Finding an IT ticketing system for managed services providers (MSPs) that can meet your specific requirements can be a challenge. The IT software market is booming, which means there is plenty of choice\u2014but not all IT help desk ticketing tools are created equal. As one of the main communication channels between your customers and your business, choosing a ticket management software solution isn\u2019t something your MSP can afford to get wrong.<\/p>\n
This guide will help you choose the right IT help desk ticketing tool for your MSP by providing an initial list of eight must-have features for you to look for in your search.<\/p>\n
There are many ways in which an IT ticketing system for MSPs can enable rapid ticket creation. Certain ticket management software solutions might, for example, offer a dedicated \u201cQuick Ticket\u201d feature. This might allow customers to enter a few brief details, enabling them to submit a ticket in just a matter of seconds.<\/p>\n
This is important because if customers are required to fill out a form with multiple fields in order to submit a help request, they may feel discouraged from doing so. The aim should always be to make submitting a ticket as easy as possible. If the ticket creation process is confusing or unnecessarily complicated, customers will quickly become frustrated before they\u2019ve even had a chance to establish contact with one of your IT support representatives. Naturally, this will increase the risk of customer dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n
Similarly, it\u2019s also important that your IT specialists can create tickets in just a few clicks, as requiring technicians to go through an arduous ticket creation process will slow them down and take the focus away from actually resolving customer issues. Ideally, the ticket management software you choose will allow support technicians to create a ticket from any screen. In short, before committing to an\u00a0IT help desk ticketing tool<\/a>, make sure your customers and technicians can create tickets quickly and easily.<\/p>\n In addition to enabling rapid ticket creation, the IT ticketing system you choose should also provide multiple options for how tickets can be created. One way of achieving this is through an email-to-ticket creation utility.<\/p>\n Ticket management software that offers email-to-ticket creation can automatically convert email correspondence between customers and IT support technicians into tickets. This is a very efficient way of creating tickets, saving technicians time, and ensuring they have access to all necessary details by automatically capturing the content of the email correspondence in the generated ticket.<\/p>\n Time tracking is an extremely useful feature for several reasons. Firstly, time tracking helps generate performance metrics for each of your IT support technicians by measuring how long they spend on each ticket. Time tracking metrics can also inform your SLAs and help you determine whether you\u2019re likely to meet them or not.<\/p>\n This feature can also influence your training initiatives. If, for example, you find that your IT support staff are taking longer than expected to resolve certain tasks, it may be time to renew their training in those particular areas. Some\u00a0IT help desk ticketing systems<\/a>\u00a0are even able to automatically calculate and update billing information based on the recorded time and associated service rates\u2014which streamlines billing and saves time.<\/p>\n Although this may seem like a simple utility, custom ticket statuses can have a significant impact on your team\u2019s productivity. Custom tickets help you organize tickets to suit your individual requirements or preferences and can help you spot popular or common problems. Certain IT ticketing systems can then use these tags to automatically recommend knowledge-based articles, helping customers resolve simple issues themselves.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re an experienced IT support technician, you\u2019ll know that running a help desk isn\u2019t always as simple as \u201copen\u201d and \u201cclosed\u201d tickets. Your IT ticketing system should offer plenty of ticket tags and statuses, so that you can be sure all your tickets\u2014no matter how varied they are\u2014are tagged appropriately. This offers the added benefit of helping your team prioritize customer issues in the most informed and efficient way.<\/p>\n The way a tool displays tickets to technicians when they log in to the IT ticketing system plays an important role in how organized and productive ticket resolutions are. We recommend looking for a tool that offers priority view as soon as an IT support engineer logs into the platform. Priority view should display the tickets the engineer has been assigned, the tickets that are overdue, and the tickets that are in progress by order of importance. A view organized in this way will help support technicians organize their workload appropriately.<\/p>\n The best way of determining the dashboard layout of an IT ticketing system you\u2019re considering is to take advantage of a free trial, if available. We recommend using this opportunity to check how organized and clean the dashboard layout is, how to view tickets, and how easy it is for technicians to access the information they need.<\/p>\n The ability to add information to a ticket, or have it updated with the necessary information automatically, allows technicians to associate all relevant customer knowledge with the right ticket. This means everything they need to resolve the ticket should be centrally located within the ticket itself\u2014saving technicians time spent hunting for customer information, old emails, and records of any other communications.<\/p>\n Comprehensive ticket information also helps by allowing technicians to pass work onto another support representative if necessary, without disrupting the resolution process or bothering the customer with questions that have already been asked. This is especially useful when technicians leave your company or go on holiday or maternity leave. Ideally, ticket information should include time entries, expenses, communications, appointments, and notes.<\/p>\n Although integration capacity with other tools is not a strictly essential component of successful ticket management software, it can be very useful in supporting MSP success.\u00a0Remote support software<\/a>, for example, can complement IT ticketing systems very well. Integration with an all-in-one remote monitoring and management tool can enhance your help desk\u2019s service delivery by better supporting other capabilities like patch management and network device monitoring.<\/p>\n Even with the\u00a0best remote assistance software<\/a>, your technicians will still need to spend time at customer locations providing hands-on support from time to time. To be effective in the field, technicians need fast access to the knowledge and information available in their help desk and billing system\u2014which is why it\u2019s so important that your IT ticketing system for MSPs features a mobile application. A native mobile app that\u2019s compatible with both iOS and Android devices will allow technicians to access their help desk from their mobile device from anywhere on the road, as long as they have an internet connection.<\/p>\n Hopefully you\u2019ve received some insight from this guide into what to look for when choosing your ticket management software. Finding the right IT ticketing help desk tools that tick all of the necessary boxes can be a challenge.<\/p>\n2. Email to ticket creation<\/h2>\n
3. Time tracking<\/h2>\n
4. Custom ticket status tags<\/h2>\n
5. Priority view<\/h2>\n
6. Comprehensive ticket information<\/h2>\n
7. Integration capacity<\/h2>\n
8. Mobile application<\/h2>\n
Choosing the right IT ticketing system for your MSP<\/h2>\n