If an employee or client requires virtual technical aid, a remotely located support agent can address the problem swiftly and effortlessly. Given that numerous companies across the U.S. have shifted permanently towards remote and blended working models, the demand for effective remote help desks has surged even further. Offering remote assistance—whether managed internally or via external remote help desk services—is advantageous for every enterprise.
What does a remote help desk entail?
A remote helpdesk, often referred to as a virtual helpdesk, is a support mechanism where one or multiple agents offer distant technical aid to either staff members or clients. Because these remote helpdesks operate virtually (via phone or internet), the assisting personnel can support users irrespective of geographical positions.
Several benefits come with utilizing a remote help desk, whether for internal operations or external services. For instance, remote assistance can
increase business productivity
and
customer satisfaction
. Discover more advantages listed below.
What steps are involved in setting up a remote help desk?
Given that a help desk is crucial for enhancing your company’s efficiency, it’s important to maintain an adept IT specialist within your workforce at all times. Nonetheless, each enterprise possesses distinct technical assistance requirements; therefore, upon assembling your initial help-desk support group, ensure customization according to your firm’s particular demands.
Dave Martinez, who previously worked as a technology evangelist at Ivanti, outlined a six-part strategy for companies aiming to establish their own remote help desk systems.
-
Identify the kind of assistance and services your help desk will offer.
Will it assist with fixing things only? Will you allow self-service requests? Will you provide a one-stop for requests for other non-IT departments? Is your help desk only for employees, or is it for customers too? -
Assess your work volume first, then decide on your staff numbers.
Do you require just one support agent or an entire team? Determine the necessary skills and training prerequisites. -
Define your service levels and establish expectations across the organization.
Make clear the supported channels that employees and end users can use to communicate with the help desk. Establish the linkages and support levels with other specialized teams that can help with escalations. -
Choose an instrument to offer assistance.
Several external helpdesk applications exist, however, the ideal program would offer comprehensive support features capable of growing alongside your company. -
Develop a knowledge base along with frequently asked questions (FAQs) for utilization by your support team and customers.
You can offer self-service support to free up more time for the help-desk agents. -
After implementation, monitor the performance of the help desk closely and make continuous adjustments as needed.
Gather key performance indicators and pinpoint regions needing enhancement. Utilize surveys to assess user sentiment regarding the assistance provided by the help desk.
[Check out these
tools to track KPIs
.]
An essential aspect to consider during the setup of your help desk is ensuring usability—not only for your support staff but also for those who will receive assistance. Without clear understanding from both your support team and end-users, having such a system would be pointless. Ensure that your support personnel are adequately trained on using available tools effectively and can provide support efficiently along with communicating clearly with final users—whether these are coworkers or clients.
Tuan Vu, a service management architect at Xurrent, explained to Viral Buzz News, “A straightforward procedure for accepting, managing, and resolving or closing issues and inquiries needs to be established. It’s essential to maintain clarity and transparency when communicating with users regarding the helpdesk. Clearly define what assistance they offer and assure them that every effort will be made to provide aid. The quality of a user’s interaction significantly influences their overall perception of the system.”
Who requires assistance from a remote help desk?
Companies functioning in intricate sectors such as computer security and networking, finance, healthcare, information technology, and telecommunications ought to maintain a help desk at all times. Nonetheless, each entity, irrespective of its field or scale, stands to gain from having a remote technical support team.
Remote help desks have become particularly crucial since employees and clients are now functioning from their residences. Actually, one out of every seven Americans works from home remotely.
Within an organization, every individual should have some means of accessing a remote helpdesk to ensure they can keep working,” stated Vu. “Facing issues with particular applications or struggling to find out how to reach various company resources can indeed be irritating. However, recognizing such details isn’t universal; hence, maintaining a centralized support team or platform to offer these insights becomes crucial.
Regardless of whether your team operates from the office or remotely, small enterprises ought to think about maintaining remote desktop assistance. These support teams enable not just adaptability and excellent customer service for employees and clients alike but also equip companies to handle unforeseen scenarios down the line.
What advantages does a remote help desk offer?
Several advantages come with operating a remote help desk, including:
-
A distant support center is an
cost-effective
A method to deliver immediate aid to your team and/or clients is through a virtual helpdesk. This setup offers prompt support, eliminating the delay caused by waiting for a technician to reach the location of the problem. With remote help-desk professionals, issues can be diagnosed virtually, allowing them to propose solutions swiftly, thus minimizing any potential disruption. -
Remote help-desk service r
educes productivity disruptions
Since it operates outside of typical working hours and doesn’t interfere with employee or customer usage, issues can be addressed promptly without impacting productivity. -
It
less expensive than assembling an internal group
. According to
ZipRecruiter
, the average annual salary of an IT help desk operator is over $48.154. To operate remote help-desk services, your business will pay a fraction of that in most cases. -
Remote help desks are
scalable
As your business scales up, consider discussing with software vendors the packages that align well with your firm’s present scale, operating hours, and technological requirements. Later on, when your enterprise broadens, you may opt to hire extra support staff or extend your operational hours. In times of reduction, you typically have the option to terminate your remote helpdesk agreement without facing penalties or reduce the extent of support provided.
Did You Know?:
Even though a helpdesk and a customer service desk both offer user support, a helpdesk mainly concentrates on resolving technical problems. Should you wish to provide conventional customer service aid, consider this alternative approach.
advantages and disadvantages of delegating customer support
to third parties.
Could you use some effective remote support software options?
Multiple choices exist for companies looking to offer a distant support desk facility to their staff or clientele. These instruments facilitate collaboration between personnel based on-site and those working remotely in the helpdesk sector.
Software for remote access and assistance
If you wish to offer remote assistance to your team or clients, enrolling in a comprehensive remote access and support software suite would be ideal. There are several excellent options available such as Zoho Assist, GoTo Resolve, and Splashtop. Nonetheless, the
top choice for remote access and support applications
For your team relies on your organization’s particular requirements.
>> Learn more:
Zoho Assist review
,
GoTo Resolve review
,
Splashtop review
Self-service portals
You can add self-service web options to simplify the resolution process for technical issues. For example, it can be useful to have self-guided resources on your website that allow users to troubleshoot problems on their own before they submit
help-desk tickets
Once users have tried resolving issues on their own without success, they might still require your help for additional support, which is perfectly fine as well.
Offer various means of contact such as a dedicated support email, telephone line, collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams or Skype, along with a user-friendly online portal,” stated Vu. “This way, users will sense that they have straightforward access to the resources provided.
Third-party providers
An alternative approach involves employing a third-party service for offering a remote helpdesk facility to both your staff and clientele. These vendors have the capability to tailor their services according to specific requirements. As an illustration, one might choose to delegate the management of the IT helpdesk to an overseas supplier with the aim of reducing operational expenses. The cost structure can be modified depending upon the volume of assistance required along with defining which types of technical problems should be addressed by this external IT team.
FYI:
Like remote support software,
tools for remote monitoring and management
Can assist you in remotely supporting your employees’ technology, such as laptops and tablets, from a distance.
When selecting remote support software, what factors should you keep in mind?
When buying remote support software, think about which features are crucial for the kind of assistance you plan to offer, such as remote wake and restart, file sharing, instant messaging, session logging, and multiplatform compatibility. Identify the functionalities you require immediately and those you could potentially upgrade later. Select a system that aligns with your present requirements and has room to expand alongside your company growth. Be mindful of setup fees and extra expenses when assessing whether the benefits justify the price tag.
Martinez stated, “Choose a tool that aligns with your supported services, communication channels, automation needs, and reporting requirements while offering a great user experience.” He emphasized that “automation is crucial for maximizing the productivity of helpdesk personnel and ensuring consistent service quality.”
What qualities define an effective remote help desk?
An effective helpdesk is transparent, dependable, and easily accessible from various devices. Such qualities can significantly benefit both your staff and clients. Users reaching out for remote assistance must have confidence that their connections will remain steady, safe, and confidential. Support agents ought to be driven to offer straightforward solutions in an interesting and simple-to-understand manner. [Learn
what secure remote access is and how it works
.]
Other features that make a good help desk include automation, bulk administration, multimonitor accessibility, speed and integration. When creating a help desk, consider what features your employees or customers will expect from you, and employ software and agents that exceed those expectations.
“To drive engagement and adoption, it’s important to speak to your users,” said Vu. “Understand what they need and be transparent about what’s happening. Welcome their feedback and be open to a different way of working.”
Kimberlee Leonard was involved in contributing to this piece. Interviews for the source material were carried out for an earlier edition of this article.
