When IT problems crop up, it can bring work to a standstill. That’s why many companies have an IT helpdesk to offer solutions and keep employees productive and motivated. Once an internal IT help desk has been established, it can also serve the purpose of assisting customers. It can improve the customer’s experience and thus their satisfaction. This normally has a positive impact on sales as well.
Apps, webshops, reservation and ticketing applications, building management systems, a restaurant’s wireless network, even digital cash registers — IT is part of practically any customer experience you can think of. The downside of this is when digital services, business applications, or IT infrastructures malfunction. Because that can quickly lead to frustration — among employees and customers alike.
That’s where the IT help desk comes in. It offers solutions that allow employees to get back to work as quickly as possible. The types of media most often used here are illustrated instructions and videos. But once answers have been made available internally, they can also be used to assist customers and prospects. But that’s only possible if the information is available in a central repository. Using interfaces, you can then use this single source of truth to easily propagate content to multiple channels, increasing satisfaction in many areas.
Keep barriers low
The IT systems are on the blink again. Employees and customers want a quick resolution. But just the thought of searching through endless pages of FAQs or dealing with on-hold music makes people stop and reconsider. The sad truth is that everyone has had negative service experiences at some point. That’s why many are reluctant to contact support. Sometimes, employees may even feel their request is keeping colleagues from getting other work done. Customers, on the other hand, simply go and see if the competitor’s IT systems are up. If they are, they simply switch vendors.
A good help desk lets employees and customers find solutions, report malfunctions, and submit complaints without getting put on hold. That makes people feel more comfortable about communicating their problems to the company, which receives valuable information as an added bonus. When employees or customers receive useful answers they can understand, they will gladly return. Their trust in the company’s abilities remains intact. So it only makes sense to open up your help desk to customers once it’s running smoothly for employees.
Knowledge management is the key
Opening up a help desk to customer requests is not always easy. You should consider the fact that customers will have questions that haven’t come up yet internally. Consequently, information about the devices or applications that customers use should be accessible to the helpdesk, or at least readily obtainable — in some industries, around the clock.
Knowledge management applications collect, link to, and make accessible the knowledge of IT systems, subject matter expertise, and customers that exists within the enterprise. Ideally, a knowledge management system will be a single source of truth that is connected to existing help desk, ticketing, and CRM applications. Such a setup ensures knowledge is kept current and allows large quantities of knowledge to be systematically managed and precisely located, all tailored to the needs of the respective business.
SABIO’s knowledge management system, for instance, aggregates knowledge from any business unit, application, or file. A navigation structure that can be tailored to business processes, request types, or help desk topics accelerates the process of finding answers. Editors collect new requests while adding to and updating information. This keeps the collected knowledge current.
Improve your customer service
Top sum up, providing an IT help desk for customers is a very good way to fundamentally improve the customer experience. But only once the help desk has received a knowledge management solution can customers be assured of getting the help they need — every single time. That way, customers remain satisfied, even if IT problems do turn up at some point.
Want to learn more? Just get in touch. We’re here to advise you. Or go ahead and start your free, 30-day trial of SABIO’s knowledge management system now: https://www.getsabio.com/signup/