Best Help Desk Software

Businesses and organizations receive queries about the services they offer and problems that occur in the process. Customer inquiries are usually submitted through social media platforms, email, and phone. To ensure every query is attended to, having the best help desk software is vital. However, with the market full of different IT ticketing system solutions, it is difficult to find one that works best. This article is here to help you out with a list of the best help desk software and other additional info.

Ranking methodology of the best help desk software

Ranking the best service desk software follows strict criteria to ensure that every product we recommend works as advertised. First, we looked up the highest-ranked helpdesk system options from multiple software ranking services and sorted out the top 50. We then went through multiple expert and user reviews to identify useful metadata and the top features of each product. This is followed by watching any recorded demos and letting experts evaluate the design and usability. Finally, we search for intent data based on Google trends, website traffic, and social listening tools. Based on all the information collected above, a score is calculated, and we rank the products.

Conclusion

A modern IT ticketing system needs to accurately and quickly respond to contact queries from consumers. Moreover, keeping track of how many issues have been solved is key to improving the speed and accuracy of the process. The complexity of the customer support process calls for effective and efficient service desk software. Above, we have listed the top support ticketing system products you can use to improve your brand’s helpdesk system.

To ensure that every software solution we list works perfectly, we follow a strict procedure to evaluate the features and functionalities of each product. This involves making use of demos, checking user and expert reviews, and letting professionals evaluate the product’s functionalities and usability. Check the ranking methodology section for more details.

Our list of the best help desk software has been generated from over 100 top-ranked competitors in the market. This is based on trusted software ranking services that also use reliable methodologies. Each of the support ticketing system solutions on our list works perfectly. However, the range of features and functionalities they offer vary from product to product. Your individual needs will determine exactly which solution will work best for your business.

The best way to find the best support ticketing system solution is by testing different options. Thanks to features like demo versions and trial periods, you can implement your chosen helpdesk system in a real working environment. You can then monitor how that help desk system performs and get advice from the actual users, Based on the results, you can either implement that help desk system or look for a new one.

Now, let’s take a deep dive into the topic.

Best help desk software overview

Customer support is the main driving force for the success of any business establishment. Regardless of how big your company is, customer expectations of services are always rising. The modern world is looking for accurate, fast, high quality, and context-specific customer service through their preferred channel. This involves meeting expectations in real-time on all available channels.

What is help desk software?

Help desk software, otherwise known as an IT ticketing system, is a one-stop point of contact that provides centralized support and information service management. It handles queries submitted externally through categorization, prioritization, automated routing, escalation, and service level management. Support personnel are also required to deliver their part in the whole process.

The primary users for a help desk system include customer service agents, and the actual customers or consumers. Customer support managers and the owners of the business can also use the IT ticketing system. Their focus on the helpdesk system is to check on reports, set workflows, and help the agents by working on escalated tickets.

The best help desk software assists agents to deal with different end-user complaints and inquiries including requests for a service, for information, and for help with any incidents. This means there are multiple requests from multiple channels. The IT ticketing system ensures that all issues are monitored, ticketed and nothing is left unattended by customer service agents.

What does help desk software do?

Businesses in different industries need to provide the best customer service to ensure that each and every customer is happy. This also helps to find new leads since a happy customer will always recommend your brand. Adopting an IT ticketing system is, therefore, a necessity for your business. Here are some things a helpdesk system does.

• Resolve tickets more accurately — A business has different departments each with a different service delivery process. In an IT ticketing system, queries relating to specific departments are routed to the relevant professionals. This ensures that the query gets an accurate response within a short time.
• Build a knowledge base — Information about different problems and solutions is usually stored in a ticketing software database. This saves valuable time for similar future issues. Furthermore, the information is not only available to your support team but can also be made available to your clients or customers.
• Ticket categorization and prioritization — When requesting assistance, some tickets usually have a higher priority compared to others. For quick responses to such tickets, help desk software sorts the tickets and delivers them to a support agent. Based on how they are listed, emergencies will be sorted out first.

Help desk software meaning

By definition, service desk software is a support ticketing system that allows companies to resolve customer queries efficiently. This is done by automating the whole complaint resolution process with a ticketing system. The helpdesk system also provides information about the whole management process through analytics and reporting to improve service delivery.

Main features of the best help desk software

The market offers different excellent options that you can use to improve your support process. If you want to choose a solution that works best, the key consideration is the features available in the support ticketing system. Here are three basic service desk software features you should look for:

• Multichannel support — Nowadays, most businesses offer a range of different communication channels for both staff and customers. You should look for a helpdesk system with the ability to provide help on different channels. This includes email, phone, and social media, which are the most used support channels.
• Analytics and reporting — The purpose of implementing an IT ticketing system is to ensure a seamless support process. Analytics is the process of identifying patterns in the data and creating reports. This helps businesses make informed decisions on how to improve their support service delivery process.
• Friendly interface — This is one of the most vital and key features of service desk software. You should be able to easily log in to your dashboard and view support tickets in a centralized panel. The same applies to both support agents and consumers. A consumer should be able to log in and create a ticket seamlessly and get reliable answers.

Benefits of using the best help desk software

A quality customer experience is crucial in earning customer loyalty and keeping them buying your product or service. A coherent way of doing this is by implementing the best helpdesk system. Here is a use case scenario of the best IT ticketing system followed by its benefits.

Use case scenario

A use case scenario of a helpdesk system is its implementation in an insurance company. People usually inquire about certain insurance services before buying. With service desk software, insurance companies can easily and efficiently answer all customer questions and increase their chances of getting more clients. Moreover, information accumulated can easily be accessed by customers who are looking for detailed results.

Benefits of using the best help desk software

Listed below are a number of the key benefits that businesses can expect from using the best helpdesk systems.

Quality and effective support

One of the main benefits of using help desk software is the seamless management of customer concerns. Queries and complaints from customers will be resolved quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, you can integrate different channels to ensure every customer is catered for. This ensures quality and effective customer support.

Strengthen brand reputation and image

Since the best ticketing software ensures quality customer assistance, each of your clients will be satisfied. A happy and content customer will be happy and loyal to your brand. Furthermore, they are more likely to mention your company when asked for any recommendations. This could be crucial for creating a strong brand image while maintaining a good reputation.

Systematic monitoring and tracking

To efficiently monitor your business, you need to track the current status of queries and how the agents deal with them. A helpdesk system allows you to monitor a problem’s cycle, from its inception, through the solving process to its eventual resolution. By monitoring, you can come up with a systematic and cost-effective way of dealing with customer queries.

Better customer relationship

As stated earlier, the key to a successful business is maintaining good customer relationships. By providing the best customer support, every consumer will be satisfied, thus building trust in the business. Furthermore, it also maintains a profitable and healthy relationship with both existing and new clients.

Single point communication

Since the help desk software is a single central support ticketing system, all customer requests, queries, and complaints are taken care of from a single point. This means that you can have multiple agents who have access to multiple queries. Furthermore, as an admin, queries can be distributed to available agents for quicker replies. Your customer support team will handle all requests without hassle.

Automation

Help desk software automatically carries out predictable and repetitive tasks including answering recurring customer queries and admin tasks such as providing reports. Automation is also implemented on other functionalities such as ticket categorization and routing. This whole process ensures a streamlined and quick customer experience.

Scalability

Businesses grow with time and this means an increase in both the workforce and consumers. Scalability is the ability of a system to adapt to a new environment, which includes an increase in the number of users. Most service desk software usually needs an upgrade to a higher tier to allow scalability. This allows you to grow your business while maintaining the same quality of support.

Integrations

One benefit of implementing ticketing software is the ability to integrate other helpdesk systems. This means that if the software lacks a certain feature that is specific to your organization, you can easily add it without affecting its normal functions. For example, IT ticketing systems can be integrated with your CRM and an external billing support ticketing system if needed.

Which companies should buy the best help desk software

Typically, every industry offers a customer support service to its consumers. This means that all companies need to implement the best help desk software. Here are a few industries that are already enjoying the benefits of implementing a support ticking system.

Healthcare

Healthcare services and hospitals rely on technology to deal with issues that need emergency responses. The industry cannot afford any delay since human life is at stake. Ticketing software plays a crucial role to ensure a fast response to emergencies through tracking, management, and escalation. Accurately integrating IT assets with the best help desk software connects services to end-users.

Insurance

Global insurance agencies are always looking for improved ways to serve their customers better. By doing this, companies boost their efficiency and other processes that help in compliance and regulations related to the industry. With the best help desk software, they can minimize risks relating to standardization. Furthermore, automated responses save staff time and limit errors.

E-commerce

E-commerce platforms involve a lot of communication between the customer and the online platform. Also, some consumers communicate directly with the actual product sellers. Implementing the best help desk software ensures streamlined buying and selling processes. Furthermore, it will help build a good relationship with customers, potentially attracting new leads.

Tourism and hospitality

The tourism and hospitality industry is volatile and therefore needs to adapt to changes fast. Similarly, it needs to provide a great experience and offer ideal customer support services. An IT ticketing system is the best choice in this situation since it is scalable and keeps advancing. It also helps to create a reliable customer experience by responding to queries systematically.

What does the best help desk software cost

Prices for help desk software vary depending on the type of ticketing system you want to use. Normally, the average pricing ranges from $60 to $80 per workstation per month. Higher prices include 24/7 support as well as the availability of other software integrations. If you go for the enterprise tier, the prices rise depending on the number of users.

Types of help desk software

Service desk software is usually grouped according to the form of deployment, whether the source code is openly available, and the size of your business. When looking for an ideal ticketing software, you should consider these factors. Below are the five main types of ticketing software.

Web help desk

This is a software service offered as SaaS. All the tools required for customer services are deployed via the internet through a browser. The vital information about customer history and companies data is stored on host servers. Businesses don’t need any hardware upgrades or new technologies to access the service. This type of ticketing software offers monthly and yearly subscriptions.

On-premise help desk

A company purchases the software and installs it on servers that are only accessible by the company itself. For those who intend to use this type of ticketing system, an infrastructure has to be created. Furthermore, the company needs IT experts and professionals to perform installations, updates, and upgrades. This type of service desk software is suitable for companies with sensitive information e.g., security.

Enterprise help desk

Most help desk software is designed for helping entities that are external to the business. However, with an enterprise help desk, the business can also offer in-house assistance. The software provides help to employees who might be facing issues while serving consumers. This ensures that their productivity is not hindered and the company’s customers get answers to queries.

Open-source help desk

Open-source help desk software is common among the IT community since it is usually free of charge. Users of the software can alter the original code of the platform to match their needs. This type of software is, however, not cost-effective since it requires highly skilled personnel to carry about updates, fix bugs, and strengthen the security of the helpdesk system.

Cloud-based help desk

Similar to other types of ticketing software in the list, a cloud-based help desk includes all the features needed for customer service. It includes a combination of installed software and web services. Data is accessed locally from the cloud, which includes a host operated by a third party.

Trends in the best help desk software

Customer service is undergoing a significant transformation thanks to the advancements in technology. Although support agents will still be using software to help customers, artificial intelligence will be the key driver to better customer service delivery. Here are technologies that will soon revolutionize the customer service sector.

• Application of artificial intelligence — AI will find its way into the ticketing software mostly as an interface for customers. Most of the available processes will be automated and only a few issues that require decision-making will involve the agents. An example of such is an artificial intelligence answering questions based on previous replies from agents. This will save both time and manpower.
• Rise of smart technology — Smart technology has already found a place in smart houses and intelligent robots. Customer service is another industry that is embracing this development through creating smart technologies such as chatbots. These tools remember customer responses and give suggestions accordingly.
• Cloud computing — Businesses usually grow rapidly leading to high demands from consumers. With cloud computing technology in customer service, you can easily cater to the greater demands of your consumers. Furthermore, it makes it easy for you to make changes to your business structure for a better customer relationship.
• Big data analysis — As your company keeps growing and offering customer services, a huge amount of data is collected by the ticketing software. Big data analytics could be crucial in such a situation. It would help identify patterns and trends from a large amount of data to help your business make informed decisions.

Which is the best help desk software

Choosing the best help desk software is difficult considering that there is a huge number of systems in the market. However, our list of recommended options is a good place to start. The best way to find software that works for you is by testing as many as you can. This involves using free trials and demo versions of the software. Furthermore, most of these software products offer a money-back guarantee if you don’t like them.

How to choose the best desktop software

We are here to help you find that ideal solution for your business in terms of ticketing software. Our team has created a list of the best help desk software by following a strict set of rules and using specialists to test each product’s design and functionalities. This ensures quality in whichever recommended solution you choose.

The best way to find a solution that ideally works for you is by checking the individual needs of your company. This involves surveying both consumers and staff. Also, check on the pricing and features included in the helpdesk system. If everything is available, test the support ticketing system in a real working environment and gauge the results.

Summary

The process of looking for the best support ticketing system can sometimes be daunting. Knowing how the service desk software works is the first step to determining what your business needs when choosing the best helpdesk system. There is no direct answer to the best system you can choose since each product has different features that are suitable for different industries.

Ticketing software has evolved over the years to match technological improvements, customer behavior, and generational changes. You should be certain that the provider you choose gives you the chance of enjoying the most benefits. To be sure of being on the right track, check out our list of the best help desk software you can try out.