The modern hybrid workforce is composed of employees working in a variety of settings, from home, on the road, in the office, and just about everywhere in between. The help desk teams who support these dispersed employees are often in mixed working environments themselves and require enhanced contact center software with robust features to adequately serve their customers’ needs. Many companies are now exploring omnichannel solutions that combine contact center platforms, IT support systems, and video communications to address these new working environments.
With 83% of workers preferring a hybrid work model, and 63% of high-growth companies adopting a “productivity anywhere” workforce model, employees need to be as productive as possible no matter their location. IT professionals tasked with supporting these employees must be confident they can get all employees up and running as quickly as possible to avoid long stretches of downtime.
Getting assistance from IT help desks can include submitting tickets via email, online portals, calling them on the phone or using an on-site kiosk. While many enterprises have geographically dispersed IT help desk teams to support a global workforce, it’s now more likely these staffers are working from home or have their own hybrid schedule – which can make it difficult to deliver a more personalized help-desk experience.
Now, with an omnichannel, video-optimized contact center, companies can equip their IT Help Desk teams to deliver the same empathetic and supportive experience internally that is offered to external customers. IT help desk functions are just as important as external customer support, because an employee’s productivity and uptime depend on reliable technology that works. Adding visual engagements to your contact center allows for face-to-face communication that enhances support between an employee and the IT help desk team member.
Having relied heavily on tools such as Zoom for the past few years, many employees are quite comfortable with being on camera, which provides a human element that makes IT support more effective. For example, a video call allows help desk staff to provide a more personalized and caring experience for a frustrated employee who can’t get their work done. Screen and file sharing during the interaction lets IT staff solve problems faster and more efficiently. Video also can be used to quickly verify an employee’s identity, which can add another level of security with employees working from home or remote locations.
Many interactions require expertise beyond the contact center, so it’s important that IT staff have easy, real-time access to back-office experts while helping an employee. A modern platform that combines the contact center and unified communications creates a more seamless experience for help desk staff to interact with fellow employees and reduces costs while improving operational efficiency for IT staff. This also reduces research time, helps in locating answers to solve a given problem, and leads to higher employee satisfaction. What’s more, the department now has one less product to install, train on, administer, and maintain. Additionally, companies save money by eliminating the need to work with multiple vendors for various tasks.
An open platform that can integrate with the critical business applications that IT help desk staff use, such as Zendesk and ServiceNow, is essential to improving efficiency and streamlining the interactions with employees. Through integration, help desk staffers no longer need to switch between their contact center app and service ticket application, and instead, work directly within one application. This enables more automation capabilities and saves time from manually entering in the ticket and employee information.
Learn more about how Zoom Contact Center can assist IT help desk professionals with faster and more personalized support for a hybrid workforce.
Data Center Management