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Best practices for your IT help desk

Every touchpoint your customers have for you determines the reputation of your organisation. And so, it is more important than ever that your IT help desk not only offers solutions and resolves technology related issues, but also provides a service which is consistent with your business. Here we’ve rounded up the best practices you can follow to ensure your IT help desk excels.

Make yourself available

An essential first step, if you are not already doing so, is to be available on multiple channels. This ensures that you are best serving your customers with a help desk style that suits them. Being able to communicate by phone, email, social channels, live chat and more ensures you are providing maximum accessibility to IT support for those who need it. Key to this approach is consistency – aim for the service you provide to be consistent across all channels.

Overseeing automation

As with any area of your IT infrastructure, you should look to automate as many low-value tasks as possible. Pre-drafted responses can save time and ensure uniformity across channels. However, you should be careful to strike the balance so that these do not feel impersonal or robotic. A well-configured help desk setup may also include a web-based knowledge tool to assist customers and free up your team to resolve incidents.

Using a Service Level Agreement (SLA)

The use of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) is best practice for your ITIL help desk. A SLA is essentially a documented overview of customer expectations. Forming a SLA is key within ITIL4 practice as it sets out expectations your customers have, and defines targets internally with achievable goals. Not only does it help with cohesion across experiences, but it also goes a long way to help you to meet or even exceed your customer’s expectations.

In order to form a Service Level Agreement, you should have an open conversation with your customers about their requirements from you/your service. This ensures business targets are created specifically, and not based on assumptions. When SLAs are formed based on the customer’s viewpoint, they become a powerful tool for both measuring and improving performance.

Reflect and amend

Once you have crafted a SLA, the conversation with your customers should not end. A great practice is to monitor and reflect upon your service through customer satisfaction surveying. This can be informal, through conversation – “was I able to help you with everything you were looking to resolve today?” Or monitoring can be more measurable, using rated feedback forms which ask specific questions. Surveying your customers offers an opportunity for your helpdesk to improve processes.

Importantly, you should learn from all feedback and look to amend practices where necessary. For example, feedback may highlight gaps in your team’s knowledge or expertise, particularly if they are frequently having to pass situations on to more senior team members to resolve. A simple fix could be to invest in training for your help desk staff. In turn this could greatly improve customer satisfaction as they receive a resolution upon first contact.

Learn more about best practices

Learning more about best practices for your ITIL help desk couldn't be easier. The ITIL 4 qualifications we offer at ITIL Training allow you to monitor, sculpt and improve your IT services. ITIL training is suited to a wide range of departments with a focus on customer experience, value streams and digital transformation. It provides you with the confidence to enable change as well as reassurance to your customers.

The framework of the ITIL 4 qualification is particularly useful in customer-service-based management systems as it allows you to manage risk, enhance customer experience, and consistently deliver improved services. Upskilling your staff with ITIL training improves the way different teams interact - helping to raise overall business performance. With a focus on best practices for working holistically and collaboratively, ITIL 4 equips professionals working across the digital landscape with the tools and knowledge needed to succeed and thrive.

Find out more about the benefits of ITIL4 courses, or contact one of our knowledgeable team members to discuss your individual requirements.