How to Overcome the Biggest Challenges in IT Helpdesk Management

Your IT helpdesk is there to navigate conversations, detect and address issues, and make sure all your technology works as intended for your employees, customers, or other end users. But if you want to make sure your IT helpdesk department run as smoothly as possible, you need to anticipate and prevent or resolve some of the biggest challenges that can work against you.

How do you do it?

Hiring IT Helpdesk Services

One of your best options is making use of managed IT services in Long Island, or wherever your business happens to be. Managed IT service providers typically provide helpdesk services, in addition to other forms of support, essentially functioning as an outsourced version of your helpdesk department. In some cases, they can completely replace your internal team. In others, they serve as an auxiliary force.

Either way, hiring an external team of professionals can be beneficial in several ways, offering:

·       Experience and knowledge. 

Hiring an external team of professionals gives you access to experience and knowledge that you wouldn’t otherwise get (at least, not without an exhaustive recruiting effort). These people have worked in The IT helpdesk world for a long time, so they understand the biggest challenges and how to proactively prevent or mitigate them.

·       Scalability and flexibility.

Working with an outside partner also gives you access to more scalability and flexibility. Typically, you’ll be able to customize a plan for IT services that works for your business as it is, without breaking your budget; if and when your company expands in the future, your IT partner can scale with you.

·       Accountability.

Finally, you’ll get access to accountability. Your managed IT service provider wants to keep you as a client, so they’re going to be willing to do whatever it takes to keep you satisfied with their services.

IT helpdesk services can help you solve practically all of the biggest challenges in IT helpdesk management – though it may not be the right fit for every business.

The Biggest Challenges in IT Helpdesk Management

Now let’s take a look at some of the biggest challenges in IT helpdesk management:

·       High ticket volume. 

High ticket volume can be a source of extreme stress for helpdesk workers. If there are too many issues to solve at a reasonable pace, there are a few ways to address the problem. Hiring more people, providing more self-help options to end users, and facilitating more efficient ticket management can all help.

·       Repetitive issues.

What happens when end users have the same types of issues over and over? This can lead to very repetitive and tiring work for helpdesk workers, while simultaneously wasting company resources. The best way to prevent this is to fix whatever core issue is causing these repetitive requests. For example, if end users are consistently confused about a specific app feature, consider redesigning that feature so it’s more intuitive or providing end users with videos and tutorials that make the feature much easier to understand.

·       Untrained/inexperienced staff members.

If your staff members are inexperienced or untrained, they may not be knowledgeable enough or experienced enough to tackle the most complex issues they come across. Stepping up your recruiting efforts could help, as could better in-house training. It’s also a good idea to have inexperienced staff members regularly shadow your more experienced staff members, to improve their knowledge and capabilities.

·       Interruptions.

Did you know that it takes up to 23 minutes for the average person to recover from a single distraction? Unfortunately, your IT helpdesk team is probably going to be constantly bombarded with interruptions. Tickets are going to come in throughout the day, your staff members will be forced to attend meetings and answer phone calls, and on top of that, other priority IT issues might seize their attention. There are many ways to manage interruptions, such as segmenting your team, creating clear hierarchies of priorities, or limiting notifications and other immediate distractions.

·       Long resolution times.

Users want their issues to be resolved as quickly as possible, so what do you do if your team struggles with long resolution times? This is a tricky challenge to solve, because it requires different things in different circumstances. In some cases, better training could be the answer. In others, better communications technology can do the trick. Analyze the root causes of your long resolution times before you come up with any novel solutions.

·       Knowledge resource mismanagement.

If your helpdesk workers don’t have access to the knowledge resources they need to answer questions or address concerns, they’re not going to be able to work efficiently. You can address this by creating much more robust, easily searchable, intuitive resources; and make sure you get some employee feedback so you can make improvements when necessary.

·       Burnout.

Burnout rates are relatively high in the IT helpdesk industry. It can be a repetitive and stressful job. If you want to stay ahead of this challenge, do what you can to keep your team motivated and minimally stressed; frequent breaks, positive rewards, and support during tough times can all help.

Are you struggling with some of these IT helpdesk challenges? Are you looking for a more efficient or more practical solution for providing technology assistance to your end users? Working with a managed IT service provider might be exactly what you need; otherwise, your best bet is to start building a strategy for your helpdesk department from the ground up.

Sethu Ram

Hi there! I’m Sethu, your go-to guy for all things tech, travel, internet, movies, and business tips. I love sharing insights and stories that make life more interesting. Let’s explore the world together, one article at a time!