The deployment of remote teams in this COVID world is becoming the standard practice for many companies. Remote teams allow a company to be more competitive, especially when offices are geographically dispersed. Even when teams are spread across different time zones, they can still maintain productivity levels with the right tools and help desk software features.
However, there are challenges for the IT department when supporting remote teams. In addition to obvious factors such as time differences and cultural barriers, remote teams will also inevitably have technical issues. In some cases they may have more complicated issues than employees located in the office. These technical issues may be very complex due to being remote.
Troubleshooting remote issues can pose problems without the right tools to assist in the process. Even small companies need experienced help desk technicians with the right tools to address remote employees needs and keep them productive. Here we will discuss some of the top help desk software features that can help you meet the needs of your remote teams.
Equip Help Desk Technicians with Tools to Assist Remote Employees
Mobile Access
There will be times when help desk technicians need to visit a remote team’s office for hands-on troubleshooting. There will also be situations where a help desk technician cannot be at the same site as the user who needs assistance. Now more than ever, technicians need the ability to access help desk tickets and user systems from anywhere in the world.
The Track-It! mobile app connects to the help desk system, allowing the help desk technician to add new tickets and update and resolve existing tickets from anywhere. This allows help desk technicians more flexibility with so many teams working remotely and in distributed locations.
Patch Management and Software Deployment
It is also vital for remote employees to have up-to-date systems to ensure their reliability and security while connecting to the company network. Patch management and software deployment are critical to the success of an IT department. Attempting to push updates manually across different cities, states, or countries can be a logistical challenge. Especially when an organization needs to make a major update such as a Windows version update. Performing such a change can be a huge challenge for the help desk and even more difficult when dealing with remote teams. Your help desk software platform should be able to assist the IT team with these types of updates by providing them with the capability to schedule and automate the process. Help desk technicians should then be able to broadcast notifications, choose when the updates occur and perform hands-off installations and updates.
Compliance
Enforcing company-wide compliance rules and regulations for systems use can be difficult when teams are working in the same office. It can be even more challenging when teams are working remotely. Hardware restrictions, such as preventing users from downloading files from USB drives, are rules that many organizations need to enforce. Track-It! assists the help desk technician with automating and maintaining rulesets and regulations so that even remote IT assets are compliant with laws, industry requirements or company policies. Help desk technicians may also need to generate compliance reports to share with auditors, other teams, and other offices.
Asset Management
Asset management can be difficult under normal circumstances. When dealing with multiple remote teams, asset management can be an insurmountable challenge. Keeping track of employees’ hardware and software can be an error-prone process when done manually or with the wrong software. The IT Team needs to be able to detect when new equipment joins the company network and whether the equipment is local or remote. Help desk technicians need to be able to gather information on each asset, allowing them to make decisions about updates, maintenance, or whether the item needs an upgrade.
Remote Management for troubleshooting and training
Traveling to a remote team’s physical location to troubleshoot an issue is not always feasible, especially if the remote team is in another state or country. However, oftentimes a remote session can resolve the problem. Track-It! allows help desk technicians to remotely connect to users’ systems regardless of the platform. In some cases there is a problem with the user’s system that needs fixing. In other cases the user may just need some help with usage of an application. Remote management allows the technician to walk a user through using an application and can serve as a valuable training tool. Remote Control also allows a remote technician to fix problems on the end users computer. This technology allows the end-user to observe the work being done or the training being provided in real time. This is often much quicker and easier for the user than trying to follow instructions over the phone or complex written instructions.
Empowering Remote Users to Create and Manage Help Desk Tickets
One challenging aspect for end users can be creating the help desk ticket initially. End users who are not comfortable with a help desk system may be intimidated or may enter information incorrectly. To simplify things, remote users should be able to create a help desk ticket simply by emailing the help desk system. Using business rules and other automation, help desk tickets can be created via email and then prioritized, processed, and routed just like help desk tickets created in the self-service portal.
Technically-advanced end users may be more comfortable with a self service portal. Track-It! allows help desk technicians to create and maintain a web-based self-service portal for users. The web-based self-service portal allows users to create new tickets and check the status of existing tickets. Features such as a knowledge base and ticket search are available via the self-service portal as well.
Remote teams will likely encounter similar technical issues as their counterparts in the company office. When this occurs, it could be a waste of time and effort for the remote team to submit a help desk ticket when the solution is already known and can be found in a well kept knowledgebase. When the remote team can solve their own problems by accessing the knowledge base via the web-based self-service portal, it can lead to fewer help desk tickets, happier end users and less time spent troubleshooting issues.
Enabling the Ability to Work Remotely
Due to the current state of business today, it’s common for a variety of departments to work remotely. Despite the benefits of employing remote teams, the use of remote teams also adds a layer of complexity to your operation. Maintaining remote IT assets and resolving issues remotely can be an extremely complex and frustrating task but it doesn’t have to be. Track-It! empowers help desk technicians with the functionality and tools they need to keep remote teams happy and productive.
