Delivering Help Desk as a Service

Not all businesses can justify hiring a fully-staffed Information Technology (IT) department, and relying on constant contractor visits can be expensive too. Especially for small and growing businesses, the ability to separate simple tasks from the more difficult and time-consuming projects can mean the difference between an IT funding sinkhole and an IT system that powers exponential growth and profit. Here are a few ways that help desk automation can augment and enhance the toolset of any IT department.

Covering the Most Common IT Tasks

Not all technical support issues require direct, hands-on assistance from a trained technician. Many issues that once demanded a call to the IT department or a third-party repair team can be handled with a centralized support system.

Password resets, software installation, virus removal, email changes and many othercommon help desk requests can either be automated or put into a more efficient queue of tasks, making the old way of constantly calling technicians or waiting for email follow-ups a much less painful experience.

Consider password resets. Across the world, users at all levels of business are responsible for keeping their login details memorized. These passwords can get pretty complex for the sake of security, and people simply forget their information.

An automated IT help desk system can put the reset power and responsibility in the hands of employees without endangering the rest of the system. There are many ways to make the system work, but one of the more popular methods is connecting a forgot username/password system to a low-cost business smartphone or other mobile device.

Your company’s network can be setup with guest accounts, allowing a very limited set of privileges. One of the privileges will be connecting to a company intranet website that only allows self-service technical support.

An employee can enter their name, company phone number or other company-specific details into a password reset system. Once the information is entered and sent, a passcode will be sent to the employee phone that allows a new password to be made.

This reduces the need to contact help desk/technical support and ties security to a company-issued device. This won’t eliminate all login issues, as it’s possible to forget how to access the company phone — which needs to be protected against thieves or hackers trying to get deeper access – but it greatly reduces requests.

Ticketing Systems, Automated Action, and Easy Approval

Fewer requests are the name of the game. With virus removal, software installation and other tasks that either require a technician to perform a task or a qualified engineer to approve an employee’s request, time spent on servicing trouble tickets is still reduced.

If a computer is infected with a virus, the employee can use the automated help desk service to request a repair. This can be done on the affected computer or done via guest access on another company computer if the affected computer can’t access the site.

When the trouble ticket arrives, most companies with a standard IT department will have a screen that shows tickets and the relevant information. The technician reads the ticket, then decides on a course of action. In the case of a virus, the technician either physically visits the affected computer or attempts to repair the system remotely.

Trouble tickets are a form of automation in their own right as they can remove the need for calls or visits to the IT department.IT ticketing software can make the ticket system even more efficient by adding a single click solution to launch remote access and connect to the affected system.

This technique can be used for any task requiring remote access, whether it’s adding or removing a program or showing an employee how to perform a technical task on the computer. The system can be designed to cater to a business’ network layout, using either IP addresses or assigned computer names, along with user details to tie an issue to specific employees and their computer use.

If the issue is a computer that isn’t connected to the network, such as a field-use computer or a BYOD (bring your own device) system that the employee owns, the ticket can be shared with the employee that includes a link to begin remote access when the employee can connect to the network.

For businesses with even more distant employees and contractors, Internet-enabled remote support is possible. It requires more security configuration to make sure that a one-way remote access connection protects your business network, but a technician can help employees abroad as long as they can connect to the internet and request access to the business network.

Contact an IT help desk professional to discuss the many ways that automation can reduce IT demand, streamline IT budgeting and free up your technicians for more ambitious projects with fewer interruptions.