Automating Your Help Desk Workflow

Do you know you can open, answer, close and report help desk information without human intervention?

Automation is a powerful feature provided by most enterprise level help desk products; however, most organizations rarely take advantage of these features. Based on a survey conducted by RightStar Systems, only 5% of the help desk managers interviewed were using automation to its fullest capacity. Most use it to some degree while others do not use it at all. Tom Jud, Emerging Growth Manager for BMC Software, has observed "?that the Business Rules Engine provided by the Magic Help Desk product, is the key feature that organizations should leverage to drive support efficiency and cost savings." He explains that the two main reasons for organizations not deploying workflow automation are 1) the perceived level of difficulty in implementing these functions and 2) The lack of workflow planning used in developing the helpdesk program. Once organizations learn the importance of workflow automation and the benefit gained, they embrace the feature and drive added value from their help desk product.

After having conducted over 600 site visits and product demonstrations, I have identified 4-main focus areas where organizations can benefit from deploying workflow automation.

? Enforcing best practices through automation.

Companies looking to provided better and less expensive support services have adopted any number of help desk "best practices" guidelines. Automating workflow to enforce a help desk's best practices deployment can drive even more value and efficiency. By pairing certain best practice areas with automated workflow, a help desk can provide a consistent and predictable level of support.

? Improving incident response time through automation.

Incident response time is how most service support organizations are judged. According to Beverly Wells, Help Desk and Groupwise Manager for CarMax, "Of all the statistics gathered by the CarMax Help Desk, the one area reviewed with the most scrutiny, is how fast we responded to and resolve calls." Workflow automation can drastically improve incident response, problem resolution, and change requests, by incorporating predetermined "if, then" capabilities. For example, if a call for a printer problem is received at the help desk, workflow automation can determine the type of call and direct that call to the right person or provide an automated answer to the requestor. In other words, "if" you receive a request like this, "then" do this specific task.

? Increase Reporting Accuracy

Automating workflow provides the ability to capture accurate help desk statistics by removing the various inconsistencies injected through human error. I know help desk managers that spend hours each month collecting, editing and refining help desk statistical reports. They spend most of there time correcting errors and adjusting the numbers that tell the real story of the help desk. Automating workflow is one primary way to assist help desk managers prepare and create accurate reporting.

? Create Consistency while Reducing Call Volume

Have you ever called a help desk and received two or three different answers for the same problem, or worse, no answer at all? It's frustrating and it reflects poorly on the help desk. Several help desk tools provide the capability to deliver answers on various issues in a consistent automated manner. This provides the requestor with confidence that they received the right answer while taking the guesswork away from the help desk analyst when answering questions. In many cases, the answer can be provided without human intervention. There are various ways of deploying these capabilities; collectively they can provide a tremendous reduction in call volume and a higher degree of customer satisfaction.

Incorporating automation in your help desk workflow provides many benefits. As with any undertaking, it takes forethought and planning, but with the right help desk tool and the desire to provide timely, accurate answers with little or no human intervention, the effort will off-load pressure from the help desk staff and integrate an atmosphere of help desk brilliance.

Dan Wilson currently works for RightStar Systems, a leader in Help Desk Service and Supprot Consulting; including problem, asset, change and desktop management.

Dan has over 15 years of experience in support consulting.

You can reach Dan at dan.wilson@rightstarsystems

---

Modern Call Center Solutions - Keeping in Touch is the Key

Call center solutions solve a range of age-old problems. As... Read More

Hit The Jackpot With Customer Complaints

Our most powerful instinct is to avoid customer complaints, but... Read More

Revealed ? A Simple Formula For Success! Exceeding Expectations

Delight = Customer Expectation plus 1. This was the simple... Read More

How to Succeed in Business Without Compromising Your Integrity

I spent some twenty years in the corporate world, for... Read More

Setting Up a Customer of the Week Program for a Mobile Car Wash

In a mobile detail or mobile car wash business you... Read More

Your Actions Tell Your Clients How You Expect To Be Treated

There is a widely accepted principle of human behavior that... Read More

First Contact: The Source of Customer Loyalty

With customers being smarter, more cost conscious, more product knowledgeable... Read More

Why Passenger Surveys are a Transport Operators Best Friend

Public transport operators who already use passenger surveys may not... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About How to Win the Loyalty of Customers

Dr. Michael LeBoeuf, in his cassette album entitled, Win Customers... Read More

I Wont Tell My Lawyer but I Will Tell You

A general counsel of a large international consulting firm told... Read More

Customer Service: Stop Sabotaging Your Customer Relationships

If you've called for customer service recently you're familiar with... Read More

Write a Business Thank-You Note

Have you seen that thing on TV where the gal... Read More

Listening to Customers - 5 Tips

In a strange juxtapositioning of articles, this month's UK '... Read More

Get Customers to Stop Calling You--12 Easy Ways to Save Money with Online Customer Support

Despite rumors to the contrary, the Web is not dead.... Read More

The Nine Principles of Customer Service for the Travel Industry©

If you want to learn how to get your clients... Read More

Minimize The Pain of Check Recovery

$350 million in bad checks are written each and every... Read More

Customer Loyalty

Loyal customers are the foundation of almost every business. Going... Read More

Find Out Where Your Firm Stands in Today?s Customer

Looking For Ways to Improve Sales and Customer Relationships?Find Out... Read More

Listening: The Foundation of Communication

Listening is the #1 communication skill for leadership, selling, customer... Read More

Should I Have My Company Mystery Shopped?

I wish I had a nickel for every time someone... Read More

Caring for Your Customers

You probably think I am going to say something like,... Read More

Quality vs. Quantity

There is a battle in Call Centers. The teams are... Read More

Listen to Suggestions

If you are up to your ears in a stressful... Read More

To Complain and Win! - My Personal Recipe

Prime directive: Make sure your claim is reasonable! Otherwise, forget... Read More

The Number 1 Rule for Businesses - Be Professional

Have you ever walked into a store and things looked... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About Seeing the World from Where the Customer Is Standing

It is important to remember that the customer doesn't necessarily... Read More

E-Business?s Best Friend: eCRM

From Ebay to the smallest home-operated start-up, e-businesses of all... Read More

Why You Should Always Honour Your Guarantees - Even When The Customer Is In The Wrong

The Reason Why Direct Internet Marketers Have To Work So... Read More

Committed To Your Customer? Prove It When They Complain!

Businesses like to brag in their advertising about quality of... Read More

Turning Customer Mistakes Into Raving Fans

When you make a mistake with a customer, should you... Read More

Customers - Hold Onto the Ones Youve Got

You probably spend a great deal of your time looking... Read More

Carpet Cleaning in Surrey

Like any business, carpet and upholstery cleaning requires excellent customer... Read More

Accountants / Lawyers Do Yourself a Favor - What do Your Customers Want?

In my day to day practice in strategic human resource... Read More