The Ultimate Guide to Service Desk Automation: How to Boost ITSM Efficiency
Service Desk Automation can boost the efficiency of business operations across your organisation by reducing manual tasks and speeding up workflows. The service desk is no exception. Consider the following stats:
- Providing customer self-help decreases ticket volumes by 21%[i]
- Organisations adopting automated solutions report a 50% or greater increase in productivity[ii]
- Every week, employees spend 5 hours waiting for answers to resolve issues[iii]
- 41% of all IT tickets are related to password reset[iv]
By automating key ITSM processes, you can streamline ticket management, improve customer service, decrease downtime, and optimise your IT operations. This guide will show you how to inject some automation into your service desk processes and realise its benefits for your company, employees, and customers.
What Is Service Desk Automation and How Does It Work?
Service desk automation is the use of software to automate the resolution of IT service requests. This can include automation of repetitive tasks such as password reset, account creation, and ticket routing. By automating these processes, service desk automation can help to improve ticket resolution times and customer experience.
Why You Should Automate Your Service Desk
A service desk is the nerve centre of any organisation, handling everything from customer inquiries to technical support requests. Because of its strategic importance, a service desk must be able to operate efficiently and effectively in order to meet the needs of the organisation. One way to ensure that a service desk is running optimally is to automate it. Here are some of the reasons for implementing service desk automation.
Streamline Processes
Automation can help to eliminate manual tasks and speed up resolution times. For example, an automated service desk can automatically route tickets to the appropriate team or individual based on preset criteria. This can save valuable time that would otherwise be spent manually sorting and distributing tickets.
Cost Saving
From a cost perspective, automating your service desk can help to significantly reduce operating expenses. For instance, automated ticketing systems and self-help portals can help to reduce the need for costly on-site support staff.
Better Service Quality
Automating routine tasks can free up time for more skilled staff members to focus on higher-level tasks that require their expertise. As a result, automating your service desk can lead to better service quality at a lower cost.
Improve Customer Experience
Automating your service desk can also help to improve customer satisfaction. By automating routine tasks, you can free up time for your staff members to provide more personalised attention to each customer inquiry or issue.
Standardisation
Automation can also help to standardise procedures and documentation, further improving efficiency and helping with regulatory compliance.
More Accuracy and Clarity
Automation can help to improve the accuracy and clarity of communications with customers. It eliminates duplication of efforts and human errors and makes the service delivery more consistent and reliable.
15 Service Desk Automation Ideas to Boost ITSM Efficiency
1. Automate ticket routing
By integrating your service desk with your organisation’s other systems, you can automate the routing of tickets to the appropriate team or individual. This can help to speed up resolution times and improve communication between teams.
2. Use auto-assignment rules
Auto-assignment rules can be used to automatically assign tickets to specific agents based on certain criteria such as skillset, location, or availability. This can help to ensure that tickets are always handled by the most appropriate agent, which can again lead to faster resolutions.
3. Create self-service knowledge base articles
A knowledge base can be a great way for users to find answers to their questions without having to submit a ticket. By creating articles that cover common issues and questions, you can reduce the number of tickets that need to be handled.
4. Implement chatbots
Chatbots can be used to provide self-service support and answer simple questions. This can free up your agents to handle more complex issues and further reduce the number of tickets that need to be processed.
5. Use ticket templates
Ticket templates can be used to quickly create new tickets with the appropriate information already populated. This can save time when logging new tickets and ensure that all required information is captured from the start.
6. Automate ticket updates
By integrating your service desk with other systems, you can automatically update tickets based on changes in those systems. For example, if a user updates their contact information in your HR system, that information can be automatically populated in your service desk.
7. Generate reports automatically
Reports are a valuable way to track performance and identify areas for improvement. By automating the generation of reports, you can save time and ensure that they are always up-to-date.
8. Use SLAs to automate ticket escalation
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) can be used to specify how long tickets should take to be resolved. If a ticket is not resolved within the specified timeframe, it can be automatically escalated to a higher level of support.
9. Set up alerts for critical issues
By setting up alerts, you can be notified immediately when a critical issue arises. This can help to ensure that issues are resolved quickly and avoid any potential business disruptions.
10. Automate status updates
Status updates can be automatically generated based on the current status of a ticket. This can provide visibility into the progress of tickets and help to identify any potential delays.
11. Use triggers to automate actions
Triggers can be used to automate actions such as assignment, status changes, or notifications. This can further streamline the ticket management process and save time.
12. Integrate with third-party systems
By integrating your service desk with third-party systems, you can automate tasks such as importing tickets or updating user information. This can reduce the need for manual processes and save time.
13. Use business rules to automate decisions
Business rules can be used to automatically make decisions such as assignment, routing, or escalation. This can help to ensure that tickets are always handled according to your organisation’s procedures.
14. Create dashboards for visibility
Dashboards can provide visibility into the current status of your service desk and identify areas for improvement. By automating the creation of dashboards, you can save time and ensure that they are always up-to-date.
15. Automate feedback surveys
Feedback surveys can be automatically sent to users after their ticket has been closed. This can help to gather feedback on the performance of your service desk and identify any areas for improvement.
How to Know Which Automation Can Deliver the Best Results?
There’s no doubt that automating your service desk can save your team time and improve efficiency. But with so many automation options available, it can be hard to know where to start. How do you know which automation will deliver the best results for your team?
Here are a few factors to consider when choosing which automation to prioritise:
- The time savings potential of the automation: How much time will this automation save your team? Automations that can save your team significant amounts of time are generally more worth investing in than those that only offer modest time savings.
- The ease of implementation: How easy is it to set up and use the automation? Automations that are difficult or time-consuming to implement are less likely to be used by your team, so they’re not as worth investing in.
- The impact on customer satisfaction: Will the automation improve the quality of service your team is able to provide? Automations that can help your team provide better service are generally more worth investing in.
- The impact on team morale: Will automation make your team’s job easier or more enjoyable? Automations that improve the quality of life for your team are generally more worth investing in.
- The ROI potential of automation: How much will the automation save or earn your organisation over time? Automations with a high ROI potential are generally more worth investing in.
Consider these factors when choosing which automation to prioritise and you’re sure to select an automation that will deliver the best results for your team.
FAQs About Service Desk Automations
What impact does automation have on a service desk?
By automating repetitive tasks, service desk agents can free up their time to focus on more complex issues, such as resolving higher level service requests or collecting customer feedback. Automation can help to improve the accuracy of service desk operations, reducing the chances of human error. As a result, automation can make the service desk more efficient and effective.
Which tasks should you automate using service desk software?
Service desk software can automate a variety of tasks, including managing tickets, tracking assets, and providing self-service options for users. When deciding which tasks to automate, it is important to consider the workload of the team and the resources available.
For example, if the team is small and there are few tickets to manage, it may not be necessary to automate ticket management. On the other hand, if the team is large and receives a high volume of tickets, automation can help to improve efficiency. Other factors to consider include the frequency of tasks (such as asset tracking) and the level of detail required (such as self-service options).
How can I improve my service desk operations?
There are a number of ways to improve service desk operations, but some of the most important include increasing staff training, automating ticketing and tracking, and implementing self-service options.
By increasing staff training, you can ensure that your team is better equipped to handle the demands of the job. Automating ticketing and tracking can help to streamline the process and make it easier to keep track of requests. And finally, implementing self-service options can help reduce the overall workload by allowing users to access information and resolve issues themselves.
How to choose a service management platform?
First and foremost, you need to make sure that the platform is compatible with your existing IT infrastructure. Second, you need to decide what features and functionality you need in a service management platform. Do you need something simple and straightforward, or do you require a more comprehensive solution? Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be in a much better position to choose the right service management platform for your needs.
How much money can my company save with service desk automation?
Getting down to the bottom lines, the amount of money that automation will save for your company depends on the size and scale of your service desk, the number of tickets and service requests you handle, and the type of automation you’re after. According to a Salesforce document[v], 73% of IT leaders said employees were saving between 10% and 50% of the time as a result of automating manual tasks. A Gartner study concluded finance teams could save as much as 25,000 hours they previously spent on reworking on problems caused by human errors. This translated into a cost saving to the tune of $878,000[vi].
We cannot give you an exact figure without looking at your service desk data. What we can give you is a free demo of Servicely’s AI powered automation platform, which can enable you to create quick and cost-effective service desk automations. Click here to book it now!
[i] https://www.manageengine.com/products/service-desk/itsm/service-desk-quotes-statistics.html
[ii] https://www.romexsoft.com/blog/service-desk-automation/
[iii] https://www.panopto.com/blog/how-much-time-is-lost-to-knowledge-sharing-inefficiencies-at-work/
[iv]
[v] https://www.frevvo.com/blog/workflow-automation-statistics/