7 ideas for SMB companies to profit from service desk software

In this blog post we introduce some ideas how to profit from Service Desk software for small and medium size businesses. Service Desk software is not something which only large organizations can profit from. Monitor 24-7's focus is to deliver enterprise service desk software to any size organization. We believe that software should not only be easy to use and even more easy to maintain. It should also be low cost. Everyone should be able to afford a great service desk software.

Introduction

The use of service desk software is common practice in large organizations. Simply because it allows them to get total control over their help desk and ITIL processes. Service can be provided to the organization in a consistent and pre-defined manner. Service Desk Software, help desk software offer incredible benefits to the small and medium sized companies as well. Especially the tools become more advanced and various highly advanced tools are available at a very affordable price. As it might be overkill for a small company with perhaps 10 employees there are many ideas to use the software even for companies of this size.

This blog we discuss 7 ideas which help to leverage and even create an income generator with service desk software. Just think a bit beyond the general usage and the ideas are limitless.

1. Implementation of a help desk

A shop or small IT service provider can professionalize and manage its service in a consistent way by usage of a good tool. We realize that personal contact is the largest differentiator of SMB companies from large organizations and they certainly should stay on top of this personal service. However no one can deny that the digital environment in which we live in today has its own challenges. Many customers will go online and try to find a solution of issues they experience before they contact you as an IT service provider, causing you to fix issues online ‘solutions’ have caused. What about offering your customers an online portal with a knowledge base and a forum in which they can go first before they call you? You basically manage their search on the web and streamline their service. This way you are still the first point of contact and you will be more in control of the solutions your customers find on the internet.

2. Automatic processing of incoming email into tickets and with possible answers

Email is still for most organizations the first and most simple contact. A good service desk software can process incoming email and turn that into a ticket. Smart service desk solutions are even able to automatically answer the incoming emails if possible knowledge base documents are available. The smart service desk solutions will be able to identify from who the email comes from and will be able to find the most logical classification for them. From that the service desk will be able to apply service rules and find the right support agents. As good tools will also allow you to answer per email from their software you will get a good overview of all communication with your clients within one single tool and you will not have the problem of information stored in email clients.

3. Bundling of sales-purchase-delivery in a single tool

The sales of software and hardware and after that purchase and delivery is a process which is pretty similar to any organization. Small and large. Often the documentation around it is needed at a later stage. For example if hardware breaks or if there is a dispute about cost or functionality of sold software and hardware. Large organization have massive software tools which manages these processes from ERP systems to purchasing systems. Small and medium size organizations have this information often stored in multiple locations. Email, file locations, etc.. A good architecture service desk tool allows you to develop a workflow and allows you to store all communication and documentation in a single or in multiple linked requests. Think about the following flow: your sales agent quotes upon a new server with software, the customer agrees to the price and signs of the order. The server and software now need to be ordered by the wholesaler. This will be done and a few days later all products arrive. The packaging slips are stored somewhere in a binder and work and delivery orders will be created. The implementation team will now be involved. After delivery the client is happy and will start working with the offered solution. Sometimes hardware does not work at delivery. Sometimes software or hardware breaks after a short or longer term. This can happen and need to be solved. At many organizations the challenge now starts. Where is the documentation, what is exactly ordered, what are the terms to return, etc..

A well designed service desk tool can help. By defining a process flow with various steps and a solution in which you can simply store all communication and documentation you will always find the information you need with a few simple clicks. This solution is available for any small and medium size company and does not have to cost a lot of money. Look for a tool that is able to create a workflow without the need of programming and which is able to run multiple processes at the same time.

4. Generate a source of income with service desk software

Offering services via the service desk portal to customers can be an income generator. Think about the following solutions:

1. Offering knowledge packages of software used by your customers. For example if you sell and implement specific software tools like accounting software, you are able to offer specfic documents to the user community at a cost.
2. Offer a shared space to your customers in your own software. Think about customers who like to offer a service desk to their clients, but don’t want to run this themselves. Any organization which receives many questions and who want to store the answers can use a service desk. If you make sure you have a tool in place that can host multiple service desks you will be king. You can offer this service to your clients and at the same time be the center of their service.
3. Offer dashboards to your user community showing incoming alerts from the systems you monitor.

5. Return of goods and materials

Returning sold products is something any shop or IT service provider has to deal with. Especially online shops need to set up procedures to make this as easy as possible. For online shops this is in Europe for example even a mandatory requirement that any online purchase must be returned for free within 14 days after purchase without providing any explanation. Besides legislation like this, products can be broken or customers might not be happy with the solution offered. A well designed service desk tool offers the possibility to develop forms which can be published online and possibilities to design workflows to manage the process. That way the organization is in full control and is able to find all information and documentation back. IncidentMonitor offers the ability to graphically design smart forms and link them to graphically designed workflow processes.

6. Set up of complaint management processes

Every organization will receive complaints. No matter how good you are. There is always something that can go wrong. The good companies differentiates themselves from the bad ones by the way they manage these complaints. Therefore a well-defined complaint management process is key for the image and satisfaction of the customers. Respond within set time frames in a consistent way. A good service management tool can help to design complaint forms, create multi-channel entrances to receive complaints and make sure that responding to complaints are monitored.

7. Customer survey – Learn from your customer

Another often used solution of good service desk tools is the design and usage of customer surveys. Or differently phrased the development of a questionnaire directed to your customers. Think for example of a questionnaire available on a tablet if you have a shop. Most customers are more than happy to answer a few questions. Or think about an automatically send out questionnaire send out per email to customers who ordered something online or who just received some service. This will provide you with very valuable information which you can use to improve your service. An organization which is willing to learn from its customers and which will look for continuous improvement will have a competitive advantage over any other organization.

Conclusion

Thinking beyond the standard solution of a help desk will suddenly provide you with an income generator and a solution that can help to increase productivity and service and which will develop a strategy that results in a competitive advantage. Monitor 24-7 offers with IncidentMonitor a service management framework that is very affordable and is easy to manage and configure. IncidentMonitor is used by small and very large organizations with over 200,000 employees and is based upon solutions offered all over the world. Experience gathered at these large and smaller implementations are bundled and further developed in IncidentMonitor and made available to any organization at a low cost.