How to Use Help Desk Software to Manage Ticket Escalation?

The problem of handling help desk ticket escalations is a never-ending loop of service in business today. Implementing help desk software to navigate every potential situation is ideal on the list of service desk best practices. But, as with every IT solution, the manner in which help desk software is implemented in order to resolve ticket escalation is a problem in a continuous state of evolution.

Help desks and service desks today need clear direction and uniform standards, even when the tickets are out-of-the-box problems. Here are some ways your help desk software can help you manage ticket escalation efficiently.

Implement Speed in Service Desk Best Practices

It is estimated that help desks and internal support departments see approximately 492 help desk tickets monthly, on average across business size and industry. During outages and downtimes, that number increases. It takes approximately 24.2 hours on average for many businesses to return the first response on one ticket. For many customers, that downtime is unacceptable and costly.

Speedy ticket resolution should be the first priority. Your help desk software should be able to help you accomplish these three minimum things:

• Create and direct the path of a help ticket
• Modify and close the ticket while keeping consistent records
• A short turnaround to resolution

Help desk software settings can be designed around these protocols. It also helps to define these expectations and document them for the team.

What’s In Your Service Level Agreement?

Every IT department and help desk needs a clearly defined set of expectations that define the end-user or customer experience. This is the foundation of your service level agreement or SLA. Every support desk should have SLAs, but only 77 percent of help desks have them.

Your SLA is the internal bible that guides the rules of who comes into contact with who and when. Clearly define the parameters of how long it takes for an escalated ticket to be resolved, for example. This protocol and others should be in your SLA.

Testing, One, Two, Three

Each of your IT personnel members should have a protocol for testing problem-solving. But, a tech problem is a tech problem is a tech problem, and someone else will have it down the road.

Keep your IT personnel in a constant state of testing with your help desk software. Identify a day every week or month where possible when your agents can work offline from the support desk to use help desk software to replicate problems found in the escalated ticket queue. Have your agents repeat the problems to identify key problem areas. Refer to senior experts in-house for the particularly unexpected or seemingly unsolvable situations, and clearly define who those seniors are. Put this all in your SLA.

This not only helps identify priorities of problems but helps your business to delegate ticket escalations more efficiently. Keep testing, that unique problem is coming back.

Expect and Define the Unexpected

Ticket escalations are a result of unexpected support problems in the world. It’s not enough to just know they are going to happen. Create rules for the exceptions and the unexpected, and rules for the exceptions and unexpected. Use your help desk software as a management tool.

If for example, you promise to have the first response to your clients within 24 hours, meet that rule. When there is an exception, create a flag in your system to notify you to notify the customer. Otherwise, you may have a client on the verge of canceling a contract or order because their needs weren’t met. Implement service desk best practices of always keeping your client’s escalated tickets a priority until their crisis has been managed.

More Support Means More Orders

When developing your service desk best practices model, treat ticket escalations as more than just “problems of the day.” When you do, you will not only solve more problems more efficiently but generate more sales.

Approximately 84 percent of consumers spend more money when they receive personalized support experiences and exceptional customer support with one brand. Over 70 percent of those problems will refer you to other clients. That is the magic of help desk software with even the most difficult tickets.