The Essential Guide to IT Ticketing Tools
If a problem crops up at work, who do you turn to for help? Technical issues are typically handled by teams known as the customer service desk, help desk, support team, service desk, and IT support. The information technology or IT team is important in every workplace, and especially in an IT project management setup. They help in promptly resolving any tech or IT-related issue that a team member may face, boosting individual, team, and organizational efficiency. Ticketing tools are a great way to help your IT team do their best work. In this guide, we'll discuss what a support ticketing system is, its benefits, and how to identify the best ticketing tools for your company. What is an IT ticketing tool? Whether a company comprises two employees or two hundred thousand, each one needs robust ticketing tools to deliver an outstanding experience for their internal and external customers. IT ticketing tools help record, manage, and resolve customer issues, user requests, or technical problems. How do IT tickets work? An IT ticketing system centralizes all support tickets and their related information in one unified hub, making the entire process easier to manage. Here is the typical process followed by a service request or user support ticket: Tickets are generated from user requests, created automatically by computer systems, or manually entered by customer support agents. All tickets come into a single consolidated queue, where they're prioritized by urgency and the company's internal rules for ticket resolution. Tickets are assigned to different IT support agents for resolution. Once the IT support agent receives the ticket, an automated receipt notification is sent to the user. The agent performs the activity needed to resolve the request or asks for additional information. They may choose to escalate it if they aren’t able to resolve it at their level. All ticket-related information and records are stored in the ticketing software and can be used for upcoming process improvements and data analysis or to support team performance reviews. Does your company need an IT ticketing tool? If your customer support team struggles with issue management and is overwhelmed by the number and scope of support tickets, installing a ticketing tool makes perfect sense. Your team members are probably handling multiple and diverse external or internal support requests. Introducing a powerful IT ticket system can help streamline their workloads, enhance customer satisfaction, and improve internal work efficiencies. Ticketing system best practices you need to know There's no point in introducing new software if your team cannot measure the results. By setting up important parameters and key performance indicators (KPIs), your IT service desk will be able to resolve customer issues, maintain high satisfaction rates, and meet service-level agreements. Here are the ticketing system best practices to know before you start your search for the best one. Provide self-service options Most customers choose to use knowledge bases over any other kind of customer service option. Encourage self-service for support requests that can be easily resolved. Provide multiple forms of content to help them, including community forums, video tutorials, blog posts, and more. Apart from reducing costs, your team will be able to cut the overall number of support tickets and help customers find answers faster. Add support portals Did you know that more than 71% of customers want to solve their own issues? Creating a simple support portal can provide the tools your customers need to solve problems quickly and review ticket resolution progress. Your chosen IT ticketing software should have a customizable support portal to handle diverse requests and allow customers to upload any additional information easily. Create a superior customer experience According to a 2015 Gartner study, 89% of companies are competing on the quality of the customer experience. With customer experience the new marketing, managing customer requests becomes a business-critical process that can't be taken lightly. Investing in ticketing software that allows your team to support an omnichannel experience, gain consistency in communication, and resolve customer issues across touchpoints could be a wise decision for your company. Robust analytics and reports Leading ticketing system tools support real-time analytics and reports that help you gain visibility into help desk operations. This, in turn, allows you to discover opportunities to improve service outcomes and KPIs. Using Wrike's Ticketing and Help Desk Template, for example, can help your IT organization achieve best practices for ticketing management while eliminating any service requests slipping away unnoticed. Security A secure ticketing system is a must-have. Even if tickets do not contain confidential or customer-sensitive information, you'll need to establish secure networks between browsers and the server using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Getting HIPAA compliance will give you and your customers immense peace of mind and ensure no leakages happen anywhere in the ticket resolution process. Integrations and customization If customers need to include data from other software or programs, having a tool that integrates with your IT help desk workflows will make their experience smoother. Identify if the software can be customized for your organization — this can help you increase your support team's turnaround times. For example, incorporating multi-lingual and translation support can be a wonderful add-on service for customers in diverse countries like Canada or the US. [caption id="attachment_465487" align="alignnone" width="749"] Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash[/caption] What are the benefits of IT ticketing software? Are you still wondering if your organization needs IT ticketing software? Let's evaluate if the benefits of ticketing tools outweigh the costs. Improve team productivity with automation We all know that automating specific tasks or job elements can improve individual productivity. Centralizing all tickets helps keep any additional information (such as screenshots, images, documents, and more) in the same place. Automating routine tasks and having a ticket trail can boost your IT team's productivity and keep all customer processes streamlined. Deliver a superior customer experience US companies face an estimated $62 billion loss each year due to poor customer service. No one wants their organization to be on that list! Many customers require help with multiple issues, but with an organized and centralized IT support system, these problems can be resolved quickly. Resolve and centralize all business issues All organizations have diverse internal and external stakeholders, including investors, customers, vendors, and other third parties. Service level agreements (SLAs) ensure that the company meets business obligations towards these stakeholders. So how do IT ticketing tools help businesses meet SLAs? Setting up SLAs can be a good way to hold your team accountable and ensure they are meeting the expectations noted in the agreements. A simple help desk software can help manage diverse SLAs, gain compliance insights from custom reports, and keep the organization’s relationships thriving. List of IT ticketing tools Managing key performance indicators (KPIs) like resolution time or ticket response time can help optimize the customer experience. Let’s see which IT ticketing tools could be a great fit for your team. Servicenow Reduce software, hardware, and cloud costs with Servicenow, a specialized digital workflow management platform that centralizes IT support workflows to transform your business. Deliver a modern and experiential IT service experience to your customer with secure, automated, and consistent digital operations. Connectwise Quit missing tickets with Connectwise, which lets you create, maintain and operate an efficient helpdesk team. Keep your tech agents busy with smart features, including multi-channel ticketing, mobile access, automated escalations, time entry management, and intelligent dispatching. Jira Service Desk Established in 2013 by Atlassian, Jira Service Desk helps IT support teams reduce manual effort, slash customer wait times, and get more done in their workday. Get various industry-leading features such as an intuitive self-service portal, conversational ticketing, and integrations with Slack and Microsoft Teams. SolarWinds Web Help Desk An affordable web help desk solution, SolarWinds is also an asset management software that helps IT teams automate ticketing, develop a centralized knowledge base, integrate with LDAP and Active Directory, and generate custom reports for measuring SLAs. Happy Fox Reduce chaos with Happy Fox's all-in-one helpdesk ticketing system that lets your team get things done faster. Improve your SLA goals and boost your return on investment with Happy Fox's ability to create an actionable self-service knowledge base, efficient support ticket system, and powerful community forums. Features to look out for in an IT ticketing system Not all IT teams are created equal. Since each has diverse needs and ticketing solution requirements, the tools they choose will vary. Even as the urgency and number of incoming tickets differ, the core goal of installing an IT ticketing solution remains the same — to respond to customer queries promptly and effectively. Here are some features that will help them do just that. Incident management Incident management is an issue management process that focuses on restoring company operations as soon as possible by quickly resolving any existential issues. Quite similar to firefighting, incident management involves identifying a problem, diagnosing it, and fixing it immediately. Multi-channel support When more than 80% of organizations deploy an omnichannel customer experience strategy, no one wants their organization to be left behind. Today’s IT project management trends confirm that companies need to be where customers are. The ticketing solution you choose should have the flexibility to create help desk tickets from phone calls, emails, live chat, and social media. You should be able to manage all this from one single intuitive dashboard. Usability and self-service function Ticketing software attributes should include features that improve efficiency, such as automation elements, structured routing of tickets, and provision for simple workflows. User experience for both the agent and the customer should be simple, easy, and intuitive. Adding self-service components can drastically reduce the number of tickets while enabling a quicker resolution. [caption id="attachment_465493" align="alignnone" width="750"] Photo by Simon Abrams on Unsplash[/caption] Multi-lingual support Does your organization have customers in countries around the world? Why not consider a ticketing solution that has language translation inbuilt? Unique and genuinely customer-focused features like this one will increase your support teams' turnaround times and keep your customers happier. Knowledge base Create a powerful and self-serving knowledge base that lets customers evaluate and resolve more straightforward queries without actually creating a ticket. Include customer FAQs, service and product updates, video tutorials, and blog guides to reduce ticket volume and support costs for the organization. Scalability Every organization grows. When you are debating ticketing solutions, pick one that lets your business scale faster and more effectively. Data storage, number of teams allowed, number of customers managed, and user accounts are just a few features that will help you pinpoint the ticketing software options that best fit your needs. Reports and analytics A powerful reporting and analytics function should be a must-have on your IT ticketing system shopping list. You can match actual performance with predefined SLAs with the availability of real-time data around support agent performance, the number of tickets resolved, and the average time taken to resolve issues. Integrations Modern help desk solutions will give you multiple integration options with existing enterprise applications. With integrations, your team can use powerful data-sharing and automation features and boost the system's overall productivity. How to successfully implement an IT ticketing tool A tool is only as good as its implementation. To implement an IT ticketing tool successfully, make sure to follow the seven steps outlined below. Define your end goals Before you implement ticketing tools, make sure the team knows why you’re doing it in the first place. Setting clear and actionable goals helps employees visualize the direction in which team efforts are directed. Additionally, they stay focused on specific goals such as offering consistent customer support, reducing support costs, or improving service level agreement compliance. Clarify user expectations Ask the right questions to delve deeper into your customers' needs, expectations, or pain points. Do they prefer interacting with a live agent or having self-service options? Did they find the process of registering a ticket simple? Build your support team Delighting your customers is simple. Just make sure that your support team is knowledgeable, appropriately skilled in using the company service/product, and confident in resolving customer queries. Estimate the ideal IT project support team size by quickly reviewing the average number of service queries your team gets in a week and the average resolution time per ticket. Set up an automated workflow Automate as many tasks as possible to boost support team productivity and save time that your IT agents can spend on critical issues. Features like automatic ticket assignment using round robin, sending automated feedback mails, or having predefined SLA rules can be helpful. Create an actionable knowledge base More than 60% of customers prefer a readily available self-service tool that helps them solve their own problems. Knowledge bases are the tool that they most frequently use. To create an actionable knowledge base, ensure it is optimized for mobile and updated regularly, with the most popular content easily accessible. Target predefined KPIs If your organization has an IT helpdesk, you'll need to measure specific metrics to ensure its smooth operation. Identify key parameters that are simple to monitor — these can include user satisfaction, ticket resolution time, and levels of escalation of more complex tickets. Test and implement the IT ticketing tool No IT system can be implemented without testing it multiple times to minimize the risk of problems and ensure that your team is prepared. Before going live, give your team time to explore all features and confirm that they are comfortable using the ticketing tool in their daily workflows. Why use Wrike as your IT ticketing tool? Help your people adapt to changing IT project management and evolving customer needs by giving them a flexible ticketing tool to match their needs. Using Wrike's premade template can help your teams effortlessly organize, manage, and track incoming IT tickets, whether they're coming from internal users or external customers. Empower your teams with real-time work visibility, custom ticket dashboards, and simple automated workflows to set them up for IT ticketing system success. Want to get started? Try a two-week free trial today.
What You Need to Know About Work Order Management
Offices aren’t exempt from needing work done every once in a while. Maybe you’ve needed the printer repaired, made a standard maintenance call such as an air filter replacement, or appliances in the breakroom stopped working suddenly. These are just a few examples of times when a work order — the connecting communication between you as the customer, the work that needs to be completed, and the vendor — comes in handy. We’ve pulled together everything you need to know about work order management and how a work order management system can help your business thrive. What is a work order? A work order (sometimes referred to as a WO) is a document that describes in detail the work between a customer and a contractor. It’s the bridge between a customer’s needs and the work they want to have done to get them from where they are to where they want to be. Contractor work orders are the backbone of service and maintenance industries. Generally speaking, a work order includes a description of the job, with cost estimates that include labor, materials, and other applicable fees. Special instructions or other agreed-upon terms may also be included depending on the type of work, along with customer information for invoicing purposes. These documents are useful in scheduling and assigning work and for managing resources and deploying them to execute the work. You may be most familiar with work orders for maintenance requests — think about when you’ve needed a maintenance service, such as work completed by a mechanic on your car. But work orders come in handy for other industries, especially for facility management, maintenance technician requests, computer services, and ultimately any other work completed by general contractors. Who receives work orders? Once a work order gets created, whether by hand or through an automated system, it gets assigned to a technician or contractor who will be executing the work. The person or team responsible for completing the job receives a work order, accepts it, and then schedules or assigns the job out as needed. Using maintenance requests as an example, a technician generally receives work orders from a maintenance supervisor or manager. This is how work gets assigned to the right people. Once assigned, the technician can prioritize the work order against their current list of requests. In some cases, the work order might not be sent outside of the organization if the request was created internally and is going to be fulfilled by someone with the organization. Think of the IT team as an example. Perhaps an employee needs assistance with their work equipment that the IT department can provide. In this case, your organization should define who should be responsible for receiving work orders and assigning them out. Are there different types of work orders? Not all work orders are the same or serve the same purpose, and there are a few different ways to think about work orders based on the job that needs completing. Let’s break down some of the types of work orders you might encounter based on the need. But keep in mind, work orders can be flexible based on the industry and type of work. Where is the work coming from? Internal work order: The request originated within the organization and will also get assigned to someone within the organization. Your contractor, in this instance, is another direct employee rather than an external contractor. Internal resource planning is key for this type of work order. External work order: The request originated outside of the organization. If the request originated outside of the organization, you may or may not be aware of the issue beforehand. Was the problem planned for? Planned work order: The work was planned for and may deal with preventative maintenance or a recurring schedule of work. Routine maintenance checks in the office, such as testing fire alarms, would appear on planned work orders. Unplanned work order: The work was unexpected or unknown in advance. In these instances, we can think about things like a laptop crashing and needing repairs or replacement. How is the work going to be scheduled? Manual work order: As the title suggests, this type of work order is scheduled manually, often following a work request. This might require making a phone call or reaching out via email to set up a timeframe to complete the work. Automatic work order: These work orders can be automatically scheduled using work order software. If you know when the next work order will need to be planned or collect data that could indicate that it’s time for another work order to be placed, scheduling software can take the manual scheduling off your hands. Free work order template Work orders don’t need to be overly complex. In fact, keeping your work order simple and straightforward is the best way to go. So, what should you include in your work order? Here are the nuts and bolts sections that an effective work order needs. Company contact information: All work orders should include the company name, address, phone number, email address, and other critical contact information. This is especially important if your work order will be sent to an external contractor. Work order number and title: Designate a unique number to assign to the work order. This is key for organizational and reference purposes. You can also add a title for an added layer of description. Key dates: Include all of the dates associated with the work — meaning when the work is expected to start, finish, and space for the actual completion date when the work order is closed out. This helps prevent deadline issues or confusion about when work should be completed by. Priority level: When handling multiple work orders, assigning a priority level can help determine which contractor work orders take precedence over or have dependencies on others. Setting a priority can be helpful for the contractor assigned to the work too. They’ll need to know if your request is urgent, and they should bump your work order to the top of their to-do list. Who is performing the work: Name the assignee, vendor, or internal team member responsible for finishing the job. Job description: Arguably, the most important part of your work order is the description of the job. Lay it all out in this section. Describe the work that needs to be done, requirements needed to complete the job, materials required, and the total cost. Don’t forget to add in labor charges, taxes, and fees. You can also include billing and payment information as you see fit for invoicing purposes. Location-related details: If applicable, include the location where the contractor or vendor should complete the work. Perhaps the work needs to happen in a specific office space, for example. Include the office number to ensure the work occurs in the right place. Work order best practices Work order management can be inefficient and ineffective if the right processes and systems aren’t in place. From how to organize work orders to prioritizing requests accordingly and everything in between — establishing work order best practices ensures you’re setting your team up for ongoing success. Here are some best practices to keep in mind when building out your work order processes in your business. 1. Designate approving authorities for various types of work orders It’s important to identify staff members who can approve work orders and for all team members to have a clear understanding of who the approving authorities are. Especially for contractor work being completed by an outside vendor, having approving authorities in place can help prevent bottlenecks in work not being completed on time. 2. Establish priority definitions for your work orders and categorize them accordingly Work order prioritization helps ensure that any critical issues are taken care of prior to any other work, preventing them from getting lost in a backlog. If your organization handles a lot of internal work orders, prioritizing these requests will also allow you to guide your team’s workload and allow you to better manage your internal resources. 3. Assign tasks to appropriate team members If you’re pushing work orders through your organization and your team is fulfilling requests, be mindful when assigning the work orders out. Learn and know your team’s strengths and weaknesses so that you can use their capabilities to your advantage, making the entire work order process more seamless. 4. Organize all of your work orders for quick reference Once you close your work order, it should be stored with other files in an organized system. Maybe you store your work orders by request type, vendor name, or by month of completion. No matter what method you choose, ensure that all work orders are closed out and stored accordingly. 5. Automate your work orders to reduce human errors and improve efficiencies Managing work orders the old-fashioned way on paper and spreadsheets leaves room for human error and inefficiencies. Centralizing the entire process using work order software or a work order management system helps ensure that your team is highly productive, efficient, and accurate. What to look for in a work order management system Gone are the days of traditional work orders. Written requests on paper are subject to getting lost or misfiled. Spreadsheets can be helpful, but they still require a great deal of manual entry and aren’t always ideal for moving quickly. What’s a work order management system, and how can it help? Put simply, it’s software that can help you organize your work orders and streamline processes for your teams. Known for enhancing operational practices, work order management systems are finding their place within organizations. Research suggests that the work order management systems market is expected to reach $836 million in 2026 as the demand for these systems continues to increase. These systems vary in capability, which means you can choose one that works best for you and your organization. Not sure where to start? Here are a few things to think about when selecting a work order management system. Is the system easy to use? Remember that the purpose of implementing a work order management system is to streamline processes and create efficiencies, which means the system should be user-friendly. You want to manage work orders with a few simple clicks, not a lengthy process that will bog your team down. What information are you looking to house in your work order management system? Clearly define your goals and expectations of the system before you begin your search. Know what your non-negotiables are, such as having the ability to track all work orders, no matter what type. Perhaps you’re looking to run certain kinds of reports. Specific requirements identification will set you on the right track to finding the best system for you and your team. How necessary are customization and flexibility for you and your team? No two organizations manage and organize work orders in the same way, and no two work order management systems are identical either. There are a variety of systems available, and some come with more customization and feature options than others. Consider your short and long-term plans to determine how flexible a system you need to fit your team’s current needs and potential future needs. What’s your budget? Understanding all costs associated with a work order management system will help you determine whether it falls in your budget or not. Learn about the cost to purchase the system, whether there are individual licensing charges, training fees, support costs, and any additional monetary considerations that need to be accounted for. It’s important to know who will be using the system now and how that might grow and affect future costs. Understand the ROI of implementing a system versus manual work to manage the work orders. How to organize your work orders with Wrike For teams that are looking for a work order management software that is flexible and easy-to-use, Wrike is a great option for streamlining and organizing processes. Wrike makes it easy to set up request forms that both internal and external teams can use to submit project or work requests. Those forms are easily customizable so that you can get all of the information you need. The best part? Wrike can automatically create a templatized project from that request form, meaning that you and your team can spend less time understanding the work request or order — and more time working. R
65 Essential Tools for Digital Marketers
Marketers are a busy bunch. Every day they manage a slew of projects, campaigns, and clients, all while coordinating efforts with other teams and immediately reacting to change. The right tools can make a marketer's life a lot easier, but with the overwhelming number of options, where do you start? Take a look at our list of top marketing tools and marketing project management software that will help you build leads, opportunities, and revenue. Inbound & Content Marketing Inbound & content marketers work to attract, nurture, inform, and entertain potential customers to earn their business and loyalty. They examine how today’s consumers make buying decisions and place helpful, interesting content at each stage of that process. Hubspot's inbound marketing platform Up Close & Persona to help generate marketing personas A/B testing tools like Optimizely to analyze and tweak your current inbound strategy Google Analytics to examine where your traffic is coming from and how customers are interacting with your website Content discovery tools like ContentGems, Scoop.it, Triberr, or Trapit Collaboration tools like Wrike for brainstorming, writing, peer editing, and task delegation Online publication tools like Paper.li, Flipboard or Kuratur to organize and distribute your content Disqus to respond to readers who comment on your blog Tools to help recruit and recognize brand advocates, like Influitive Graphics & Multimedia Did you know that YouTube reaches more U.S. adults aged 18-34 than any cable network? As the content landscape grows increasingly crowded, more marketers are turning to engaging visuals and videos to grab customers' fleeting attention and stand out from the competition. Video platforms like Brightcove or Vidyard Webinar platform like GoToMeeting or BrightTALK Piktochart to create infographics Canva to make instant graphics for web or print Slideshare, List.ly, YouTube, and Pinterest accounts for distributing and curating content AdWords for Video and YouTube TrueView for creating video ads Search Engine Marketing & SEO Search engine marketers increase a site’s visibility in search results pages, either through search engine optimization (SEO) or paid advertising. SEO experts determine the top keywords that people are searching for about your topic or market and then include those keywords in strategic spots on the website and blog. Google Keyword Planner to find top keywords, as well as long-tail and niche keywords Yahoo Search Marketing or Bing Ads to post ads on search results pages, blogs and websites Optimization, reporting and link building tools like Moz, Raven SEO Tools or SEMRush Social Media Marketing & Social Advertising Social media networks help marketers increase brand awareness, engage with customers, and direct traffic to the company website. Marketers package and post updates readers will want to share, manage online communities, and run paid advertising campaigns to reach new customers. Social media accounts or pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. for sharing internal and curated content Sprout, Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule social media posts, determine the best times to publish, and discover the most popular types of posts Followerwonk breaks down followers into specific demographics Mention and Social Mention track where brands — or certain keywords — get mentioned across the web, including social media sites, discussion forums, and blogs NinjaOutreach identifies influencers based on keyword. Filter by tags to find bloggers, influencers, and companies to refine your search Sprinklr or SocialBakers analytics tools to determine click-through rates, cost-per-click, and overall reach and engagement Viral Content Buzz account to share stories that interest you, and earn tweets and likes on your own content Mobile Marketing Mobile is overtaking desktop internet usage, as more customers are defaulting to digesting content on smartphones and tablets. And because people carry their devices with them, marketers can send personalized messages directly to them via SMS, push notifications, in-app ads, QR codes, and more. Digital Advertising Alliance Principles to check opt-in and privacy guidelines MailChimp Mobile to manage your MailChimp email campaigns while on the go Mogreet Express or Textus.biz to exchange SMS messages with customers Mobile ad creation and distribution tools, like Huzzah Media and Adagogo Location-specific mobile marketing tools like MobSav and Thumbvista Mobile app creation and testing tools, like BuildFire and TestFlight Email Marketing & Marketing Automation 82% of consumers open marketing emails, and 66% of them have made a purchase as a direct result of an email. In order to attain that success, email marketers must send helpful, relevant messages to recipients and respect customers’ inboxes by not sending spammy emails. AWeber, MailChimp and Constant Contact are popular tools to manage email marketing Hubspot, Marketo, ExactTarget, Eloqua, and Customer.io are marketing automation tools to help with email campaigns as well as other marketing channels MailChimp's subject line suggestion tool to refine your all-important subject line copy Email Spam Test checks to make sure messages are compliant with applicable SPAM laws See how the email looks on various clients and devices with Litmus The marketing landscape is constantly shifting as new strategies and tools arise. Stay ahead of the curve with these 6 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch.
How to Choose the Best Project Management Software for Your Company
The best project management software for small businesses should include a few key features. Find out some core capabilities you’ll need whether you’re looking for project management software for startups or another type of organization.