What are the features of the best Service Desk systems?

What basic functionalities should a Service Desk have?

A Service Desk provides support for users, manages the requests and ensures the continuity of the services among other improvements. There are some basic functionalities that all Service Desks most have, as an example, we can mention:

- responsive web design,

- notifications,

- email ticket creation,

- custom fields,

- ticket relations,

- templates and multi-forms,

- self-service portal,

- admin notices

Moreover, some Service Desks offer ITIL® 4 compliant and best practices that improve the service quality of your operations. These include, among others:

- Incident Management - is a process in the service lifecycle stage of Service Operation. It can be triggered in various ways, because a user, customer, or supplier may report an issue, technical staff may notice a failure or an incident may be raised automatically by an event monitoring system reporting the disruption or lack of a service. The main process steps involved in incident management are incident identification, incident logging, incident categorization, incident prioritization, and incident response. The service desk is the single point of contact for the users to report any incidents.

- Knowledge Management - is the process of collecting, analyzing, storing, and sharing information on frequently recurring errors within the Service Desk. Due to this functionality, typical requests can be handled efficiently and effectively. In other words, it is the practice of documenting the actions taken to fix problems and sharing them with other Agents as needed.

- Change Enablement - the goal is to maximize the number of successful changes to services by ensuring proper risk assessment, authorization, and management of their schedule.

All the above-mentioned functionalities are provided by Mint Service Desk, a certified system compliant with ITIL® 4.

What distinguishes the best Service Desk systems?

A good Service Desk system is the key to the success of most organizations. Service Desk support is an invaluable help for companies that receive a large number of requests that their support department must respond to, preferably in the shortest possible time. These types of systems must have all the basic functionalities, but it is the additional ones that may decide about the final purchase of specific software.

Tracking the Agent's working time is one of the additional functionalities in Service Desk systems, but one that significantly facilitates work and simplifies the process of recording the time spent on a specific request. Due to it, the Agent can easily count the time and then report it. This way, the employer who has access to the notification knows how much time the employee has spent on resolving the problem. Such information is necessary in the case of e.g. monthly billing and remuneration.

Another useful feature that makes Mint Service Desk stand out from other systems is the automatic network discovery of IT assets in the organization. It consists of the possibility of obtaining immediate access to complete, accurate, and up-to-date data at any time, due to a dedicated module for Network Auto Discovery. Agents can also use unique QR codes to identify assets.

One of the most relevant functions in Mint Service Desk is the API, i.e. the Application Programming Interface. An API is the code that controls all application or server access points and plays a key role in modern internet infrastructure. Moreover, it is referred to as an intermediary that enables the communication between two applications. Importantly, the API prevents fraud, because only an authorized agent has access to the generated data. Due to the API, it is possible, for example, to integrate social media with a Service Desk type system and respond to all messages from the software's position. This is done with the help of notifications and notifications that the Agent receives.

The best systems for handling requests also have an SLA function, i.e. a service level agreement. SLA is a document that specifies the minimum level of service, scope and technical parameters of the service offered. Due to it, the Agent who is working on the report knows how much time he has left to terminate it in order to meet the terms of the contract. It also has the ability to prioritize tasks, which is especially useful in the case of a very large number of notifications. This functionality ensures that the person reporting the problem will receive a response with a solution within the set time limit. What's more, the advanced SLA not only counts the overall time but also allows you to limit the Agent's resolution of the problem in the event of the end of the working day or the occurrence of public holidays.

In Mint Service Desk, there is an option to create reports based on requests, assets, or users. Due to this functionality, it is possible to moderate attributes as well as edit and sort the list of existing reports by their creation date. In this case, it is important to be able to determine who has access to a given report and define filters that will help in grouping protocols.

Mint Service Desk is an advanced system for ITSM, with additional functionalities. Get to know the detailed offer and provide your company with the highest quality Service Desk.

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