been revolving in the customer service ecosystem for decades. I am not sure where the word came from or how, However I realized the importance of a helpdesk the moment I started my career.

A helpdesk system has to be viewed from multiple perspectives – The Service Technician (User), The Business Owner and Finally the Customer himself. The basic and the most important trait of any helpdesk is its usability. In this article, I will try and outline what business owners look  forward to have in  an ideal helpdesk.

1. DOES IT SERVE MY NEEDS ?

In a current day business scenario, An entrepreneur runs multiple lines of business and try to put their hands in the jobs of every Tom, Dick and Harry, not because he has the time, but because he has to . So the  first  point to be considered is “Will the helpdesk do my job ?”.
Wrong question I suppose  (:-D) . Obviously, its the people who has to do the job. So let me rephrase the question as “Will the helpdesk assist my people to do my job better? ” .

2.DOES IT HAVE A GOOD UI ?

The second thing that a business owner looks for is an easy to use Interface. Minimum clicks – Maximum output is the key here. Navigation with minimal clicks is the “GOD”  in any product which requires constant interaction from the user.

3. DOES IT AUTOMATE STUFF ?

Yes, this is the key factor when you have multiple businesses to manage and have more than 10 users in each of them. You may  need to interfere in every single operation to get things in order and you may also need to go through multiple systems to shape it to perfection. What if a single system can integrate all these stuff in to “ONE”  interface and automate majority of  the processes in a highly active support center ? .   Yes, that’s the ideal system you are looking for.

4. DOES IT GIVE ME DETAILED REPORTS ?

The million dollar question is “What is the kind of reports that you look for in a helpdesk ? “.   If you ask me –  Its not just the count of tickets, but also data that will help you analyze the performance of your team.  I come from a background of running Supportlobby . It has helped me understand the importance of having detailed analysis to determine the performance of each of your techs working for various clients.

5. DOES IT HAVE STUFF  THAT WILL MAKE JOBS FASTER ?

In support , saving 10 seconds in an hour saves 4 minutes a day and probably make it 2 hours in a month. Does 10 sec matter ? , The answer would be no. But if the question is “Does 2 hours matter ?” . I will let you answer that .

Those were the 5 golden rules in selecting and using a helpdesk. And ofcourse designing a new one too .

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Samjad Mooppan
Co-founder
Spiraldesk