Using Incident Management Automation to Cut Cost Per Ticket

When you run an IT help desk you’re faced with a paradox: you want to keep the cost per ticket low, but want to provide adequate customer service, which takes resources.

So, how can you effectively manage your cost per ticket? IT help desk software helps you lower your costs by automating your incident management process; it removes the expensive components from the process while providing excellent customer service.

What Components Go into the Cost of a Help Desk Ticket?

In order to understand how to lower the cost per help desk ticket, you need to know what the costs are.

The first and most obvious cost is the salary and benefits of your support technicians. There are also the salaries and benefits for their supervisors and auxiliary personnel (such as schedulers, QA/QC staffers and trainers). Then, there’s the expense of the technology you’re using as well as telecommunication costs. Don’t forget about the cost of the facility in which you’re located – you’re paying for things such as insurance and utilities.

How Does Help Desk Ticketing Software Reduce Cost per Ticket?

When it comes to IT help desk software, many companies are leery about investing in a new solution. “It’s just another cost center,” decision makers say. However, automating incident management reduces the amount of time IT service desk team members spend working on tickets. Less time per ticket equals lower cost per ticket.

Here’s what a personnel-intensive incident management process looks like: the user reports the incident, someone verifies that the problem is indeed a problem, the team member enters the data into a log and then diagnoses its symptoms and determines the level of its importance. If the staffer can handle it on his or her own, that’s what will happen; otherwise, the issue will get kicked further up the chain. Whoever handles it must resolve it, and the last step in the process is to log the resolution and change the status of the ticket.

Help desk ticketing software eliminates time wasted for your technicians in the first several steps. The user reports the problem in an online self-service portal, and the software logs the issue, diagnoses it, and determines how important it is. If the IT help desk software can find the solution within its knowledge base, it will suggest it to the user. Otherwise, the software will notify IT support staff that someone needs to handle the problem. Once the issue has been resolved, the software automatically logs the resolution and changes the ticket status.

Also, something that is regularly overlooked on the help desk is the cost of downtime for an employee. Help desk software gives your IT teams the processes and organization they need to streamline support, reducing and even eliminating that downtime. In an age where many teams are dependent on technology, downtime (or the inability to use any kind of pivotal tool) means big costs. After all, we don’t want the sales team unable to close that big deal because a web conference audio issue.

You can still provide excellent customer service while keeping your costs down – the secret is automation. To learn more about the benefits of automation, download our white paper: 101+ Ways to Automate Your Workplace.