The hot topic of discussion was “help desk monitoring: do you do it and if so…how”.
Some of the first suggestions made were:
Gmail – using labels works, but no reporting
SharePoint
SysAid – First 100 “devices” are free
ZenDesk
Help Desk Pilot
Trackit – integrates with Logmein
Another key point in the discussion was to assign and track issues via a 2×2 grid:
| Urgent | Not Urgent |
| Important | Not Important |
However, when all was said and done, what the end user really wants is just a status update. “Am I on your radar screen?” “Are you even concerned about my problem?” Users like regular updates, even when there is nothing to report. “Still working on it. Haven’t found the solution yet, but we are working on it.” A simple thing that fosters communication and prevents users from just “living with their little issues” until they become big ones.
If your tracking software doesn’t help you do that, it is falling short.
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Agreed – Provided that it doesn’t take an eternity to solve someone’s problem (which generally equates to a couple of days in their eyes) most users are content to know that you still know about their request and that you have a schedule to resolve it. Implementing a helpdesk system (SeriveDeskPlus in our case) has been a big win in that area.
BTW if anyone in Australia is reading this, check this out: http://neilnuttall.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/is-your-church-it-geek-plugged-in/
Hadn’t heard anyone mention ServiceDeskPlus. Will have to check that out.