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27/11/2014 by
10895 views

Top 9 Current Help Desk Industry Trends

The recent explosion of social media and the continuing move toward mobile technologies have changed how companies interact with their customers.

This is especially true when it comes to customer service. Here are nine current trends affecting the help desk and help desk software industries.

Cloud-computing

Software-as-a-service is a growing trend for all enterprise systems, including help desk software. By moving to cloud-based applications, companies can save money both on the software and on IT resources.

24/7 support

A help desk only open between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.? That is so 20th century! Today, customers expect to be able to access support at any time of the day or night, and many companies are responding by expanding their customer service teams and even opening new offices around the globe.

Self-service

Customers no longer want to have to talk to someone on the phone to find resolutions to their problems—they want to be able to take care of it themselves. In response, many help desk software systems are now providing self-service modules.

Knowledgebase integration

We live in a multimedia content-driven world, and companies are learning that they can benefit by providing customers with access to knowledge resources including documents, tutorials, videos, and more. To facilitate this access, many knowledge base software systems can be fully integrated with an organization’s knowledgebase.

Multichannel support

Today, customers expect to be able to communicate with companies directly over various channels, including phone, online chat, and social media. Often, they want to combine multiple channels into one transaction, such as establishing first contact on Twitter and then following up via email. This fractured communications environment makes help desk software even more essential for tracking customer interactions.

Mobile support

Phone and mobile device usage continues to grow, and many people now go online more often using these devices than using their computers. Companies are just starting to integrate support buttons into their mobile apps, and this will undoubtedly be a growing trend in the coming months and years.

Remote access

Remote access, in which a customer service agent or IT professional gains access to the customer’s computer or mobile device to fix a problem, is becoming more popular. Accessing the end users’ devices directly to resolve software issues can save a lot of time that would otherwise be spent talking users through procedures (often more than once).

User communities

Community forums are also growing in popularity. Rather than asking customer service agents for help, customers are asking one another, and answering one another’s questions. New help desk software systems provide integrated discussion forums and user communities.

Outsourcing

Customer service is increasingly being outsourced to companies and individuals that are not part of an organization’s core operations. This means that the agents handling customer service might not be in the same building, or even the same country, as the rest of the company’s employees. Help desk software facilitates outsourcing by providing a centralized database for customer interactions.

My Opinion?

The help desk landscape is changing, and fast. In just a few short years, customer service has evolved from customers waiting for hours on hold followed by being painfully walked through a complex repair process to a highly flexible, multi channel, automated process that may not involve any actual contact between people at all. These nine trends are leading the way and will determine the future of both customer service and the tools and technologies that support it.

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About the Author
Guest author Sameer Bhatia is founder & CEO of ProProfs, a leading provider of online learning tools for building, testing, and applying knowledge. ProProfs Knowledge Base Software is used to create highly-searchable online FAQ’s to improve customer service and reduce tickets. It helps centralize access to organizational files, documents and how-to articles ensuring they can be accessed across multiple devices and platforms.

Sameer founded ProProfs based on the vision that knowledge should be freely available to people from all walks of life. The site hosts 1,000,000+ pieces of content in 90+ languages, and is a leading platform for online training and assessment with the world’s largest library of professional tests & quizzes. He has a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Southern California (USC) and is an ed-tech industry veteran. You can find him on Google+ and Twitter.

 

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