How Help Desk Software Can Benefit Your Business

There is no small organization or large corporate network remaining in business for longer without an adequate customer support service for troubleshooting.

Customer Support Software and Help Desk Software are useful aids to manage your communications with both actual customers and potential clients. This type of software help you centralize email inquiries, live chat sessions, and online issues among other activities.

A typical Help Desk Software package often includes a convenient way to record issues received by phone, as well as those submitted via online support ticket system.

Help Desk Software also contributes to enhance interaction between staff and customers, providing them with top-notch technology that usually comprises knowledge and problem management, workflow, data analysis and reporting of issues submitted each day.

It does not really matter if your business is as small as less than three people working hand in hand, Customer Support Software and Help Desk Software will create the necessary aura of professionalism that your business needs.

Detailed reports and analytics are basic to tackle effectively all those issues handled by your Help Desk Software on a daily basis, but the software itself contributes also to develop teamwork efficiently.

Taking advantage of modern technologies, Help Desk Software enables Staff to Staff live chat, and it can also be configured as add-on package for other compatible Customer Support Software.

When it comes to determine which is the most adequate software for your company, experts recommend evaluating your present technology and consider an upgrade if necessary to make sure your chosen Help Desk Software is compatible with your business system.

There are software packages expressly developed to work under certain native operating systems that run on personal computers, such as Windows, Linux or MacOs.

However, numerous Help Desk Software packages are developed as scripts that run basically over an Internet Server, while others combine both,a server-side Customer Support Software, and a Help Desk Software client running from your PC or used for remote administration.

Furthermore, doing a research on a comparative basis among the different customer support solutions available in the market you will find that many of them are compatible with software that you already use, including Microsoft Outlook, Word, or Excel.

This characteristic allows a seamless integration of new Help Desk Software into traditional software applications you are familiar with, making easier updating contacts, sharing task, events, and bits of information already recorded elsewhere.

Just by adding Customer Support Software or Help Desk Software to your business, you are adding value to your products and services, promoting tacitly trustworthy and customers? confidence.

While Customer Support Software is focused to provide assistance to your clients whenever they have a trouble or need something to ask for, Help Desk Software is aimed to offer a global solution to manage different aspects of you relationship with clients and staff interaction.

Help Desk Software improves productivity of your business and efficiency of your workers, increasing also customer satisfaction and improving communication and troubleshooting.

There is another fact to keep in mind talking satisfaction of your customers. The Internet has literally diluted geographical frontiers so if your business is online, it's more likely that international customers approach you.

Whether national or worldwide, the implementation of Help Desk Software is an excellent strategy for any business, reducing the need of toll-free hotlines, and saving money in long distance calls between offices, or those calls placed from customers located abroad.

In the other hand, if you are running a conventional telephone support, the installation of Help Desk Software onto your system will lead you to identify those areas requiring more attention or substantial changes to improve performance and boost your sales.

Customer Support Software is also a convenient way to obtain feedback from users of this system. Afterwards, the information obtained can be added to your Help Desk Software database for further analysis and improvement of your business affairs.

Act now and let that your Help Desk Software reveal you the secrets of customer satisfaction contributing to your success.

John Bennet is the owner of PerlDesk, a company that provides customer support software and help desk software. http://www.perldesk.com was launched in November 2001, and has since become a leading product in the help desk field.

Help Desk Technician

Technical help desk support services is confined to the technical related support for software, IT, telecommunication, logistic, medical, electronics, electrical, home appliances and many more consumable products. Once the customer purchased the product from the dealers, they have to provide the help desk services for the sold product till the condition satisfied. Technical services are provided for genuine customer under certain terms and conditions. The help providers are basically technically qualified and deputed for customer orientation. Behalf of the direct company or service Provider Company the technicians have to work for customers.

Career in this profession is bright for talented people. There are plenty of opportunities come from different companies everyday. IT and software companies have major quantity of opportunities come up because of computerized modern society. The software and IT applications have been dominated each every sector. The technician has to support for computer operation, software troubleshooting, installation, network problems, and internet connectivity and so on. Many qualified people realizing the necessity of a technician in the technical environments. They want to convert themselves to technicians. Nowadays technicians are providing support online, telecommuting or help forum to the problem being described. They diagnose the trouble listening on telephone and solve the problem instantly. The call center organizations are doing the similar job in broad view being a third party service provider for a manufacturer. The Help Desk technician help customer from the front lines, middle layer of back office. They answer by tele-calling, email or chatting and obviously on the spot services if required.

Technicians must have good communication as well as technical domain expertise; because they supposed to give support any level of help to the customers. They should be well versed with the documentation, making help instructions, conveying style and process. They have ability to update every time with the technical knowledge. They should love information gathering and sharing of knowledge.

If Help Desk technician is experienced, there are lots of job openings are required. They have an ability to troubleshoot and resolve related problems, to work both independently and in a team. They should have strong written & communication skills, be available to work off days, be willing to travel customer sites. They should have a minimum exposure to coordinating or implementing of new technology and convergence.

The Help Desk Technician's must understand the end users interface with the product and common issues occurrences in the product. Problem resolution involves diagnosis, and help request tracking tools, as well as require that the individual give in-person, hands-on help at the desktop level.

Responsibilities: Helpdesk technician are responsible for answering incoming support calls, emails, online chatting. They have to provide efficient, strong customer support behalf of the company.

For more articles please visit : www.koreone.com

Reduce helpdesk costs by 20%, is your network VoIP ready ? Eurotek newsletter

Reduce Helpdesk calls by 20% and Improve remote worker support.

The helpdesk engineer's problem...

" These guys working at home are driving me crazy! They call me whenever anything is going slow - or they think is going slow - so I have to gather all their details and run through all the usual diagnostics I often find it's either a blip and no real problem, or that they've installed software that isn't even supposed to be on the PC. I understand they do need help, but I can't be with them all day... "

The home / remote worker's problem...

" I think my PC is running slow, or is it the Internet? I can call Helpdesk and get them to check it out, but it will take at least 20 minutes to do so. Last time they checked it out and said there was nothing wrong, I wish I had some help at hand just when I need it....." and here's the solution... Remote Angel? from NNT Remote Angel? is a unique solution designed to improve remote user experience and in doing so, reduce Helpdesk calls and support costs. Having Remote Angel? on board the remote PC gives the user added comfort when working remotely, enhancing productivity and reducing panic when things don't go to plan

Through the constant monitoring of PC and internet performance by Remote Angel?, a remote worker can immediately get a straight answer to their question - 'Is there a problem?" When a Helpdesk call does need to be logged, Remote Angel? will do this instantly. It will have already done all the time-consuming information-gathering and initial diagnostic checks a Helpdesk engineer will need, saving both the user, and engineer, time, and the company money

Is your network VoIP ready ?

Your network was not originally designed to carry high-quality voice transmissions. To deploy VoIP successfully you need to conduct a VoIP network readiness assessment first.

If you skip this important step your probability of difficult network challenges is greater than fifty percent. Eliminate deployment risk, cost overruns for upgrading networks and dissatisfied users by conducting a VoIP Network Readiness Assessment. Your business will thank you for it.

Continued on page 2.

Is your network VoIP ready ? Continued from page 1.

Your data network was originally designed to support e-mails, file transfers and deliver Web pages, not carry high-quality voice transmissions.

Voice traffic is very time-sensitive and can't be queued like e-mail or Web traffic. Delays up to a half hour for an e-mail or file transfer are generally not a problem, but delays of only a few hundred milliseconds can ruin a VoIP call, producing "choppy" conversations or dropped calls.

Before you know how much a VoIP deployment will cost and how successful it will be, you need to understand if your data network can carry high-quality voice transmissions. The odds are that a network upgrade will be needed to successfully deploy VoIP.

To ensure your VoIP deployment is successful and on budget, you need to find answers to these important questions before deploying VoIP:

* What type of VoIP MOS (Mean Opinion Score) call quality can I expect from my current data network for each business site? * Is network delay, loss or jitter the main problem impacting VoIP call quality, and how do I fix it? * How many concurrent VoIP calls can my network carry without impacting existing data services?

Knowing this information before deploying VoIP will ensure your success, but what is the most accurate and cost-effective method to obtain it?

To ensure your VoIP deployment is successful and on budget, you need to find answers to these important questions before deploying VoIP:

* What type of VoIP MOS (Mean Opinion Score) call quality can I expect from my current data network for each business site? * Is network delay, loss or jitter the main problem impacting VoIP call quality, and how do I fix it? * How many concurrent VoIP calls can my network carry without impacting existing data services?

Knowing this information before deploying VoIP will ensure your success, but what is the most accurate and cost-effective method to obtain it?

The fastest and most cost-effective way to determine your network's VoIP readiness is to conduct a Remote Network Assessment

The assessment quickly diagnoses all your network issues so that by the time you begin your VoIP deployment, you have a converged network that will carry high-quality voice transmissions.

The metrics and findings are used to create a detailed report summarizing the results of the VoIP assessment.

Organisations that skip this important deployment step experience poor call quality, dissatisfied users, cost overruns for upgrades and delayed deployments.

Shouldn't you be taking a serious long term view of your I.T. Security?

According to CERT just under 6000 security vulnerabilities were reported in 2005, the largest ever recorded annual jump. That's 500 new vulnerabilities every month, 115 per week, or 16 each day.

The majority of these vulnerabilities are targeting your business critical applications.

Firewalls can do very little to protect against application layer vulnerabilities.

The Solution: Our Managed Vulnerability Assessment Services.

To stay on top of these vulnerabilities and ensure they're not exploited take our annual managed vulnerability assessment service. Each month, or more frequently, we will run a comprehensive up-to-date set of non-destructive security tests to determine how vulnerable your key Internet facing business assets are.

Our monthly findings are presented in an easy to view HTML report that contains corrective actions, management overviews and executive trends.

Steve has over 20 years experience in I.T. and is currently Managing Director of Eurotek Networking Solutions Ltd.

www.euroteknetworking.com

Selecting Help Desk Software

Before you purchase help desk software, it is important for you to make sure you choose the best product for your needs. Before you can make the correct purchase, it is important for you to understand the background of the help desk software industry. If you are operating a small business or large company in this day and age, it is critical for you to support the technological needs of your customers. By doing this, you will increase their productivity, and they will reward you for it. Depending on the industry you work in, your ability to increase the productivity of your users will determine your profitability.

Because of this, it is important for you to make sure you find the correct help desk software. However, there is a problem that many companies run into at this point. The costs involved with acquiring these products can be high if you don't use the proper methods to acquire them. The goal of any information technology department should be to purchase the best help desk software for the lowest possible price. Once you have done this, you can put your company on the road to success. Many companies today have a small information technology budget, especially with the rise of outsourcing.

It is important to realize that you can acquire powerful help desk software no matter what budget you have. There is software available that can meet the needs of virtually anyone. The biggest challenge that companies will face is finding the right software to suit their needs. The large selection of software available can be overwhelming. Being able to sort through this large selection to quickly find the best software for the lowest price should be your goal. When you are looking to buy help desk software, it is important to avoid the sales hype that you'll often encounter. No matter which help desk software you purchase, they will also basically have two features, which may also be called faces.

One of these faces will interact directly with the consumer. The other face will interact directly with those that support the consumers. The success of a help desk software lies in its ability to transfer information from one face to another. When issues come up, it should be easy for the support team to assist the consumer. When the information is able to freely flow through this channel, this will create a system that is powerful and efficient. Some help desk software is extremely complicated. They may have a large number of functions, and when you look at them to decide if you want to make a purchase, you should place an emphasis on the primary features.

Looking at the primary features will allow you to quickly decide if you want to purchase the product. Not only will this save you time, but it will also help you avoid purchasing software that is not suited to the needs of your company and the end users. Once you have found a selection of software that has the same feature, you can then begin looking at their price and secondary functions to determine which one is the best.

Michael Colucci is a writer on Help Desk Software which is part of the Knowledge Search network

Microforge.net Enterprise Server - powerful network audit & management tool with helpdesk services

Innovative Enterprise Management and Helpdesk solution and Asset register for Auditor compliance

Microplus, the best of breed software distributor, announce the distribution of Microforge.net Enterprise Server 1.4, the latest release of the integrated Enterprise Systems Management and Helpdesk tools developed by Microforge.net. Use Enterprise Server's comprehensive, flexible and reliable modules to audit and manage LAN or WAN networks.

Microforge.net's Enterprise Server integrates five feature rich modules to create an enterprise management solution that empowers organisation efficiency, productivity and communications. Find and track network hardware and software, monitor changes to IT Assets, streamline helpdesk operations, resolve support requests and collaborate on tasks and projects with team members around the world.

ENT Inventory maintains comprehensive IT audits to guarantee licence legitimacy, monitor asset depreciation and accurately estimate the total cost of ownership. Scan entire networks for new, existing and missing machines, audit these machines for detailed hardware and software information and store it in ENT Server's IT Asset repository. ENT Inventory also provides manual entry fields to record non-Windows based machines, software contracts and other miscellaneous inventory items.

ENT Helpdesk manages internal and external support requests. ENT Helpdesk automatically assigns support requests an ID number, which is included in all communications to enable quick access to communications history and consistent quality of support. Help requests can be assigned to specific staff to ensure all enquiries are dealt with quickly and efficiently by knowledgeable personnel.

ENT Calendar keeps track of personal contacts, tasks/projects and manages appointments; as well as enabling team members around the world to collaborate, share information, contacts and tasks/projects as appropriate. ENT Administration enables network managers to customise ENT Server to meet their organisation's specific needs, manage user accounts, define security groups and configure access to each ENT Server Module on a per user basis.

The integrated ENT Report forge is a reporting application for accessing and designing ENT Server reports. ENT Report Forge allows network managers to define which reports each user can access and tailor them to meet particular needs. Microforge.net also provide an extensive reports library which can be downloaded from their website.

Microforge.net's Enterprise Server enterprise edition exclusively includes Network Monitor, an optional module for users with multiple networks. Network Monitor is installed onto each local network to collect hardware and software information, which it saves as an audit snapshot file, condenses and sends back to Enterprise Server to be stored in the ENT Inventory. This information is then available for network managers to detect faults and changes, generate reports or monitor assets.

About Microforge.net

Microforge.net Limited, first registered in 2000, is an Internet based software company committed to the development of quality products for IT professionals world wide. Microforge.net customers include small businesses, military organizations, government departments, universities, schools and Fortune 500 companies, from over 35 different countries. For further information about Microforge.net visit www.microforge.net.

About Microplus

Established in 1995, Microplus are leading providers of high quality IT consultancy services, web design and best-of-breed software distribution. Microplus deliver cost saving, real business solutions that significantly enhance productivity to small businesses, leading companies, government departments, local authorities, military organisations and charities in the UK and Ireland. For more information about any of Microplus' services please go to www.microplus.co.uk or call +44 (0) 1727 799670

For further information contact: Alison Hunter on: alisonh@microplus.co.uk or visit www.enterpriseserver.co.uk for images

How to Select Help Desk Software for Superior Service and Efficiency

The ability to provide the highest level of customer service with the greatest levels of efficiency is paramount for companies in the market for web based help desk software. With this in mind, there are a few key features managers should look for during the evaluation process.

Complete email integration. This is a feature in just about all help desk software, however as your evaluating make sure there is complete email integration that can support multiple mailboxes (if needed), a variety of mail server configurations, as well as key email features such as conversation threading and cc'ing.

Interaction Log. To prevent staff from having to sift through emails and note pads to recall the last interaction with a customer, all good help desk software will automatically log all interactions, those with the customer as well as those between staff members, related to a customer inquiry. If this is done in a logical, easy to use manner, it will allow any staff member (with the appropriate access) to get quickly up-to-speed when necessary.

Flexible categorization capability. To optimize the efficiency of your help desk operation you'll want the ability to categorize each customer inquiry for later aggregate reporting where trends can be spotted and addressed in a more proactive manner.

For example, appropriate categorization and reporting could uncover a large number of requests around a refund/exchange process. In an attempt to reduce staff time spent on this type of common inquiry, you could use tools with your customer portal (outlined below), such as knowledge base or forums, to outline a process for quick referral.

Self-service customer portal. Your customer-facing help desk site should contain the following components:

1. Customizable web submission form. Make sure you can collect the information you need, in the format you need it in.
2. Request status checker. This should include not only the most current update but all other interactions staff have had with the customer.
3. Easy to use knowledge base--more on the importance of this below.
4. Customer forums for collaborative problem solving. In some situations, your customers can be the best resource for other customers with questions. Foster a collaborative community around your product/service with a managed forum.

These features should be bundled in a template-driven portal that allows for customization with the components you want in the same, familiar, look-and-feel of your site.

A user-friendly knowledge base. While many web based help desk software packages include some form of knowledge base--be aware that not all are created equal. To ensure this is a tool your customers and staff will be confident in using, look for a knowledge base that has a logical layout; avoid overly complex, deeply nested knowledge bases.

Jamie Landsman is a Product Director at UserScape Inc., which is focused on building user-center software. Their primary product, HelpSpot, is a web based help desk software package offering a robust feature set with an easy to use interface. To learn more about HelpSpot, visit us at www.userscape.com/products/helpspot/

Automating Your Customer Support

 

My regular readers will know that one of the things I highly recommend doing with any online business is automating as many of your day to day tasks as possible.

From a personal point of view, one of the tasks that takes up a lot of my time is answering emails. It isn't just answering email that eats up the hours - sorting through and deleting spam and junk mail absorbs a lot of time too. In the good old days, I used to get a couple of spam emails a day. Now it is closer to 1000 a day!

In fact, when you look at it, email isn't always the best form of online communication. Not only is there the junk mail issue to contend with but also the fact that email is not 100% reliable. Emails do 'go missing' far more regularly than you might expect. Often this is simply because the recipients email software has decided that a particular email is junk and has transferred it directly to the 'Delete' folder. Other times it may be because the recipients ISP has decided that the email is junk and deleted it BEFORE it has even been seen by the recipient! (Yes this really does happen - imagine if your postman sorted through your mail and made the decision of which letters you want and which ones he should throw away?!)

One way to help avoid the spam problem when dealing with customer support enquiries is to make use of a contact form on your website instead of posting an email address. This will certainly help to cut down on spam but it still means that you have the problem of emails not getting to their destination (and when you have a frustrated customer waiting for assistance this is not ideal).

Therefore, probably the best option on the market presently is a full-blown helpdesk system. Setting up a dedicated helpdesk is a superb way of automating your customer support and speeding up the process of dealing with enquiries and support emails. Not only that but if you use a system that allows customers to create 'tickets', you don't have to rely on email as your customers can login to a special web page and view both their tickets and your replies online.

Another feature of many helpdesk scripts is an 'FAQ' or 'Knowledgebase' section. This is simply a collection of the most frequently asked questions/queries/problems along with answers and solutions. This means that customers can search the knowledgebase and hopefully find the answer to their question without having to contact Support at all.

Some of the more advanced scripts will even scan the customers support ticket prior to submitting it and then list a few possible answers to their questions just in case they didn't read through the knowledgebase before typing the ticket out - very clever stuff.

These scripts are also very powerful in terms of how they can benefit you. Just think how much time you could save if, say, 40% of your customer support emails just stopped coming due to the fact that your customers were now able to find the answers to their questions automatically.

Having an online helpdesk is also of benefit if you travel around a lot or if you are away from the office on vacation etc. Instead of having to take a laptop loaded up with previous emails from customers, you can simply login to your helpdesk admin page and all of your previous correspondence will be online and at your fingertips. It also means that you won't have to spend hours in an Internet cafe deleting a days worth of spam at a time just to get to the important emails since only the important emails will have made it through to the helpdesk in the first place.

As with most things, setting up a customer service helpdesk is one of those tasks that is always better done when you first start your online business. That said, it is fairly easy to integrate such a feature into your existing set up and that is exactly what I have done for all of my websites...

Over the next few months, I will be phasing many of my email addresses out - I simply can't stand the spam any more! With immediate effect, all customer support issues for all of my products and websites will be handled via a central Customer Support Helpdesk.

I am confident that this will improve the overall 'support experience' for both my customers and me :-)

If you are interested in installing a similar helpdesk on your own website/s, there are numerous options when it comes to suitable software. I chose a product called eSupport (link below) and whilst this is a very powerful script, I am hesitant to give it my full recommendation since the installation/set up process was, how can I put this, slightly painful. It doesn't help that there is no manual for the software which means that new users are left to figure out how it works by trial and error or by trawling through hundreds of posts on the company forum. That said, I am advised by the software creator that a manual is in the process of being written and will be available soon. As I say, an excellent and powerful script once installed and configured but definitely not for those lacking patience (and indeed, some computer knowledge). If you opt for this script, my advice would be to get the publishers of the software to install it for you. You can find out more about eSupport at: http://www.kayako.com

Other alternatives (neither of which I have tried myself) include Perldesk ( http://www.perldesk.com ) and Cerberus ( http://www.cerberusweb.com ). One advantage of Cerberus is that there is a free version :-)

Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html