• Case studies
  • All resources
  • ITSM best practices
  • Whitepapers
  • Presentations
  • Newsletters

eStore Logistics

Benetas aged care services, servicedesk plus helps cgc egypt improve service delivery across departments., servicedesk plus implemented as a function-to-function replacement for servicenow, ncss cuts down on trivial incidents and password reset tickets with servicedesk plus, premier financial bancorp, inc., servicedesk plus helps deliver consistent service at hambs, servicedesk plus brings best practice itsm to lulea university of technology, host ventura scales the heights with servicedesk plus ms, the free help desk revolution, star beverage retailer gets more bang for its buck with servicedesk plus, tranter achieves help desk transparency with servicedesk plus, servicedesk plus maneuvers manhattan associates it service desk to success, an itsm success story with 50,000 tickets, radiology associates gets everything that it needs in it, experiences easiness of the help desk management, stop the madness, warner bros. games uses manageengine servicedesk plus, ashton park school, city of austin, convention cente, ohio department of education, telelogic's it support.

  •   Live Demo
  •   Compare
  •   Get quote

Help Desk Success Stories

Other companies think you should hire us. we even have it in writing., you’re in good company, a perfect-match help desk for a cosmetics industry legend.

See how GHDSi helped a global cosmetics company make a “night and day” difference in IT help desk hold times, handle times and customer satisfaction.

Demanding the Best from Retail Help Desk Operations

See how GHDSi helped one of the largest furniture and design companies in the US free up internal IT team members from the time-intensive demands of staffing a help desk and streamline operations to focus on their continued growth.

Improving Efficiency in Healthcare Help Desk Operations

Discover how GHDSi worked with a pediatric hospital to increase their customer satisfaction rates while reducing costs and providing a significant return on investment.

When Flexibility Is Critical for Help Desk Support

Learn how GHDSi worked with a Fortune 100 financial services organization by quickly and thoroughly learning their current process and systems to provide guaranteed service levels while helping the team continue to scale.

Shining a Spotlight on Healthcare Help Desk Solutions

See the results that a teaching hospital was able to receive in their support center to increase responsiveness and improve customer service by working with GHDSi, including calls answered in less than 1 minute, 24 hours a day.

Transportation Equipment and Logistics Firm Rebuilds Help Desk Services (and Reputation!)

Learn how GHDSi helped a billion-dollar marine transportation firm upgrade their service desk operations and improve overall IT support to improve customer satisfaction and response times.

It’s Your Call

Are we a fit? Let’s discuss your help desk goals and challenges.

Customer Testimonials

"They proactively review all of our tickets to try to find more areas where they’re able to resolve issues as the first line. They’re coming back to us with that information so we can increase the number of calls that they’re able to take care of."

Help Desk Outsourcing

Global Help Desk Services, Inc. provides help desk outsourcing with guaranteed service levels to enterprise-sized companies.

badge-2023-2022-2020-2019

  • » Success Stories
  • » Help Desk Learning Center

Pricing Tools

  • Help Desk Cost Calculator
  • IT Cost of Support Calculator

Are We a Fit

Our approach.

  • » Onboarding Process
  • » Service Delivery & Quality Control

Global Help Desk Services, Inc. 521 Cromwell Avenue, Rocky Hill, CT 06067

Toll Free: 1.800.770.1075 Local: 1.860.296.7230

Global Help Desk Services, Inc. - © Copyright 2021 | All rights reserved.

By Epic Digital .

Illustration with collage of pictograms of clouds, pie chart, graph pictograms

A help desk is a software tool or team of human agents that enable a company to support its customers in real time.

The help desk serves two primary functions:

  • It answers questions customers may have about products or services.
  • It assists customers with technical support and solutions to problems.

A help desk system streamlines support requests within a single interface. It includes automation and categorization features to organize customer issues and prevent escalation. This enables help desk agents to cross-reference multiple engagements to quickly provide the best possible solutions to end users.

Discover the power of integrating a data lakehouse strategy into your data architecture, including enhancements to scale AI and cost optimization opportunities.

Register for the IDC report

A help desk significantly enhances the user experience (UX) for support teams and the users they serve. Specifically, it boosts IT support productivity to improve solutions and customer satisfaction. Here are five aspects of a help desk that benefit support agents as well as their customers:

  • Knowledge base: Educates customers about their inquiries via relative documentation. Modern knowledge bases include automation that guides customers to the solutions they need before having to speak to a live agent.
  • Tagging and analytics: Creates insights that help agents better detect and resolve service requests. This reveals critical information about customer needs, which can lead to fresh product offerings and documentation as well as new IT service protocols.
  • Multichannel support: Enables agents to unify multiple channels (e.g. phone, video, email, chat) in one interface to better support customers. This sequences engagement to prevent support tickets from being “bounced around” different channels or getting “lost in the shuffle” of information technology and resources.
  • Support automation: Enables agents to quicken their response and resolution workflow by automating repetitive tasks (e.g. tagging, help desk ticket management).
  • Performance monitoring: Enables help desk managers to track and report customer engagement quality and quantity. This helps them measure department success and establish benchmark metrics for the future.

As digital transformation continues to rise, help desks are becoming critical to large and small business operations. Therefore, a service desk ecosystem must be both agile and adaptable. Here are three scenarios in which the modern help desk is most useful¹:

  • Customer self-service :  Enables AI-powered automated help desk support via web, mobile and voice channels . This may include a chatbot that can respond to customer questions, find answers within knowledge bases and FAQs or route customers to human agents as needed.
  • Employee self-service :  Enables AI-powered automated internal support that quickly answers human resources (HR) and IT inquiries around the clock. An automated self-service portal enables employees to complete their tasks faster, which helps enhance their productivity.
  • Collaborative assistance:  Integrates chatbot and human assistance to resolve complex customer inquiries faster and more thoroughly. This type of help desk solution may use a chatbot as the primary point of contact before routing an issue to a human support agent.

As a help desk evolves, support agents and teams must expand their capabilities to remain efficient. This may require enhancing internal collaboration as well as expanding the scope of external communications. Here are two ways to round out your customer support team for departmental and organizational growth²:

  • Cross-team collaboration:  Some help desks may require larger teams or collaboration between multiple teams and tiers. In these scenarios, team roles, rules and procedures must be well-defined and executed with clarity.
  • Specialized training:  Cultural sensitivity and diction training enable distributed help desk team members to better collaborate and understand one another. In addition, industry-specific training helps agents better support a diverse clientele.

As help desks continue to grow in prominence within today’s business ecosystems, many misconceptions have emerged. Here are four help desk myths that you should dismiss before beginning your customer support journey:

  • Self-help does not work:  Sometimes you can save time by rolling up your sleeves and doing it yourself. According to  Programming Insider  (link resides outside ibm.com), up to 25% of help desk tickets can be self-resolved if customers look up the error code, switch browsers or reboot the device.
  • Help desk tickets aren’t required:  A ticket should be created for any request for support—no matter how small or large the issue may be. It helps help desk agents track their work as well as store resolutions for future tickets that may be similar to yours.
  • Issue descriptions aren’t required:  A generic description is not enough. Most incident forms include a space for you to specify your problem. It is important to thoroughly explain your issue to eliminate “back and forth” communication and quicken resolution.
  • All help desk agents are experts:  Many help desk agents only have a basic knowledge of IT functionality. However, their real value is demonstrated in the ability to provide a quality customer service experience, which can come with routing you to the best solution possible.

Chatbots, with their advanced language capabilities like native natural language processing (NLP) and natural language understanding (NLU) are driving the future of help desk systems. In fact, a recent survey revealed that 58% of IT decision-makers (ITDMs) have adopted chatbots or are in the process of doing so.³

Emerging tools like virtual agents, chatbot toolboxes, automation aggregators and platform-specific chatbots provide perpetual service desk coverage and faster issue resolution. As a matter of fact, chatbots reduce Average Handle Time (AHT) by 10%, which reduces costs associated with IT service management (ITSM).¹

Deliver consistent and intelligent customer care across all channels  with conversational AI.

Meet a natural language AI chatbot that understands human conversation and improves the customer experience.

Learn how Bradesco improved their customer support in their contact center and reduced their response time to 10 minutes.

Provide a faster way for health providers to access medical information by replacing outdated IVRs with an AI powered health desk.

IBM watsonx Assistant helps organizations provide better customer experiences with an AI chatbot that understands the language of the business, connects to existing customer care systems, and deploys anywhere with enterprise security and scalability. watsonx Assistant automates repetitive tasks and uses machine learning to resolve customer support issues quickly and efficiently.

¹ IBM,  Independent study finds IBM watsonx Assistant customers can accrue USD 23.9 million in benefits , Mar 2020

² IDC,  Effective Practices for Leading a Multilocation and Multicultural IT Help Desk Function  (link resides outside ibm.com), Sep 2019

³ Forrester,  Best Practices For Help Desk Chatbot Success  (link resides outside ibm.com), 29 Mar 2021

7-day free trial | No credit card required

Customers all across the globe.

Transform Your Gmail Into A Help Desk

help-desk-best-practices

Table of contents

11 help desk best practices to deliver efficient customer support.

Hiver HQ

A help desk is often the initial touchpoint for customers seeking assistance. The quality of this interaction sets the tone for the entire service experience.

An efficient help desk helps businesses offer swift and effective resolution of customer issues. 

This is precisely why implementing a strategic set of help desk best practices is crucial to providing exceptional customer support. It helps in improving the quality of customer interactions, ensures consistency in service delivery.

In this article, we outline some of the most important strategies and practices you need to keep in mind when implementing a help desk for customer support .

Table of Contents

What is a help desk.

A help desk is a software used by customer support teams to assist customers and resolve their queries. It helps support teams engage with customers across multiple channels such as email, live chat, phone, and social media. 

One of the best things about a helpdesk is that it can enable support teams to organize, track, and collaborate on customer tickets, ensuring every complaint gets proper attention and a timely resolution.

The Link Between Help Desk Best Practices and Customer Satisfaction

Help desk best practices play a pivotal role in enhancing customer satisfaction by creating a streamlined and efficient support experience. 

Here’s how these practices contribute to improved customer satisfaction:

1. Swift Issue Resolution

Well-defined best practices ensure a systematic approach to handling customer issues. This includes a robust ticketing system and clear escalation protocols that enable support teams to address problems promptly. The faster issues are resolved, the higher the level of customer satisfaction.

2. Clear Communication

Help desk best practices emphasize transparent and timely communication. Customers appreciate being kept in the loop regarding the status of their inquiries or issues. Clear and proactive communication helps manage expectations and fosters trust.

3. Clear SLAs and Real-Time Monitoring

Setting clear Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and monitoring performance of help desk metrics in real-time are best practices that help manage customer expectations. Meeting SLAs instills confidence in customers, while real-time monitoring ensures rapid responses to emerging issues.

4. Positive Brand Perception

Consistency in applying best practices contributes to positive brand perception. When customers consistently experience efficient, personalized, and proactive support, it builds trust and loyalty, directly influencing their overall satisfaction with the brand.

11 Best Help Desk Practices for Delivering Better Customer Support

Here are some best practices that you can implement to enhance your help desk’s capability to help in delivering exceptional support, improve customer satisfaction, and build stronger relationships.

1. Thoroughly Understand Your Business Requirements

Understanding your business requirements when implementing a help desk is essential for ensuring that your support operations are not only responsive to customer needs but also strategically aligned with the organization’s objectives. It enables you to optimize resource allocation, enhance customer satisfaction, and contribute to the overall success of your business.

For instance, let’s take a financial services company. Their primary business needs include data security, compliance with financial regulations, and maintaining a high level of customer trust. 

In this case, here’s how a better understanding of their business needs influences the operation of their help desk.

Tips to Align Your Help Desk with Business Requirements

Define Business Goals and Objectives

Customer Journey Mapping

Data Analysis

2. Choose the Right Help Desk Software

Select a best free help desk software that offers the features you need, like ticketing systems , knowledge bases, and customer feedback tools, and is scalable as your business grows. The right help desk software streamlines support processes, automates repetitive tasks, and centralizes customer information. 

Tips to Choose the Right Help Desk Software:

Define Your Needs and Objectives

Identify Key Features

Check for User-Friendliness

Evaluate Cost and Budget

You Might Also Like:  Top 10 Help Desk Software for Small Businesses

3. Offer Multi-channel Support

Deploying a help desk that offers multichannel support is important for many reasons. For one, it allows customers to reach out to your business via their preferred channels, increasing convenience and accessibility.

The different touchpoints in multichannel customer support

Multichannel support also ensures customers can seek assistance at any time. For instance, your customer service communication in such a way that email and self-service portals are available 24/7, while phone support may have limited hours.

A good example is Hiver’s powerful multi channel help desk. The platform offers several robust features that makes offering consistent support a breeze. It allows you to interact with customers across email, live chat, knowledge base, voice, and WhatsApp. Agents have complete context into every conversation, irrespective of which channel a query comes from.

Tips to Offer Multichannel Support:

When offering  multichannel support , there are several important considerations to keep in mind to ensure a seamless and effective customer support experience.

4. Set Clear Policies and Procedures

Another important help desk best practice is to define proper guidelines for handling different types of customer queries, tickets, escalation processes, and resolution timeframe. Clear policies ensure that all customer support interactions are handled consistently, providing a uniform experience.

It also helps agents to resolve issues more efficiently, as they have a specific guideline to follow, reducing the decision-making time.

For instance, tech companies have well-documented procedures for support when handling technical complaints/queries about their software products. This includes initial troubleshooting steps, escalation protocols if the issue is beyond their expertise, and informing the customer about the estimated time for resolution.

Tips to Define Help Desk Guidelines:

Identify Common Complaint Types

Leverage analytics and past customer conversations to identify the most common complaint types. This could be product issues, billing complaints, service queries, technical problems, etc.

Hiver’s Email Tags  is an excellent feature to help you categorize customer conversations based on type or priority. 

Organize emails with Tags

You can create email tags based on type of query such as product bugs, payment issues, exchanges etc. Incoming emails will be grouped under the appropriate tag based on the criteria you define. For instance, all emails with the term ‘Shipping’ in the subject line can be tagged as ‘Logistics’.

Your agents will then get a bird’s eye view of the different types of queries in their inbox and prioritize them accordingly

Standardize complaint handling procedures

Develop detailed guidelines on how to handle each type of complaint. It includes steps for troubleshooting, refund processes, escalation paths, etc. This is important because different complaints require different expertise and handling methods. 

For instance, technical issues might need IT intervention, while billing issues might be better handled by finance specialists.

Define escalation procedures

Clearly outline the escalation path for complex or unresolved issues. Define when and how to involve supervisors, managers, or other departments when  managing escalations .

For instance, there can be tiered escalation levels where ‘Level 1’ refers to handling basic, straightforward customer queries Issues that cannot be resolved at this level should be escalated to level 2. Agents at this level possess specialized knowledge and tools to address more complex problems. If an issue remains unresolved at level 2 or requires further expertise, it should be escalated to level 3. This includes involving management or specialized teams within the organization.

Escalation procedures can also elaborate on the pathways that need to be followed whenever an issue is escalated. For example, when escalating from level 1 to level 2, the level 1 agent should document the issue and transfer it to a level 2 agent. The customer should be informed of the escalation.

By providing clear and well-defined escalation procedures, your helpdesk team can ensure that customer issues are addressed in a systematic and efficient manner, leading to improved customer satisfaction.

5. Create a Knowledge Base

A knowledge base serves as a repository of information – it includes articles, guides, FAQs, and troubleshooting steps. When support agents have access to this resource, they can quickly find answers to common customer queries and issues. This enables faster issue resolution, reducing customer wait times and improving overall service efficiency.

More importantly, a knowledge base is a self-service channel. It allows customers to find answers to simple queries by themselves. Aside from this, unlike human support agents who work specific hours, a knowledge base is available 24/7. Customers can access it at any time, including outside regular business hours or during weekends and holidays. This availability enhances customer satisfaction by providing assistance when customers need it most.

Hiver offers a  knowledge base feature  that allows you to easily build and host a centralized library of help articles. 

Hiver's Knowledge Base

Hiver’s Knowledge Base has an intuitive interface and allows you to organize your help articles under different categories. This makes it easier for both customers and support agents to find information. You can also tailor the look and feel of your knowledge base so that it fits seamlessly within your website.

In situations where a user cannot find the answer they’re looking for, they can create a support ticket from directly inside the knowledge base.

You Might Also Like:  How to Create A Knowledge Base in 8 Easy Steps

6. Define Service Level Agreements or SLAs

Defining Service Level Agreements (SLAs) is a crucial best practice because it sets clear expectations for help desk agents when it comes to issue resolution. SLAs also help in prioritizing support requests based on their urgency and impact on customers. 

High-priority issues can be addressed quickly, while lower-priority ones can be handled with less urgency.

Besides, when support teams consistently meet SLAs, customers are more likely to be happy with the service provided. This leads to positive word-of-mouth recommendations and repeat business.

Hiver allows you to  set SLA based reminders  to ensure that all customer queries receive timely resolution. 

Configure SLAs effortlessly

Hiver also allows you to define SLA violation conditions. This way any time an SLA is violated, the concerned teams are immediately notified with an ‘SLA violation’ tag on the customer query. For instance, say you define an SLA where the first response to any customer query has to be sent within two hours of receiving the complaint. If an email has not been responded within this timeframe, an SLA violation is triggered and relevant stakeholders are immediately notified.

Tips for Defining SLAs:

Segment Your SLAs

Different types of support requests may require different SLAs. Segment your SLAs based on the severity or type of issue.  For instance, say you are an ecommerce company. You’ve decided to categorize incoming queries into three priority levels: High, Medium, and Low. High priority requests require a response within 1-4 hours of receiving the query. Similarly, medium priority issues need to be responded to between 4-24 hours, and low priority requests can be responded to within 2 business days.

Set Realistic Timeframes

Ensure that the SLAs you set are realistic and achievable for your support team. Setting overly aggressive SLAs can lead to burnout and decreased quality of service.

Automate Where Possible

Implement automation to help meet SLAs more efficiently. Automation can be used for tasks like ticket routing, categorization, and sending initial responses, allowing agents to focus on more complex issues.

Consider Seasonal Variations

Take into account any seasonal fluctuations in customer support demand when defining SLAs. Adjust SLAs as needed during peak periods. For instance, an ecommerce store that normally responds to queries within 4 hours may adjust their SLAs to respond within 2 hours during the holiday season. This is because during this time, customer support requests increase significantly. Seasonal adjustments to SLAs can help businesses manage demand more effectively.

7. Make Use of Automations

Leveraging automation in a helpdesk can significantly enhance the efficiency and productivity of your support agents. 

It can be used to categorize and prioritize incoming tickets based on predefined criteria, such as keywords, issue type, or customer status. This ensures that urgent issues are addressed promptly, reducing response times.  You can also use automations to provide automated responses to customers for routine inquiries.

Hiver offers  robust automation  capabilities that can take care of tasks like assigning customer emails and tagging messages. This allows your support agents to focus on more complex tasks.

For instance, with automated, conditional assignments, you can define conditions based on which incoming emails are routed to agents. For instance, all emails containing the word ‘Payment’ can be assigned to John – a finance specialist.

Hiver's automated, conditional assignments using automation

Another example is routing queries to agents based on their skill set. For instance, all emails containing the word ‘Shipping’ will only be assigned to the storage & distribution managers in the logistics team.

You can also use Hiver’s automation to auto-tag incoming queries and organize them by categories. For example, all conversations from  [email protected]  can be tagged as ‘High Priority’. This allows your agents to easily identify critical conversations and offer faster resolutions.

8. Ensure Clear and Concise Communication

Clear and concise communication is important because it directly impacts the efficiency of issue resolution and customer satisfaction. 

When support agents communicate clearly and concisely, it becomes easier for the customer to implement the proposed solution.

This not only reduces the resolution time but also minimizes the risk of misunderstandings or frustration on the customer’s part. 

Clear communication enhances professionalism, saves time and resources, and contributes to a positive experience, which is essential for maintaining customer loyalty and a positive brand image.

Tips to Ensure Clear Communication:

You Might Also Like:  11 Tips for Effective Communication with Customers

9. Use Canned Responses or Templates

Responding to common customer inquiries can be time-consuming when you have to do it manually. Canned responses and templates help save time by allowing support agents to quickly select and modify pre-written messages, enabling them to handle a higher volume of inquiries effectively.

Tips for Effectively Using Canned Responses:

10. Track Key Performance Indicators

Tracking help desk key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial because it provides valuable insights into the performance and effectiveness of your help desk operations. 

They enable you to identify areas for improvement, whether it’s in response time, resolution rate, or customer satisfaction. With this data, you can make data-driven decisions to enhance support processes, allocate resources more effectively, and optimize help desk workflows . 

It allows you to hold your help desk team accountable for meeting performance standards and provides a foundation for setting realistic goals and expectations.

Key Help Desk KPIs to Track:

11. Foster Efficient Internal Collaboration

Complex or unusual issues may require input from multiple team members or departments. Effective internal collaboration ensures that the right experts are looped in to assist with problem-solving, leading to faster and more accurate resolutions.

Also, when team members collaborate effectively, they can provide customers with more comprehensive and satisfactory solutions.

Hiver offers collaboration capabilities that make internal discussions a breeze. For instance,  Hiver’s Notes  is present alongside every customer query. It allows support agents to collaborate with context right inside Gmail. This way they don’t have to rely on endless CCs and forwards to communicate with their teammates. 

All they have to do is @mention their team member or manager on Notes. They get immediately notified and can respond with their inputs.

Tips for Better Internal Collaboration:

Wrapping Up

Well-executed help desk practices help support teams to resolve customer inquiries efficiently. This strengthens customer loyalty and enhances brand reputation. Both of which are essential for the growth of a business.

By closely following the help desk best practices we’ve listed above, you can create a support environment that consistently puts the customer first.

If you’d like to know more about how Hiver’s powerful help desk solution can help you create memorable experiences for your customers, sign up for a  free 7 day trial!

Deliver stellar customer support right from Gmail

CTA image

The Art of Customer-Centric Selling: A Guide to Building Lasting Relationships

Explore the power of customer-centric selling in boosting conversions. Discover why businesses, how to build a customer-centric...

cutomer-service-crisis-management-tips

A Guide to Crisis Management Planning for Customer Service Leaders

Is your customer service team prepared to handle organizational crises? Read on to find out tips to help your team manage crises...

customer-service-banking-finance

A Guide to Customer Service in Banking and Finance

In this post, we take a detailed look at what ails customer service in banking and finance and what we can do to overcome this.

quote icon

Hiver has come along as a trustworthy, discerning, and dependable sidekick that has helped us manage our emails better and faster.

brennan

Hiver is extremely easy to use. We were able to hit the ground running right from day one. Plus, their customer service is fantastic!

luke

We're 100% Gmail. Working on customer queries from Gmail was exactly what we needed. Moreover, moving to Hiver was a painless affair.

scott

Help Desk Coach

  • Case Study: 5 Best Practice Steps for Service Desk Success

Eddie and his help desk team were perplexed. They were experts in their field, yet their customer service survey ratings were terrible. How could their customers not appreciate their expertise?

As their comments spelled out, customers appreciated the help desk’s expertise, but not the way they handled contacts and communication.

Here are some tips Eddie and his team incorporated to improve their customer satisfaction scores:

  • Problem Solving Without the Lecture. Remember that the customer is calling you to have their problem solved, not listen to a lecture detailing every aspect of the issue. Eddie and his team provided so much background information and detail, the customers felt overwhelmed.
  • Respect Time Urgency. When customers contact you with an issue, remember that they’re busy with many things, and that particular issue has stopped them in their tracks. Be time efficient in resolving the situation, and help them get back to work. They need your respect for their time urgency.
  • Provide a Reference Number & Summary. At the end of the contact, provide users with a reference number, and also email a summary of the contact. Customers appreciate the follow up and documentation on resolution.
  • Provide Adequate Follow-up. If users contact you repeatedly about recurring issues, make sure you’re providing adequate follow up. Sometimes a terse email with links to self-support isn’t sufficient for every user. Take a few minutes to summarize the solution and email to the user. Make sure subject line spells out: solution to xyz issue.
  • Empathize With the User. Think outside your support role. Think about how the user utilizes the technology you support. The more you understand the user’s perspective, workplace environment priorities, the more effectively you can provide expertise and service that wins top ratings in surveys.

Eddie and his help desk followed these tips and delivered their expertise in more time efficient ways during the contact. They also emailed summaries of resolutions following the call. They were also surprised that total contact handling time (including time to compose email) was shorter.

In all, Eddie and the help desk was amazed at how much their customer service approval ratings improved by following these 5 simple tips.

© Donna Earl 2015. www.HelpDeskCoach.com

← back to articles

Donna Earl is an international expert in Customer Service. She specializes in helping technical help desks deliver world class customer service. To use this article, Contact Us for permission.

For more information about HelpDeskCoach.com training, see Training .

US: 415.929.8110 UK: +44 (0)7729 814 890 [email protected]

Copyright © 2005-2018 HelpDeskCoach

help desk case study

Top Articles

  • 8 Tips to Refresh and Reboot Your Service Desk
  • Customer Service: the Competitive Edge for Managed Service Providers
  • Customers Don’t Buy Annoyance
  • 7 Top Tips for Handling Help Desk Calls

logo-standard

Customer Experience

5 Case Studies to Improve Your Customer Service

customer-service-case-studies

As more and more customer transactions occur virtually, the quality of online help desks and customer service support is becoming an essential differentiator for companies. An estimated  73% of consumers say a good experience is critical in influencing their brand loyalties.

Customer satisfaction directly impacts the bottom line, too, as 84% of companies that work to improve their customer experience report an increase in their revenue.

Apart from the stats, it is important to look for examples of company success stories improving customer service and productivity. Having high-performance customer service is essential for any company, regardless of industry. Check out these five case studies that will help you improve this process in your business.

How Quick Heal optimized their customer service, extending support hours and responding to inquiries faster

Quick Heal Technologies is a leading provider of internet security tools and anti-virus software, serving millions of users worldwide. Like many fast-growing companies, they experienced bottlenecks in their customer service process due to the high volume of requests.

  • No system to track requests from different sources. 
  • Agents could not maintain a global view of the customer request, negatively impacting customer service.  
  • High incidence of lost tickets and incomplete information.
  • Customers were not happy with the support delays.  
  • The existing system did not manage its workflow.

Quick Heal researched several options yet didn’t find a solution with the right blend of factors. That’s when the team signed up for a free trial of Kayako. Before the free trial even ended, Quick Heal decided that Kayako was the right solution.

Kayako’s Shared Inbox Solution creates a frictionless experience by unifying interactions from different sources like email, Facebook, Twitter, and live chat. The Shared Inbox Solution means QuickHeal agents can serve customers more efficiently while preventing dropped tickets and lost conversations.

Kayako Benefits for Quick Heal:

  • Reduced ticket response and resolution times
  • Improved collaboration and reduced duplication of effort
  • Extended support hours
  • Consolidated conversations from multiple sources
“Without Kayako, we would not be able to manage all of the incoming ticket requests in an organized manner nor provide the quality of support we stand for. Kayako is far more efficient than our previous help desk system.” Sushant Dashputre, Assistant Manager of Technical Support at Quick Heal

Are you ready to deliver Friction-Free Customer Service? Capture your customer’s entire journey in a way a support ticket or traditional help desk never could. Discover Kayako Single View

Increasing NameCheap’s agent productivity through a self-service knowledge base

Namecheap is a leading domain registrar and technology company that offers domain registration, hosting packages, and related services. Customer support is vital to Namecheap, especially because they serve many repeat customers. Scaling personalization in support is imperative to avoid customer churn.

  • No optimized workflow for the high volume of requests led to customer complaints.
  • Due to a complicated and overwhelming process when responding to customer tickets, Agents became stressed. 
  • Low productivity for service agents.

Namecheap began to look for a reliable, unified customer service software solution. They had difficulty finding an option that fit all their needs. The Namecheap team then learned about Kayako and decided to try it.

After Namecheap integrated Kayako into their website, they saw an immediate improvement in agent productivity. They implemented a Self-Service Portal with tools like macro-libraries of responses, automated replies, and a self-help knowledge base to help customers get helpful answers anytime they need help.

Kayako’s SingleView gives agents a complete visualization of the entire customer journey, from initial purchase to most recent customer service inquiry for individualized customer questions needing personalized support. Kayako enables Namecheap to scale personalized customer service, the holy grail for companies with a high volume of repeat customers.

Kayako Benefits for Namecheap:

  • Improved self-service knowledge base.
  • Streamlined ticket management.
  • Boosted productivity.
  • Increased customer satisfaction.
“One of the things we most value about Kayako is how carefully they have thought about real-life support processes. In all aspects, Kayako provides us with value in buckets.” Nata Trusova, Director of Customer Support at Namecheap

How Envato manages multiple customer bases in one place and resolves tickets faster

Envato is a world-leading online community for creatives. The company’s steady growth since 2006 outpaced its existing resources for support requests. Envato tried building their own help desk and quickly saw that a DIY solution would be prohibitively expensive in terms of time and money.

They began to search for an existing customer service software solution that could meet their needs and fit their budget.

  • Existing support system not keeping up with the volume of requests. 
  • Support requests were hard to track, sometimes going to individual emails. 
  • Envato managed multiple customer databases and needed a way to coordinate them.

Using Kayako’s SingleView dashboard, Envato could access multiple customer databases in just one place. SingleView provides a complete view of the customer journey so that customer service agents can provide personalized support to every customer.

Using features like Kayako’s ticket parsing rules, Smart Routing and internal collaboration tools helps Envato efficiently give customers accurate answers every time. With Kayako, the Envato team handles more requests in less time while increasing the quality of customer service. Best of all, Kayako is a scalable solution that can grow with Envato.

Kayako Benefits for Envato:

  • Resolved tickets faster.
  • Managed all customer databases in a single system.
“Kayako has allowed us to extensively customize our help desk. This really meant that we can just make our help desk work in the way we want, rather than coming up with an elaborate system to fit into the technical requirements of other help desks. It has functionality that other support providers have not been able to match.” Jordan McNamara, Community Manager, Envato

Increasing Texas Tech´s customer satisfaction with a communication and collaboration platform

Texas Tech University is a top institution focused on advancing higher education, research, and health care. With more than 10,000 employees and over 36,000 students, their support team was overwhelmed with the volume of service requests.

  • Support staff, students, faculty, and many other stakeholders were frustrated because the system couldn’t handle the high volume of support requests. 
  • The situation reflected poorly on their brand as a top higher education institution. 
  • Staff was trying to manage support requests using a shared Outlook account.
  • They had no way to collaborate internally on support requests.

After comparing different options, Texas Tech chose Kayako because it offered  Kayako Collaborators Feature they needed to coordinate internal communications and to serve customers with faster responses.

Their team quickly implemented Kayako’s out-of-the-box features and immediately saw improvement.

“Once we implemented Kayako, we immediately noticed an increase in the quality of communication and collaboration, especially between our support and development team. Our customers also praised the improved communication.” Kevin Eyck, Enterprise Server Administrator, Texas Tech University

Kayako’s integrated self-service feature helped Texas Tech reduce the number of live-agent.

tickets by assisting customers in helping themselves. Texas Tech also leveraged Kayako’s customization options, using a custom LoginShare and integrating it with the intranet and applications used on their campus.

Kayako didn’t just help Texas Tech improve the support experience for the customer; it also enhanced their internal team’s productivity.

With Kayako, Texas Tech University handles all of its support requests quickly and easily resolves customer problems. Customers also benefit from the improved processes for ticket management and communication.

Kayako Benefits for Texas Tech University:

  • Reduced the number of support tickets.
  • Improved internal collaboration.
  • Gained self-service capability.

How Kayako helped CoinStop reduce average response time and implement omnichannel customer support

Coinstop is a trusted provider of cold storage cryptocurrency hardware wallets. After launching in 2016, Coinstop experienced extremely rapid growth.

They soon struggled to manage and respond to all of the support inquiries and questions from potential customers. The Coinstop team began searching for a customer service software solution that was easy to use and implement.

  • Rapid growth was putting a strain on the existing bare-bones support process.
  • Coinstop must spend time educating customers as well as selling to them.
  • Customer service practices did not scale with the company.
  • Coinstop was providing customer support using a single email account. 
  • Manually responding to hundreds of emails per day wasn’t a productive use of time. 
  • There was no way to track the progress of support requests, they couldn’t standardize responses across the various agents, and they found themselves asking repetitive questions that frustrated their customers. 

Coinstop needed a help desk and live chat software to organize and optimize their support. They chose Kayako customer support software because it offers the best experience for both support agents and customers.

Using the Kayako dashboard, agents can interact with customers across multiple social platforms, email, and live chat. Agents can see the customer’s history from all channels, not just chat or email.

Everyone on the Coinstop team has immediate access to all the information they need to provide quick, personalized support to customers with Kayako’s SingleView.

Kayako Benefits for Coinstop:

  • Reduced average response time.
  • Managed a higher volume of tickets with the same number of agents.
  • Improved collaboration between departments.
  • Implemented omnichannel support.
“You need one place to browse every single conversation you have had with each customer. Kayako is very well organized. You can tie everything into it, including emails, social media, and team members.” Christopher Pavlesic, Co-Founder of Coinstop

Are you ready to increase your team’s efficiency? Provide a better employee experience and speed up internal support with Kayako HelpDesk. Discover Kayako Self Service

Common Challenges, Custom Solutions for Customer Service Help Desk

As you can see, companies across a spectrum of industries often share similar challenges with customer service. Do you have questions about improving your customer service process? Join world-class customer support teams like the companies in these case studies using Kayako to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Book a Demo today.

What you should do now

  • Start your free trial or take the tour to learn more about Kayako
  • Increase your knowledge on everything related to customer support with our free eBooks , Webinars and Case Studies
  • If you know anyone who'd enjoy this content, share it with them via email, LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.

Deliver Excellent Customer Support Experiences With Ease

Giva Schedule a Call

Giva Successes & Case Studies

Learn about the giva difference from real customers.

MetroHealth System Logo

  • 50% reduction in time to deploy Giva's change, incident, problem, asset management and knowledgebase modules
  • 60% reduction in the 5 year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
  • Saved at least 1 FTE due to lower ongoing administration
  • Saved 1 week per month due to easy to use reports

Athens Regional Health System Logo

  • Increased to 90% achievement in meeting service level agreements
  • 70% reduction in generating reports and admin; eliminated 35 hours/month
  • 50% faster to create/assign a service request
  • 60% increase in information captured during the initial phone call
  • 50% increase in the number of service requests created due to intuitive design

Santé Health Systems Logo

  • 80% increase in productivity by using Giva's dashboards and reports
  • 60% increase in meeting service level agreements
  • 45% increase in the number of the calls logged due to Giva's intuitiveness and ease of use
  • 50% increase in productivity by using Giva's integrated custom forms

Casio Computer Co., Ltd. Logo

  • A 100 percent Web-based call center software solution
  • Real-time reports for Tokyo headquarters that help improve Casio product set-up and ease of use
  • Integrated knowledge base and FAQ section to speed issue resolution and increase customer satisfaction
  • Automated workflow tools to drastically reduce paper-based business processes

Saint Elizabeth Health Care Logo

  • 90% reduction in the time required to configure/customize Giva
  • 50% lower TCO over a three year period
  • 40% increase in productivity of the IT service desk team by using Giva reports and dashboards
  • 100% application uptime using Giva nearly 24x7

EDIMS Logo

  • 30% increase in productivity by using Giva dashboards and reports
  • Eliminated 24 hours/month of work to prepare reports
  • 50% decrease in time required to open cases
  • 50% easier to navigate and search Giva
  • 100% faster application responsive/speed

Pronger Smith HealthCare Logo

  • 60% increase in IT productivity by using the dashboards and real-time reports
  • 70% easier ability to open service requests due to intuitiveness
  • 70% increase in IT productivity due to the self-service portal
  • 65% increase in customer satisfaction of physicians and staff
  • 65% increase in first call resolution
  • 100% application uptime and high application responsiveness

Gordon & Rees LLP Logo

  • 80% increase in capturing off-hour calls due to anytime/anywhere access & Giva's intuitive design
  • 70% increase in support management productivity using the Giva dashboard & real-time reports
  • 60% increase in meeting Service Level Agreements
  • 50% increase in the number of calls being logged

Invivo Logo

  • 70% increase in productivity by using Giva dashboards and reports
  • 60% increase in productivity in managing customer service level agreements (SLAs)
  • 70% easier to get up and running on Giva
  • Eliminated 30 hours/month of work to prepare executive reports/scorecards/KPIs

San Jacinto Community College Logo

  • 75% reduction in time to deploy Giva's incident and problem management modules
  • Saved 1 FTE position due to significantly less ongoing administration/maintenance and easier to use reporting
  • Significant reduction in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
  • No coding required for integrating Active Directory using the Giva LDAP Synchronization Tool

Lewis Roca Rothgerber LLP Logo

  • 70% increase in attorney and staff customer satisfaction with IT
  • 70% increase in overall IT productivity
  • Eliminated 8 hours per week generating reports
  • 80% increase in information quality in reports/metrics/KPIs
  • 70% increase in meeting service level agreements
  • 80% easier to use knowledge base for trouble shooting

Miles & Stockbridge P.C. Logo

  • 70% cost savings when considering the total cost of ownership (TCO) over a 3 year period
  • 70% increase in IT productivity in using the dashboards and real-time reports
  • 65% increase in first call resolution metrics
  • 70% decrease in number of tickets that remain open from day-to-day

LifePics Logo

  • 70% decrease in call time due to intuitive design
  • 70% increase in effectiveness in working with the development department
  • 70% increase in number of calls captured due to intuitive design
  • 50% increase in call center team productivity using dashboards
  • Spend just 20 minutes/week generating reports with actionable information

Westway Group, Inc. Logo

  • 70% decrease in labor costs by tracking IT changes with Giva
  • 80% decrease in IT auditing costs estimated for next year's public accounting firm audit
  • Significantly increased IT infrastructure uptime
  • Real-time Trend Reports, Dashboards, Charts, and Metrics, which enable visibility of all global Requests for Change

Patient Care Technology Systems Logo

  • An ITIL-compliant help desk and customer service solution that helped PCTS deliver extraordinary service to mission-critical operating and emergency rooms nationwide
  • Multiple service desks for its internal IT help desk and customer service organizations
  • One-week deployment for a geographically dispersed workforce

Russell Reynolds Associates Logo

  • A Web-native help desk software solution to support business operations in offices including New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Sydney, and other major cities in Europe and Asia
  • Exceptional ease-of-use and Giva Easy Three Click Reporting™ that provides trend analysis to help improve service and support worldwide
  • Worldwide implementation in six days

Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP Logo

  • 60 percent higher ROI than competing help desk software applications
  • Tools to maintain an 80 percent first call resolution rate
  • An 85 percent increase in attorney satisfaction with IT support and the ability to maintain a 4.9 customers satisfaction rating from attorneys out of possible 5.0
  • 100% uptime using the Giva Web-based help desk solution 24 hours/day

Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. Logo

  • 35% decrease in labor hours required to generate monthly and ad hoc reports
  • Significant increase in attorney satisfaction with the IT department
  • Provided Trend Reports, Dashboards, Charts, and Metrics, which enabled quick action to keep attorneys productive
  • Provided an intuitive design that reduced IT training and administration costs

iZ3D Logo

  • Fast and easy deployment in a week despite significant customizations
  • Very affordable price point with a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and higher ROI than competitive offerings
  • Seamless integration with the iZ3D web site
  • Rich graphical views of data with Dashboards, Charts, and Metrics to allow iZ3D to focus on their customer service priorities

ContactWorks Logo

  • A single IT platform for a 24x7 worldwide outsourced customer service and support operation
  • Product and service differentiation in the very competitive outsourcing business to help ContactWorks win more business
  • Increased technical creditability with prospects
  • Expertise in customer service "best practices" to help win outsourcing contracts

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Logo

  • Decreased average time to close service requests by 40 percent
  • Increased first call resolution by 45 percent
  • Increased employee satisfaction with IT, Facilities, Human Resources, and other operations departments
  • Decreased call volume with employee accessible Internet portal knowledge base

Willams Lea Logo

  • A feature-rich, intuitive Web-native help desk application that allowed Williams Lea professionals to get up to speed with only one hour of training
  • Real-time reports that quickly measure service level metrics
  • High ROI through process automation
  • 100% uptime using Giva help desk software
  • First-class continuous product enhancements

Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP Logo

  • Higher ROI over a two-year period verses purchasing and internally hosting a help desk application
  • Lower TCO by outsourcing non strategic applications
  • Significantly increased employee satisfaction with the help desk
  • 100% uptime using Giva 24x7
  • An additional layer of disaster protection and IT business continuity with third-party hosting

VirtuRad Logo

  • Increased integration between customers and field engineers throughout the country
  • Increased service responsiveness and increased customer satisfaction
  • Real-time reports, trend analysis, and business analytics to monitor customer satisfaction and other key metrics
  • Easy customization without programming or implementation consultants

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan Logo

  • Increased attorney satisfaction with IT support. Stroock maintains a 4.7 customer satisfaction rating by attorneys out of possible 5.0
  • One week firm-wide deployment
  • Significant financial and personnel resources savings
  • Tools to solve problems at level 1
  • Lower leased line WAN costs

Dataram Corporation Logo

  • 70% decrease in total cost of ownership
  • 70% increase in productivity of customer service department
  • 50% increase in meeting service level agreements
  • 60% increase in teamwork between development and customer service departments
  • 40% increase in productivity by using the Giva knowledge base

Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. Logo

  • A total cost of ownership less than one-third the projected TCO of other help desk software solutions EB&G considered
  • One-week deployment with no impact on EB&G infrastructure
  • Integrated, highly customizable, and easy-to-use reports
  • A centralized help desk for all domestic offices

mindSHIFT Technologies Logo

  • A powerful, yet elegant hosted solution to manage customer service operations
  • A high level of service and understanding of the customer
  • 100% uptime using Giva 24 x 7 x 365
  • Reduced customer support costs
  • Lower total cost of ownership with the Giva On Demand Software™ option

Art.com Logo

  • One week set-up, customization, and deployment
  • Self-service employee Web portal to log service requests
  • Easy-to-learn solution that allowed Art.com IT professionals to get up to speed quickly
  • Enterprise-class features and functionality at a significantly lower total cost of ownership
  • 100% uptime without any problems
  • Customer Service
  • IT Service Management
  • IT Change Management
  • Knowledge Management
  • Asset Management
  • All Products
  • Help Desk/ITSM
  • The Giva Difference
  • HIPAA Compliant
  • IT Ticket Systems
  • Customer Service Ticketing
  • Reporting Analytics
  • Compliance & Security Certificates
  • Integrations
  • All Features
  • Healthcare Organizations
  • Hospitals, Clinics & Rehab Centers
  • Healthcare Providers
  • Healthcare 3rd Party Services
  • Behavioral & Mental Health Services
  • Telehealth/Telemedicine
  • Legal Firms & Law Offices
  • Financial Services & Banking
  • Universities & Colleges
  • Nonprofits, Charities & NGOs
  • All Solutions
  • Compare Giva
  • 14 Best ITSM Solutions
  • 20 Best IT Change Management Solutions
  • 32 Best Help Desk Solutions
  • 24 Best Customer Service Solutions
  • Case Studies
  • Testimonials
  • All From Our Customers
  • Support Tools & Templates
  • HIPAA Resource Center
  • Customer Service Resource Center
  • ITIL Resource Center
  • Conferences & Events
  • All Resources
  • Avoid Software Buying Mistakes
  • Tough Vendor Questions
  • IT Help Desk Whitepapers
  • Customer Service Whitepapers
  • Healthcare Technology Whitepapers
  • Law Firm Help Desk Whitepapers
  • (855) 776-7763

All Products

Knowledge Base

Survey Maker

ProProfs.com

  • Get Started Free

Trusted By Over 15 Millions Users Globally

ProProfs Helpdesk Software Case Studies & Testimonials

Help Desk Customer Success Case Studies

Help Desk Software - Opencart

Testimonials

Charlie hueni,.

VP, Purchasing & Sales, HorseSaddleShop

Anything that helps us communicate better with our customers improves our revenue. The chat sessions don't necessarily end in an order, but we've found it to be a great point of contact with the customer that often leads to future communication and also boosts revenue. An added bonus is that for the international customers for whom English isn’t their first language, ProProfs Chat automatic translation is an excellent option.

Mitchell Bank

Founder, MilitaryCruiseDeals

One of our favorite features about ProProfs Chat is the ability to access chat history via the user dashboard. This comes in handy when we have clients who return to chat a few days after the original conversation and are unsure of the shipping they were initially inquiring about.

Carol Tiffany

Our guests enjoy chatting with us using ProProfs. They often ask about - availability of rooms, amenities provided and breakfast options offered. We also provide a lot of information regarding room decor and special packages. We also provide a lot of information regarding room decor and special packages.

Daniel Stein

Professor Daniel Stein,

Director of Technology Initiatives, Touro College

I love ProProfs user experience. The interface is easy to use yet packed with powerful settings.

Bill Wisell

Bill Wisell

Health Licensing Coordinator, Nebraska Department of Human and Health Services

ProProfs support is one of the best I have experienced. They truly care about their customers and deliver resolutions fast.

We Believe Software Should Make You Happy

We are building a 100-year company with a mission to DELIGHT customers. People think we’re crazy to offer phone, chat , and email support . We still do it. When it comes to awesome support & building delightful software, we go the distance - try it, and you will love it.

Press & Ratings

The wall street

Help Desk Management: 7 Tips for Success [+ Software]

help desk case study

Help desk management refers to overseeing an organization’s technical support and ticketing system. It involves supervising the staff, tools, and procedures to provide fast and useful assistance to users. 

This kind of management is crucial for ensuring quick resolution of issues, in turn boosting customer experience and cutting down operational costs. 

But how do you run and handle it for your own business needs?

Don’t worry—we’ll help you figure this out.

Make sure to read on as we explore best practices for successful help desk management. 

In this article:

  • Benefits of help desk management 
  • Best practices for successful help desk management
  • Reviews of the leading tools in this category

Boost client satisfaction with powerful help desk management

Do you want to find out more about the help desk ticketing systems? Check out these articles:

  • 20 Best Help Desk Ticketing Systems & Software
  • 12 Best Help Desk Software [Complete Guide]  
  • 8 Best Open Source Helpdesk Systems [Free]

First things first—

Let’s see how help desk management can benefit your business.

Benefits of proper help desk management

By having a solid help desk management set in place, you ensure the effectiveness of your customer support team’s delivery. In addition, you can increase the uptime and productivity of your service reps, while boosting user satisfaction .

Here’s a detailed overview of the advantages that come with help desk management:

Benefits of proper help desk management

  • Improved first contact resolution

A well-organized IT help desk management focuses on enabling customer service reps to resolve more user queries after the first point of contact without escalations. By doing so, they provide faster assistance to users which can boost your sales in the long run. In fact, 60% of customers think getting a quick resolution to an inquiry is vital when deciding which company to buy from.

  • Enhanced employee productivity

Quick issue resolution and automations minimize employee downtime, allowing them to focus on the most critical work instead of being overwhelmed by repetitive or unresolved problems. This can only lead to happier, more organized agents. As many as 72% of employees with higher well-being also reported that they had better organizational support, so it’s a win-win scenario all around!

  • Better customer experience

Efficient help desk support leads to more positive customer experiences , fewer complaints, and higher customer happiness levels. Research shows that, for as many as 65% of US consumers, a positive experience with a brand is more important than good advertising. And that right there perfectly illustrates the importance of client satisfaction.

  • Higher consistency of services

By setting standard operating procedures and centralized knowledge management, you will bring consistent quality of services across all user queries, regardless of which agent helps the shopper. This can benefit your clients in the long run, encouraging their trust and boosting customer loyalty .

Read more: Learn the key differences between help desk vs. IT service desk to learn which type is suitable for your needs. 

And now for the part you came here for—

A list of tips you can use for the most efficient management of your help desk.

Help desk: best practices

Delivering solid help desk service to customers is vital for success, but it can be challenging. That’s because multiple complex factors can impact the quality of your IT support, not to mention its overall efficiency and alignment with your business processes and goals. 

That being said, there are guidelines you can use to streamline your help desk processes. We’ll be using Tidio to demonstrate how you can make the most out of them.

Without further ado, here’s a list of the help desk management best practices:

  • Use an easy-to-use help desk management software
  • Define your KPIs
  • Treat each one of customer interactions as a ticket
  • Leverage the power of automation
  • Use routing functionalities
  • Learn from your customers
  • Expand slowly

Now, let’s explore each one in more depth.

1. Use software that’s customizable and intuitive

Choosing the right help desk management system for your needs is fundamental for the success of your support efforts. So, evaluate your software thoroughly by focusing on the user experiences for service reps and end-users alike. Complicated tools with steep learning curves lead to agent frustration and communication gaps, ultimately resulting in increased resolution times.

So, what are the features your software should have?

help desk features list

In general, you can benefit the most from systems with intuitive interfaces, customizable templates, and multichannel support. Also, tools that come with robust automation features like conversational AI and chatbots are great as they can handle more routine tasks without the rep’s interference. This helps take the workload off your agents’ shoulders and allows them to prioritize their tickets better.

2. Define key metrics

When managing your help desk, you should clearly define measurable targets around key performance indicators (KPIs). These metrics could include first-call resolution rate, ticket volume, average resolution time per priority level, customer satisfaction scores, and more. 

You should track weekly and monthly performance and compare them to your set goals to objectively gauge the efficiency of your help desk. This data also helps identify improvement areas and skill gaps.

Some tools provide analytics for an easier view of your help desk metrics . For example, Tidio’s help desk system comes with a practical analytics panel. You can take advantage of its data in order to understand the behavior of your customers and improve their satisfaction levels. 

kpis representation

It will also help you oversee the activities of your support reps to detect any customer issues early on and distribute better workflow among teams.

Read more: Discover the essential customer service metrics for optimal performance of your support team.

3. Regard every conversation as a ticket

Every single customer is important, so it’s only natural to treat every user interaction in the same manner as well. You should ensure that all support requests, regardless of communication channel, get logged as a ticket. This not only allows you to track every case from the beginning until closure but also provides context to every issue and helps you identify any pain points. 

Let’s see how you can do this using Tidio.

If you want, you can create a ticket for each conversation from the chat conversation panel itself. You just need to select the Create a ticket option located on the right side of your panel.

Create a ticket

4. Leverage the power of automation

What you should do right away is start automating all the standard and repeated manual processes that consume a significant portion of your agents’ time. These include assigning ticket priority levels, logging basic details, or providing canned responses to the most common questions. 

You should target automating 50-70% of such repetitive tasks through help desk workflow rules and AI chatbots . This will enable service reps to focus only on complex tasks and issues.

For example, Tidio’s ticketing system comes with a built-in Automatic response feature that allows you to automatically answer incoming tickets. It’s quite easy to set up, too—all you have to do is access the Ticketing > Automatic Response section in your settings.

automatic response example

There’s also Lyro , Tidio’s new conversational AI capable of automating up to 70% of customer problems while providing them with human-like answers. It can also redirect more complex queries to your agents. 

example of coversation with lyro

Talk about taking chatbot automation to a whole new level!

Read more: Check out our detailed guide on customer service automation and learn how to use the power of automated support.

Use the power of automation and remove workload from your agents

5. Leverage routing capabilities

You should take advantage of your help desk’s automatic ticket routing capabilities. These will help to direct service requests to available agents based on the specific issue types. 

Proper routing is important as it gets issues to appropriate service reps faster and makes the solving of tickets more efficient. On top of that, it eliminates any manual errors that result in tickets landing with the wrong IT teams.

We’ll use Tidio as an example to show you how you can assign support tickets to the right agent.

It’s simple. All you have to do is select the ticket in question by accessing the Unassigned folder in the Tickets section within Tidio’s panel.

Unassigned folder

Simply click on your ticket of choice to open it and set the status, priority, and assignee located on the right-hand side of your screen. You can easily determine these according to the contents of the message.

setting up ticket

Read more: Learn all you need to know about using Tidio’s ticketing system and help optimize your support team’s workflow.

6. Seek customer feedback

For the best results, you should proactively seek customer feedback through periodic surveys. By doing so on a monthly or quarterly basis, you’ll be able to gauge your clients’ overall help desk experience and specific pain points. 

Moreover, you’ll learn what you can improve directly from your user base. Then, with their feedback in mind, you can demonstrate commitment to customers by tackling any issues through tool investments, updated policies, and providing better service overall.

If you choose Tidio as your help desk platform of choice, you can easily send automated customer satisfaction surveys to users to collect their feedback. All you have to do is access the Customer satisfaction tool located in the Settings panel. 

customer feedback collection

Here, you can choose whether you want the survey to be sent whenever an agent closes a conversation or after they solve a ticket. You can pick the trigger time, write the intro to your email, and set any additional questions.

This is what a satisfaction survey email can look like to your customers:

example of satisfaction survey email

7. Grow slowly—don’t rush

Rapid scaling by suddenly doubling support staff often decreases team expertise, whereas slower and continuous growth sustains service quality. This steady expansion lets you accurately determine the true impact of each improvement. 

What you should do is continually expand your help desk capacity in small phases. Provide training for upgraded tools and processes to current staff first, while progressively adding some new roles. 

For example, you can add only 15-20% extra staff in each expansion phase, allowing teams to adjust without diminishing the quality of their work. Then, with every growth iteration, you should also upgrade your tools and policies as well as expand the existing knowledge base before moving to the next round.

growing step by step plan

Finally, don’t forget to track all your important metrics at each stage to properly monitor your growth. Remember that setting the right pace is key.

Now you are familiar with some of the most important practices you can implement for effective help desk management.

But what are the tools you can use for the job?

A list of best help desk management software

By using an effective help desk management solution, you and your team will be able to meet key requirements around ticketing and case management. In addition, this kind of system will allow you to provide a stellar experience for service reps and end-users alike.

Let’s check out a comparison table of the top providers you can use for successful help desk management.

4.7/5 ⭐️Easy ticket routing
4.3/5 ⭐️14-day trialUser-friendliness
4.4/5 ⭐️Reporting analytics
4.4/5 ⭐️Customizable tickets & automation rules

And now, it’s time to review each one in more detail.

help desk case study

Rating: 4.7/5 ⭐️ ( 1,410+ reviews )

Tidio is an all-encompassing help desk and ticket management software suitable for small and medium businesses. It has an intuitive dashboard that also features multichannel support, allowing you to manage conversations from different channels in one compact inbox. There are also various help desk features available, such as easy ticket routing and assignment, user segmentation and tagging, as well as automatic, real-time responses.

Main features:

  • NLP chatbots that use AI to handle most common questions
  • Customer segmentation and tagging system
  • Multichannel functionality (live chat, email, Messenger)
  • Department features to route messages to the right service reps
  • The ability to turn emails and chats into tickets
  • Starter ($29/mo)
  • Automation ($29/mo)  
  • Growth ($59/mo)
  • Lyro AI ($39/mo)
  • Tidio + (starting from $749/mo)

help desk case study

Rating: 4.3/5 ⭐️ ( 5,780+ reviews )

Zendesk is one of the most popular help desk management solutions available. It offers a user-friendly interface, ticketing management, and customizable reporting features. With its robust functionalities and over 1,000 apps and integrations, it’s suitable for businesses of all sizes.

  • Routing, CSAT ratings, service level agreements (SLA)
  • Easy integration management 
  • Prebuilt analytics dashboard
  • 14-day free trial
  • Suite Team ($69/mo/agent)
  • Suite Growth ($115t/mo/agent)
  • Suite Professional ($149/mo/agent)
  • Suite Enterprise → contact sales team

Read more: Check out our list of best available Zendesk alternatives .

3. Freshdesk

help desk case study

Rating: 4.4/5 ⭐️ ( 3,065+ reviews )

Freshdesk is another top choice for IT help desk management software. It offers a range of features including ticket management, customer self-service portals, and team collaboration. Moreover, Freshdesk has a user-friendly interface and provides multichannel support, making it easy to manage customer inquiries from various platforms.

  • Ticket assignment and merging 
  • Canned responses to save replies to common questions
  • Activity log to view everything ticket-related 
  • Free plan available
  • Growth ($18/mo/agent)
  • Pro ($59/mo/agent)
  • Enterprise ($95/mo/agent)

Read more: Find out the best practices for successful omnichannel customer service .

4. Zoho Desk

help desk case study

Rating: 4.4/5 ⭐️ ( 5,110+ reviews )

Zoho Desk is a comprehensive help desk management application that comes with a ticket system, knowledge base creation, and automation features. It also provides multichannel support and integrates well with other apps such as Slack, Salesforce, and Jira. Plus, it’s compatible with Zoho’s native apps, making it a great choice for those using their software suite. 

  • Cross-channel ticket resolution including web, email, and social media
  • Ticket assignment and prioritization features
  • Knowledge base for creating help articles and FAQs
  • Free version available
  • Standard ($20/mo/user)
  • Professional ($35/mo/user)
  • Enterprise ($50/mo/user)

Read more: Check out the best enterprise help desk tools for your business.

Help desk management: key takeaway 

Help desk management is the main pillar of every customer service team that strives to resolve client issues quickly and efficiently. Well-implemented help desks enhance employee productivity and system reliability, all the while creating positive user experiences and boosting the satisfaction of customers. 

So, to sum up—

The best practices for establishing successful help desk and customer service management include:

  • Using software that’s intuitive and easy to use
  • Defining your key metrics
  • Using automation to ease your agents’ workload
  • Leveraging routing capabilities
  • Treating every interaction with customers as a ticket
  • Considering client feedback
  • Growing and expanding slowly
  • And some of the best help desk management tools are Tidio, Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Zoho Desk.

Just be sure to pick the help desk solution that best fits your own business needs and requirements, and you’ll be all set for success!

Get the best help desk management tool on the market

Share this article:

Jelisaveta Sapardic

Tidio’s Content Writer with a passion for languages. As an avid learner interested in all things tech, Jelisaveta always strives to share her knowledge with others and help people and businesses reach their goals.

Follow me on

Never Leave Your Customer Without an Answer

Case Studies

Learn how Calance has helped businesses solve complex issues through technology solutions. Grow your business, improve productivity and reduce costs with customized technology solutions from Calance.

Schedule a Free Consulation

Ensuring High Dealer Satisfaction with Outsourced IT Support

The client faced several challenges:

  • Maintaining effective communication and...

help desk case study

Outsourced IT Help Desk that Aligns with Client's Unique Culture

  • Apps & Automation
  • Construction Software Integration
  • DevOps Enablement
  • Infrastructure and Operations
  • IT Help Desk

Linkedin Icon

help desk case study

Best Practice for Managing Service Desk Teams [+ Case Study Examples]

Posted on Wednesday 28 February 2024.

managing service desk teams

For many organisations, the service desk is the beating heart of the user experience. It is the centre of operations that keeps everything going smoothly. However, perceptions are not always the same as results.

Even if your service desk team meets all pre-defined performance metrics, this doesn’t mean they are realising their full potential – or that they are satisfied. as your team evolves, so do their experience and expectations..

➡️ Are you aware of the areas in which your team can improve?

➡️ Are you fully embracing a best practice culture and approach for your service desk?

If your service desk team is experiencing some of these challenges:

  • Inconsistent process adherence due to a poorly established and maintained governance
  • Poor adoption of or alignment to best practice frameworks or standards
  • A lack of collaboration or effective knowledge management
  • Insufficient first contact resolution performance

… it’s time to take steps to turn things around.

In this article, we will explore effective ways to manage some of the common challenges a service desk teams face. We will also provide insights on establishing good working practices and share some inspiring success stories .

So, keep reading!

The importance of effective leadership to your Service Desk Team

Having a very well-managed and lead service desk team can bring many advantages. When managed effectively and with well-communicated and defined goals, the service desk can be a crucial strategic asset for any organisation.

A service desk helps enhance the end-user experience , enabling a flexible and consistent approach to user support by forecasting and managing demand, improving organisational efficiency by returning end users to an operational state, and providing knowledge and information to enable end users to help themselves.

This can lead to quicker response times, faster incident resolution, and improved business productivity, which can increase satisfaction with the service desk and overall service provider.

Effective people management is crucial in promoting a positive work culture and keeping employees happy. Strong empathetic leadership, ongoing people and career development, and open communication are key factors in achieving this.

Finally, investing in employee well-being by actively providing support, recognising their value, and fostering engagement, cultivate a positive work environment. This, in turn, leads to demonstrably higher levels of job satisfaction and decreased employee turnover (negative attrition).

As talent retention is vital to organisational success, prioritising these efforts ensures that your top performers remain motivated and committed to your company.

How To Recognize That Your Team Needs Improvement

Now that we understand the significance of a well-managed and led service desk team, you might wonder:

How can I tell if my service desk team is struggling to keep up with the organisation’s demands?

What warning signs should I look out for?

Teams that are not managed effectively can quickly become disorganised and ineffective. This often results in frustrated and unmotivated employees, poor time management, lack of efficiency, high staff turnover rates, and poor end-user perception and experience.

Let’s look at the most common challenges and warning signs.

⚡ Let’s start with a few questions. Take a minute to answer them.

  • Has someone from your team encountered a situation where there were no documented processes or procedures for logging and managing IT issues?
  • Is your team repeatedly searching for solutions to the same IT issues due to a lack of centralised knowledge sharing and timely access to information?
  • Does your service desk team often feel demotivated and unsatisfied with their work?
  • Does your team often encounter situations where a technical issue takes longer than expected to resolve, affecting business operations?
  • Are your teams constantly escalating tickets to support teams or other departments?
  • Does a lack of integration exist between your ITSM tool and other business tools or systems?
  • Is your ITSM tool configured well enough to support your operational process and working practices?
  • Is there a mismatch between agreed performance measures and user expectations and demands?
  • Are you unable to generate meaningful and timely management information, meaning your reports are a barrier to you making sustainable continual improvements?
  • Does your ITSM tool lack the functionality to provide you with real-time information to enable fast and effective ‘in-flight” decisions?
  • Do you have an inconsistent approach to user and customer experience across the support organisation?
  • Are you able to easily and effectively capture feedback at all levels and from multiple channels to ensure your operational, tactical and strategic approach is meeting the needs and required outcomes of the business?
  • Is continual improvement inconsistent as it is not underpinned by an agreed process or supported by a robust and recognised continual improvement register?

⚠️ If you answered positively more than twice, these might be your warning signs – and if ignored, they could turn into something more serious.

But you’re not alone. Managing service desk teams can be a very complex and challenging process.

Many organisations struggle with inconsistent processes, inefficient tools, lack of documentation, siloed knowledge, poor communication or collaboration, training, and development, overlooking end-user experience feedback or a transactional mentality.

Implementing some key best practices can transform your IT service desk and boost efficiency, customer satisfaction, and team morale.

service desk manager course

How to Build an Effective Team

The good news is that these challenges are not impossible to overcome.

You can create a thriving service desk team by implementing best practice, conducting regular self-assessments, and gathering end-user feedback to identify bottlenecks and opportunities. So, don’t be afraid to embrace tools like benchmarking against industry standards.

Many of SDI’s customers have experienced extremely positive change as a result of embracing such an approach.

Now, let’s look at some success stories and good working practices you could implement today.

#1 Embrace best practice

This might seem the most obvious advice, but most organisations still need help adopting the industry-best practice to ensure consistency, efficiency, and the quality of service they deliver.

Frameworks like Service Desk Certification ,  ITIL®, Verism, Cobit, KCS , and others offer proven methodologies for streamlining processes, managing knowledge, and improving service delivery.

Take a close look at your current processes and find ways to improve them.

➡️ Define procedures and training objectives in place to encourage teamwork in the organisation.

➡️ Create a structured onboarding process to ensure new staff feel valued and part of the business.

➡️ Have a documented and measurable employee satisfaction program in place that’s regularly scheduled, reviewed, and updated.

➡️ Have well-defined and documented processes that are measurable, communicated, and accessible to stakeholders. These processes include incident and service request management, quality improvement, knowledge capture, change control, and problem management.

#2 Unlock the true potential of accreditation

Achieving accreditation against international standards, like the SDI’s Service Desk Certification programme , demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to quality and provides a roadmap for continual improvement.

This also provides a safety net for customers as they will trust your team’s abilities and skills, boosting their morale and motivation. 

CGI’s Success Story

CGI Success Story

CGI UK is a great example of the transformative power of accreditation. With a brilliant team exceeding 400 service desk analysts and management, CGI UK recently achieved a remarkable milestone – a 99.99% score in the Service Desk Certification programme .

Since securing the SDI’s 5-star accreditation in 2012, they have set the standard for service desks globally. Not only have they maintained this standard, but they have also consistently delivered exceptional services to their clients.

If we only look at the numbers, their operational efficiency is evident. Annually, they handle an incredible 1.5 million contacts , managing 18,000 changes and proactively addressing 800 problems annually. Equally remarkable is CGI UK’s client satisfaction score, which exceeds 93%.

So, there, you have an organisation that is fully utilising the power of Service Desk Certification.

#3 Don’t ignore the power of knowledge management

If your team spends hours searching for solutions to known incidents and service requests instead of consulting a centralised knowledge base, they waste valuable time and resources.

That’s a clear sign that your knowledge management practices need improvement. 

Start by creating a centralised knowledge base – a robust, easily accessible, and regularly updated knowledge base. Think of it as your team’s point of truth, which is important for your current team members and future ones, as it helps with onboarding.

But don’t stop just there. Encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing among team members to effectively capture and disseminate best practices.

Power Design's Documentation Evolution

PowerDesign Case Study

One of the most significant shifts within the Power Design Inc service desk since embarking on the SDC journey has been the maturation of their approach to processes and documentation.

Prior to the SDC program, Power Design relied heavily on word of mouth and tacit knowledge. However, the program’s emphasis on evidence-based practices has propelled them towards a more consistent and reliable support experience.

Documenting the ‘how,’ ‘what,’ and ‘why’ behind their operations has not only fostered consistency but has also enabled them to define clear career paths, roles, and responsibilities.

This is an excellent example of how diligently documenting processes , procedures , and continuous improvement efforts can enhance transparency within a department and ensure knowledge sharing across the board. Power Design’s proactive approach has ensured that vital information is now accessible to everyone within the organisation.

Overall, Power Design’s journey with the SDC program highlights the importance of objective evaluation, continuous improvement, and collaborative efforts in enhancing service desk operations and delivering exceptional customer experiences.

#4 Prioritise employee experience and well-being

Losing experienced employees on a regular basis is a clear indication that there are underlying issues within your team.

Let’s face it: if your employees feel like they’re not getting the recognition they deserve, or they’re super stressed out, or they don’t see any potential for career growth, they’re more likely to “shut down” and disengage – and eventually leave.

Retaining top talent requires recognising the importance of work-life balance and employee satisfaction. So, consider offering flexible work arrangements, providing career growth and advancement opportunities, and regularly acknowledging and providing feedback on contributions to foster a positive work culture.

DVSA's Focus on Service Desk Team Well-Being

DVSA Case Study

Over the last two years, DVSA ,   an executive agency of the UK Department of Transport (DfT), has put user experience at the heart of everything they do. To enhance their skills and capabilities in providing technical support and assistance to end users, they decided to participate in the   SDC programme .

There are several key changes that they have made since starting their improvement journey.

From merging 1st Line Support and 2nd Line Support into a more technical Service Desk, introducing a User Experience Team and Business Relationship Management Team to standard process and enhanced reporting.

However, one thing that stood out is their commitment to ensuring that the team feels valued and recognised for their work. They achieve this by regularly conducting surveys to gather staff feedback and prioritising supporting a healthy work/life balance for their service desk teams.

📕 READ CASE STUDY:  DVSA’S’ Certification Journey

#5 choose the right itsm tool.

Invest in a robust ITSM tool that aligns with your needs and offers features like incident management, knowledge management, automation, and reporting. But remember, choosing the right tool is just one important step. It is equally important to ensure that it is implemented correctly.

Consult with your team and ensure that the tool has all the features to make their day-to-day work more efficient and less administratively intensive. Once implemented, ensure that the whole team gets proper training and can use the tool efficiently.

help desk case study

Euromonitor is another great example of a company striving to improve. To get a clear picture of where they stood and where they needed to go, they started their improvement journey with the SDI Health Check Service .

The impact? Well, for starters, they’ve significantly improved their incident response and resolution numbers. They eliminated a long-standing issue with too many aged tickets in the system.

They’ve also streamlined their workflow , with more consistency in how they tackle their workload.

But, thanks to the gained insights from the Service Health Check, Euromonitor has also discovered the need for a new ITSM tool . An ITSM tool that is more tailored to their needs.

⬇️ DOWNLOAD: Euromonitor Case Study as pdf

#6 communicate, collaborate, celebrate.

Promote a culture of continuous learning and development within the team. Focus on creating a culture of open communication and collaboration within your team.

For example, you could do regular “ pulse surveys ” where employees are able to provide feedback to leadership anonymously. Think about it as an engagement survey that will help you identify what drives employee engagement and what actions you can take based on employee feedback.

⚡Here are some easy questions that you can include in your next pulse survey:

  • How would you rate the culture within our organisation?
  • Are you satisfied with the decision-making processes within our organisation?
  • Do you have confidence in our leadership team’s abilities?
  • Does our organisation do a good job of communicating with employees?
  • Do your strengths match well with my role?
  • Do you have the resources you need to perform your job effectively?
  • Do you feel satisfied with the recognition or praise you receive for your work?
  • Do you feel empowered to make decisions regarding your work?

Regularly sharing and celebrating your team’s successes and addressing challenges transparently can foster trust and create a thriving work environment.

Are you ready to transform your IT service desk team?

A well-managed service desk team ensures consistent, high-quality customer service, boosting customer satisfaction, building trust, and creating positive experiences.

Take a moment to reflect on some of these warning signs, examples, and tips and consider how you can support your service desk teams to thrive.

Whether it’s outdated working practices, inefficient process management, or a lack of ITSM tool utilisation, we can help you pinpoint the exact areas that need attention. With our guidance and support, you’ll find the right path for your team and achieve tangible results that drive your service desk and support team to new heights.

📞 get in touch with our team today.

Service Desk Certification

Related articles

how to start career in IT support

How to Start and Advance Your Career in IT Support

Posted 13 June 2024

SITS highlights blog

Exciting Discoveries: Insights from SITS 2024

Posted 23 April 2024

Service Desk Strategy

From Vision to Execution: Service Desk Strategy Guide

Posted 11 April 2024

close slider

  • Feel free to get in touch. To ask a question directly please submit your message using the form below.
  • First Name *
  • Last Name *
  • Comments This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

help desk case study

Helping the Help Desk Satisfy Customers More Quickly: An iSixSigma Case Study

Published: February 26, 2010 by Niraj Goyal

help desk case study

A young, rapidly expanding financial services company located in India runs an in-house help desk for responding to customer queries via email or telephone. Help desk response time is tracked using software that calculates the time between registering and closing calls. A project was instituted to train employees in the relevant tools and techniques of Six Sigma and Lean methodologies in order to achieve dramatic improvements in the help desk operations.

The case study demonstrates the complementary nature of Lean and Six Sigma methods and tools, and that a strategic combined application of both methods is more effective than applying either method in isolation.

The Six Sigma DMAIC methodology was structured into seven implementation steps.

Step 1 – Define and Measure Step 2 – Analyze Step 3 – Improve/Generate and test countermeasure ideas Step 4 – Improve/Implement the ideas Step 5 – Improve/Check the results Step 6 – Control/Standardize results. Grind practices in Step 7 – Control/Record the improvement story

Step 1. Defining the Problem

Theme: The company’s senior management team brainstormed more than 25 problems. Using the weighted average tool, the team agreed on a theme of “Build Quality Capacity.” Within this theme, the critical-to-quality characteristic selected was “Improvement in Customer Service.”

Project Selection: One of the projects selected called for a dramatic reduction in the response time of the customer care help desk. A cross-functional team was selected to define the problem as the gap between customer wants and actual results.

The voice of the customer was characterized into three major elements:

  • Closing calls could mean resolving the customer issue or just responding to the customer query with a promise to follow up appropriately.
  • Different types of calls require varying amounts of time to close and have different service standards.
  • The help desk is dependent upon other departments which may or may not cooperate in closing calls promptly.

Call Response Versus Resolution: After comparing the two ideas about closing calls on a 10-point scale, a discussion concluded that resolution was more important than response. However, resolution involved departments that were external to the group and were not involved in the project. The team therefore opted to address call response time in Phase 1 of the project. Events later demonstrated that this approach was valid as back office problems were found to be the root causes of some of the delays and were resolved within the project scope.

Different Call Types: Three call categories with specific service standards were identified as Category A (less than two days), Category B (less than five days) and Category C (less than seven days).

At this point, the team was introduced to Six Sigma concepts, and the Pareto chart to begin to prioritize and decide the order of attack:

Category A constituted 98 percent of calls and was chosen as the scope of this project. Response time data for Category A for a one-month period was analyzed and defined the problem as follows: Current status: Average + 6 sigma = 12.7 days Desired status: Less than 2 days

The problem therefore was to reduce response time by 10.7 days, or 85 percent.

Step 2. Analysis of Root Causes…Why?

The discussion was started by asking what information customers want from the help desk. Customer requirements were summarized as follows:

  • When will something get done or will I receive something?
  • What has happened? What is the problem?
  • When will the problem be resolved?

Generally a customer was satisfied if the call desk could tell him when a problem would be solved or when the help desk could respond with an answer – provided this time commitment was met. The customer’s overwhelming need was “when,” rather than “what.”

The team was asked: If the answer to “when” was available, how long should call closure take? Individual opinions ranged from 3 to 60 minutes. A consensus closure time of 20 minutes emerged if information was available from the help desk.

The answer to the question of “why” was the average + 6 sigma equal to 12 days and was hypothesized as: “Information is not available with us; we depend on others who respond at will.”

Step 3. Generate and Test Countermeasure Ideas

Lean methods were invoked to cut the waiting time. Response time in Lean methods based on the Queuing Theory consisted of three major elements:

  • Arrival pattern of inputs (customer calls)
  • Waiting time (for information)
  • Process time (time to respond)

Lean clearly recognizes that waiting time has a significant impact on cycle time (response, in this case) and leads to the following method of reducing it:

  • Map existing process (information mapping)
  • Reduce stages required (create ideal process map)
  • Change processes from batch to flow (process change)
  • Good housekeeping (reduce inventory) – Spring clean once/twice (sweep the backlog of difficult calls) – Clean regularly thereafter (sweep difficult calls regularly)

The current process map was a confusing tangle of lines of communication between the customer, the help desk, the customer care supervisor, operating personnel who could solve customer problems (doers) and even the customer care supervisor’s boss. In fact, the map noted that one month the customer care supervisor’s boss had to close 425 calls himself, or about 15 percent of the total calls during that period. In striking contrast, a map of the ideal process involved only the customer, a help desk person and the doer.

In developing the ideal process map, the team identified two basic customer query metrics:

  • Proportion of queries the call desk handle can handle independently
  • Confidence in the resolution of calls to a standard time

All calls received during one month were categorized depending on who closed them: Category 1 – Information available from help desk (67% of calls) Category 2 – Information/action by operating personnel (33% of calls)

The following plan for improvement was tested with call desk personnel for Category 1 calls:

  • Measure average + 6 sigma response time
  • Select two days – employees sweep backlog of difficult calls
  • Try answering calls in the queue on a first-in-first-out approach
  • Sweep difficult calls twice daily at fixed times
  • Analyze root causes daily of calls taking more than two days
  • Assign Category 2 calls to relevant operating personnel in flow

Step 4. Implement the Countermeasures

The above plan was implemented.

Step 5. Check the Result

The chronology of progress was as follows: Week 1 and 2 – Hesitant start/system cleaned Week 3 and 4 – Dramatic change (66 percent reduction) Week 5 and 6 – Six Sigma results achieved (85 percent reduction)

The team’s feelings: “It all looks so easy now.”

Step 6. Standardize the Result

An x-bar control chart was introduced with daily root cause analysis and killing out the worst three calls of the previous day. The average + 6 sigma continued to fall.

For calls directly responded to by the call desk: Sub-category 1 – Average + 6 sigma = 0.58 days Sub-category 2 – Average + 6 sigma = 1.52 days

Energized by this success, the team took on the much more difficult task of improving the response of Category 2 calls.

From Response to Resolution: There were four sub-categories in Category 2. They were named 21, 22, 23 and 24. The process of Step 3 was repeated for each sub-category involving the relevant operating section head.

Sub-categories 21 and 22 went through a similar improvement cycle as Category 1, that is average + 6 sigma reduced to less than two days within six weeks. The objective of average + 6 sigma of all calls with service standard of less than two days for resolution/response had been achieved.

Sub-category 23 had a response expectation of less than five days. Eighty percent of their calls using the Step 3 method rapidly came within the two-day limit. The overall average + 6 sigma was reduced from 12 to 4.5 days. Further reductions were not possible because they had to depend upon documents received from external agencies over which they had little control.

Sub-category 24, with a seven-day service standard expected, was particularly interesting. It involved a supply chain of two sections within the company, an external agency and the movement of physical documents and information. The process was mapped. From the existing process, the handovers and operations required to do the job were reduced by 33 percent. This led to a productivity gain of 30 percent, and the turnaround reduced for average + 6 sigma of 12 days to 5.8 days – less than the expected service standard of seven days.

Thus a 6-sigma performance for all calls in both response and resolution had been achieved.

Step 7. Record the Improvement Story

A quality improvement report was prepared and presented to management. The report confirmed the truth of the common assertion that improving the quality of a product or service, in this case response to customer queries, reduces costs. With the average + 6 sigma of customer response time reduced 85 percent, the same staff was able to handle 250 calls per day compared to 103 before the project started. That represents an increased productivity of staff and assets of more than 140 percent.

About the Author

' src=

Niraj Goyal

Brastel case study

Learn how Brastel set up 20 workflows and reduced handling time per ticket by up to 39%.

A case study on Brastel's use of HelpDesk.

Brastel team saves 8 minutes handling each ticket for Brastel Remit. It's a 35% decrease in the ticket resolution process.

Brastel team saves 12 minutes handling each ticket for Telecom. It's a 39% decrease in the ticket resolution process.

Brastel team handles nearly 2,000 tickets a month using automation.

About Brastel

Brastel is a Tokyo-based telecommunications company that has been in business for 25 years. It has multiple branches throughout Japan, as well as overseas. Brastel provides services to both businesses and individuals, and specializes in:

  • International calling services
  • Business phone services
  • Remittance services

Wanting to cover these areas more comprehensively, they created separate brands to ensure the highest quality of service:

  • My 050 for making affordable 050 phone calls to regular phone numbers in Japan and any other country in the world.
  • Brastel Remit for transferring money internationally, with free registration and the ability to request remittances online.

Brastel takes extraordinary care of their customers' comfort. As proof, these same 40 hardworking agents provide support in 11 languages for My 050 and 12 languages for Brastel Remit. By assisting in the customer’s native language, the company can inspire trust and make the relationship more long-lasting.

Initially, the company provided support through a call center, but this was no longer enough as the internet exploded in popularity. Customers wanted to stay in touch through communication channels other than traditional phone calls.

So, the Brastel team drilled down into customer preferences and discovered that, for example, the Thai community communicates via Line, while the Chinese tend to use chats, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. They knew for a fact that customers could dictate the company's focus, so they had to be quick on their feet and organize all support communications anew.

Brastel started experimenting with various communication channels, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Line, and other social media, just to be more approachable. As a result, their support agents made a major shift and added customers' favorite social media channels to their synchronous communication toolkit. And that's where the real struggle began.

Employees had to switch between tabs and multiple browser windows to be here and now for their customers. They had to be very proactive and careful not to miss any of the messages that were popping up minute by minute. One can only imagine the hustle and bustle they experienced at the time. Enough was enough, and eventually, our customer service products came into play.

First, Brastel opted for LiveChat to handle synchronous customer communications. They combined all the social media channels they used daily into a single interface to facilitate real-time message management.

Next, they applied KnowledgeBase for internal use to effectively gather the team's knowledge. With KnowledgeBase in place, the support team wrote help center articles or created useful FAQs. Over time, agents noticed that some resources could be helpful for customers as well, so they used the collected information and made some articles public. From then on, they were able to keep the entire team and customers up to date because everything was in one easy-to-manage place.

Everything seemed to work flawlessly, but support agents claimed that asynchronous communication and emails were areas that needed a closer look . This was mainly because any unresolved chat became a ticket, and the ticket form offered in LiveChat wasn't sufficient for Brastel. Unfortunately, they couldn't customize the email template, add their own domain, work on a ticket as a team, or create handy ticket groups.

Dealing with repetitive and time-consuming tasks

In order to comply with Japanese privacy and customer identification laws , when you want to transfer money, you must present a valid document to prove your identity. If it's not valid, the money transaction will get stuck. This was a very inconvenient and repetitive issue for Brastel's customer service team. They contacted each customer and instructed them personally, which took time and effort.

Prior to HelpDesk, Brastel Remit's customer case management process included:

  • Checking out the inboxes. Agents had to log in separately to multiple inboxes to look for emails from the Brastel Remit staff or the customers.
  • Downloading images and manually validating the customer ID. Brastel plans to improve their current eKYC system to automate this process in the near future.
  • Updating the database with new customer information.
  • Replying to staff or the customer. Agents had to open a spreadsheet, copy different templates depending on the customer case and language, paste the message content into the email area, and finally send a response.

The entire process took agents up to 25 minutes per ticket. Given that the company receives more than 100 tickets per day, this was a burden for the 20-person team.

Another serious concern was the handling of 050 numbers for Telecom. Many customers wanted to get this number and were applying for it at the same time. The inbox started to be jammed with a high volume of messages, and unfortunately, the Brastel team couldn’t respond as quickly as they would have liked. As a result, customers didn’t know whether the support staff was already addressing their cases or not.

Of course, these delays weren’t intentional and were purely due to limited time and task prioritization. However, customers didn’t necessarily accept this as an explanation. So the Brastel team had to change their work approach to keep customers happy in the long run.

Before HelpDesk, the case management process for Telecom consisted of similar customer identity validation steps as Brastel Remit’s services. However, the turnaround time was vastly different: It took the team up to 33 minutes per ticket to resolve a single customer issue.

With all these time-consuming issues in mind, Irina Bokareva and Dalton Hasegawa, managers at Brastel, decided to make another power move to relieve their team and chose HelpDesk to enhance the ticket handling process.

Originally, the Brastel team started using HelpDesk only for internal procedures and team leadership, but later, they incorporated HelpDesk into customer relationship management. Brastel managers had to be very strategic and prepare the HelpDesk account for external outreach and handling multiple customer requests at once.

Adjusting the HelpDesk account to the team's needs

First, they added a custom domain to tailor the reply address and increase message credibility. In addition, Brastel managers defined priority and status levels based on the existing ticket handling flow so everyone on the team could follow the same rules. Up next, the Brastel technical team got creative and used HelpDesk API documentation to develop custom webhooks to meet the company’s goals.

The Brastel team customized the footers, email message template, and website contact form to fully express themselves.

Custom email template created by Brastel

Customizing your email is very important because, during a face-to-face conversation, your body language can say it all. When you send a message in HelpDesk, you can give it a structure and format that aligns with your intentions and brand.

Irina Bokareva photo

Also, support agents use screen recording to provide direct video guidance to customers . Less typing and more showing is a smart approach when things are urgent. They can also copy images straight into the message without saving them to the device first.

Brastel highly values organized teamwork. They use the helpful ticket following feature to stay on top of things when the customer case needs extra attention or assistance from a more experienced person.

Agents also start their workday by checking out the shared views created for the entire support team by managers Bokareva and Hasegawa.

Shared views created by Brastel

The support team already knows what’s on their to-do list with just one look. This creates a calm and orderly work culture and puts people at ease.

HelpDesk embraces everything we needed when it comes to asynchronous customer communication.

In addition, HelpDesk opened up a whole new way of working — an automated one. Since the company has two leading brands, namely Brastel Remit and Brastel Telecom, and two different customer groups, they had to manage customer identity validation processes independently and simultaneously.

Workflows for Brastel Remit

The Brastel Remit team set up more than 20 workflows to proactively communicate with customers and effectively manage the identity validation process. Since the company delivers remittance services to customers in 12 languages, the HelpDesk team created bespoke language tag variables . This enables automated responses to customers in their native language.

A list with workflows created by the Brastel team.

Now, let’s browse through the four main workflows that are the real timesavers for the Brastel Remit team.

1. Workflow to send a confirmation

The Brastel team used a combination of tags and available statuses to send language-specific autoreply messages to customers, confirming that the support agent would soon address their case. In this way, the workflow acts as a first line of support , so to speak, as it sends the first messages to customers and assures them that help is coming.

2. Workflow to send a follow-up message

Before HelpDesk, support staff had to manually ask customers if they still had any questions, especially if they had been inactive for several days. Needless to say, agents had a lot on their plate anyway. Now, Brastel takes the lead and automatically asks follow-up questions to ensure both sides of the conversation are on the same page.

Brastel managers set up a workflow in HelpDesk, so support agents don’t have to go through the inbox every day looking for unanswered customer messages. Instead, they move to another customer waiting in the queue and leave that task to automation.

The idea is simple: the workflow automatically sends a follow-up message when a customer hasn’t responded to the last message within three days. Also, this particular workflow always adds a pre-defined tag to the customer ticket, making it easy to filter these cases and create shared views in the next step.

We create workflows based on the results in the reports. This way, we save a considerable amount of time. Workflows are very clear for me as a leader to manage my team in an efficient way.

A follow-up message created by the Brastel team.

Brastel managers — Irina and Dalton — used the follow-up email templates provided by Learning Space to save time and adopt customer communication best practices.

With Learning Space, a space created for education, you can learn the best approaches. We studied these templates, and they were amazing and helpful. We were able to use these templates and create emails almost without any help from the HelpDesk team.

3. Workflow to set a priority

The Brastel team receives hundreds of customer messages a day, and it was difficult to identify those that required immediate attention, such as messages for instant money transfers. So they set up another workflow to detect pressing tickets and give them a “High” or “Urgent” priority without any effort.

First, Brastel managers instructed call center employees to create tickets for customers who contact them directly and enter the relevant priority level straight in the email subject line. Then, they set up a workflow that identifies the priority level entered in the email subject line and automatically reprioritized tickets in HelpDesk. As a result, the entire customer ID validation team can simply glance at the ticket priority icons and get to work.

Brastel's dashboard with the ticket list.

The visual elements in HelpDesk are great for working efficiently. The 'High' and 'Urgent' priority icons are ideal for collaboration — we can quickly go through multiple tickets by just glancing at them.

Dalton Hasegawa photo

4. Workflow to add a proper tag

The Brastel managers also created a workflow to add tags of their choice to customer tickets effortlessly. This really streamlines ticket filtering and report browsing. Of course, to set up this automation, the Brastel team first had to think about the most common customer cases and then create a list of custom tags. It took work, but the results and time savings speak for themselves.

Customer ticket with custom tags created by the Brastel team.

Smart automations for Telecom

The automation case for the Telecom brand is slightly different. Automating the issuance of 050 numbers is a tough nut to crack because each day brings a new customer use case, making it difficult to turn the process into a workflow. In this scenario, the company relies on a set of canned responses.

Canned responses created by Brastel.

The customer service team creates several smart canned responses every day and audits them regularly to ensure they always match the customer’s intents. Such ready-made messages streamline the issuance of 050 numbers and allow the support staff to reuse the knowledge gained by the entire team.

Join Brastel and start your free 14-day HelpDesk trial

No credit card required Ready-to-use automations Simple setup

Bokareva and Hasegawa measure their team performance based on uptime, and since the support agents handle tickets with workflows and ready-to-use canned responses, the results are outstanding!

For Brastel Remit, the team cut the time to resolve customer tickets from 23 minutes to 15 minutes — this translates to a 35% decrease in the ticket resolution process for this brand.

Handling one ticket sent to Brastel Remit

Before HelpDesk

After HelpDesk

Telecom has also experienced tremendous success. The customer service team reduced the response time from 31 minutes to 19 minutes. This means a 39% reduction in the ticket resolution process for this brand.

Handling one ticket sent to Telecom

Before Brastel decided on HelpDesk, the support team worked on the most complex customer cases in a shared spreadsheet. Sometimes there were a lot of new customer questions, which created pressure to act here and now. People were stressed every time they had to do something in that document.

Today, the customer service team at Brastel handles nearly 2,000 tickets a month using automation , and employees and customers collectively feel the difference.

Customer data with the ID Update Summary created by Brastel.

With HelpDesk, people on the team approach their work calmly, and customers get faster responses, even though the process can be complex. Each agent can spend more time resolving tickets and make our customers happier with an individual approach and better response time.

Brastel’s success story shows how they’ve cut down on routine procedures — no more searching for emails and digging around the inbox. The process of handling tickets is transparent and done through a single dashboard. With workflows, the Brastel team can truly maintain the highest customer communication standards and handle more and more tickets at once.

Photo of Weronika Masternak

Weronika Masternak

Want to grow like the companies above? This is where you start.

Free 14-day trial Simple setup

You'll be in good company

help desk case study

Discover our track#send">text| products

LiveChat Connect with customers

ChatBot Automate customer service with AI

KnowledgeBase Guide and educate customers

OpenWidget Enhance websites with widgets

Auxis Logo

  • Shared Services
  • Nearshore Outsourcing
  • Digital Transformation
  • Finance Operations
  • Business Operations
  • IT Operations
  • M&A and Private Equity
  • GBS & Shared Services
  • Implementation
  • Optimization
  • Business Process Outsourcing
  • IT Outsourcing
  • Intelligent Automation
  • Digital Strategy Consulting
  • RPA (Robotic Process Automation)
  • Intelligent Document Processing
  • Test Automation
  • BI & Analytics
  • Key Partnerships
  • Cloud Transformation
  • Cloud Strategy
  • Cloud Implementation
  • Cloud Managed Services
  • Modern Finance
  • Finance Transformation Services
  • Business Intelligence
  • Finance & Accounting Outsourcing
  • Accounts Payable (P2P)
  • Accounts Receivable (O2C)
  • General Accounting (R2R)
  • Customer Service
  • Customer Service Support
  • Human Resources
  • HR Outsourcing
  • Revenue Cycle Management
  • Banking & Financial Services
  • Loan Processing
  • Restaurants
  • Restaurant Audit & Brand Protection Services
  • Restaurant IT Support Services
  • Infrastructure Management
  • Hybrid Infrastructure Management
  • End-User Support
  • Service Desk
  • IT Staffing
  • Nearshore Software Development
  • Cloud Partners
  • Azure Services
  • AWS Services
  • Integrations and Carve Outs
  • Private Equity
  • Private Equity Services
  • Delivery Centers
  • Support Hubs

Industry expertise matters. We provide specialized IT and business services across all the major industries.

  • Financial Services
  • Other Industries
  • Webinars on Demand
  • Upcoming Events
  • Success Stories

Learn how Auxis’ nearshore solutions strengthen processes and increase efficiency.

  • Case Studies
  • Our Clients & Testimonials
  • About Auxis

Experience matters. We help clients overcome challenges, embrace change, and adapt their businesses for future success.

  • Leadership Team
  • Our Partnerships

></center></p><h2>Service Desk Case Study: Restaurant Signage Support</h2><p>Client profile.</p><p>With more than 13,000 employees , our client is a top-tier Canadian brand that operates multiple businesses, including movie theaters, restaurants, amusement and leisure, film digital commerce, and media. Auxis was tapped to support its industry-leading digital media company, which has provided end-to-end digital signage solutions globally for some of the world’s biggest brands for more than 20 years. The client’s digital merchandising solutions are commonly found in retail, restaurants, bank branches, healthcare facilities, government agencies, and more. Their mission is to ensure that every screen becomes a powerful connection point between a business and its customers while improving consumer engagement.</p><h2>Business Challenge</h2><p>The company’s signage solutions are powered by its own proprietary, cloud-based platform, creating a secure, scalable, and reliable foundation for its customers. These customized screens are installed at customer locations and can be fully integrated within the customer’s network.</p><p>As a result, the client must maintain a growing volume of digital content at various endpoints. Since these screens are essential to their customers’ operations, it’s critical that they remain up and running year-round with minimal interruptions.</p><p>To accomplish this, the client operates a two-tier model for technical customer support: an outsourced Level 1 help desk and a Level 2 internal team staffed by specialized engineering resources that can handle more complex issues. Support is divided into two main areas:</p><ul><li>Activations – Resources activate digital signage solutions for an entire store, including managing third-party vendors and troubleshooting faulty devices.</li><li>Monitoring and support – Resources offer day-to-day remote support by phone and email to store owners, managers, and technicians onsite. They provide end-to-end support throughout a ticket lifecycle for customer locations.</li></ul><p>Unfortunately, the company’s previous IT help desk outsourcing partner couldn’t keep up with its rapid growth, providing poor service from a low-tier location in Central America/the Caribbean. That created some significant challenges, including:</p><ul><li>A high volume of tickets requiring the involvement from Level 2 engineers and high-level resources in Canada</li><li>High turnover and lack of available talent that met the expectations of the Level 1 role at the IT help desk outsourcing operation</li><li>Inadequate documentation and lack of a proper structure to effectively train Level 1 staff</li><li>All these limitations translated into long resolution times and poor service levels to the end customer</li></ul><p>Staffing such a specialized skillset was a key concern; the previous outsourcer struggled to find employees who combined technical troubleshooting and network skills with the ability to successfully manage vendors and provide excellent customer service.</p><p>The previous provider also wasn’t equipped to meet the client’s need for 24×7 support to accommodate customer locations scattered worldwide. Instead, the organization was forced to utilize an answering service to handle after-hours calls or overflow during regular business hours.</p><p>Not surprisingly, the company’s in-house resources were bogged down with queries that should have been handled by Level 1 support. And unfortunately, that left internal IT staff with little time for higher-value projects, growth, and product development activities.</p><p><center><img style=

Solution & Approach

Auxis was engaged by the client as it searched for a new IT help desk  outsourcing partner  with the maturity, sophistication, and experience to support its accelerated global growth and high service quality expectations.

From the beginning, Auxis’ executive team brought its consultative approach to help the organization identify key gaps within existing systems and processes. These gaps needed to be addressed to build a best-in-class customer support platform. Some of Auxis’ early recommendations included:

Supported Products

  • Digital Menu Boards
  • Video Walls
  • Directories and Wayfinding
  • Media Posters
  • Led Installations
  • Other Custom Solutions

Proprietary software for customers to create and manage content no matter the number of locations or products

  • The need to implement a more robust ticketing system and call center platform with the ability to track and monitor key operational metrics that were currently unavailable.
  • Restructuring the support team. Under the old model, support calls could be answered by any help desk agent, whether they were new activations or ongoing maintenance inquiries. Auxis recommended dividing the support team by function. Creating teams with a specialized focus speeds resolution times by routing calls to staff with specific expertise while preventing day-to-day issues from clogging the activation pipeline. It also creates consistency among resources who work with field technicians.

With these recommendations in mind, Auxis worked hand-in-hand with the client to develop a dedicated resource model housed within Auxis’  Nearshore Delivery Center in  Costa Rica . Under this customized model, Auxis maintains a 24x7x365 support team exclusively for the company, developing deep expertise in its systems and processes. This type of solution also allows the customer to play a more active role in key operational areas, such as getting involved in the hiring/interview process. The client wanted to lead management of the new system implementations internally as well.

Nearly two years later, the relationship continues to be a proven success – offering 24x7x365 support for 44,000+ devices located in more than 25 different countries throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe.

While the client initially focused its partnership with Auxis on supporting locations in North America, it soon tapped the multilingual capabilities of Costa Rica to support its expansion into other parts of the world that require Spanish, French and Portuguese.

  • 24x7x364 Support
  • 44,000 + Devices
  • US, Canada & Europe

Take IT to the next level with the right Nearshore Outsourcing Help Desk Partner

Auxis successfully implemented a world-class IT help desk outsourcing platform that continues to serve as a seamless extension of the client’s in-house team. With 24x7x365 access to skilled, multilingual help desk staff who can perform both remote diagnostics and proactive corrective actions, tickets are resolved quickly and efficiently – ensuring continuous operations for the client and its customers.

Some key benefits that have been achieved through the client’s partnership with Auxis include:

Download the Case Study to see the Results

" * " indicates required fields

Submit the form to get your copy

Related content, the importance of it service management best practices.

  • July 1, 2024

IT Outsourcing Trends Impacting 2024 and Beyond

  • June 24, 2024

Top BPO Companies – Why Auxis Stands Out 

  • June 13, 2024

Blaze Pizza CEO Discusses Brand Compliance Challenges & New Tech-Enabled Approach 

  • June 12, 2024

Retail IT Infrastructure Monitoring: Boost Security & Uptime

  • June 3, 2024

How to Outsource Help Desk Successfully: A Step-by-Step Guide

  • May 24, 2024

Get the latest from Auxis in your Inbox

Email subscription footer.

  • M&A Private Equity
  • Social Responsibility
  • Whitepapers & Guides
  • Career Opportunities
  • Heredia, Costa Rica Barranquilla, Colombia

Supporting Hubs

  • Bogotá, Colombia Medellín, Colombia Mexico City, Mexico

© 2024 Auxis. All Rights Reserved

Knowmax Product Overview

Knowmax

  • CRM KB vs. Knowmax

Knowmax

Sharepoint vs. Knowmax

Enable seamless customer experience with Knowmax

Want to see knowmax in action .

Customer Experience

Updated On: Apr 1, 2024

20 mins read

Help Desk Decision Trees Guide for 2024 (+Case Study)

Help desk decision tree

Do you need help tracking customer inquiries and providing timely solutions? Look no further than decision trees ! Our comprehensive guide for help desk decision trees in 2024 explores everything you need to know about this efficient and effective solution.

We’ll dive deep into the topic, discussing its numerous benefits and how to implement it in your help desk or CRM system quickly. Streamline your work and provide top-notch customer service with help desk troubleshooting decision trees . Let’s get started!

Table of contents

What are helpdesk decision trees, benefits for agents, benefits for customers, benefits for contact center managers, benefits for training and quality leaders, sample decision tree with knowmax , decision tree use cases across industries, how to get started with decision trees for your help desk .

Visual and interactive tools such as help desk decision trees are utilized in customer support and IT service management to assist support agents or end-users in resolving issues or answering inquiries.

These troubleshooting decision trees are a type of decision support system that simplifies complex problems into a sequence of straightforward, step-by-step decisions, thereby streamlining the problem-solving process.

Decision trees are essential in any contact center setting, delivering significant benefits to agents, customers, managers, and those responsible for training and quality control.

Guide-Image

Reduce Call Volume By 46% With Knowmax

Get Complete Case Study

1.  Organized and systematic structure: Decision trees offer a systematic and sequential method for solving problems, enabling agents to consistently adhere to the most effective practices and troubleshooting procedures .

2. Alleviated pressure: Using decision trees can lessen the stress felt by agents who need to remember complex troubleshooting steps or information. With next best action , agents can focus more on customer empathy

3. Enhanced proficiency and effectiveness: By utilizing decision trees, agents can handle issues with incredible speed and efficiency, resulting in reduced handling times and allowing them to assist a more significant number of customers within a shorter period.

  • Resolve Issues More Quickly: Customers can expect a quick and satisfactory resolution to their issues with the help of troubleshooting decision trees that guide them to the most relevant solutions or information and reduce resolution time . They ensure faster problem resolution and an overall positive support experience.
  • Self-service: Customers can quickly find solutions to common issues and questions without waiting for an agent through self-service options such as automated decision trees in self-service portals, apps, or chatbots.
  • Customer Empowerment: customers can experience a sense of empowerment when they can navigate decision trees and discover solutions on their own, which can lead to greater satisfaction overall.

1. Efficiency in self-service: Automated decision trees implemented in self-service portals enhance the efficiency of self-service, reducing the number of routine inquiries and enabling agents to focus on more challenging issues.

2. Keep track of agent performance: One way to keep tabs on how healthy agents are doing is by utilizing decision trees, which can monitor and assess their performance based on the accuracy and efficiency of their interactions.

3. Helps in customer satisfaction(CSAT): By proficiently utilizing help desk decision trees, it is possible to enhance customer satisfaction rates as well as NPS metrics by enabling quicker resolution of issues and ensuring uniform support experiences.

Improve FCR By 21% With Knowmax

1. Reduce learning curve: One potential use of decision trees is as a training tool for agents. By utilizing decision trees, agents can quickly learn how to handle different scenarios in a manner that adheres to quality standards.

2. Leaders get quality assurance: Decision trees are a valuable tool for quality leaders to assess and evaluate the quality of agent interactions. Quality leaders can gain valuable insights into how sound agents perform by comparing agent actions to the expected decision tree path.

3. Promotes continuous improvement culture: By utilizing data and feedback, tools can undergo refinement and updates, fostering a culture of ongoing improvement within training and support processes.

Learn how Jupiter – a leading Fintech startup, achieves outstanding CX with Knowmax decision trees.

Knowmax is a DIY decision tree tool that helps you turn complicated troubleshooting processes into next-best action workflows without requiring technical expertise. Your agents can seamlessly open a Knowmax interactive decision tree within their CRM ticket, enabling them to solve customer problems quickly. 

The below representation is a sample Knowmax decision tree working within a CRM ticket.

Various sectors, such as telecom, BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance), healthcare, BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), and retail, have found decision trees useful in addressing industry-specific challenges. Below are some examples of sectors applying decision trees in their work:

Telecommunications:

  • To troubleshoot network issues like slow internet speeds, dropped calls, or connectivity problems, telecom companies can use troubleshooting decision trees as a guide for their customers. 
  • Decision trees are also helpful in assisting customers in choosing the best telecom plans based on their usage patterns, budget, and preferences. It helps sales and customer service teams provide personalized recommendations.
  •  Additionally, decision trees can help customers navigate billing inquiries, such as understanding their charges, making payments, and setting up automatic payments.

Financial Services  (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance):

  • The BFSI industry, which stands for Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance, can benefit from using decision trees in various ways. One such method is automating the loan approval process by evaluating applicants’ creditworthiness and determining eligibility criteria.
  • Help desk Decision trees are also valuable in assessing and managing risk in investment portfolios, insurance underwriting, and credit risk analysis. 
  • Additionally, it can be employed for real-time fraud detection by analyzing transaction data and identifying unusual or suspicious patterns.

Healthcare:

  • In the healthcare industry, decision trees have proven helpful in various ways. For instance, healthcare providers can use decision trees to help them with preliminary diagnosis of patients based on reported symptoms.
  • This way, they can prioritize urgent care and triage cases accordingly. Additionally, decision trees can assist healthcare professionals in recommending treatment options based on a patient’s medical history, condition, and preferences.
  • Finally, in emergencies, decision trees can help determine the severity of a patient’s condition and the appropriate course of action, For example, guiding them toward the emergency room or a healthcare provider.

BPO (Business Process Outsourcing):

  • Regarding customer support, BPO companies can use decision trees to guide agents through complicated scenarios that can lead to consistent and precise responses.
  •  Decision trees can also streamline the order processing system, making it easier for agents to efficiently handle customer orders, returns, and exchanges. 
  • Additionally, decision trees can assist in resolving customer complaints by providing agents with a structured approach to investigating and resolving issues.
  • Retailers can utilize decision trees to help customers choose the most suitable products that suit their preferences, requirements, and budgets.
  • Decision trees can also be helpful in inventory management by guiding restocking, clearance pricing, and discontinuation of products. 
  • Furthermore, decision trees can automate the returns and refunds process by determining customers’ eligibility and offering instructions.

Reduce Average Handle Time By 15% With Knowmax

To effectively begin using decision trees for your help desk, it’s essential to take a systematic approach that ensures successful implementation and continuous improvement. Follow these steps to get started:

Define your Objectives

Start by defining your objectives for utilizing decision trees. It’s essential to clearly understand what problems you’re trying to solve and what improvements you’re hoping to achieve. It will serve as a guide for the development of your decision tree.

Begin With the Most Critical Use Cases

Can you list the support scenarios best suited for decision tree automation? These situations could arise frequently and require standard procedures, such as answering common questions or resolving issues with troubleshooting .

Take Inputs from Your Team and Other Departments

In creating decision tree planning, it’s advisable to engage support agents, subject matter experts, and other relevant departments. By doing so, you can gain insights into everyday issues and best practices that can enhance the effectiveness of your decision tree . 

Start Building Workflows

 We need to create decision tree workflows based on the selected use cases. We must define each decision point, branching logic, questions, and actions. It’s essential to use flowchart-like visuals for clarity.

Select the Right Decision Tree Software

When selecting decision tree software or tools, finding ones that match your organization’s requirements and budget is essential, like Knowmax.ai . Additionally, it’s a good idea to verify that the software can create decision trees that are both interactive and easy for users to navigate.

Create User-Friendly Content

When creating your decision trees, focusing on language, clarity, and ease of use is essential. Make sure that critical information is easily accessible within the decision tree interface so users don’t have to constantly switch between different tabs or documents. A platform like Knowmax helps you to create user-friendly content.

Train Your Agents

Ensure your support agents receive thorough training on effectively using decision trees. They must clearly understand when and how to utilize decision trees during customer interactions. Knowmax provides all the training support in one place, and it is a very well-versed platform for delivering learning and education to the agents.

Keep Updating Decision Trees

It’s essential to keep decision trees up-to-date to ensure they align with current customer needs and business processes. Consistently reviewing and updating them with the latest information and best practices is recommended.

Implementing decision trees for your help desk is an ongoing process. Working together, seeking feedback, and striving for continuous improvement is essential. With effective implementation, you can expect a boost in support efficiency and overall customer satisfaction. So, up your CX game with knowmax decision trees .

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, help desk decision trees are a valuable tool for contact centers, providing numerous benefits to agents, customers, managers, and quality leaders. By streamlining the problem-solving process, call center scripting software enhances efficiency, promotes customer satisfaction , and empowers customers to find solutions on their own.

With the sample decision tree examples provided, you can quickly implement this efficient and effective solution in your help desk, CRM & self- service channels . So, decision trees are the way to go if you want to streamline your work and provide top-notch customer service  experience! 

Looking to supercharge your CX?

help desk case study

Nitin Saxena

Sr. vice president.

Nitin has 25 years of experience working at companies like HP and Mphasis. For more than 14 years, he has been a key figure at KocharTech (Knowmax's parent company), skillfully navigating operations, training, and quality management responsibilities across international and domestic sectors. Currently, he oversees Business Operations at Maxicus.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter

Knowledge by knowmax, and stay updated with all things km and cx transformation.

By clicking on submit you agree to our Privacy Policy

Be the first to know

Unsubscribe anytimes

  Thank you for Signing Up

Stay updated with all things KM and CX transformation

Unsubscribe anytime

Knowmax

Unlock the power of knowledge management for your customer service

Enter details, share delails.

Note: The guide will be shared over the email you enter above.

name ); // } ?>

Related posts.

Top 13 SOP Software for 2024

Leveraging Digital Transformation for Excellent Customer Experience 

Software Documentation: Importance, Types & How to Create 

A Guide to Knowledge Base System for Customer Experience 

Top 9 Customer Intimacy Strategies to Boost Loyalty   

10 Customer Service Best Practices to Swear by in 2024 & Beyond 

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

newsletter-img

Complete your registration

Live Knowmax Product Showcase

Register now.

Company Name*

Number of Users* Select up to 50 50-250 250-500 500-1000 1000-5000 5000-10000 10000+

What problem are you trying to solve through Knowmax?*

Contact Number (Optional)

help desk case study

Let's talk CX

  • Decision Trees

Knowledge Management

  • Visual Guides
  • Learning Management
  • Visual Assistance
  • Contact Center
  • Self Service
  • Branches & Field
  • Augmented Reality
  • Remote Working
  • Professional Services
  • Become a Partner
  • Privacy Policy

Important Links

  • Agent Scripting
  • Sharepoint vs. KM
  • KM Implementation Guide
  • Best KB 2024
  • Case Studies
  • Gen AI ebook
  • CSR Initiatives

Everything you need to know about the Customer Experience industry in one place.

Visit our blog

Subscribe to our newsletter

help desk case study

Knowmax by KocharTech 2024. All right reserved.

- Beginner's Guide

dashboard

Declutter Knowledge. Deliver Delight.

help desk case study

60+ Customer Care Scripts for Your CX Team

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Schedule a Demo

Help Desk Support That Steps Up in a Crisis

Executive overview.

  • A help desk coverage gap left behind by another vendor
  • Large ticket volume needs immediate support
  • Addition of highly trained and qualified agents
  • Expanded help desk services to cover the gap
  • Solution built on pre-existing foundation
  • Seamless transition to support services from GHDSi
  • Company growth fully supported
  • More than 10,000 monthly tickets resolved

A Fortune 100 financial services organization that provides retirement solutions to nearly 4 million people requires a significant amount of help desk support. For our client in particular, this need only grew as they looked to scale up operations.

Between 2015 and 2018, the financial services organization significantly grew their IT services in India. Further staffing decisions led to the organization to rely on three different vendors for help desk support:

• Contractors in India taking overnight and off-hours calls • A domestic vendor in the United States providing daytime services • Global Help Desk Services (GHDSi) handling a daytime overflow of 1,500–1,700 calls per month

For a while, this arrangement worked well for the client. But when one vendor dropped out, suddenly everything changed.

“Global Help Desk has erased our issues with being properly staffed. Even when the call volume varies, GHDSi is able to manage it all and keep our queue times very low.”  

- Senior Manager, Service Desk

Business Challenge

Our client hoped that having three different help desk vendors would ensure they kept up with call volume. Instead, when their other domestic vendor pulled out most of their agents, the financial services organization suddenly found itself badly shorthanded.

"Working with other vendors wasn’t as seamless as we had thought,” said the client’s senior manager for service desk production services. In order to have the right help desk support in place, he explained, “we need to have ‘too much’ or we wouldn’t have enough.”

When the other vendor scaled back, our client needed help to make up the difference. That’s when GHDSi quickly scaled up services to cover the gap, increasing support from1,500 tickets per month to handling more than 8,000 phone calls and 3,000 chats.

Even at the best of times, this transition would pose challenges. But with the client already struggling to keep up with the demands of high growth, there was a serious concern that this shakeup could mean users were left in the lurch.

“We were having challenges with the proper coverage as the company grew,” said the senior manager for service desk production services. “It would have only become more difficult for us.”

But in the face of this onslaught of tickets, GHDSi stepped up to cover the gap.

GHDSi launched a 90-day plan to take over the additional workload and provide full and sustainable help desk coverage. Fifteen hundred tickets became 3,000, then 5,000, and so on until GHDSi was serving as the financial services organization’s primary help desk support team.

How did they do it? By putting a plan in place to quickly ramp up and provide the much-needed help.

Highly Trained and Qualified Agents

The secret to GHDSi’s success is the quality of their agents. With an emphasis on customer service and emotional intelligence, GHDSi agents are particularly equipped to handle high-pressure situations. GHDSi also increased the number of staff serving the financial services organization from a team of five or six to a staff of 30 at peak.

Expanded Help Desk Services

I n addition to bringing on more agents, GHDSi also expanded their services by creating a semi-tiered support model for the financial services organization. This “tier 1.5” support service was given the same access and permissions as a field service support group but handled tickets remotely. That gave GHDSi more ways to quickly resolve user tickets.

U.S.-Based Support

During a potentially difficult transition, good communication is key. GHDSi is a U.S.-based help desk services provider, which helps reduce friction between agents and users and improve overall communication.

 Thorough Onboarding Process

When the financial services organization originally hired GHDSi, two GHDSi representatives collaborated on-site with the client for a week to review processes and map out documentation. This extra attention and thorough onboarding process provided the rock-solid foundation necessary for GHDSi to quickly step up and fill the coverage gap created by the withdrawal of the other help desk vendor.

Today, the financial services organization relies on GHDSi to provide its frontline support services, handling more than 10,000 tickets per month.

The partnership has been such a success that the financial services organization is looking to expand the relationship further and migrate toward an enterprise service desk model. This approach will combine the expertise of GHDSi’s support agents with the organization’s internal IT team members, and it will elevate the services GHDSi can provide at level 1 and 2 of support.

“Now we have GHDSi to grow with us and help us scale,” said the senior manager for service desk production services. “It’s just the perfect match of customer service, technical strength, and flexibility. It’s very hard to find a vendor that does all three of these things well. GHDSi meets these criteria, which is key.”

No matter what challenges the financial services organization has faced since 2018, including the shift to remote work during COVID, they’ve been able to rely on GHDSi to provide all their help desk support service needs.

“I think that speaks volumes to the service they provide,” the service desk manager said. “GHDSi has been the perfect partner for us.”

“It’s just the perfect match of customer service, technical strength and flexibility. It’s very hard to find a vendor that does all three of these things well. GHDSi meets these criteria, which is key.”

Senior Manager for Service Desk Production Services, Financial Services Organization

Does your growing business need reliable help desk support?

New call-to-action

IMAGES

  1. Retail Help Desk Case Study

    help desk case study

  2. Help Desk Case Study

    help desk case study

  3. SolarWinds Help Desk and IT Support Case Study: Network Embedded

    help desk case study

  4. Help Desk Case Study

    help desk case study

  5. Healthcare Help Desk Case Study

    help desk case study

  6. Shipping/Logistics Help Desk Case Study

    help desk case study

VIDEO

  1. A much needed desk refresh! #study #studyinspo #pencilcase #aesthetic #studybreak #schoolsupplies

  2. ASMR Tapping

  3. Your study desk if you #studysetup #music #shorts #trending #emmastone #tiktok

  4. how to make your Study Desk more Aesthetic!! 🧸#aesthetic #aestheticstuff #youtubeshorts#starbean

  5. My New Desk Setup 💗🔮 #studydesk #homeoffice #studyroom

  6. Help Desk interview Questions & Answers

COMMENTS

  1. Case Studies

    If you're a proactive HelpDesk user and want to share your experience of applying the ticketing system to your daily challenges with other professionals, feel free to claim a spot among the other case studies. Share your story. Want to grow like the companies above? This is where you start. Free 14-day trial Simple setup.

  2. Customer case studies

    Learn from real life customer experiences, case studies and success stories and change the way you do IT. Try now. Overview; Solutions; Features; Demo; Get Quote; Editions; Resources; Support . ServiceDesk Plus > Case Studies. ... Tranter Achieves Help Desk Transparency with ServiceDesk Plus . Read more.

  3. Help Desk Support Success Stories

    Schedule a consultation. Global Help Desk Services, Inc. provides help desk outsourcing with guaranteed service levels to enterprise-sized companies. Browse Global Help Desk Services' collection of help desk support success stories to learn more about how we improved our clients' help desk support issues, IT and overall help desk environment.

  4. What Is a Help Desk?

    A help desk is a software tool or team of human agents that enable a company to support its customers in real time. The help desk serves two primary functions: It answers questions customers may have about products or services. It assists customers with technical support and solutions to problems. A help desk system streamlines support requests ...

  5. 11 Help Desk Best Practices to Deliver Efficient Customer Support

    2. Clear Communication. Help desk best practices emphasize transparent and timely communication. Customers appreciate being kept in the loop regarding the status of their inquiries or issues. Clear and proactive communication helps manage expectations and fosters trust. 3.

  6. Case Study: 5 Best Practice Steps for Service Desk Success

    Donna Earl is an international expert in Customer Service. She specializes in helping technical help desks deliver world class customer service. To use this article, Contact Us for permission. For more information about HelpDeskCoach.com training, see Training. US: 415.929.8110. UK: +44 (0)7729 814 890. [email protected].

  7. 5 Case Studies to Improve Your Customer Service

    5 Case Studies to Improve Your Customer Service. As more and more customer transactions occur virtually, the quality of online help desks and customer service support is becoming an essential differentiator for companies. An estimated 73% of consumers say a good experience is critical in influencing their brand loyalties.

  8. Giva Help Desk & Customer Service Case Studies & Successes

    Gordon & Rees LLP Case Study. Download PDF. 70% increase in productivity by using Giva dashboards and reports. 60% increase in productivity in managing customer service level agreements (SLAs) 70% easier to get up and running on Giva. Eliminated 30 hours/month of work to prepare executive reports/scorecards/KPIs.

  9. ProProfs Help Desk Software Case Studies, Testimonials & Customer Success

    Help Desk Customer Success Case Studies. Reduced the number of support calls and tickets that our team receives. Opencart. Collaboration was a task before. Thanks to ProProfs, our team can now work anytime, anywhere. With ProProfs Chat, we can communicate with the overseas clients who cannot call us.

  10. Help Desk Management: 7 Tips for Success [+ Software]

    1. Tidio. Rating: 4.7/5 ⭐️ ( 1,410+ reviews) Tidio is an all-encompassing help desk and ticket management software suitable for small and medium businesses. It has an intuitive dashboard that also features multichannel support, allowing you to manage conversations from different channels in one compact inbox.

  11. Case Study

    Case Studies Learn how Calance has helped businesses solve complex issues through technology solutions. Grow your business, improve productivity and reduce costs with customized technology solutions from Calance. ... Case Study Outsourced IT Help Desk that Aligns with Client's Unique Culture. Read More. Topics. Apps & Automation Construction ...

  12. Best Practice for Managing Service Desk Teams [+ Case Study Examples]

    Having a very well-managed and lead service desk team can bring many advantages. When managed effectively and with well-communicated and defined goals, the service desk can be a crucial strategic asset for any organisation. A service desk helps enhance the end-user experience, enabling a flexible and consistent approach to user support by ...

  13. Helping the Help Desk Satisfy Customers More Quickly: An iSixSigma Case

    Helping the Help Desk Satisfy Customers More Quickly: An iSixSigma Case Study. Published: February 26, 2010 by Niraj Goyal. A young, rapidly expanding financial services company located in India runs an in-house help desk for responding to customer queries via email or telephone. Help desk response time is tracked using software that calculates ...

  14. Case study: Cut ticket handling time by 35% with automation

    The team saves 8 minutes handling each ticket. It's a 35% decrease in the ticket resolution process. Telecom has also experienced tremendous success. The customer service team reduced the response time from 31 minutes to 19 minutes. This means a 39% reduction in the ticket resolution process for this brand.

  15. Aviation Service Desk Case Study: Scaling IT Support

    Once the service desk was running smoothly, Auxis began a similar transition process for the charter brand. Two months later, the Auxis service desk was seamlessly providing standardized Level 1 support for the entire organization. Read this aviation service desk case study to discover the benefits of implementing the best-in-class, scalable ...

  16. To help a Helpdesk application

    2. Track an Existing Ticket: Go to Helpdesk web application and Track an existing Ticket. Search via Ticket ID or Employee ID and Ticket Status. User Views the Ticket Audit Trail and if any ...

  17. PDF AMPLE CASE STUDY HELP DESK

    oughout the presentations. One judge will play the role o. Amanda who is a customer. You will play the role of a help desk manager. or Utmost Support, Inc. You will be g. en two note cards to use.Cover all the points described in the case and be pr. ed to answer questions. The presentation is interactive with the judges who will ask questions t.

  18. IT Service Desk Case Study for Global Digital Media Company

    Auxis was engaged by the client as it searched for a new IT help desk outsourcing partner with the maturity, sophistication, and experience to support its accelerated global growth and high service quality expectations. From the beginning, Auxis' executive team brought its consultative approach to help the organization identify key ga.

  19. The Evolution of the Customer-Centric Helpdesk: Two Case Studies

    Martin Wynn. University of Gloucestershire. School of Business and Technology. Cheltenham, UK. Email: [email protected]. Abstract - This article examines how the helpdesk function has. changed ...

  20. 233 Zendesk Case Studies, Success Stories, & Customer Stories

    How Fiverr uses Zendesk Support to serve its thriving marketplace. Reuben Furmanski Haed of Customer Support. Read Case Study. 1. 2. 3. Discover how other companies use Zendesk, get inspired, and find ways to improve your business.

  21. Help Desk Decision Trees Guide for 2024 (+Case Study)

    Benefits for Contact Center Managers. 1. Efficiency in self-service: Automated decision trees implemented in self-service portals enhance the efficiency of self-service, reducing the number of routine inquiries and enabling agents to focus on more challenging issues. 2. Keep track of agent performance: One way to keep tabs on how healthy agents ...

  22. Financial Services OrganizationHelp Desk Services Case Study

    A Fortune 100 financial services organization that provides retirement solutions to nearly 4 million people requires a significant amount of help desk support. For our client in particular, this need only grew as they looked to scale up operations. Between 2015 and 2018, the financial services organization significantly grew their IT services ...

  23. AD 605 case study 3.docx

    View AD 605 case study 3.docx from MET AD 605 at Boston University. 1 IMD Helpdesk Case Study Case Study 3 Team 7: Team Members: Shane Covert Hui Zhang Hanbo Yu Yuyan Wang Contributions: 25% from ... We are assuming that Mimi's data collection and results are accurate for IMD Help Desk's demand. These results were used in calculating the ...