Alex RaineyAlex is an experienced CTO and founder who largely focuses on all the technical areas of My AskAI, from AI Engineering, Technical Product Management and overall Platform Development.
Table of Contents
- What is a Help Desk Software?
- Types of Help Desk Software
- Subscription-based
- On-premise
- Open-source
- Must-Have Help Desk Software Features
- Choosing the Top Help Desk Software: 4 Steps
- 1. Specify Your Goals
- 2. Check Help Desk Software Pricing and Your Budget
- 3. Pick a Help Desk Software
- 4. Evaluate and Enhance Performance
- Try an AI-powered Help Desk Software for your Business
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Gone are the days when customer support was an afterthought. Studies found that companies with stellar support services tend to have 20% more sales compared to their competitors.
Help desks are the heart of customer support—an agile and responsive help desk positions you as a reliable company that values customer satisfaction. But as the market grows more cutthroat, keeping a robust help desk becomes increasingly challenging.
Choosing help desk software to automate and streamline support services can raise the quality of your business’s customer support.
Yet, there are dozens to choose from, and picking the best fit for your business takes meticulous planning. Factors such as the software’s features, pricing, ease of use, and integrations must be carefully considered.
What is a Help Desk Software?
A help desk software is a centralized digital program that performs customer support tasks with minimal staff intervention. This software can respond to inquiries, give technical assistance, perform troubleshooting, manage tickets, and provide self-service options to customers.
Overall, this software automates the resolution of customer problems with absolute speed and greater accuracy.
Suppose your SaaS business just rolled out new product features. Now, your help desk is swamped with calls and chats from users asking for assistance. Your agents spend many hours explaining the features, leaving little time for them to perform other tasks. In this case, your help desk is slow and unproductive, and obviously needs improvement.
With help desk software, you can automate the process of responding to customer queries. The software can point customers to relevant FAQ articles, how-to guides, or video tutorials that will help them understand the new features. Now, your agents will have more time in their hands for more pressing and valuable matters.
Types of Help Desk Software
There’s a lot of help desk software on the market nowadays, but we can classify it into three groups:
Subscription-based
More commonly known as web-based help desks, this type of software runs through the provider’s servers. To use it, you pay a monthly (or annual) subscription.
This is the ideal option for those who have no time to manage the software’s upkeep, security, and enhancement, as the provider will be responsible for these.
On-premise
On-premise software is a help desk tool you can purchase in a lump sum to acquire its license and run through your company’s servers. This is the best option if you want full privacy for your customer support information. The only downside is that you'll be the one to handle the software’s maintenance and refinements.
Open-source
If you have advanced dev skills, you can access the source code of a help desk software and modify and refine it to fit your business needs. This option usually requires a team of software developers and might take time to build.
Must-Have Help Desk Software Features
The help desk software you must pick must offer these features:
- Centralized inbox: This serves as your help desk’s one-stop location for all customer messages and tickets that will facilitate smooth communication and collaboration among members, leading to faster resolution.
- 24/7 automated assistance: The software must be capable of addressing basic customer queries around the clock. An automation tool like an AI chatbot can respond to questions 24/7 using your business’s help docs and knowledge bases. Furthermore, check how fast and accurate the tool’s response to customers is and how easy it is to develop.
- App Integrations: The software must support integrations with your current workspace apps. A developer can help you create custom integrations, but a built-in integration capability is more cost-effective.
- Insights and Reports: The software must automatically track your helpdesk’s metrics and performance and present them into easy-to-understand graphs, charts, or tables.
Choosing the Top Help Desk Software: 4 Steps
Follow our guide below to pick the right help desk software for your business.
1. Specify Your Goals
Your help desk software has a purpose for your business strategy—a catalyst to achieve a specific goal. Your goals must be in the right direction to successfully adopt help desk software.
You can use the SMART approach for effective goal-setting:
Specific: The goal must be narrow and well-defined. (For example, the help desk software must improve support response time and accuracy.)
Measurable: Use metrics and KPIs to measure your help desk software’s success (E.g., CSAT, resolution time, CES)
Achievable: Set a goal you can realistically achieve, given your current resources.
Relevant: Your goal must be parallel to your long-term business strategy (E.g., improve support response time to induce higher customer retention)
Time-bound: Set a clear and realistic timeframe to fulfill your goal.
2. Check Help Desk Software Pricing and Your Budget
Help desk software’s pricing varies depending on its type and features. For subscription-based software, prepare to spend an average of $50-$100 monthly (up to $2000 if you’re a large enterprise). Meanwhile, in-house software is more costly as you might need to hire some professionals.
The acquisition’s cost must fit within your current budget. Also, ensure sufficient fund allocation for the maintenance and enhancement of the system over time.
Once you have enough funds to implement help desk software, create a shortlist of affordable "candidate" software options to consider.
3. Pick a Help Desk Software
From your short list of software options, pick one with features that can help your business achieve its goals.
You must also consider the software’s ease of use, security, and scalability to ensure its smooth implementation.
4. Evaluate and Enhance Performance
Upon implementation, you must regularly track your software’s performance. Keep an eye on your KPIs and other relevant metrics to see points of improvement. Using different feedback collection strategies, you can also gauge customers’ perceptions of your customer support.
Try an AI-powered Help Desk Software for your Business
My AskAI deploys AI chatbots to your help desk, ensuring instant 24/7 assistance with customer queries. Free up your staff from repetitive, arduous tasks with an AI-powered support tool. Try our free plan today!
Written by
Alex Rainey
Alex is an experienced CTO and founder who largely focuses on all the technical areas of My AskAI, from AI Engineering, Technical Product Management and overall Platform Development.
