Making the Most of Your Help Desk Support System

Even though Help Desk systems are designed to meet users’ support needs, that doesn’t mean users cannot contribute to successful outcomes. When they do, problems are resolved more quickly and with less downtime. Following are some ways that you can contribute to the process.

  1. Plan Ahead. It’s fairly rare for computers to break down with no warning. If your system is acting up, don’t wait until it crashes to request support. Also, if you need help setting up new equipment (or any other non-emergency request), open a ticket in advance and provide the date you would like the work completed. Don’t wait until an hour before you MUST have it done.
  2. Be Thorough. When describing your problem, provide full details. For example, “The terminal in the conference room is crashing whenever we open Microsoft Word” is a much more effective request than “Help! Word keeps crashing.” Also, if you have tried any fixes or workarounds on your own, describe those efforts as well.
  3. Be Honest.  If you spilled coffee on your keyboard, opened an email attachment that caused the system to crash, or did anything that might have caused a problem, come clean about it. People make mistakes and have mishaps. Covering them up will make problem resolution more complicated.
  4. Don’t “Gang Up.” If you have requested help with one problem, don’t ask the technician to do five other things once he or she starts working on your issue. If need help with more than one item, even if it isn’t an emergency, put in a ticket so the technician can allot an appropriate amount of time for resolution.
  5. Play Fair. Don’t try to “break in line” and get ahead of others in the queue by going straight to a technician for whom you have contact information. If you have a true emergency, note that in the request and it will likely be escalated. Everyone’s problem is the most important one—to them—so try to be patient.
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