Melisa Wrobel May 25, 2023
- 11 min read
IT Support Management software has become an essential tool for businesses looking to streamline their operations. As organizations continue to rely more on technology to function properly, the need for effective IT Service Management (ITSM) has also become increasingly crucial. With so many tools available in the market, choosing the right solution to empower your IT support team can be an overwhelming and sometimes confusing task. However, considering some key factors and features that a competent tool must include will help you find software that fits your organization's needs.
In this article, we will provide you with a comprehensive guide to the best IT Support Management software available in 2023. Plus, we will look at the benefits of implementing it and the must-have features to consider.
So, keep reading to find out your best option and start boosting your ITSM right away!
What is IT Support Management?
Before even considering acquiring a new tool, it's important to thoroughly understand what IT Support Management implies. This practice takes on the whole process of managing the technology infrastructure of an organization, ensuring that its computer systems and networks are operating efficiently and effectively to meet the needs of the business. It also involves providing technical support to end-users, whether they are employees or customers. This includes managing hardware and software installations, performing updates and maintenance, and troubleshooting any issues that may arise.
Why do you need an IT Support Management tool?
With the increasing complexity of technology and the growing reliance on digital tools in business operations, IT Support Management tools have become more important than ever. The reason behind this is that they allow businesses to streamline IT operations, reduce costs, and improve the overall performance of their technology infrastructure.
Without the right tools and processes in place, managing IT support can be a time-consuming and frustrating task for businesses, and you may incur in some of the most common pain points that Support Management software avoids:
- Disorganized support requests - Without a centralized system in place to manage requests, IT teams can easily become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of requests and lack the resources to organize and prioritize the workload effectively.
- Inefficient workflows - Manual processes and lack of automation can lead to inefficiencies and mistakes in the support process.
- Limited visibility - Without a way to track and monitor support requests and assets, IT teams may lack visibility into their IT infrastructure and the relevant data they need to address issues.
- Poor communication - Communication breakdowns, misunderstandings, and unclear agreements between IT teams and end-users can lead to frustration and delays in resolving issues.
- High workload on IT staff - IT Support Management software can provide a self-service portal for end-users, reducing the workload on IT staff.
Thus, any organization that relies on technology to carry out its day-to-day operations (and, to be honest, it's hard to think of an industry that doesn't these days) will benefit from it. This includes businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large corporations.
Nevertheless, you should always analyze your organizations specific needs when choosing the right option to acquire
How does IT Support Management software work?
In essence, IT Support Management software offers a centralized platform to manage IT support processes. It usually takes the form of a service desk, and thus enables users to benefit from all its perks (more on this later, we promise!).
The basic way in which support platforms work involves:
- Organizing information in a comprehensive way so that end-users have the possibility to self-solve issues before contacting the IT department.
- Channeling requests (that can be submitted through multiple channelsif you have the right integrations) in a single place.
- Assigning requests to help desk agents for their resolution.
- Tracking the entire ticket process flow to ensure SLA fulfillment and provide visibility into the agents' workload and performance.
- Generating reports to evaluate the performance of the entire team, and identify areas to be improved.
5 benefits of implementing IT support software
Any organization that implements IT support software can optimize its operations. So, let's go into more detail about the value it will bring to your work. Here are the key benefits of implementing a new tool:
- Improved efficiency - Businesses improve the efficiency of their IT operations by providing a centralized platform for managing assets, service requests, and system performance.
- Increased visibility - Through its reporting tools, it provides greater visibility into IT support operations, allowing teams to identify bottlenecks, track trends, and make data-driven decisions to improve service delivery.
- Higher productivity - By automating routine tasks, IT Support Management software can help free up IT staff to focus on more complex projects, which can increase productivity and enable them to add more value to the business.
- Better customer satisfaction - With a self-service portal for end-users, they can submit service requests, search knowledge bases for solutions, and track the status of their requests. This will save time, give them autonomy, and also reduce the workload on IT agents.
- Reduced costs - All of this makes organizations operate more efficiently and effectively, which translates into overall cost savings.
5 must-have features for IT Support Management software
IT Support Management software features vary from vendor to vendor. However, there are a couple of them you can’t lack.
1. Ticket Management
One of the primary functions of IT Support Management software is Ticket Management, which allows you to create, track, and manage IT support requests from employees through a centralized ticketing system.
The tool should have a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to create new tickets and assign them to the appropriate agent or team. It's important to also have customizable workflows that can help you prioritize tickets based on their urgency.
2. Self-service portal
A self-service portal allows users to submit support tickets, track their status, and access knowledge base articles. This way, employees are not only able to manage their own requests, but also resolve simple IT issues themselves, reducing the workload on your IT team and increasing employee satisfaction by providing them with a quicker way to address some of their needs.
3. Knowledge base
Another critical feature is an internal knowledge base. It allows you to create a database of articles, documents, and other practical resources that your employees can access to apply proper Incident Management. This will not only empower agents with the information they need to carry out their tasks, but it can also help your team normalize procedures, saving time and resources.
In addition, a knowledge base available for end-users can also reduce the number of support requests that your team receives, as clients will be able to self-solve common issues.
4. Reporting and analytics
Your chosen software should have robust reporting capabilities to track the performance of your IT support team through key support metrics, including First Response Time, Ticket Volume, and Time to Resolution. This can help you identify trends and patterns in your requests to help you make data-driven decisions about the IT support processes.
5. Asset Management integration
IT Support Management software should also have an Asset Management integration to track your company's IT assets, including hardware, software, and licenses. By integrating ITSM with ITAM, you will have easy access to the devices related to the requests, which can save tons of time and help with troubleshooting.
8 IT Support Management software alternatives in the market
Now that we covered everything you need to know before making the important decision of acquiring an IT Support Management software, let's take a look and compare most popular alternatives that are currently in the market.
1. InvGate Service Desk
InvGate Service Desk is an IT Service Management solution designed to streamline IT support operations throughout organizations, empowering agents with all the information they need to operate, and improving end-user satisfaction at the same time. To do so, it provides you with a full package of all-round capabilities to boost your performance:
- Ticket Management
- Customizable forms for submitting service requests
- Self-service capabilities
- Automated workflows
- Tasks creation and assignment
- Service-level agreements (SLAs)
- Knowledge base
- Integrations
- Reporting capabilities.
Don't hesitate to try out the free 30 day trial to see for yourself!
2. Freshservice
Freshservice offers ticketing, Asset Management, and self-service capabilities. It allows users to create and manage service requests, incidents, problems, and changes from a single platform. The software also offers a self-service portal where users can submit service requests and search for solutions to common issues.
3. SolarWinds Service Desk
SolarWinds Service Desk counts with ticketing, Asset Management, and self-service capabilities. The software is designed to help businesses automate their IT support processes and improve service delivery. It provides customizable ticket forms, automated workflows, and a knowledge base for users to search for solutions to common issues. The software also offers asset discovery and management, allowing users to track and manage hardware and software assets throughout their lifecycle. It provides detailed reporting on ticket resolution time, technician performance, and service desk performance.
4. ServiceNow
ServiceNow is a solution that allows you to deliver ITSM on a single platform. It has great capabilities for detailed reporting on ticket resolution time, technician performance, and service desk performance. The software helps manage IT support operations more efficiently and improve end-user satisfaction. It has a central repository for managing incidents, problems, changes, and requests, allowing for streamlined ticket resolution and automation of IT processes.
5. Jira Service Desk
Jira Service Desk provides customizable ticket forms that will help you to triage the request in a simpler way. It also offers asset discovery and management, allowing users to track and manage hardware and software assets throughout their lifecycle. The software is designed to help businesses streamline their IT support processes and improve service delivery.
6. Zendesk
Zendesk aims to improve their support operations and provide a better customer experience. It offers customizable ticket forms, automated workflows, a self-service portal, and a knowledge base for users to search for solutions to common issues. It allows for detailed reporting on ticket resolution time, technician performance, and service desk performance.
7. BMC Helix ITSM
BMC Helix ITSM is a comprehensive platform that offers a wide range of capabilities to help businesses automate their IT support processes and improve service delivery. We can highlight its automation capabilities, which reduce response time and eliminates manual effort.
8. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is a cloud-based IT Service Management solution that is designed to help businesses streamline their IT support processes and improve service delivery. It counts on a ticketing system to manage requests. We can also highlight its Asset Management, self-service, and knowledge base capabilities.
In conclusion
As you probably know by now, counting on the right IT Support Management software is key if you’re seeking to provide smooth service throughout your whole organization By automating and streamlining IT support processes, you can make sure everything and everyone are working at the highest possible level, reduce downtime and extra costs, and boost overall productivity.
But to do so it's crucial to look for certain decisive. This includes Ticket Management, Asset Management integrations, reporting and workflow automation, as well as options for self-service, and integration with other systems. Apart from making sure all of this is met, remember to analyze your organization’s specific needs to make sure the solution satisfies all your demands.
Ask for a 30-day free trial and improve your IT support operations with InvGate Service Desk right away!
Read other articles like this : Service desk, ITSM, IT support
FAQs
What is help desk management software? ›
Help desk software allows companies to accept, track, and respond to support requests in an organized fashion. Many help desk programs also provide knowledge bases, self-service portals, SLO management, and reporting. Choosing the right help desk software for you depends on your company's specific needs.
How to make a help desk software? ›- Communication Channels. Set up the communication channels your customers may use to contact your support team: ...
- Basic Settings and Workflow. Build contact form with additional fields; ...
- Tickets Management. ...
- Automations. ...
- Team Management. ...
- Advanced Settings. ...
- Preparing for Launch.
It manages tickets, tasks, and communication all in one place to provide a great customer experience efficiently for the organization's business model. The service desk fulfills a strategic function for IT teams: It's an end-to-end solution for businesses managing complex customer service operations.
Which of the following tools is a cloud based helpdesk tool? ›Zoho Desk. Zoho Desk describes itself as the industry's first “context-aware” helpdesk provider. This tool, which is extremely modern and accessible, is accessed via the cloud. By far the most impressive thing about Zoho Desk is its mobile application, which lets agents stay on top of customer support from anywhere.
What is the IT help desk support services? ›An IT help desk is a software platform that helps users solve their problems through a single (or multiple) point of contact. IT help desks allow employees and IT team members to troubleshoot problems, track their issues, and get assistance regarding products, services, or processes.
What is the difference between IT help desk and desktop support? ›While a help desk can fix a broad range of IT issues, desktop support is dedicated to fixing only desktop or laptop issues. It can't help with printers or networks, but it can help you install programs or get a broken computer running. Desktop support is typically included in the help desk function.
How do I create a support ticketing system? ›- Step 1: Define Your Goals. ...
- Step 2: Understand User Expectations & Pain Points. ...
- Step 3: Onboard & Train Your Agents. ...
- Step 4: Create Predefined Rules for an Automated Workflow. ...
- Step 5: Create a User-Centric Knowledge Base.
Office 365 offers automatic ticketing creation. Unique user IDs are availed for new tickets as soon as they arrive on the user organization's helpdesk. Automation means that the organization doesn't necessarily have to manually scan records and registers to try to find the best identifier for the new tickets.
What is ticketing tool? ›A ticketing system is a help desk software program used to process, manage, and track customer issues from submission to resolution. Ticketing systems automatically organize and prioritize support requests in a central dashboard. Users can tag, categorize, and assign tickets as they come in.
What is the difference between IT support and helpdesk? ›The simplest way of distinguishing the terms is by thinking of a helpdesk as the function that reactively resolves everyday customer issues with a product or service as the first point of contact with a company. IT support (or tech support) tends to get deeper into issues that require more expertise.
What is the primary role of an IT service desk? ›
The service desk acts as a single point of contact between the IT organization and the business for all incident reports, service requests, change notifications, and any other necessary communications.
What are the two types of service desks? ›- Local service desk. A local service desk serves the needs of a small or medium-sized enterprise. ...
- Centralized service desk. This type of ITSM service desk can handle many tasks with few people. ...
- Virtual service desk. This is the most common type of service desk. ...
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Atlassian Jira Service Desk Overview
The Jira Service Desk is reliable help desk software offered by Atlassian and serves as a place where your customers can report bugs, contact you for help, access your knowledge base and request new changes.
Support Tools means any hardware, software and other tools and/or utilities used by EMC to perform diagnostic or remedial activities in connection with Software including any software or other tools made available by EMC to Customer to enable Customer to perform various self-maintenance activities.
What makes a good IT service desk? ›Make sure your help desk is measuring a variety key performance indicators such as, calls per technical agent, first call resolution, turnaround time and client satisfaction. Keep those metrics front and center with your help desk team so the focus is always on how to improve the client experience.
What is help desk tier 3 IT support? ›Tier 3: Tier 3 is usually the highest level of technical skill in the organization, and often includes the product engineers or developers. Tier 3 personnel are involved when the only way to resolve a customer issue is a design change, enhancement, or bug fix that requires a software or hardware update to the product.
What is the difference between IT specialist and IT support specialist? ›Most of the time, the IT specialist can solve the problem remotely, but they are also available to make on-site visits. IT support technicians have the skills to set up and install computer equipment and make most repairs. They can train employees on how to use new computer hardware and software.
Can we use Jira as ticketing tool? ›Jira Service Desk, which was built on the bug and issue-tracking foundation of Jira, provides one integrated solution for ticketing, tracking, and notifications for both internal and external customers.
Does Google have a ticketing system? ›What is Google's Ticketing Tool? Google's ticketing tool serves as a help desk to allow customers to access customer support. It means that businesses can control incoming customer requests. These can then be assigned to team members who are equipped to help the customers and resolve the task.
What is a ticket in Jira? ›In Jira Service Desk, Jira tickets entered by customers are referred to as “requests.” In Jira Software or Jira Service Desk queue, a request is referred to as the “issue.” Jira Tickets help in saving time and money as users are capable of recording all issues, communications, and notes in a single tool.
Does Microsoft have an ITSM tool? ›
Provance ITSM augments the collaborative Microsoft Teams work environment with flexibility and ease of use that creates links between all services, providing a frictionless path to the modern world of work. Visit us at Provance.com.
Can Outlook be used as a ticketing system? ›By adding ticketing functionalities and automation in Outlook, the Helpdesk system enables support agents to work with support request in the same way they do with emails. Moreover, Helpdesk add-in leverages your existing Microsoft resources such as MS SQL Server, Exchange server, Active Directory etc.
What is Jira in Office 365? ›Microsoft 365 for Jira harnesses the power of Microsoft Outlook, Teams and To Do with deep integrations to Jira. Top features. Work and chat in your Jira issue. Emails: See issue-related emails, send emails.
Is CRM a ticketing tool? ›A CRM ticketing system is a help desk ticketing tool with a builtin CRM integration that brings more context to customer support. It works by establishing two-way sync between a CRM and a help desk. A CRM-based help desk system brings customer context into support tickets and adds ticket information into leads in CRM.
What is the difference between CRM and ticketing tool? ›A CRM tool is used primarily by the sales team to improve customer relationships. On the other hand, a ticketing system is used by support agents to enhance the service experience. While CRM adopts a more strategic approach, a help desk is more reactive in nature.
Is SAP a ticketing tool? ›SAP Event Ticketing software helps you manage event processes with scalability and customizability.
What is Level 2 IT helpdesk support? ›Level 2 Support generally handles configuration issues, troubleshooting, software installations, hardware repair (including in-house repair or coordinating depot services). Depending on the Help Desk organization, a Level 2 tech may either: Be limited to only solving known issues and escalate new issues to level 3; or.
What comes after helpdesk support? ›Jobs like security administrator, security analyst, systems administrator and network engineer are just some of the job roles you can land with these certifications. If you hold these three certifications, be sure to market yourself as a CompTIA Secure Infrastructure Specialist (CSIS)!
What is the role of IT support engineer? ›IT support engineers install and maintain computer hardware and software systems for a wide range of businesses, in both the private and public sectors. Different companies use different job titles, so this job is also known as desktop server or application support engineer, IT technical support officer, or technician.
What is a Level 1 IT support job description? ›Performs routine technological systems support, maintenance, and testing for proper upkeep of systems; troubleshoots and resolves general system hardware, software, and network failures and conflicts.
What is a Level 1 support job description? ›
Level 1 support is the first tier of support, usually provided by IT support personnel with the least experience, lower understanding of technical issues, and limited access to company information. The technicians in Level 1: Collect customer requests and data. Attend to customer phone calls.
What is the role of IT support analyst? ›What does a IT support analyst do? As an IT support analyst you will be responsible for helping to maintain IT systems within a company. This can vary between diagnosing software or hardware issues, to testing new systems or moving networks.
What is the best way to organize a service desk? ›- Use your service desk software to its fullest potential. ...
- Stop treating your IT teams as “catch-alls” ...
- Build a customer portal. ...
- Get smart about SLAs. ...
- Promote self-service for customers. ...
- Look at the big picture and measure your progress.
- Be Proactive. The nature of customer service is that the customer support team is always waiting for customers to contact them with issues. ...
- Take Ownership. ...
- Be Accessible. ...
- Document and Collaborate.
General questions
How important would you say customer service is? How beneficial do you think a help desk is to a company? How important are IT skills in a service desk role? Where do you find motivation in a help desk role?
Is help desk a CRM? A help desk system is similar to a CRM but isn't identical. A help desk tool allows customers to get technical support online. Customer Relationship Management Systems hold information about customers and allow agents to provide better customer service by using this data.
How does help desk system work? ›An IT help desk is a software platform that helps users solve their problems through single (or multiple) points of contact. IT help desks allow employees and IT team members to: Troubleshoot problems. Track their issues.