Here are a few reasons why help desk software can benefit your business:

Benefits for clients

Clients benefit directly when a company uses help desk software. They have a central contact for their problem and it is a great relief to know that they do not have to continually repeat the question they have asked. The right solution directs the question to the most relevant person in the organisation therefore ensuring that a problem is most likely to be solved quicker. In addition help desk software enables a business to offer 24/7 support meaning that clients can report a problem at any time whenever the problem occurs. This instils confidence in the business and maintains satisfaction.

Benefits for customer support staff

Help desk software makes the job of customer support staff much easier. A fully integrated help desk solution enables them to review previous incidents and also gives them the right tools to take the most relevant course of action to help the customer. The right help desk solution also improves communication within the team and with other elements of the business including technical, sales and management.

Benefits to the company

Help desk solutions offer a great deal of benefits to both managers and the business. They have a tool to monitor the efficiency of staff and at the same time report on activities immediately. In addition using help desk software can also enable them to establish trends which they may not have normally seen.

Next time you are looking at how you can improve your business operations talk to adept4 about how our help desk solutions could help your business.

With the release of Cumulative Update 1 for System Centre Service Manager, we followed our Release Management process and went about installing the update into our TEST environment, which was successful without error so we started rolling out into the Production Instances we have for ourselves and our customers.

One of the analysts had the following error during the install:

Opening up the error log revealed…..

This directs you to a detailed application setup log…shown below..

From the detailed log this highlighted that the product version was still at Product Version 7.0.5813.0, this was then upgraded to the latest released version and the CU1 applied successfully Happy Days

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James Richardson

Head of Infrastructure & Design

So here’s the highlevel steps I followed,

I built a brand new VM for use as a Web Server, installed the OpSys, AntiVirus made sure it was fully patched, installed all the prerequisites etc etc

• I installed the SCSM Portal on the server as per the deployment guide.I then copied the SCSM Portal folder to the same folder with a different name
• Added a new site in IIS and assigned it to the same Application Pool in IIS Manager
• Changed the logo’s on the new site, removed the links for request password and request software as we are not ready for them yetI
• I then removed the contact IT button from the aspx page’s as per my previous blog here
• I then assigned the new site a different internal IP

….and hey presto two SCSM Portal sites with different branding, the contact IT button’s removed running on the same server but pointing to the same instance

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James Richardson
Head Of Infrastructure & Design

So came the challenge, with multiple clients all taking the service from us, either as a dedicated hosted instance or as part of a multi tenanted environment, I needed to remove the ContactIT button from the Self Service Portal and have separate branding for each client… there logos etc… ( blogged here).

Anyway back to the challenge in hand, I needed to remove the ContactIT button from the Self Service Portal, and according to the technet forum posts, and the feedback on the Connect site, it didn’t look easy, or even at all possible….. but it actually turned out to be only a few lines of code changed.

So the following bit of code needs to be removed from the ServiceManagerPortal.Master, from the ServiceManagerCommandMaster.Master as well as from the relevant *.aspx files in the End User directories of the self service portal.

The *.aspx files for the End User Portal are located in \System Center Service Manager Portal\EndUser’ and the *.Master files are in \System Center Service Manager Portal\EndUser\MasterPages\

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So once the following changes have been made to the relevant files if you load the self service portal into you internet browser, the ContactIT Button has been removed….

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James Richardson
Head Of Infrastructure & Design

We are using the product as the workhorse of our Managed ServiceDesk solution where you can have a fully Managed ServiceDesk or simply sign up for a Hosted ServiceDesk solution that runs the System Centre Service Manager (SCSM) servers in our data centres, setup and configured by our staff, and dedicated for you. Combine that with our Managed Server solution (using SCOM of course) and our Managed Desktop solution( using SCCM of course)  …..and with our Technical Consultants being on hand to assist you or even do it for you it makes for the ideal hosted solution and its priced per user per month

Hopefully you will find these blog posts useful, and if you have any further questions then feel free to drop me an email at james.richardson@adept4.co.uk or if you want it from an analysts perspective drop Rick a line rick.hall@adept4.co.uk

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James Richardson
Head Of Infrastructure & Design

Since being developed in the early ’80s to help IT providers deliver quality services that meet the needs of the business, it is now more or less recognised as the worldwide standard in service management.

So much so, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has already overhauled and centralised its IT service desk with ITIL-compliant software to help streamline key processes.

But it’s really no surprise that the ECHR’s IT department has incorporated ITIL into its IT infrastructure to help deal with its 800 user clients. This is because by working within the ITIL framework, companies of any size and from any industry, can see an improvement in customer satisfaction, productivity and the ability to allocate people’s skills and experience.

By improving how they manage service requests and problems at the service desk, businesses can also create considerable savings and give customers the service they expect.

By working within the ITIL framework we at adept4 are ensuring our IT support follows best practice guidelines to ensure greater effectiveness and efficiency in our customers’ organisation.

The report revealed that callers are now hanging up 8 seconds quicker compared to 1997, when the average customer waited 53 seconds before abandoning the call. What’s more, the number of calls disconnected before even speaking with an agent have more than doubled, reaching 13.6% in 2008.

The report also revealed that the percentage of calls answered within 10 seconds has fallen from 72 per cent to 63.5 per cent in 2008, and the average time taken to respond to a message left by customers has risen from 11 to 20 hours.

So it seems customers are becoming less inclined to hang around waiting for their call to be answered, meaning call centres are under pressure to up their game when it comes to customer service.

This is why more and more call centres are turning to technology to help them enhance their business operations, and deliver a better quality of service that saves both them and their customers time and money.

Implementing leading edge technologies such as voice over IP and virtualised desktops can increase call centre efficiency, meaning customers are dealt with swiftly, without any hassle.

To find out more about how you can improve your customer service contact the team at adept4. 

The call centre of any business should be able to deliver the right service at the right time. But before this happens, it’s essential they have from the outset the right technology in place, ensuring customers always get the service they expect.

At adept4 we are improving the efficiency of call centres by providing robust and effective IT and communications solutions. By implementing leading edge technologies such as instant messaging, virtualised desktops, disaster recovery solutions and voice over IP, call centres can enhance their business operations and provide a better quality of service that saves them and their customers time and money. What’s more, customers will also reap the benefits of receiving hassle-free support when they need it.

If you want to deliver a more efficient service by improving your call centre communications, talk to the experts at adept4.

But solutions like help desk software are already cushioning the blow for businesses, helping to save time, money and resource.

With a fully integrated help desk solution, the jobs of customer support staff right through to managers are made much easier. The software allows support staff to review previous incidents, without having to ask customers to repeat their query. This means that when you are under-staffed, all staff members are equipped with the relevant information to deal with the situation.

What’s more, with the right software you can also take the most appropriate course of action to help the customer, ensuring satisfaction and increasing customer confidence in your company.

As well as increasing business efficiency, help desk software is also proving beneficial to managers, providing them with a tool to monitor the effectiveness of staff and establish trends that may have previously fallen below the radar.

At adept4 we are working with companies of all sizes to enhance the efficiency of their business operations with our managed IT services and solutions. By supporting these with a 24/7 managed service desk which utilises advanced help desk support software, we are ensuring our customers get the right service at the right time, saving them time, money, and hassle.

To find out more about our IT service desk get in touch.

With businesses now operating round-the-clock and IT infrastructure running 24/7, IT service providers need to deliver a service that meets the demands of today’s businesses’ non-stop culture.

There are plenty of benefits in having an outsourced IT service desk, including; having a specialist and focused provider, a single interface across all IT service activities, enabling staff to focus on core business activities, allowing end users to fully exploit and keep up with desktop technology, and flexibility and responsiveness to changing business needs and environment.

But there is nothing more frustrating than calling for technical support and not being able to get hold of someone because they are out at lunch or on holiday or have just gone home.

When looking for an IT service desk provider it’s important to ensure that as well as using strong business processes and robust systems to support your business, they provide you with a service that fits in with your business needs.

Competent support resource is the back-bone of an IT structure and having it available when it is needed is imperative to the efficient and effective running of any business.

For more information on adept4’s 24/7 support service desk get in touch.