Customer Service News & Insights | OTRSmag https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/ Fri, 19 Dec 2025 09:35:35 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://otrs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/cropped-OTRS-LOGO-without-tagline-32x32.png Customer Service News & Insights | OTRSmag https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/ 32 32 The Future of Service Management: Automation, AI and Beyond IT https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/the-future-of-service-management/ Thu, 04 Dec 2025 08:31:49 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=222294

The Future of Service Management: Automation, AI and Beyond IT

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The Future of Service Management: Automation, AI and Beyond IT
The Future of Service Management

As organizations prepare their strategies for 2026, service management stands at an important turning point. The coming year will bring rapid technological shifts, rising expectations and the need for operating models that can adapt with greater speed and reliability. Many teams are now evaluating how to position themselves for what lies ahead, how to simplify growing complexity and how to make service delivery more strategic across the entire business.

Several trends are already shaping this outlook. Automation is evolving into a fundamental capability for efficiency. AI is becoming part of everyday operations. Integration is emerging as the base for transparent and connected workflows. Security is more intertwined with service quality than ever before. And service management continues to expand beyond IT into enterprise-wide practices. Understanding these developments helps organizations refine their plans for the next year and build service ecosystems that support long term resilience and business value.

This growing clarity also highlights how central service management has become. IT is now expected to provide consistent service, adapt to new demands and maintain control over increasingly complex environments. The upcoming year will amplify these expectations. Businesses want faster delivery, stronger self-service options, better visibility and more predictable operations.

Meeting these expectations requires a departure from reactive work. It demands structured processes, connected platforms and a clear approach to how technology supports the organization. The future of ITSM will be shaped by the ability to reduce complexity and deliver clear, reliable service at every touchpoint.

#1 Automation as a foundation for consistent services

Automation has progressed from exploratory use to a structural requirement. Rising ticket volumes, resource constraints and distributed work environments have made manual processes impractical. Organizations now look for automation to increase consistency, while strengthening service quality.

In 2026, automation will influence far more than simple tasks. It will support lifecycle operations, accelerate approvals and help unify actions across different systems. It will also free teams to focus on improvements that have long been delayed by daily operational pressure.

The evolution is easy to see. Organizations that invest in automation gain the resilience needed to maintain high performance, even during periods of change.

 

Automation becomes the backbone of stability, enabling IT to deliver predictable and scalable service experiences.

#2 AI shapes the future of service management

AI is poised to play a much greater role in daily operations in 2026. Rather than serving as a distant innovation topic, AI is increasingly embedded into the practical work of service management. It supports classification, identifies trends, enriches communication and provides insights at a speed that human teams alone cannot match.

Findings from the new report by EasyVista and OTRS – The State of SMB IT for 2026 – reflect this shift. Most organizations consider AI in ITSM as important for successes and are already using it to enhance asset tracking, automate tasks and support user interactions through chatbots.

AI generated analysis also helps teams anticipate demands and detect patterns that would otherwise remain hidden. Building on this momentum, AI will continue to evolve into a dependable part of the service ecosystem, helping organizations respond faster, interpret data more effectively and maintain service quality in complex environments.

#3 Integration becomes the foundation of modern ITSM

As service environments grow, integration emerges as one of the most critical trends shaping the year ahead. Many organizations still operate with separate solutions for ticketing, asset management, monitoring and remote access. This creates unnecessary complexity, slows collaboration, makes data difficult to trust.

In 2026, the ability to integrate systems will determine how efficiently IT teams can work. Integrated platforms eliminate blind spots, cut unnecessary work and create a clear path for every request from start to finish. When the entire service landscape is unified in one ecosystem, information becomes clearer and service delivery gains both speed and context.

Integration also improves decision making. With unified data, IT teams can understand dependencies, identify recurring issues and act with more confidence. It strengthens governance and supports risk management by ensuring that changes, incidents and assets are always connected to reliable information.

Ultimately, integration transforms service management from a series of isolated tasks into a coordinated and transparent operating model. It becomes the underlying structure that supports automation, AI and every strategic improvement that follows.

#4 Security rises as a strategic IT imperative

Security has become inseparable from service management, and this trend will intensify in 2026. Hybrid environments, mobile devices and cloud applications have increased the attack surface, making security a continuous practice rather than a periodic initiative.

The EasyVista and OTRS report, The State of SMB IT for 2026, highlights this reality. Many organizations struggle to secure devices, manage endpoint risks and maintain reliable asset visibility. Cybersecurity disruptions remain one of the most significant impacts of IT incidents, demonstrating how deeply security and service continuity are connected.

As organizations prepare for the next year, security will influence ITSM strategies in several ways. Accurate asset inventories will be prioritized. Remote access will require stronger controls. Patch and update processes will become more automated. And monitoring will need to be integrated into service workflows to ensure rapid response.

 

Security now stands as a core requirement for stable service operations and must be woven into processes, tools and culture.

#5 Enterprise Service Management extends beyond IT

The future of service management will reach far outside the IT department. Many organizations are already adopting structured workflows for HR, Finance, Customer Service, Facilities. This approach allows teams to manage requests, tasks and documentation with greater transparency and accountability.

In 2026, this evolution will gain speed. As organizations push for efficiency and consistency, service management will serve as the common framework for how work is requested and delivered across the business. The outcome is smoother employee experience and a more coordinated flow of information between departments.

Enterprise Service Management (ESM) also supports decision making. With common workflows and shared data, leaders gain clearer insights into bottlenecks, resource needs and service quality across all functions.

#6 Skills and culture remain the drivers of continuous growth

Technology continues to evolve quickly, but the success of ITSM still depends on people. Modernizing processes, adopting AI or integrating platforms require teams who understand how to operate them and how to adapt them to business goals.

Training, change enablement and clear governance will therefore remain essential in 2026. Teams need the confidence to manage new capabilities and the clarity to align their work with strategic objectives. Without these foundations, even the best platforms will not deliver their full value.

Organizations that prioritize skills development will progress faster, maintain higher quality and experience fewer disruptions when adopting new technology.

Conclusion: shaping the next phase of service management

The outlook for 2026 reflects a service environment that is evolving quickly and becoming more interconnected. Automation, AI, integration, security and enterprise-wide workflows will guide how organizations strengthen their operations and support future growth.

Service management is moving beyond its traditional boundaries: it is becoming a strategic capability that influences business resilience, employee experience and long-term innovation. The organizations that succeed will be those that plan with clarity, invest in sustainable improvements and build service ecosystems that are transparent, integrated and ready for the demands ahead.

Contact Experts
Laura Diral
]]> Self-Service Portal: ROI and Benefits https://otrs.com/blog/it-budget/self-service-portal-roi-and-benefits/ Fri, 28 Nov 2025 09:44:24 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=222313

Self-Service Portal: ROI and Benefits

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Self-Service Portal: ROI and Benefits

Self-service is commonly regarded as a lifesaver for IT departments and their service desks that are under pressure from both time and budget constraints. As part of a strategy to improve resolution times, reduce costs, or enhance the end-user experience and customer satisfaction, this makes complete sense.

These three points are among the frequently cited, overarching benefits of self-service. In this article, we take a closer look at the broader spectrum of self-service benefits, the associated return on investment (ROI), and how to best achieve it.

The Benefits of Self-Service

Self-service portals offer a wide range of benefits, including:

#1 Cost Savings and Increased Efficiency

IT reduces costs and speeds up request resolution by enabling end users through self-help automations or “shift-left” to take on tasks that were previously handled by the service desk.

#2 Improved Customer- and Employee-Oriented Experience

Today’s customers and employees have certain expectations regarding the accessibility of communication channels. Self-service offerings complement this spectrum and lead to low-barrier support experiences.

For IT departments, this means users now expect self-service options in the workplace, including ticket creation, IT service catalogs, and knowledge bases, as well as anytime, location-independent access from any device.

#3 Greater Support Availability

Self-service can be used to provide 24/7 support, at least for all cases that users can realistically resolve on their own. For more complex matters, self-service can at least provide an important starting point.

The potential of self-service becomes particularly striking when it is offered in multiple languages and time zones: this generates significantly lower costs than hiring native-speaking support staff to cover these cases.

#4 Relief for Overburdened Service Desks

A self-service portal diverts calls away from the phone channel, which can greatly reduce the workload of the IT service desk. Support staff can process self-service tickets during less intensive periods provided that priorities and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) permit this. This also contributes to cost savings because staffing needs become more balanced, meaning peaks and fluctuations in ticket volume decrease.

All these benefits positively influence the IT service desk, end users, and the organization as a whole. However, it’s important to understand that these advantages only materialize if self-service usage is high enough to make a meaningful difference in daily operations.

#5 Additional Support Through AI

Many applications leverage the advantages of artificial intelligence (AI), thereby increasing the value and thus the ROI of a self-service portal. Typically, AI chatbots answer questions, refer users to helpful resources, and provide guidance.

Moreover, AI-supported knowledge bases make accessing information even easier, with modern features such as AI translations facilitating multilingual use.

Realizing the ROI of Self-Service

In the past, achieving the desired ROI from self-service was difficult, mainly because it was often implemented insufficiently. In short: many users were not properly aware of the offerings or were unable to use them effectively.

Today, however, the situation looks different: there are now many initiatives to raise awareness of these offerings, as well as advanced ways to implement self-service. This creates new opportunities to unlock the full potential of a self-service portal.

Key ROI drivers, self-service components with particularly high value, include:

  • Detailed knowledge bases with Knowledge Base Articles (KBA) and thorough instructions

  • Clear, centrally accessible answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs)

  • Low-barrier AI chatbots that answer questions instantly

Conclusion: Once an organization sufficiently explores self-service portals, their capabilities, and the user perspective, ROI can typically be achieved quickly.

Learn more about ROI when purchasing software

Calculating the ROI of Self-Service

What matters most: The success of self-service is absolutely achievable, and companies are increasingly investing in this success. There is no doubt that self-service plays a major role in the present and future of IT support. But how can your company justify the initial or additional investment?

While all the benefits mentioned above are important, most business cases focus on measurable, quantitative advantages – especially financial savings.

Two aspects are particularly important:

  1. What are the realistic average costs per ticket?

  2. How much can these costs be reduced through a self-service portal?

 

“Cost per Ticket”

A commonly used ITSM KPI is the so-called Cost per Ticket (CPT). This refers to the average cost an organization incurs for processing a single ticket.

All operational expenses are considered, including personnel, license costs, infrastructure, etc. This total is then divided by the number of tickets resolved in the corresponding period.

Cost per Ticket: Total service desk costs / total number of resolved tickets

Note: Costs per ticket can vary significantly depending on the ticket type. Incidents (e.g., simple desktop support) are typically cheaper than complex service requests or problem resolutions.

 

Calculating Savings / Saving Potential Through Self-Service

The simplest way to determine the (potential) ROI of a self-service portal is to calculate the monthly gross savings: multiply the expected number of tickets that will be deflected by self-service by the average savings per ticket.

This is not an exact science, but it provides at least an indication of the monthly saving potential. These savings can then be compared against the one-time and ongoing costs of the self-service solution to calculate the ROI. If necessary, a payback period analysis can also be performed.

Information You Will Need

To do this, you need:

  • The total number of tickets your service desk handles per month

  • A realistic estimate of what percentage can be deflected by self-service

  • Ticket costs per unit (or use the industry averages listed below)

  • Known one-time and ongoing self-service costs
     (Note: Since self-service capabilities are often already included in modern ITSM platforms, some costs may instead reflect optimizing your ITSM investment.)

Average Costs

According to MetricNet, the following average costs apply:

  • Self-help (Level 0) – 2 USD

  • Service Desk (Level 1) – 22 USD

  • Desktop Support – 69 USD

  • IT Support (Level 2) – 104 USD

Since these values date back to 2017, they should be used with caution. However, they still provide a reasonable impression of how costs increase significantly with each service level.

Above all, they clearly illustrate the savings potential of a well-designed self-service portal. In this example, each request resolved through self-help instead of the service desk saves 20 USD, typically the case for a password reset.


Conclusion: High Savings Potential

Clients who still require support staff after using self-help are generally better prepared and therefore also incur lower costs.

Note: In general, cost per ticket fluctuates significantly and can vary greatly by case. Particularly extreme outliers – fairly high costs for individual tickets – highlight how valuable a self-service portal truly is.

The more tickets (and related support effort) are shifted to self-service, the cheaper they are to resolve. An important goal of self-service is therefore to relieve service and support staff, especially in simple and recurring cases. This saves time, reduces stress, and lowers costs, meaning a positive ROI is within reach.

Conclusion

Self-service clearly offers significant financial advantages for organizations. However, this requires implementing a suitable portal effectively and ensuring that clients, both customers and employees, become thoroughly familiar with it.

In addition to the obvious financial benefits, self-service also provides productivity and end-user satisfaction advantages that should not be underestimated. A happy, productive workforce is vital for any company and self-service plays a crucial role in this.

Equally important is a satisfied customer base, which pays off in the medium and long term not only through “hard” metrics such as customer retention rate (CRR), upselling, or acquiring new customers based on referrals.

Contact experts
Tobias Kortas
]]> How to Improve Support Productivity https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/increasing-productivity-in-support/ Wed, 19 Nov 2025 08:20:37 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=221902

How to Improve Support Productivity

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How to Improve Support Productivity

Immediate, competent support – that’s an important expectation customers have of companies. Customer service not only shapes public perception but is also an important factor for revenue. In other words: even with excellent products and services, outstanding service and support are indispensable.

In this article, you’ll learn what specific steps you can take to have a productive service team and happy customers. You can do this with a balanced mix of proven methods, useful software features, and clear, practical tips.

Intelligent Request Management

Handling inquiries skillfully lies at the heart of the criteria for a well-positioned customer service team. Inquiries must be centrally recorded and traceable – with clear responsibilities, centralized communication, and ideally, service level agreements.

In a few words: intelligent request management exists when agents have immediate access to all the important information and the right tools to handle customer concerns competently and quickly.

On the one hand, this requires an excellent internal structure and organization, achieved for example through comprehensive onboarding and training of employees, but also through clear analysis of needs and performance outcomes. On the other hand, it requires dedicated software support.

These tools help support employees handle inquiries more effectively:

  • A central knowledge base allows relevant information to be quickly accessed.

  • A ticketing system must provide an detailed overview of communication histories.

Tip: Context is the most important tool in support. Valuable references include ticket histories and customer data that are centrally captured in software. Equipped with such information, inquiries can be handled quickly and efficiently, which has a positive correlation on customer satisfaction.

Making Smart Use of Self-Service

Self-service portals are firmly established in modern interactions between companies and customers. Where employees once had to be involved even in simple processes, customers now handle these steps themselves in many cases. This applies not only to bookings or managing their own data but also to guides and simple problem-solving. If that doesn’t work, employees are still available as points of contact.

With functional self-service, support now has more time and can focus on complex problem-solving. This means less tedious, time-consuming work on the same recurring cases and more meaningful work, which increases motivation. This creates a double positive effect: employees can use their time more productively and profitably while also being more motivated which further increases productivity.

Tip: It’s worth investing a lot of time proactively in a self-service portal. In the end, the benefit of helpful guides and knowledge bases is so great that both companies and users benefit from it in the long term. For example, employees can write “guides for guides” resources that enable them to share their knowledge easily and effectively.

Process and Workflow Management

Efficient work requires the right processes and workflows. In other words: even if support makes great efforts, it must be done the right way with functional structure and order.

Accordingly, a well-thought-out process and workflow management are required so that agents achieve measurable results. The path usually involves process optimization and automation, once processes are mature.

Optimizing Processes

Borrowed from Japanese culture, the principle of continuous improvement has become firmly established, especially in IT Service Management (ITSM). New processes have the potential to improve efficiency and effectiveness but are often characterized by low maturity. Instead of constantly introducing new processes, it’s better to continuously improve existing ones, even to the point of perfection.

A perfect support process might look like this: tasks, including escalations, are clearly defined and properly assigned, and all potentially useful resources are available. With such a process, employees can act with maximum productivity and fully develop their potential, while customers enjoy a positive service experience and satisfactory problem resolution.

Tip: Don’t overdo process optimization. Often, “semi-good” processes are already enough to support employees to work productively. Instead of endlessly optimizing already mature processes, focus on identifying which current processes have weaknesses and fix them step by step.

Managing Workflows Professionally

A workflow is a sequence of work steps. In customer service, this might mean that a specific problem requires a series of steps to solve. Workflow management organizes and structures these steps systematically so that processes lead to expected results faster and with fewer errors.

In support, such workflows are especially needed for complex issues where one step – often depending on the result of the previous one – leads to the next. A good workflow shows agents exactly how to handle a specific issue – for example, a local system outage – to resolve it as quickly as possible.

Tip: Does the term “workflow management” sound complicated? Thinking of it as setting up a logical sequence of work steps sounds simpler. Don’t be intimidated by seemingly difficult tasks – software providers typically offer excellent consulting support.

 

Introducing Meaningful Automations

It’s entirely possible and reasonable to automate some steps in customer support. For example, software can automatically assign tickets correctly, provide standard responses, or generate solution suggestions. Partial workflow automation is also feasible.

In support, automations are typically most effective for standard responses and recurring tasks, saving a lot of time without risking errors or inconsistencies.

Tip: As mentioned earlier in this article, processes should be optimized before they’re automated; otherwise, errors or suboptimal workflows will just be repeated. To evaluate where your organization stands, an ITSM maturity assessment can be useful.

AI Integration

Where automation exists, artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t far away. And indeed, AI can help support teams in many ways. However, it should be used consciously and with clear goals in mind. For example, instead of deploying it broadly right away, it’s better to use it strategically for specific, value-oriented processes.

When implemented correctly, AI in customer service can ease the workload for employees and enable efficient operations – for example, by detecting issues early and potentially preventing escalations. AI can also allow for personalized customer engagement, such as through data analysis or individualized reminders.

Tip: To be successful with AI integration in support, take an incremental (iterative) approach. This way, support gradually gains experience and customers slowly become accustomed to AI functionalities. Organizations can take a flexible approach, beginning with individual AI services.

Go to OTRS AI Services

The Factor of a Productive Working Atmosphere

Many factors that are highly beneficial for professional ITSM or Enterprise Service Management (ESM) have already been discussed. These are extremely valuable, but they can only unfold their full potential under the right conditions.

A positive, productive work climate is the basic prerequisite for support to reach its full performance. This includes setting clear expectations for employees. Instead of defining many vague goals, a few clear objectives should always be front and center. In most organizations, these include minimizing time to first response, achieving a high first contact resolution (FCR), and maintaining a strong customer satisfaction score.

Organizations should also ensure that their support employees feel comfortable. This includes providing comprehensive onboarding and training, facilitating (cross-team) collaboration – for example, through good information flow and joint work on tickets – and celebrating achievements appropriately. The work climate should be based on strong mutual support and minimal pressure, avoiding unrealistic targets whenever possible.

Social Proof: How OTRS Customers Achieve Higher Productivity

The best way to learn how support can become more productive, faster, and more successful is from organizations that have already achieved it. Following this principle, several of our customer stories provide a clear picture of how support can operate more productively.

Example 1: Structured Request Management for the State Office

The State Office for Schools and Education (LaSuB) Saxony (Germany) faced the challenge that its request management had become too inefficient, unclear, and complex due to the large number of teachers it served. With OTRS, the State Office now saves enormous amounts of time thanks to centralized, transparent information, well-organized request management, and a user-friendly system.

Read the Success Story

Example 2: Effective Support Processes for an IT System House

SIEVERS-GROUP, an IT system house headquartered in Osnabrück (Germany), follows the principle of continuous improvement to make its support more efficient. With OTRS, it has implemented standardized processes for ticket processing, including automated ticket creation for monitoring events. As a result, it now successfully models and implements efficient service and support processes.

Read the Success Story

Example 3: More Speed for Lifesavers

The DLRG (German Live Saving Association) needs fast IT services for various hardware across its nationwide teams. Thanks to OTRS, its IT services are now excellently organized, and requests and issues can be processed quickly. Processes are intuitive and traceable, and users immediately receive all the information they need.

Read the Success Story

Conclusion: The Many Ways to Achieve High Support Productivity

There are many ways to increase productivity in support. Professional IT Service Management or Enterprise Service Management, for example, involves establishing intelligent request management, creating self-service options, and introducing promising processes – as well as continuously improving them. AI applications and automations can also be valuable additions for certain workflows.

Alongside proven methods, the right software support is crucial to achieve the highest possible productivity and deliver excellent support. The case studies of several OTRS customers show how this can be achieved.

There are many paths to optimizing service and support operations. The approaches, recommendations, and tips shown here are meant to provide inspiration for organizations.

Contact Experts
Tobias Kortas
]]> The “Right” Ticketing System: How to Choose It https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/the-right-ticketing-system/ Mon, 27 Oct 2025 09:54:54 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=221145

The “Right” Ticketing System: How to Choose It

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The “Right” Ticketing System: How to Choose It

Ticketing systems streamline workflows, improve transparency, and enhance team collaboration. The resulting time savings, greater efficiency, and well-organized, centralized information help businesses make better use of their budgets, empower employees with clarity, and provide customers with faster, higher-quality support.

While basic ticketing system functions – such as the self-service portal and knowledge base – remain essential, automation and AI-driven features are gaining massive importance. They not only save time and effort but also help reduce errors, increase productivity, and deliver a faster, more responsive customer experience.

These are all good indicators of the “right” ticketing system. However, organizations should not underestimate factors like security, compliance, reporting, and analytics.

This article first highlights the core requirements of a ticket system and then proceeds to specific requirements and tips to provide readers with a well-founded overview.

Find a detailed ticketing system comparison here.

Core Requirements for a Ticketing System

Many vendors highlight extensive automation and AI capabilities. Yet, potential buyers should first focus on other critical factors. While AI – used wisely – offers major productivity and efficiency gains, the most important elements are those features users rely on daily and that simplify their work. In many cases, a modern, intuitive user interface has a greater impact than an infrequently used workflow automation.

That said, AI features and automations are still highly valuable when they offer real, practical support.

Below are some of the most important core requirements for a ticketing system:

#1 Ticket Management

The primary function of a ticketing system is to automatically generate tickets via email, web form, chat, or API. Essential components include a unique ticket ID, categorization, and prioritization by urgency and importance—often supported by Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

#2 Structured Multi-Channel Communication

The ability to communicate effectively across multiple channels—such as dashboards, chats, and notes—improves internal collaboration and delivers better service experiences for customers. Fast, low-friction notifications ensure a smooth information flow, making processes more pleasant for everyone involved.

This also includes direct replies within tickets and multi-channel integration for email, phone, and chat.

#3 Process Management

Process management focuses on designing, optimizing, and, where possible, automating workflows. This reduces workload, saves time, and leads to faster, more accurate results.

The foundation for this lies in the Process Engine of a ticketing system. Additional features like intelligent resource planning, advanced escalations, or dynamic fields are also highly valuable.

#4 Information Management

With dedicated information management, all necessary data—such as customer information, requests, device data, contracts, or FAQs—can be organized and interconnected. Dashboards, widgets, and tickets then provide users with quick overviews, helping them resolve issues faster.

#5 Self-Service and Knowledge Management

A well-maintained self-service portal is the simplest and most effective way to resolve recurring questions quickly, save time, and make better use of existing knowledge. The foundation of a self-service portal is a knowledge base containing articles, guides, FAQs, manuals, and checklists.

#6 Integrations

Constantly switching between systems and applications is not only frustrating but also time-consuming and leads to fragmented information—poor foundations for both decision-making and customer experience.

Seamless integrations, on the other hand, enable organizations to make the most of their IT ecosystem—boosting efficiency while avoiding duplicate data. Having all essential information centrally accessible is invaluable.

#7 Reporting and Analytics

In the hectic day-to-day business of ticket management, reports and statistics quickly fade into the background. Yet, reports and statistics are vital for identifying underlying issues, improving processes, and monitoring outcomes. In many organizations, regular reporting is even a formal requirement.

#8 Security

Security concerns aren’t limited to large-scale data breaches. Within a ticketing system, much depends on who has access to which data and communication threads. Data protection is not only a regulatory requirement but also prevents mishaps and breaches of trust.

Learn more about the benefits of OTRS in our Success Stories.

Specific Requirements

Once the core requirements are met, a company is already on the right path. The next step is to consider additional features that can deliver extra value and greater efficiency.

#1 Workflow Automations

When workflows are repetitive and well-defined, automating them is a smart move. It saves time and effort, sharpens focus on other tasks, and ensures consistent, high-quality results.

A ticketing system that supports easy-to-implement workflow automations increases productivity and enhances overall value creation.

#2 Practical AI Applications

AI offers numerous benefits—especially for ticketing systems. These include increased efficiency, significant time savings, higher accuracy, predictive insights, and scalability.

However, organizations should carefully evaluate which AI capabilities deliver real, measurable value rather than simply following trends. The choice should be driven by specific internal needs and goals. For instance, in environments with long ticket threads, AI-powered summaries can give support agents quick, clear overviews.

#3 Advanced Translation Management

For multilingual, international organizations, translation capabilities are becoming increasingly important in service management. Fast, accurate translations help users understand content better, prevent misunderstandings, and enhance the overall experience.

Having built-in translation management greatly improves communication between people who speak different native languages—even when all parties have decent English skills but require precise detail in their own language.

#4 Kanban View

While working with Kanban boards is not new, having a Kanban view within a ticketing system brings significant advantages. It visually represents workflows, progress, and potential bottlenecks, making it easier to manage tasks and processes effectively.

#5 CMDB / Asset Management

A Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is a centralized database that stores all information about IT assets (configuration items) such as devices, services, servers, applications, and contracts.

When a ticketing system is linked with a CMDB, data about current IT incidents is directly connected to affected assets—allowing for quick, targeted responses.

Request a demo to discover OTRS.

Tips for Selecting the Right Ticketing System

Sometimes, other requirements play the deciding role. For example, features like multi-tenancy, time tracking, or customization options may take priority for some organizations. Ultimately, the key factors are always highly individual.

Below are several useful points decision-makers should consider when choosing the right ticketing system.

Tip 1: Pay Attention to the User Interface

The user interface often gets underestimated. Many decision-makers focus on advanced features, overlooking that a clear, visually appealing, and informative interface is the foundation for true productivity and proper use of key functions.

Tip 2: Prioritize Ease of Use

Even the most advanced features are useless if users cannot operate the system effectively. Sometimes, the way developers envision usage differs from how users actually work. Intuitive usability is not a buzzword – it’s essential to ensure users achieve success rather than frustration.

Tip 3: Consider Cost-Benefit Holistically

“More expensive means better” rarely applies to ticketing systems. A more balanced approach is to assess the price-performance ratio carefully. Yet even that can be misleading. Organizations should evaluate their needs, preferred features, and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – a holistic view of IT investment.

In some cases, conducting a detailed ROI analysis can serve as a helpful benchmark, but it shouldn’t be the sole basis for decision-making. Often, qualitative factors – which are not easily measurable – determine the real value.

Tip 4: Factor in Implementation Time

A ticketing system is often deemed “right” when it provides clear value and meets specific needs. However, new systems are often required to fill existing gaps quickly. The longer the implementation takes, the more potential losses the organization may face. Therefore, fast deployment is key for a system to truly earn its “right” status.

Tip 5: Use AI Based on Actual Needs

AI is no longer a future concept – it’s already reshaping ITSM. The real question is how organizations apply it. Instead of implementing it broadly without clear benefits, it’s better to start small and focus on high-impact areas.

Models like AI Credits allow organizations to test individual AI services without paying for a full suite of AI features upfront.

Final Tip: Conduct an Assessment

Organizations differ greatly, and so do their needs. This variation often comes down to their ITSM maturity level, which can be determined through a simple assessment. This helps define the exact requirements a ticketing system should meet.

Conclusion: Core Requirements Are What Truly Matter

There is no single “right” ticketing system suitable for every organization and use case – and that’s not the goal of this article. Instead, it aims to give decision-makers the tools and criteria to make a well-founded, individual choice.

In some cases – especially where ticket volumes are low and inquiries are straightforward – a solid basic system that covers the core requirements is entirely sufficient.

Ultimately, the core requirements should always serve as the foundation for further considerations. In other words, a ticketing system shouldn’t be chosen solely based on the latest AI or automation features, though these can still play an important role. The key is to take a holistic, realistic view of the situation.

In most cases, it’s user experience, request management, structured communication, and security and compliance needs that determine whether a ticketing system is truly the right fit for an organization.

Tobias Kortas
]]> Service Desk Automation: Best Practices for Greater Efficiency https://otrs.com/blog/best-practices/service-desk-automation/ Thu, 18 Sep 2025 07:26:22 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=220416

Service Desk Automation: Best Practices for Greater Efficiency

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Service Desk Automation: Best Practices for Greater Efficiency

In recent years, IT has undoubtedly made impressive progress – including in service desks. Yet, service desk employees confirm that this work is still plagued by numerous inefficiencies.

The solution lies in service desk automation. If implemented smoothly, automation for service desks can deliver highly valuable improvements. Teams see higher productivity, increasesd cost savings and greater value creation.

The best practices presented here show how this can be achieved.

The Problem with an Inefficient Service Desk

Traditionally, when an end user encountered an IT issue, they contacted the service desk. The agent handling the request would first put the caller on hold. They would create the necessary documentation to officially open the ticket.

Only then could the problem be resolved or escalated. And only once the process was completed would the end user receive feedback. Depending on the severity of the problem, this could take minutes, hours, or even days.

This outdated approach frustrated both customers and employees alike. It is also extremely inefficient.

Automations and AI integrations provide a far better solution. They guide the service desk reliably into the modern age while saving valuable time, effort, and opportunity costs.

"Automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. Automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency."

Bill Gates

10 Best Practices for Service Desk Automation

The following best practices show how organizations can work more efficiently. Service desk automation makes the best use of team resources.

1. Leverage Knowledge Management

Knowledge management is a central element of service desk automation. It allows both routine activities and complex processes to be handled in a more structured, organized, and standardized way.

To enhance service, use tools that make knowledge more engaging and interactive.

Example: The common HR question “What is parental leave?” can be broken down into a simple workflow. A tool that creates decision trees with automated workflows makes complex issues more dynamic. This is because it can account for multiple variables. Examples of variables are who needs help or what device requires support.

2. Reset Passwords and Unlock Accounts

Nowadays, almost everything requires a password. Therefore, a common issue is that people forget them regularly.

Automated, knowledge-based workflows should help. They can be made accessible through service portals. End users can follow the required steps to reset their passwords without contacting the service desk.

This significantly reduces first-level tickets and increases satisfaction, since users can solve problems on their own. Password managers provide further relief by storing all employee passwords in a central system. This requires a single master password.

3. Provide Automatic Answers and Solutions

Once again, knowledge management plays a key role here. Imagine an employee wants to install a new system on their laptop. There may already be a process in the IT service catalog.

If, instead, they contact the service desk, the assigned agent has to spend time handling it. While such a request may not seem critical, frequent interruptions of this kind have a clearly negative effect. They divert focus from truly important incoming tickets.

The right self-service automation tools give employees a way to ask questions and receive answers without requiring human intervention. Knowledge workflows can be integrated into portals, applications, community platforms, and AI chatbots.

4. Use AI

The use of artificial intelligence in the service desk offers companies clear benefits. By automating processes and preventing unnecessary tickets, operating costs decrease while sources of error are reduced.

At the same time, AI eases operational workloads. It handles routine tasks and gives employees valuable time for strategic and value-adding activities.

Customer satisfaction also rises. Users benefit from faster response times, more accurate solutions, and personalized support available around the clock. This strengthens trust and loyalty.

In addition, machine learning ensures that with each ticket creation, the AI-driven system becomes more efficient. This advances service delivery desk over time.

5. Route Tickets to the Right People

Too often, tickets end up with the wrong IT staff; teams spend too much time each day sorting new tickets. This is inefficient and negatively impacts the customer experience.

Sorting tickets can be automated. Teams can use an ITSM platform that automatically routes tickets to the correct departments from the start. Personalized dashboards and rules define the entire ticket flow.

When teams automate ticket routing, customers get the support they need more quickly. Agents spend less time dealing with administrative hassles.

6. Provide Timely and Regular Status Updates

One of the greatest frustrations for end users is not knowing the status of their issue. They want to know how much longer it will take to resolve. Automated ticketing systems can define rules to send updates to customers on time. This greatly reduces follow-up inquiries to the service desk.

Plus, if a ticket resolution falls outside the service level agreement (SLA), automated notifications can trigger escalation. This ensures the issue is not forgotten and still receives appropriate attention.

7. Escalate Critical Incidents

Some organizations have support teams available around the clock – but most do not. In the evenings or on weekends, systems or tickets are often not actively monitored. In these cases, it is crucial to have an automated system that immediately escalates critical issues in real time. This way they do not wait until regular business hours.

8. Measure Productivity

Data collection can also be automated to provide a comprehensive view of team performance.

This includes common service management measures and metrics such as:

  • MTTR (Mean Time to Recover)
  • First Contact Resolution rate
  • Number of tickets recorded monthly/weekly
  • Number of service requests recorded monthly/weekly
  • Percentage of escalations
  • SLA compliance rate
  • Business hours lost due to outages

The right ITSM tools display this data in dashboards – individually visualized for team members, managers, or executives.

9. Close Tickets Automatically

Some requests take longer than others but should not remain open too long. With service desk software, rules can be defined to automatically close tickets when necessary. An example of this would be when the customer does not respond within a certain timeframe. This reduces manual effort for agents who have many cases to keep up with.

10. Collect Customer Feedback

There are many ways to measure the performance of a service desk. However, even the most positive metrics have limited value if service quality is lacking.

A good solution is to regularly conduct surveys and send them to customers. The best way to ensure continuous feedback is to automate the process. There are tools that automatically capture, collect, and prepare feedback for evaluation.

How OTRS Drives Service Desk Automation

Thanks to automated workflows in the service desk, OTRS ensures that no steps are ever overlooked. Team members can easily manage requests based on flexible templates and communicate directly with customers via the system.

Automatic notifications and intelligent ticket assignments significantly shorten otherwise time-consuming decision-making processes. In addition, custom ticket fields, clearly defined process management, and reusable process templates enable more efficiency, transparency, and better results.

OTRS for Customer Service & Support

Conclusion: Service Desk Automation Delivers High Value

Companies benefit extensively from service desk automation. It increases efficiency, enhances customer satisfaction, and reduces redundant tasks.

But such automation offers even more potential: it improves service quality for employees, enables tailored customer experiences, and creates transparency about achieved performance.

In short: with the right technologies and ITSM tools, the work of a service desk can be significantly improved. This is critical – not only for employees and customers but also for overall organizational growth.

Contact Experts
Author OTRS
]]> Request Management: Benefits, Best Practices, and Software https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/request-management/ Thu, 21 Aug 2025 06:15:31 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=218537

Request Management: Benefits, Best Practices, and Software

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Request Management: Benefits, Best Practices, and Software

Whether it’s a new employee who needs system access or a customer requiring immediate technical support, organizations today are under constant pressure: they must handle an ever-increasing volume of user requests.

These requests involve different departments, touch every aspect of business operations, and create a complex web of diverse requirements. Managing them demands clear prioritization, a high level of coordination, and timely execution.

Without an appropriate system, even the simplest issues — from password resets to onboarding requests — can cause delays, leading to confusion and frustration. Lacking a structured service request management process results in longer response times, a growing backlog of unanswered requests, and negative experiences for both customers and employees.

This article explains why proper, effective request management is so important. It outlines the benefits and presents best practices along with the most suitable software solutions to support the process.

Request Management: Why It Matters

Request management refers to the structured handling of all standardized requests submitted to a service desk. These requests typically do not involve incidents or service disruptions but are usually related to system access, resource provisioning, or information retrieval.

Every service request must be recorded, prioritized, fulfilled, and documented. This includes IT tickets, scheduled maintenance, and starting a recruitment process through HR.

Poor request processes lead to lost productivity, employee frustration, and dissatisfied customers. For example, if a new employee does not get their login details on time, they cannot work well. Even a short lack of access affects team performance. Likewise, unresolved customer requests can hinder long-term customer loyalty.

Effective request management ensures:

  • Every request is recorded and tracked
  • Responsibilities are clearly assigned
  • Communication is centralized and traceable
  • SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and deadlines are met

 

 

In short: functional request management is critical to ensuring business continuity and maintaining the reliability and quality of services.

The Benefits of Successful Request Management

When implemented correctly, request management offers tangible advantages for the entire organization.

Here are the most important ones:

#1 High Efficiency

With structure and automated workflows, service teams save work and enable clear decision-making. Using standard forms and routing rules helps assign tasks to the right people quickly. This saves time and reduces mistakes.


#2 Visibility and Traceability

With a centralized system, all requests are captured, tracked, and monitored in real time. Dashboards and regular reports provide managers and project leaders with full transparency into workloads, potential bottlenecks, and service performance.


#3 Improved Communication

Through a unified portal or ticketing system, both requesters and support teams stay informed at all times. Updates, approvals, and completion notices are communicated automatically, preventing chaotic situations and unnecessary email chains.


#4 Customer and Employee Satisfaction

Fast and transparent handling builds trust and enhances user experience. Employees feel supported, and customers who receive reliable service are more likely to develop strong loyalty toward the company.


#5 Accountability and Compliance

Well-designed request management systems log who did what and when. This audit trail is essential for regulatory compliance, internal controls, and performance evaluations.


#6 Continuous Improvement

Analyzing request volume, processing times, and user satisfaction helps identify recurring issues and optimize processes accordingly.

Best Practices for Request Management

Implementing request management isn’t just about rolling out a tool. It involves creating a company culture built on consistency, responsiveness, and continuous improvement.

Here are some proven best practices to help make it a success:


#1 Standardize Request Categories and Forms

Create clear categories for different types of requests — such as IT, HR, or facility management — and use standardized forms to quickly and accurately capture necessary information.

#2 Automate Where Possible

Automate recurring tasks — such as ticket creation, approvals, or notifications — to speed up processes and reduce the workload for support teams.


#3 Define Prioritization Rules

Not all requests have the same importance. Establish criteria for assigning priorities based on urgency, expected impact, and SLAs. This ensures that critical matters are addressed faster.


#4 Assign Clear Responsibilities

Every request needs a clearly accountable handler. Role-based assignments and escalation rules ensure transparency and prevent delays.


#5 Provide Self-Service Options

Offer users a comprehensive knowledge base and a self-service portal with FAQs so they can resolve common issues themselves. This reduces request volume and promotes user autonomy.


#6 Monitor Performance with KPIs

Track key metrics such as average resolution time, first contact resolution (FCR), ticket backlog, and satisfaction scores to measure process effectiveness. Regular reviews reveal trends and opportunities for improvement.


#7 Encourage Feedback and Improvement

Invite requesters to rate their experience and provide feedback. These insights help refine workflows and adjust training and communication strategies.

The Right Software Support for Effective Request Management

Technology is at the heart of any modern request management system. The right request management software enables automation, supports targeted monitoring and integrates with other business solutions to ensure smooth operations.


Key Features to Look For

An effective request management platform should provide:

  • Customizable request forms and workflows

  • Centralized ticketing

  • Dashboards for complete process visibility

  • Service catalog, SLAs and escalation management

  • Role-based permissions and task assignment

  • Self-service portals and knowledge bases

  • Integration with email, chat, and business apps

  • Reporting and analytics capabilities


The Benefits of Specialized Software

It’s clear: professional request management requires dedicated request management software. The specific benefits include:

  • Speed and Accuracy: Automated routing and data validation reduce errors and speed up processing.

  • Scalability: An effective service request management system adapts to the needs of different departments as the company grows.

  • Collaboration: Cross-department teams work on the same platform with full visibility into request status.

  • Audit and Compliance: Central logs and audit trails ensure accountability and support regulatory compliance.


Popular Request Management Solutions

Some platforms stand out for their request management capabilities:

  • OTRS: Modular, highly flexible, with extensive ITSM features including incident management, process automation and integration.
Learn more
  • EasyVista: Intuitive, modular solution for both IT and non-IT requests
Learn more
  • ServiceNow: Enterprise service platform with high scalability and customization
  • Freshservice: User-friendly interface with powerful automation and self-service features
  • Zendesk: Ideal for customer-focused request management with integrated analytics
  • Jira Service Management: Popular with DevOps and IT teams, featuring robust workflow engines

Integration is Key

A strong request management solution works best when it fits well with the current IT and process setup. This includes not only CRM, ERP, and HR systems but also collaboration tools, monitoring platforms, and industry-specific applications.

With this smooth connectivity, requests are automatically enriched with relevant contextual information, duplicate data entry is eliminated, and manual handovers between departments are minimized. The result: faster processing, fewer errors, and a continuous flow of information across all systems.

 

In the long run, strong integration also boosts user adoption, as employees can continue working with familiar tools while still benefiting from centralized request management.

Conclusion: Request Management — A Strategic Advantage

Today, a well-established request management process is no longer a “nice to have.” It is essential for ensuring efficient, consistent, and high-quality services across the organization. Well-managed requests increase satisfaction, productivity, and operational excellence — both within internal teams and in customer interactions.

By using proven best practices and the right software tools, organizations can improve request handling. This focus on continuous improvement helps create lasting value.

In short: well-executed request management is a strategic advantage, streamlining workflows, increasing transparency, and delivering a better experience for everyone involved.

Contact Experts
Request Demo
Author OTRS
]]> Helpdesk Ticketing Systems: Criteria, Use Cases, Benefits, and Tips https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/helpdesk-ticketing-systems/ Fri, 20 Jun 2025 06:00:26 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=214533

Helpdesk Ticketing Systems: Criteria, Use Cases, Benefits, and Tips

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Helpdesk Ticketing Systems: Criteria, Use Cases, Benefits, and Tips

Effective customer support and service are crucial for companies and their clients. As a key element of customer service, the helpdesk – closely related to but not to be confused with the proactive nature of a service desk – handles incoming requests.

In addition to the skills of the support staff, software support plays a vital role. With the right tools, issues and requests can be easily recorded, categorized, and routed to the appropriate teams.

This article outlines how businesses can choose the most suitable helpdesk ticket system.

The 6 Most Important Criteria for Helpdesk Ticket Systems

Several criteria are important when it comes to helpdesk ticket systems. Companies should define their own focus areas based on their specific needs and expectations.
Here are the six key factors to consider:

#1: User-Friendliness

Intuitive systems are essential—they should offer a smooth experience for both support teams and customers. The system must simplify and streamline services. Complex handling is a serious drawback. A good helpdesk system should support and integrate multiple channels like email, chat, and phone seamlessly.

#2: Workflows and Automation

Effective helpdesk software includes preconfigured workflows that teams can work with efficiently. It’s also valuable when the system can assign tickets to the right team or individual based on predefined rules. Templates for automatic confirmations, responses, and escalation rules can save significant time.

#3: Scalability and Stability

The software should scale as your organization grows. An increase in tickets, users (agents), and data should not be a problem. Even during peak usage, the system should remain stable and responsive.

#4: Security and Compliance

While operational support is the main focus, security is just as critical. Granular role-based access controls protect sensitive data from misuse. The system must also comply with legal regulations such as data retention requirements and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

#5: Flexible Licensing Options

Helpdesk software typically comes in two models: cloud-hosted (web-based) and on-premises (locally installed). Each model has its own benefits: cloud solutions are low-maintenance and less error-prone, while on-premises solutions offer full control. Ideally, vendors should offer both, giving customers the freedom to choose.

#6: Integration and Customizability

Often overlooked, but crucial: how well does the system fit into your organization’s existing tech stack? APIs are essential for integrating the helpdesk with tools like CRM systems or knowledge bases.

Other important features include ticket categorization (e.g., via Kanban view), reporting and analytics, self-service portals, and AI capabilities such as automatically generated ticket summaries.

Use Cases for Helpdesk Ticket Systems

Helpdesk systems offer daily benefits in many areas—especially in IT Service Management (ITSM), customer support, HR support, project management, and facility management. In fact, helpdesks can add value across nearly all business functions.

They are especially valuable in customer service environments like contact centers and IT support. When managing high volumes of tickets and conversations, helpdesks bring clarity, transparency, and traceability—especially when requests come from various channels (phone, email, social media, messaging apps).

Why Should Companies Use Helpdesk Software?

Helpdesk software allows businesses to work efficiently, stay organized, and provide better service. Customers receive quicker, higher-quality support, and employees benefit from streamlined workflows. Structuring, organizing, documenting, and optimizing communication saves time and resources and boosts customer satisfaction.

Good reason to use Dedicated Helpdesk Software

Here are the most important reasons to use helpdesk software:

  • Efficient communication management
  • Improved cost-efficiency
  • Centralized handling of requests
  • Better-informed support teams
  • SLA tracking and control
  • Transparent and traceable communication
  • Easy access to answers via knowledge bases
  • Simplified cross-team collaboration
  • Process automation
  • Scalable and customizable workflows
  • Role-based access control and security features
  • Continuous improvement through analytics and feedback

Every company can benefit from helpdesk software in its own way. The importance of each factor will vary depending on specific use cases.

Generally speaking: The larger the support operation and the higher the request volume, the more beneficial a software solution becomes.

Key Factors for Evaluation

To properly assess helpdesk systems, companies need to focus on the right criteria. The basic principle: choose a system that brings the most value to your organization. Ideally, users should benefit from intuitive handling and a system that runs without major disruptions.

Critical evaluation criteria include:

  1. Features and Functions:
    • Service portal / interface
    • Knowledge management
    • Search>
    • Dashboard
    • User roles and permissions
    • Ticket status, assignment, and prioritization
    • Automation
    • Process management
    • Data encryption
    • Reporting and tracking
  2. User-friendliness
  3. Customer service
  4. Cost-performance ratio
  5. Referral rate
  6. Hosting model (Managed/Cloud vs. On-Premises)
  7. Go-live time (implementation duration)

No one-size-fits-all solution exists. Companies must compare their requirements with what each system offers.

That said, a sound comparison is possible based on standardized criteria. Recommendations can also serve as a valuable starting point to identify which solutions to evaluate more closely.

The Most Important Benefits of Helpdesk Ticketing Systems

There are strong reasons to use helpdesk software. While specific features may vary between providers, several universal benefits stand out:

#1: Centralization

Helpdesk software brings together processes such as multi-channel communication, knowledge management, asset tracking, documentation, reporting, and analytics in one place. For customer service, this means unifying support channels like email, phone, and chat—enabling seamless transitions between channels.

#2: Better Customer Service

Companies use helpdesks primarily to improve communication with customers. The quality of service has a major impact on how a business is perceived. The right helpdesk solution simplifies processes for everyone involved, resulting in faster and smoother service experiences.

#3: Automation

Automation reduces manual effort and frees up time for more important tasks. Many routine tasks in helpdesk operations incur opportunity costs. AI chat, workflow automation, auto-generated tickets, self-service portals, and knowledge bases speed up processes and boost efficiency.

#4: Contextualization

Context is key—especially in helpdesk communication. A good system connects related information, making conversations and documents easy to track and reference. This ensures that users can fully understand the background of each ticket.

#5: Knowledge Management and Documentation

Access to accurate information is either a major asset or a major headache. Strong knowledge management via a well-structured knowledge base, along with solid documentation, is essential for a successful helpdesk system.

#6: Analytics

Analytics provide valuable insights to help improve service management over time. Agents can track ticket status, identify trends, and understand their performance—enabling targeted optimizations.

Tips for Choosing the Right Helpdesk Solution

Here are some key tips to guide your decision-making process:

#1: Prioritize Individual Needs

Different organizations have different goals, industries, team structures, and use cases. Go beyond general criteria and define what your team needs most. Ask yourself: Which system helps us best achieve our goals?

#2: Focus on the Cost-Value Ratio

More features for less money is a common goal. However, balance is key. A low-cost system isn’t always the best value, and a higher-priced solution may deliver more value. Focus on the benefit first, price second.

Don’t just consider upfront costs. Look at the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)—a metric that reveals long-term differences between providers.

#3: Usability Is More Than a Buzzword

Many vendors claim their system is user-friendly. But true usability means users can leverage the system’s full potential without obstacles. Powerful features are worthless if no one can use them effectively. Often, it’s the simple tools that bring the biggest wins.

#4: Consider the “Concurrent Agents” Licensing Model

“Concurrent agents” refers to the number of agents logged in at the same time. This model is especially cost-efficient for companies with high agent turnover (e.g., call centers). You pay only for the maximum number of simultaneous users, not the total number of agents.

Example: A call center with 100 agents in 4 shifts only needs 25 concurrent licenses.

#5: Prioritize Practical AI and Automation

AI and automation are only valuable if they’re useful in practice. Don’t implement features just for the hype—make sure they solve real problems and improve outcomes.

#6: Don’t Underestimate Go-Live and Support

A fast, smooth implementation is critical. Often, helpdesk software is acquired to address urgent issues. The faster the “go live,” the sooner teams can benefit. Post-implementation support also plays a vital role in ongoing success.

#7: Don’t Compromise on Security and Compliance

Security threats and data breaches are very real risks. Helpdesk systems must offer robust security features (like encryption) and help users comply with regulations such as GDPR.

Conclusion: Helpdesk Software Offers Versatile Benefits

Helpdesk ticket systems offer value in many ways and across many functions. When aligned with a team’s or organization’s needs, they provide substantial benefits for both staff and customers.

Not all factors will matter equally in every case, but decision-makers should prioritize the most relevant criteria and advantages. Key blind spots—such as implementation time, user-specific usability, and total cost of ownership—deserve special attention.

Contact our experts now
Tobias Kortas
]]> Customer service management: background, advantages, functions https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/customer-service-management/ https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/customer-service-management/#respond Wed, 19 Mar 2025 15:28:40 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=211471

Customer service management: background, advantages, functions

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Customer service management: background, advantages, functions

What do we mean by customer service?

Customer service encompasses all activities with which companies support customers. This includes before, during and after the purchase of a product or service.

This proves to be enormously important in the sense that satisfied customers remain loyal to companies. They tend to repeat purchases. They contribute significantly to a positive public perception through reviews or feedback. They also drive word of mouth business.

Customer service interactions

Customer interactions take several forms. Tasks typically include the following:

  • Solving problems
  • Complaint and escalation management
  • Directing customers to the right places
  • Offering product suggestions
  • Answering general questions

From a holistic point of view of supporting the customer, companies must also consider:

  • Providing proactive support (before problems occur)
  • Communicating seamlessly across different channels
  • Applying emotional intelligence
  • Optimizing support processes
  • Anchoring customer service in the “DNA” of the company

When done well, these mean that a company is able to:

  • Creating a positive customer experience
  • Build trust and loyalty
  • Enhancing customer satisfaction

This can be done on site through in-person customer support. It may also be offered via telephone, email, chat or social media.

Customer service management: background information

There is more to customer service than reactively resolving customer concerns and problems. Modern customer service can also be proactive. Support models like self-service and automation enable customers to solve problems on their own.

Defining customer service management

With customer service management (CSM), a company wants to give customers good service. This helps build loyalty and create a positive image.

It is one part of customer relationship management (CRM). CRM covers all customer facing interactions. It aims to improve the quality of service provided.

Customer service management strategies aim to solve problems, questions and other concerns quickly and comprehensively. To achieve this, the entire customer engagement must be well orchestrated or coordinated.

Optimizing customer service: Why is this important?

The quality of customer service plays a key role in determining the relationship between customers and companies. Company growth is supported when service:

  • meets all customer requirements,
  • is individually tailored to them
  • acts proactively, and
  • has a fast response time.

CSM strategies are put into place even before customers buy something or use a service. It is a comprehensive approach with which companies support their customers. The goal is not only to solve problems, but also to prevent them when possible.

Modern customers also expect to be able to use preferred channels, such as telephone, email, SMS, messenger or chatbot.

 

„There is only one boss. The customer.”

Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart

 

Important aspects of good customer service management

Delivering high quality service requires much thought and planning. Decisive success factors lie in these aspects:

  1. Adequate process management optimizes services, such as inquiry response and complaint management. This enables concerns to be resolved quickly, satisfactorily and transparently.
  2. Customer service software, automation and AI-powered solutions save employees time and customers benefit from better results.
  3. The focus must be on the customer: Personalized approaches are a good start. This is followed by tailoring service to individual expectations. Companies also offer different service options, such as self-service or a conversation with a customer advisor.
  4. Good customer service is proactive. It solves problems for customers before they become apparent.
  5. If services are changed often based on customer feedback, they are more likely to meet their goals. This increases customer satisfaction immensely.


Customer expectations and corporate goals

When it comes to service, corporate goals must be linked to customer expectations. This prevents business and customer goals from diverging. It ensures that both parties experience a successful relationship.

What expectations do customers have?

When customers consult the service department or use self-service options, they have a problem, question or urgent concern. A quick response and solution are their top priority.

In short, they expect issues to be resolved quickly and satisfactorily.

To achieve this, the following expectations should be met:

  • Solutions and answers need to be provided quickly and without unnecessary delays.
  • The information must be factually correct, precise and reliable.
  • Support must be provided via the preferred channels and at times that suit the customer.
  • In the case of complex problems, the processes, timeframe and costs must be clear from the outset.
  • Communication should be personal and empathetic, even with automated customer service.

What are important corporate goals for customer service?

We have suggested that meeting customer expectations means that the company is doing a good job. But, how does this translate into concrete goals and quantifiable values?

Here are some brief and concise approaches:

  1. You can measure customer service satisfaction using metrics. Two common metrics are the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) and the Net Promoter Score (NPS). Certain values can be defined as targets for these.
  2. Service is significantly responsible for customer loyalty and customer retention. We can measure this with different metrics. These include resale rates and average customer relationships, known as Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). We also look at the customer retention rate and the churn rate.
  3. Process optimization also counts in customer service. Companies can measure how well processes work. They can measure processing times or the proportion of first contact resolution (FCR).
  4. Continuous improvement is also an important credo when it comes to service quality. It can be measured by internal audits or customer feedback.
  5. Turnover plays an important role in many areas too. You can measure customer service from upselling and cross-selling. This can be done by looking at the sales made from service contacts or counting the upsells.

Customer service management: the advantages

When companies improve their service quality or maintain it at a consistently high level, this undoubtedly has several advantages.

We can look at this from various perspectives:

  • the customer perspective
  • the employee focus
  • the company view

They are different in some ways, but they all aim for the same goal. They want to provide helpful, fast, and easy-to-access service.

„Customer experience isn’t an expense. Managing customer experience bolsters your brand.“

Stan Phelps, Author and speaker

 

The following points highlight what this does for everyone involved.

Advantage #1: Satisfied, loyal customers

Providing customer service that’s focused on the customer’s interests puts them first. This makes for a happier and more loyal customer.  Excellent service also has the advantage that customers recommend the company to others. This may enhance its reputation.

Advantage #2: Boosting sales

Satisfied customers result in higher sales and long-term relationships. High sales volume in the short term and customer base growth in the long term are extremely important business criteria.

Advantage #3: Effective processes and workflows

Automated processes such as ticket management or follow-up tasks after customer contacts save time and avoid errors. Customer service teams with clear structures and transparent processes can also work more effectively and achieve better results.

Advantage #4: Motivated employees

Functional service management also ensures that employees are motivated and show more commitment. This is mainly due to the fact that well-coordinated workflows and structured processes lead to less stress. Observable successes leads to a positive mindset.

Advantage #5: Stability and sustainability

Customer benefits are directly linked to employee interests and the company’s situation. If customers receive first-class service, this leads to long-term relationships and stable relationships. It ensure a partnership in which one business cares for another.  

Customer service management software

A service that meets customer needs requires a good structure. It also needs a clear flow of information and skilled use of knowledge.

To meet high quality standards and give customers more, companies need help from customer service software.

Requirements and important functions

Customer service software should be intuitive to use. It should make things noticeably easier for agents and customers. A dedicated solution usually results in a quick return on investment (ROI).

These are the most important requirements and functions:

  • With a ticket management system, inquiries can be centrally recorded, prioritized and tracked.
  • Self-service portals such as knowledge bases, frequently asked questions and community forums provide low-threshold access to useful knowledge content.
  • Agents can work together on inquiries, assignments and notes, resulting in optimized collaboration.
  • GDPR compliance, access controls and encryption protect data and ensure compliance.
  • Simple implementation, intuitive operation and the option of mobile device interfaces use make the software user-friendly.
  • KPI dashboards, feedback evaluations and performance reports can be used to offer insights and opportunities for improvement.
  • The integration of channels such as email, chat, telephone and social media enables omnichannel support.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI)

The benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly important to customer service management and helpdesk solutions. AI saves time, improves response times and helps to make customers happier.

For example, AI chatbots and virtual assistants can answer customer questions at any time. Automatic ticket assignments and the creation of suggested answers also save time and effort. In the helpdesk, users benefit from automatic classifications, optimized workflows, predictions and tailored support based on customer history.

Autonomous learning and mood recognition

Further advantages are offered by natural language processing (NLP) and self-optimizing knowledge databases. AI can recognize the emotions of each customer. It can quickly find important and urgent cases that need priority.

Through the latter, the AI recognizes the emotions of the respective customer and can quickly identify critical and urgent cases that need to be prioritized accordingly. This is just as much a part of personalization as intelligent suggestions for products, solutions or knowledge database articles.

Conclusion: Customer service management – an important driver

Customer service is a core area for companies. This is where their customers’ image of their own services is directly manifested. Bad service experiences are just as memorable as those in which customer service acted as a real savior.

Companies should therefore not under estimate the importance of the service they provide to their customers. They should constantly strive to improve quality and offer new, helpful services.

Personalization is a factor that customers now firmly demand. AI applications are also increasingly part of this. Companies are being asked to use them to the benefit of everyone involved.

It should also be emphasized that interactions and the type of communication are at the heart of customer service. Service is about people. People constantly seek empathy and solutions tailored to their individual mood and preferences.

In addition, companies should always keep an eye on the relationships between strategic goals, customer needs and employee perspectives.

Find out how OTRS can support you in your customer service management.

Contact experts
Tobias Kortas
]]> https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/customer-service-management/feed/ 0 First contact resolution: definition, (dis)advantages and best practices https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/first-contact-resolution/ https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/first-contact-resolution/#respond Wed, 19 Mar 2025 11:36:32 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=211543

First contact resolution: definition, (dis)advantages and best practices

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First contact resolution: definition, (dis)advantages and best practices

What is meant by First Contact Resolution?

First contact resolution (FCR) is the proportion of customer inquiries that are resolved by support at the first attempt. When measuring first call resolution, follow these steps:

  1. Count how many inquiries were solved in one interaction.
  2. Count the total number of requests.
  3. Divide the number of solved inquiries by the total requests.

The “first attempt” means it only takes one call, email, social media message, or chat to solve a problem well.

As most customer contacts are still made by a phone call, this rate is also known as First Call Resolution rate.

How do you calculate FCR?

The FCR is easy to calculate. When measuring first call resolution, divide the number of inquiries that could be resolved with a single interaction (a customer call, an email inquiry or a chat session) by the total number of requests.

The formula is as follows:

FCR = number of tickets resolved on the first call (or interaction) / total number of tickets received

What is a good first resolution rate?

The industry standard for first-time resolution rate is 70 to 79 percent. If you land in this range, you have every right to be happy about having achieved a good FCR.

According to the call center company SQM Group, values of 80 percent and higher are “world class”. Only five percent of call centers worldwide achieve this. Conversely, values of less than 70 percent indicate that improvement is needed. 

However, experience shows that these benchmarks tend to be set a little too high for FCR. People who score below this level do not always provide “poor” service. This is just one of many key performance indicators (KPIs).

In addition, the FCR achieved depends on many factors. For example, a good value could simply mean that there is insufficient self-service. Customers may be turning to support with simple, very easy-to-solve inquiries. This would inflate the rate while still leaving room for support to make improvements.

Why is the first contact resolution rate important?

First contact resolution can serve as an important metric for service quality. Many call centers work with this metric as customers expect a quick resolution to their issue when they contact them. Any delay causes additional frustration. This is especially true when customers have not made progress using a knowledge base or an AI chatbot.

With a good FCR, companies know that customers are receiving quick resolution to any issue. This contributes to their satisfaction.

In fact, the FCR can often be used as a KPI to indicate customer satisfaction, as it contributes to this to a certain extent. Companies can also collect a Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) separately. This helps to show that a positive first solution rate also contributes directly to a favorable value.

FCR: the pros and cons

First Contact Resolution is undoubtedly an important metric for contact centers. However, companies should by no means focus on it alone. It should be used with other metrics to make reliable statements about customer service quality and customer satisfaction.

Advantages

Here is an overview of the most important advantages of using FCR as a metric.

  1. Importance for customer loyalty: A high FCR rate correlates positively with good customer satisfaction. As customers appreciate quick solutions without having to make repeat calls. The first resolution rate highlights an important aspect of customer service management. If this is fulfilled, they are much more likely to remain loyal.
  1. Correlation with costs: First contact resolution is directly related to business costs. When a good FCR eliminates repeated inquiries, this reduces operating costs. Support teams can invest their manpower elsewhere.
  1. Statements on service quality: A high FCR value shows that service teams work well. It means they have the right information and are well trained. This is true even if the figures should sometimes be treated with caution. Validation by other key figures is often required in order to be able to make reliable statements.
  1. Influence on support teams: Support staff often feel frustrated when they have to deal with angry customers for a long time. A good first resolution rate therefore means less stress, less strain and a greater sense of achievement.
  1. Competitive advantages: Companies with a better FCR rate than their competitors have an edge in customer service. There are also indirect competitive advantages if companies use FCR values for targeted improvements.

Disadvantages

First Contact Resolution only sheds light on part of the truth. If companies rely solely on this key figure, misunderstandings can quickly occur when evaluating the service provided. As a result, the quality of service can even decline.

Caution is advised in the following cases:

  1. Complex cases: An immediate solution cannot be achieved for every problem. If there is too much focus on FCR, complex inquiries might not get enough attention. They may not be prioritized as they should.
  2. False signals: If companies only look at a high first resolution rate, they may think the service is good. In fact, there may not be enough self-service options. As a result, customers often ask employees simple questions.

    This does not lead to high customer satisfaction. It can also make companies feel falsely secure.

  1. Distorted value. Many companies set a high FCR rate as a goal. This leads employees to close tickets too soon to meet the target.

    However, problems are often not yet solved and customers turn to support again in anger. Mistakes also occur if, for example, it only becomes apparent later that certain solutions were inadequate.

  1. Need for quality: Closing inquiries (tickets) too soon can mean not giving a complete solution. Some customers also want comprehensive advice. To drive quality service, understand FCR in relation to other important objectives.
  1. Unfair assessments: Complex cases naturally take longer to resolve. If service employee evaluations are based solely on FCR, performance quality may be skewed for those team members who are responsible for more complex cases.

Conclusion: advantages vs. disadvantages

First contact resolution has earned its place as an important service management metric. However, users need to consider it in combination with other important metrics. Only then can a reliable overall picture of service quality be obtained. After all, FCR measures a large and crucial piece of the puzzle, but not the entire thing.

5 best practices for FCR

When used correctly, first contact resolution makes a lot of sense. The following best practices are important building blocks and optimizations.

#1: Choose targets wisely

A “world-class” FCR can be an important goal, but this does not necessarily have to be the case. A high level of customer satisfaction is the overriding goal. This is measured with values such as the Customer Retention Rate (CRR). Companies should ask themselves to what extent a good first solution rate contributes to this.

At times, other metrics might matter more. Consider objectives such as customer service quality, shorter waiting times or good escalation management (for many complex cases) could be better objectives. However, if customer satisfaction is largely dependent on immediate problem resolution, the FCR proves to be spot on.

#2: Working with a knowledge database

Teams are strong when they work together. Agents can benefit when they have access to the relevant knowledge of other team members. A knowledge base can contain solutions to problems, instructions, how-to descriptions and solutions can be easily accessed.

This has considerable advantages for improving first call resolution. This is especially true in the case of recurring problems. Employees are more likely to be able to solve them at the first customer interactions. If knowledge is important for support cases, such a database fulfills an extremely helpful function.

#3: Combine FCR with other metrics

First Contact Resolution only represents part of the truth. Viewed completely in isolation, it provides little insight.

In combination with the following metrics, the FCR can paint a clear picture:

  • Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): This measures customer satisfaction via a short survey. It may, for example, ask customers to rate service on a scale from 1 to 5.
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS): This metric is used to determine how likely a customer is to recommend the company to others.
  • Time to Resolution (TTR): This is about the average time it takes for a problem to be resolved.
  • Ticket Response Rate (Reopen Rate): This shows how often closed tickets are reopened. It helps to indicate poor quality problem resolution.
  • Compliance with service level specifications: Service level agreements (SLAs) should definitely be adhered to by support. For example, there may be specifications for response or resolution times and the availability of support.

Depending on the individual objectives, other metrics can also prove to be extremely useful and helpful.

#4: Introduce automated ticket routing

If you want to resolve customer issues immediately, it’s a good idea to use new tools. For example, customer contacts are not usually created according to a fixed, expertise-based organization. Tickets could be sent to employees who may not be the best contacts for the relevant topics.

With automatic ticket routing, employees with the right skill sets are assigned cases automatically. This immensely increases the likelihood of a first contact resolution, even for challenging issues. Having the right person work on a case leads to higher FCR and improved customer satisfaction.

#5: Improve the recording of first contacts

It has already been discussed that FCR rates can be deceptive. Many apparent first contacts are actually follow-up inquiries. For example, a customer may first try to get help from a self-service portal. If that is not satisfactory response, they many then open a ticket with an agent.

It is therefore important to classify processes correctly and record unbiased FCR rates. The following can help:

  • Consider the entire customer journey
  • Link data from self-service portals, chatbots or knowledge databases
  • Define the FCR in such a way that self-service attempts also count as initial contact
  • Ask the respective customer directly whether a solution to the problem has already been worked on beforehand
  • Introduce additional metrics such as the Self-Service Success Rate (SSSR)
  • Optimize the self-service area where appropriate

Conclusion: First contact resolution – yes, but correctly categorized

Most customers expect quick, immediate solutions. Against this backdrop, a solid first contact solution proves to be valuable. First contact resolution therefore proves to be an important metric and a crucial building block for customer satisfaction.

However, users should always consider the entire context before prioritizing FCR. Examine values in relation to other metrics. There could be a reason for lower values, such as an inadequate self-service offering.

First contact resolution should therefore be used sensibly in customer service. This includes realistic targets and unbiased data collection as well as clever measures to achieve the highest possible values.

Find out how OTRS supports customer service success.

To the OTRS Customer Service Solution
Tobias Kortas
]]> https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/first-contact-resolution/feed/ 0 AI in Customer Service https://otrs.com/blog/ai-automation/ai-in-customer-service/ https://otrs.com/blog/ai-automation/ai-in-customer-service/#respond Tue, 18 Mar 2025 08:22:19 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=211121

AI in Customer Service

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AI in Customer Service

Why is AI important in service?

The feeling that customers take from a company is firmly influenced by the level of service received. Artificial intelligence can provide significant support and have a positive influence in this area.

AI is changing customer service. It offers support ranging from minor assistance to comprehensive virtual assistants. The AI spectrum is broad and supports customers and employees in a variety of ways.

One common factor is this: The technology should allow for quick, always available, easy, and flexible support.

This translates into better service delivery for customers. It also builds a stable foundation for companies thanks to satisfied customers and more profitable work.

In short: AI enables companies to offer their customers better service, save costs and gain a competitive edge.

Advantages of AI in customer service

AI can achieve a lot if you use it correctly. Here is a quick overview of some important benefits.

#1 Personalization

AI makes it possible to provide customers with personalized experiences and context-related support. This makes the service more pleasant and tailored to them. AI achieves this by analyzing customer data, making individual recommendations, designing targeted communication on the preferred channels and providing automated reminders.

#2 Shorter waiting times

The biggest annoyance in service is long waiting times. Artificial intelligence can significantly reduce response times and enable support to be always available. Shorter waiting times are achieved through the use of AI chatbots and workflow automation. It also supports employees with real-time information.

#3 Improved employee experience

Repetitive tasks and easy-to-solve queries take up a lot of time for customer service teams. They distract from more complex cases and more important tasks. If AI can provide support here, employees are relieved, work more effectively and are more satisfied.

#4 Increased customer loyalty

AI guides customers through the service and provides them with a better customer service experience.

When AI tools work properly, they make a significant contribution to improving customer satisfaction. This significantly increases customer loyalty. After all, it is often negative service experiences that make customers want to switch. When you consider the importance of a good customer base, loyalty becomes a decisive competitive factor.

#5 Cost efficiency

Those who make targeted use of AI in customer service have the opportunity to save money on several levels.

For example, chatbots and virtual assistants help employees handle fewer standard questions. This leads to faster processing times. Also, support teams work more efficiently and can provide 24/7 support at no extra cost.

AI also avoids expensive escalations because it can proactively identify and solve support problems.

Potential AI Disadvantages

Artificial intelligence does far more good for the service than harm. Nevertheless, there are some scenarios in which it can be detrimental.

#1 Missing the human factor

AI should not replace human agents. It should complement their work so that customers receive the best possible service through the combined effect.

Offering empathy, handling emotions, creating solutions, and providing support are important skills. Only well-trained employees can bring these skills to the table. In addition, people bring practical experience that an AI systems cannot have in this form.

The key is to build a strong AI-human team. This team should combine their strengths to create real benefits.

#2 Dependence on technology

Companies should not become too dependent on AI technology. They should always offer alternatives to AI-driven processes and tasks. After all, errors or failures in AI can severely impair support if you rely too heavily on it and it breaks.

#3 Lack of contextual understanding

Modern conversational AI can recognize context and provide precise answers based on this. However, difficulties can arise with unexpected queries and the interpretation of complex problems. This can sometimes lead to incorrect answers.

AI in customer service: examples

There are many ways to use artificial intelligence to optimize support and other customer service operations within companies. AI services can generate significant added value, particularly when using a customer portal or ticket system.

AI chatbots

Chatbots are a very typical use case for automated customer service. They provide low-threshold access to relevant information and knowledge. They mainly handle the first contact or do research for customers. This happens before customers reach out to an employee for detailed information or specific solutions.

Virtual assistants

These assistants provide employees with comprehensive support in their work. A virtual assistant can take on a whole host of smaller AI services that benefit agents. For example, it creates suggested answers, provides background information or summarizes previous conversations. Overall, many AI applications in support can be summarized under the umbrella term virtual assistant.

Intelligent ticket classification

Before processing a request, it often takes time to review tickets and assign them to the right category. An AI application can significantly speed up this process by automatically categorizing ticket content correctly. By quickly and correctly assigning tickets to the right department, we can process support and service requests on time.

Automated responses

Formulating a good answer to an inquiry can take a lot of time. This is a particularly important problem when there is a high volume of inquiries.

AI assistants can formulate suitable answers based on ticket information, which the respective support employee only needs to check. This speeds up processing. It also avoids errors and inconsistent answers.

Sentiment analysis

By noticing the mood in queries, AI can quickly understand how a customer feels. This happens before an agent contacts them. Depending on whether an enquirer is frustrated, satisfied or neutral, different approaches are advisable. If the AI detects a high level of frustration, for example, a rapid escalation is the right course of action.

In general, sentiment analysis helps agents to act with empathy from the outset and offer customers a better service experience.

Real-time translation

Service requests can come in many different languages. There is often a language barrier between user and agent. Real-time translations compensate for this.

Users and agents compose messages in their preferred language. AI then creates automatic translations and the agent reads the message in their preferred language. This means that multilingual communication is not only possible, but it is also fast.

Suggested solutions (knowledge base)

The path to a suitable solution can also be shortened. This can be achieved, for example, when an AI tool directly suggests suitable answers from the knowledge base. This means faster and more accurate solutions are suggested to the customer. They may also be suggested in real-time to an agent who is helping a customer directly.

Best practices for the optimal use of AI

Artificial intelligence provides support in many areas of customer service. However, it is not enough to implement it without detailed strategic and practical considerations.

Various stakeholders are increasingly demanding the use of AI. However, how exactly companies deploy specific AI applications is proving to be more crucial.

The following approaches make sense:

1. Combine AI skills with human strengths

AI offers added value in service delivery, but it also has significant weaknesses. For example, the pure use of technology is clearly at a disadvantage when customers require empathy and comprehensive support. Companies should use AI in customer service in such a way that they combine human strengths with machine strengths.

This often happens automatically, but has its pitfalls when companies use AI extensively and ambitiously. In principle, the technology must support people in a targeted manner and not replace them.

2. Get the best out of personalization

Artificial intelligence comes with the great advantage of personalization. It can create completely individual customer experiences based on preferences and previous interactions. This offers great potential that many companies are not taking into account. Instead of simply implementing chatbots and minor efficiency improvements, it is advisable to use AI to create highly individualized customer experiences.

3. Establish clear boundaries

First, customers need to understand how much they are interacting with a human or an AI. This helps set clear expectations and avoid disappointment. Customers should also be able to switch from an AI application, such as a chatbot, to an employee easily. To improve services, AI and humans work hand in hand wherever possible.

4. Enable multi-channel communication

AI helps customers interact more. They can choose their favorite way to communicate. Therefore, the technology must work smoothly and without issues on different channels, like chat, phone, email, and social media. For example, if a particular customer likes to interact via email, this must be easily possible.

5. Make improvements

Many people expect that AI systems in customer service should work perfectly right from the start. In reality, however, mistakes do occur. Nothing works as intended straight away.

Companies would do well to learn from this and optimize their processes step by step. In terms of continuous improvement, it is advisable use machine learning, feedback from employees and customer input.

Conclusion: Combining strengths correctly

Artificial intelligence means enormous progress in many areas. Customer service also benefits from this to a large extent.

A distinction must be made between AI that takes over support and AI that supports employees. In reality, it is primarily about the latter. Virtual assistants, AI chatbots, and automation aim to give efficient support. They help improve customer service for users and service providers.

Companies should understand the different aspects of artificial intelligence. They need to create strategies to use it effectively in their services. On the one hand, there is pressure in this direction: customers are increasingly demanding it. On the other hand, AI reveals many practical advantages that enable companies to work more efficiently and successfully.

In practice, this also means a remarkable opportunity for typical human strengths. If an AI helps with routine tasks and simple cases, there is more room for human interaction. People can apply empathy, creativity and complex problem-solving skills to support more intensive cases.

Tobias Kortas
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]]> https://otrs.com/blog/ai-automation/ai-in-customer-service/feed/ 0 10 Best Practices for Successful Service Management https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/best-practices-service-management/ https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/best-practices-service-management/#respond Tue, 25 Feb 2025 08:49:42 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=210946

10 Best Practices for Successful Service Management

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10 Best Practices for Successful Service Management

Service management: the importance

Service management is concerned with creating interfaces between a company’s products and its customers. It should focus on the customer. All contact points between the customer and the company must work well. These points should be checked often and improved.

Requirements and goals

You can see how well support services are doing by looking at customer satisfaction. Cases of persistent problems or major customer disappointment are a particular point of focus.

Service management is not just about offering customers services. Rather, it is about taking a comprehensive approach to providing the best possible experience for customers.  

Strategic aspects and processes

Companies must first identify the overarching purposes of service management and how these relate to the company’s goals.

The right processes and workflows are also needed to ensure that customers receive fast, reliable, comprehensive and helpful solutions. In IT, for example, this includes tried and tested processes for incident, problem and change management.

Software solutions and analytical aspects

The right software solution can also speed up service delivery, improve work management, and offer customers a quick result. An example of this is automating workflows or offering automated customer service to reduce waiting times and service costs.

Finally, data analysis is also a core area of focus. Companies can obtain and evaluate direct customer feedback as well as examine their own workflows. Data points out many ways to optimize workflows.

Whether service level agreements (SLAs) are being met is particularly important in IT Service Management (ITSM). Certain key performance indicators (KPIs) are also becoming increasingly important for companies. For example, first call resolution (FCR) defines the proportion of support inquiries resolved on the first contact.

Best practices for service management

How companies prepare their service teams can differ a lot. They may have different priorities and goals they want to reach.

Nevertheless, there are some best practices that can generally prove useful.

Best practice #1: Develop a sound strategic direction

If you don’t know the goal, you can’t find the right path. Therefore, the first step is to define a clear service management strategy. This should outlines high level service objectives and related these to business goals. Based on this, it is possible to make an informed judgment about how successfully the current services are working.

Areas in which there is potential for improvement require special dedication in the strategy. This is the case when there is a challenge from either the business or customer perspective.

For example, the support team may help customers with problems. However, they might not explain the product features well enough. As a result, customers have a limited perspective on what’s possible.

This means the company is not taking advantage of up-selling and cross-selling opportunities. It may even risk losing customers who aren’t getting enough value from the offering.

It is important for all key stakeholders to work together on the strategy. They should create sensible and realistic measures. These measures should combine the benefits for the company and the benefits for the customers.

Best practice #2: Set a clear customer focus

The customer should be the top priority for all services. A strategy that company representatives consider useful but does not clearly serve the customer is of little value.

In the best-case scenario, service management corresponds exactly to the needs that customers express. These needs are identified either through direct feedback or indirectly through problems they have experienced. For example, a well-developed knowledge management system can be extremely useful for solving problems.

Customers must also always receive immediate information about issues and maintenance times. Ideally, this transparency should encompass all aspects of customer communication. To ensure that the quality is also right, teams need regular training and access to new developments and trends. This ensures team member growth and awareness.

Best practice #3: Align with standard frameworks such as ITIL

ITIL®️ (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) and other ITSM frameworks provide valuable guidance when it comes to IT service management. Predefined processes, practices, and guidelines help us use our resources well. They also create a strong base for high service quality.

For example, ITSM processes such as service request, incident, problem and change management benefit greatly from applying standards. The ITIL principle of using a configuration management database (CMDB) helps with asset management in many service areas.

The CMDB manages data about hardware and software. It can also contain information on service contracts, customers or service level agreements (SLAs). Regular service reviews for process optimization also pay off.

Best practice #4: Introduce self-service

Self-service gives customers more flexibility and independence. Self-service means that companies offer their customers additional options that are geared towards the reality of their lives. Modern customers no longer want to be dependent on the working hours of the service desk.

An example of providing self-service is when a customer solves a simple application problem by interacting with chatbot from their sofa in the evening.

The self-service options include:

  • Knowledge databases
  • Frequently asked questions (FAQ) with short answers
  • (AI) chatbots
  • Community forums
  • Independent bookings and scheduling
  • Independent creation of product configurations

Best practice #5: Use AI and automation

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds immense potential for optimizing customer service. The main benefits of AI are greater efficiency, time savings and more accuracy. Machine learning (ML) and the handling of big data also enable detailed analyses and an optimized, personalized service.

Practical applications of AI may include:  

  • Summarizing ticket content,
  • Defining types of services or
  • Classify tickets.

Agents also benefit. They may:

  • Receive suggested answers to inquiries based on data on frequently asked questions,
  • Use sentiment analysis to understand the customer’s attitude and emotions or
  • Receive automatic translations.

Workflow automation is frequently used in ITSM too. It saves time, increases productivity and avoids errors. In some cases, process automation makes sense as well.

Best practice #6: Build a knowledge base

Knowledge is key to providing service that customers want. Creating a knowledge base and making it centrally accessible provides external customers with additional and better service options. It also helps internal employees with details about approvals, processes, solutions, and more.

It is important that companies regularly maintain, optimize and supplement knowledge bases. This is because content quickly becomes outdated. Customer requirements also change, especially with constant new developments.

It is also advisable to think about various forms of media. Knowledge content can be perfected and expanded using multimedia, such as videos, in order to maximize its benefits.

Best practice #7: Define KPIs and metrics

What companies want to achieve strategically with the service is an important factor, but it must be measurable. Well-defined KPIs and metrics are needed to measure the achievement of objectives. Doing so provides a baseline for optimizing services in a targeted manner and in line with corporate objectives.

Consider the following as an example:

Company goal: The customer retention rate (CRR) must be increased, i.e. customers should remain loyal to the company.

KPI: To increase customer satisfaction, problems should be solved as quickly as possible.

Metrics: First Call Resolution (FCR; percentage of problems resolved on first contact); Net Promoter Score (NPS) to measure customer satisfaction.

Best practice #8: Maintain continuous improvement

Those who do not improve will be overtaken. This explains why continuous improvement is so important. The principle is linked to a cyclical approach in which services are regularly examined, evaluated and optimized.

The Kaizen principle states that change for the better should take place. Those responsible do not have to strictly follow this principle, but it helps to implement improvements. These may be large or small improvements. They can be done on a regular basis in order to offer customers good, helpful and comprehensive service.

Best practice #9: Pay attention to security and compliance

Data security is an absolute necessity in service management. After all, confidential, personal and sensitive data and information must not be leaked. For example, it is important to comply with standards such as ISO 20000, ISO 27001 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

A recovery plan should also be in place for IT emergencies. The best possible incident management can be achieved by using a cyber defense solution.

Regular security checks and precise access management are also a good ideas. These should be done on a day-to-day basis.

Best practice #10: Adapting trends and current developments

The world doesn’t stand still, and customer needs change. Similarly, service offerings shouldn’t always stay the same and should expand as much as possible. This could include new self-service options, AI features or a high degree of personalization.

Trends and current developments include the following:

  1. Use of AI features that expand the range of services and provide low-threshold answers.
  2. Distinctive omnichannel support so that customers can flexibly choose their preferred channels.
  3. Dynamic, multimedia self-service that can be used to solve problems.

Use cases that highlight ITSM best practices

In many cases, companies have succeeded in significantly improving management processes and reducing costs through the consistent implementation of best practices.

Using structured service management and best practices often leads to clear results. These results include shorter processing times, happier customers, and better transparency. For example:

  • By looking for and improving inefficient service processes, companies can speed up processing times.
  • By implementing ITSM tools, companies can enhance transparency regarding assets and save money on licensing.
  • By standardizing and organizing communication, companies offer consistency and efficiency to customers.

Here are a couple of specific customer use cases.

Example #1: SIEVERS-GROUP – standardize processes when supporting multiple departments

SIEVERS-GROUP, an IT system house, faced the challenge of making support more efficient. It wanted to offer its own customers higher quality and optimize service delivery. The aim was to use a central solution for seven different departments. As a prerequisite for this, relevant KPIs first had to be visible and measurable.

With OTRS, SIEVERS-GROUP now has uniform processes for ticket processing throughout the company. Customers experience significantly more transparency and optimized communication. Service quality is measured using the right KPIs.

Additionally, improvements can be quickly made when necessary. As a next step, SIEVERS-GROUP has plans to introduce a configuration management database (CMDB).

Find out more about the SIEVERS-GROUP use case.

Example #2: EMAPTA – incorporate more flexibility and compliance

EMAPTA, a personnel services company based in the Philippines, was frustrated by the lack of structured workflows for service provision. Compliance also needed to be improved in order to achieve ISO/IEC 2000 certification, among other things.

With OTRS as a service management system, EMAPTA now provides significantly higher workflow compliance, greater thoroughness. Customer needs are now better met.

Read more in the EMAPTA use case.

OTRS as a service management solution

OTRS was developed in alignment with these best practices. It can be used in a variety of ways for service management. Teams benefit from fewer errors, optimized service delivery, customizable interfaces and guaranteed security.

Users can use numerous features to optimize their workflows, provide better service and increase customer satisfaction.

Learn more

Conclusion: Best practices make a decisive difference

Service management means not just offering customers support. It also means taking a holistic view of customer communication and optimizing it as far as possible. Overarching strategic aspects are important here. It is also important to consider how customers perceive the service and the extent to which their requirements are met.

Best practices for service management each deal with important sub-topics. These can also be linked together in a meaningful way. Ideally, this results in improving customer satisfaction.

In most cases it also makes sense to focus on individual practices within the company. Clear KPIs and associated metrics for services should be defined. The path to success often lies in fixed standards, structured workflows and continuous improvements.

In many cases, companies with the right best practices and the right software solution can make the decisive difference in providing sensible and successful service management.  

Contact our experts
Tobias Kortas
]]> https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/best-practices-service-management/feed/ 0 Automated customer service: advantages, best practices, examples https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/customer-service-automation/ https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/customer-service-automation/#respond Wed, 19 Feb 2025 15:55:45 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=210973

Automated customer service: advantages, best practices, examples

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Automated customer service: advantages, best practices, examples

What does customer service automation mean?

With automated customer service, companies streamline processes and create the possibility of fast around-the-clock supports. This leads to the desired answers and resolutions without delay.

There are various ways to automate customer service. This does not, however, mean that companies should forgo the personal touch altogether. In many cases, automation simply offers additional options for receiving support.

Customer contact and automated services

Examples of how customers interact with automated services include:

  • A customer uses the automated service, achieves her goal and requires no further service.
  • A customer relies on the automated service to start a process. They still need human intervention due to the request complexity.
  • A customer contacts support, but is told that they can use the self-service options more quickly and conveniently.
  • An AI chatbot switches on.

Examples of automated customer service

Customer service automation can mean resolving customer queries by using web chat functions, messages or knowledge bases. This is done without contacting a human agent.

There are various to support customer service with automation:

  • Internal workflow automation. By using software to structure inquiries and communication, the burden on service employees is relieved. Customers have the information they need more quickly.
  • AI-controlled chatbots can answer inquiries via the app or website.
  • Self-service options like knowledge base articles, FAQs, and forums help customers easily find assistance.
  • Automated emails are sent to customers to inform them about processes, updates and statuses.
  • Interactive voice response systems answer customer calls.

Advantages of automated customer service

Automating services is not an end in itself. Companies expect benefits that can best be expressed in concrete, relevant figures.

Here are the benefits that customers, employees and the company as a whole can directly perceive.

Advantage #1: Constant availability

24/7: Admittedly, this term is overused, but it makes a lot of sense when it comes to automated customer service. People can hardly provide constant availability. Even with generous service times, competent contact persons are often very busy and difficult to reach.

An undisputed advantage of automation and self-service is the ability to access information exactly when it is needed.

In a busy life full of tasks and appointments, customers want to initiate support when it suits them. This is often in the evening, for example, when most service employees are also off work. Customer satisfaction is boosted when customers are helped on their own schedules.

Advantage #2: Personalized experiences – better customer experience

When a customer service agent is in contact with a service employee, there is personal contact. The employee usually does not know the customer’s individual preferences and needs. It is difficult to tailor the answers to the customer.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can improve this by recognizing preferences and patterns. This allows for tailored responses. Recommendations are also generated based on previous purchases and customer service interactions.

Automated customer service now has many ways to respond to individual concerns. These systems can adapt to customer needs and provide targeted, tailored content.

Such automation enables customers to find what they are looking for more quickly, resulting in greater satisfaction and loyalty. In turn, companies can improve key performance indicators, such as the customer retention rate (CRR) or sales figures.

Advantage #3: Saving time and money

When customers make inquiries, they want quick responses. In today’s fast-paced world, hardly anyone wants to wait long for helpful answers.

On the other hand, it is also important for companies to save time. With automation, employees are able to take on fewer repetitive tasks and can concentrate more on value-adding work.

On the one hand, cost savings are achieved because employees act more efficiently. They achieve more in the time available to them.

Meanwhile, dissatisfied customers cause high costs. These costs include direct costs and lost opportunities. Clever automation can help avoid these issues.

Advantage #4: Fewer errors and better quality

Mistakes happen – event in customer service. This cannot always be avoided, but it does have many negative effects. Automation prevents such errors. This is always the case when processes are already well defined through process optimization. 

Consistency exists because the same workflows are used in automated service. By replicating successful procedures again and again, companies achieve a consistently high quality level.

Advantage #5: Scalability

In traditional customer service, extra inquiries causes problems. Additional support agents, resources and costs are needed to cover the increased demand.

With automation, on the other hand, there are no physical limits to the volume of service that can be delivered. AI powered chatbots or virtual assistants, for example, are in continuous use without any restrictions whatsoever.

Advantage #6: Continuous improvement

Automated customer service sometimes used to have a reputation for not being ideal. There were a number of reasons for this:

  • Automations had their limitations with individual and complex single cases.
  • Early automation solutions were immature and had many weaknesses.
  • Hardly any solution is perfect from the outset. It must evolve.

The principle of continuous improvement is useful here. Systems learn from data, which includes input and experience. Customer feedback is also important for making improvements.

Customer service automation challenges

There are certainly challenges with automated customer service. These can be overcome with cleverly placed and well thought-out solutions that support and complement traditional customer service.

Here are a few topics to consider:

  • Customers who greatly appreciate human interaction feel a loss of the personal touch. This is more obvious when they deal exclusively with automation tools.
  • Some customers may view automation as a restriction rather than an enrichment.
  • Customers who need extensive support get lost in automation functions and get nowhere. This could lead to frustration.
  • Some are directed to a knowledge database or a chatbot. They may feel rejected and thus perceive service quality as lower.
  • Service automation must be thought through thoroughly. This prevents large investments on which there is no return.

The problems mentioned can be mostly avoided if automation is done correctly and best practices are used.

Best practices for automated customer service

The following best practices are useful for automating customer service.

Best practice #1: Analyze customer needs in detail

Customer needs are usually well known, but what kind of automation customers want often remains unresolved. The question must be how to best to meet the customer’s interests.

For example, customers may not be sufficiently informed about the status and progress of their inquiries. Tthey may have to spend too much time on support issues. Customers may want quick, simple access to relevant knowledge.

Review customer data to understand the needs that customers have.

Best practice #2: Use human, empathetic language

People want humanity. It’s a natural need. At the same time, the advantages of automated services cannot be denied. Fortunately, humanity and automation can be combined.

Whether an automated system relies more on written or spoken language, it should feel empathetic to customers and convey a feeling of “good care”. You can achieve this by carefully shaping the tone of an automated service. Avoid using stiff, robotic language.

Best practice #3: Offer alternatives to automation

Nobody likes to be presented with something that has no alternative. Automation must feel like an extension or improvement of the customer service experience. It should not feel like a restriction. Customers who do not want automation should not have to use it.

There should always be a way to bypass the automated system and easily communicate a human agent. Customers have their own individual preferences and are happy when the service successfully covers them.

Best practice #4: Keep transparency and data protection high

Trust and genuine customer loyalty only work with honesty and sincere communication. This means that it must be clear to customers when they are interacting with an automated system.

They should also know how their data is being used. It goes without saying that companies must comply with all relevant data protection guidelines.

Best practice #5: Review and adapt regularly

We are constantly confronted with new developments. The validity of information changes. Knowledge databases, FAQs, predefined answers or chatbot capabilities are often not well-maintained after implementation. Meanwhile user needs – due to numerous external influences – are subject to constant change.

As yesterday’s information cannot generate tomorrow’s added value, regular reviews and associated updates must take place. This creates reliability, trust and good customer loyalty.

Best practice #6: Choose the right software

Many automation projects face problems because they rely on different tools. Each tool is only useful to a certain point. Instead, companies should choose centralized platforms that offer structure and can be integrated into their individual workflow management.

High-quality software is highly functional, flexible, customizable and scalable (changes can be adapted). In addition, the system used must fit the project plan and not be a “makeshift” solution.

A brief look into the future

It can be assumed that customer service will become even more automated in the future thanks to artificial intelligence. The biggest advantage here is personalization. Service will respond to the individual needs of a customer in greater depth.

Generative AI can start right at the beginning of the process by being used to train employees. For example, highly unique scenarios were previously a weakness in service.

This will no longer be the case. Customers will receive with automated suggestions based on their profile. AI scripts will be able to solve customer issues instantly.  

Providing customers with solutions before problems happen is key. This could greatly improve the efficiency of support teams using AI bots in the future. AI technologies can quickly find the causes of problems. They can also handle tasks like managing escalations or creating support tickets.

Future bots will not be based on scripts, but will be dialog-based. This means they will be  individually tailored to customers by recognizing their moods and evaluating existing data and activities. This means that customers can receive helpful solutions tailored to their needs in real time.

Customer service automation with OTRS

OTRS offers a dedicated software solution that is specially tailored to the needs of customer service and support. It can be flexibly adapted to individual company requirements. Quickly responding to customer questions, creating transparency, and standardizing processes helps the customer service team provide better service.

Automation and self-service aspects are evident in this way:

  • Thanks to automated workflows, all steps are completed reliably and well.
  • Context-dependent FAQs create clarity for customers and reduce the workload of service teams.
  • Automatic notifications and ticket assignments save time. They shorten response and inquiry times.
  • Thanks to the intuitive integration of a knowledge database, users can quickly find exactly what they are looking for.
  • Customers can plan their preferred service times according to the availability of the service team.
Learn more

Conclusion: automation enriches service delivery

Automated customer service is gaining ground. It offers considerable benefits in many areas, from which companies, customers and employees can benefit. Faster solutions and better service experiences help everyone. They also make time use more effective and increase flexibility.

Some people do complain about the loss of personal touch in automated services. Others enjoy the independence gained and the reduced number of interactions. It is important that both groups are listened to and see their needs met by the services offered.

Companies must now take care to implement automated services in the right way to increase customer value. Such solutions require a good concept – including overarching goals and purposes – as well as structured implementation.

Find out how OTRS can support you with automated customer service.

Contact our experts
Tobias Kortas
]]> https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/customer-service-automation/feed/ 0 Task management: definition, examples, methods, software https://otrs.com/blog/processes-workflows/task-management/ https://otrs.com/blog/processes-workflows/task-management/#respond Wed, 18 Dec 2024 07:08:21 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=95918

Task management: definition, examples, methods, software

TOC   
Task management: definition, examples, methods, software

Definition: What is task management?

Task management is the way organizations systematically plan work, set priorities and monitor task progress. Tasks are often assigned to fixed processes or projects. The aim is to prioritize them effectively, delegate them and complete them on time. 

The challenge is to have an adequate overview and use resources as optimally as possible. This means both teams and individuals can work productively, in an organized manner, with clear responsibilities and realistic schedules.

How does personal task management manifest itself?

There are many different preferences, methods and tools for organizing, prioritizing and completing tasks in a timely manner. Tools may include calendars, digital boards, Kanban views, to-do lists or whiteboards. Various approaches, like timeboxing, are employed to organize tasks and stay organized.

It is always important that the approach works individually and that it also favors teamwork on the other. A brief example: A team member may plan his tasks using a digital task board. This gives him a good overview and creates transparency for his colleagues.

Task management vs. project management

Tasks may or may not belong to projects. To ensure that projects are implemented successfully and do not experience unnecessary delays, those responsible must spend time planning all of the tasks and their implementation. Project management software can support this effort.

 

“Task management is fundamental for both standard processes and project management.”

Tobias Kortas

Tasks, workflows and processes

At work, many things build on each other: tasks are related to one another. This drives workflows and processes. As such, task management interacts strongly with workflow management and process management.

Here is a brief overview:

  1. Tasks: They form the smallest unit and represent defined activities to be completed and assigned to a specific goal. There is usually a responsible person and a deadline attached to the task.
  2. Workflows: These consist of a sequence of tasks that are completed according to a specific pattern. Workflows outline how tasks are related to each other and how they are carried out. Good workflows promote collaboration and goal-oriented interdependencies between different tasks.
  3. Processes: Processes are made up of several workflows. They are a recurring and holistic sequence of work steps that aim to achieve a specific result. Rules, standards or activities such as process automation help here. 

Examples of good and bad task management 

The key word when it comes to successfully handling tasks is “management”. Targeted management makes a decisive difference in the efficiency of a team.

Example: Hardware for onboarding 

The following example contrasts poor task management with efficient and optimized management. The results in the onboarding experience are clear. 

Poor task management in onboarding

An IT employee is informed by email that they need to procure the necessary hardware for a new employee. However, the task was created so far in advance that it was lost in the employee’s inbox. It was not marked as “Important” or “Urgent” and no separate discussion took place about it. 

To make matters worse, the assignment of the task made little sense. The IT employee had little experience in this area and was already very busy with other tasks. The employee was frustrated. The task should have been assigned to an experienced and less busy colleague.

Now, it’s time for the onboarding and all the required items are not available. The newly hired person has to begin onboarding without the tools required for his work. 

How to make onboarding better with task management

Task management thrives on structure and planning – and the IT employee’s team takes this into account. Before he was assigned the task, a team meeting was held. All members briefly went through their current tasks, including their importance, urgency and prioritization. 

Based on this, he was assigned the task with a generous lead time. He added the task to his personal task board, which he keeps a constant eye on. The task description contained all the important details. The task had deadlines for all subtasks and contacts in case anything is unclear or help is needed.

The IT employee was able to prepare the onboarding in a structured, calm and conscientious manner. There were no “nasty surprises” to fear. The new colleague arrived to find the hardware ready and available on their first day.

Important components of a task

Individual tasks are more than just a bullet point on a list that needs to be ticked off. The details make all the difference: they vary depending on the complexity and depth of the planning. They provide structure and organizational clarity. 

 

“If a task has all the important components and sufficient information, it tends to be completed more quickly and with the desired result.”

Tobias Kortas

 

Information is – at a higher level – the main component of a task. In this sense, the requirements of task management overlap strongly with those of information management. The task details can ultimately be broken down and categorized in a meaningful way, as shown below. 

Title and description 

The title should be as meaningful as possible. It should indicate the context and not raise any questions for the person responsible. In addition, the description must be as clear and concise as possible and contain the desired goal. 

Responsibilities

The task must first be clearly assigned to a person with primary responsibility. This may also be several team members at once. Stakeholders should also be informed about the status of the task in question. In addition, there are often dependencies, so that communication with those responsible for other tasks is necessary. 

Priority (importance) 

Task priority is a simple clear classification of how important the respective task is. It helps those responsible with planning and deciding how much concentration to devote to the task. A traffic light system or gradations from priority 1 to 5 are therefore possible.

Current processing status

Having task progress defined is an important step. However, it is even more effective and time-saving if the processing status is displayed directly. 

These assignments, for example, make sense: 

  • “Planned”
  • “In progress”
  • “Under review”
  • “Revision”
  • “Completed”

Time period and effort

For most tasks, the end date – often called the deadline or due date – plays an important role. Less attention is usually paid to the start date of a task, but it is more important in terms of duration. 

Those who focus exclusively on the end date have to estimate for themselves how much effort the task will require – including possible disruptive factors – and are more likely to miss the deadline. When the start and end dates are both specified, there is also clarity about the expected effort, and the tasks can usually be completed more easily.

Attachments / resources

Successfully completed tasks don’t just happen. Attachments with documents containing further information, samples, examples or descriptions of contexts are often required. These help the person responsible fully understands a task and can complete it with the desired result. 

Such attachments can also contain working materials or exemplary solutions of comparable tasks. Attachments work best when they are part of a knowledge base, providing access to relevant knowledge in a structured and clear way.

Hierarchy and subtasks

Most tasks are related to other tasks. There are often higher-level tasks that are broken down into subtasks. This structure defines the procedure more precisely and monitors progress more granularly.

Task management methods

There are various approaches to task management. All can be effective depending on the type of task, the collaboration model and individual preferences. 

Here is an overview of a few methods as examples. 

1. To-do list

The simple To-do list is the basis of task management. It is a simple but effective method for organizing tasks. It is advisable to prioritize the respective tasks or to create a ranking according to importance. 

For example, the six most important tasks can be placed on a to-do list each day. The list is ranked in order of importance or urgency. 

2. Kanban

A Kanban board can be digital with drag ‘n drop tasks or physical with sticky notes. Tasks are visualized in columns such as “to do”, “in progress”, “under review” and “completed”. The organization in columns can be designed in a variety of ways. For example, the Kanban view in OTRS is suitable for continuous improvements and progress reports.

 

 

3. Timeboxing

Timeboxing works as a time management method. Instead of using a list, a worker enters tasks – with a specific timebox – in a calendar. Such a box sets a fixed time for the task’s completion. 

Timeboxing can be combined with the Pomodoro technique. This is a system in which one works with focus for 25 minutes and then takes a break for 5 minutes.

4. Not-to-do list

This method reverses the idea of the typical to-do list – and can also be used alongside one. Workers write down the tasks that they can skip, postpone or delegate. It helps them to reduce stress and focus on important tasks. 

This approach can help enormously with prioritization. It’s a means for questioning apparent to-dos and making way for really important tasks.

5. Agile task management (Scrum)

This method is aimed at teamwork. It has spread from agile software development and provides clearly defined processes for working together while handling tasks on one’s own. 

Scrum is particularly suitable for teams that complete their tasks in sprints (e.g. in 2-week cycles). These teams coordinate regularly in meetings, such as short stand-ups. A scrum team typically consists of a product owner, a scrum master and developers. 

6. Getting things done (GTD)

This method is about breaking tasks down into specific steps and organizing them. It reduces mental burden while the task is in progress. Users record all their pending tasks in a system. This allows them to prioritize tasks without being disturbed and without the risk of forgetting something important.

How can software help with task management?

Modern task management solutions provide an excellent overview of tasks, improve organization, put tasks in relation to each other, remind you of due dates, offer time-saving automation and much more. 

Here are the most important advantages of task management tools in a nutshell: 

  • Users have a good overview by having tasks centrally collected in one place. Everyone knows what is assigned. Structure is added by categorization. And information, like deadlines and reminders, is stored with the task. 
  • Visualizations help to identify progress and dependencies between tasks and to react accordingly.  
  • In order to collaborate and coordinate better, teams can share tasks with each other, communicate clearly and task-specifically in real time. 
  • Teams save a lot of time by having a tool automatically send notifications about tasks. 
  • Software can create reports that show project progress, identify bottlenecks and measure success.
  • With cloud-based software, task management can be synchronized to all desired devices. This makes tasks accessible at any time and from anywhere.

Task management with a ticket system

A ticket system can be used flexibly, including for task management. This type of task management system is particularly popular in IT and support. It records tasks quickly and processes them in an organized manner.

For other areas, too, the main advantages are that tasks can be tracked easily and all those involved are informed. Workflow automation saves a lot of time and all information is available in an organized manner in a ticket.

This is an example of a team process:

  1. Record the task: Those involved record the pending tasks in tickets. The tickets are assigned to the responsible persons and include descriptions, attachments, prioritization (according to importance and urgency) and, if necessary, categories. 
  2. Set the task status: The tickets are each assigned a status – such as “open”, “in progress” and “closed”. Anyone working on a task documents the progress directly in the ticket.
  3. Discuss the task as needed: Comment functions allow queries and discussions to be made directly in the ticket. Notifications keep everyone involved up to date. 
  4. Escalate if needed: As ticket systems support automated workflows, a ticket can be automatically forwarded to the line manager as part of escalation management.
  5. Close the ticket: Once the task in question has been completed, the ticket is closed. It can be archived for later analysis or documentation. 
  6. Analyze overall task management: The collected data provides the team with insights into which measures were successful. They can evaluate how work can be improved in the future. 

Conclusion: task management – a crucial process

Virtually all operational, value-added creative work can be expressed in tasks. As a model, the more information and details tasks contain, the more accurate and valid they are. Task management is not just about organization and simple processing. It is also about dependencies between tasks, the connection with workflows and improving processes to achieve overarching goals. 

In short, the more thorough and focused task management is, the more likely teams are to make progress, achieve tangible results, find work enjoyable and continue to develop. Investing time in task management pays off.

Teams and individuals are faced with the challenge of choosing a suitable and target-oriented method for task management. The right software support often makes the decisive difference. It offers an overview when there are many tasks. It helps teams  act more effectively, stay more focused, work more successfully. 

Find out how OTRS can support you with task management.

Contact experts
Tobias Kortas
]]> https://otrs.com/blog/processes-workflows/task-management/feed/ 0 Tips for Successfully Becoming a Customer-Centric Company https://otrs.com/blog/best-practices/customer-centricity/ https://otrs.com/blog/best-practices/customer-centricity/#respond Thu, 18 Apr 2024 13:46:02 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=85580 https://otrs.com/blog/best-practices/customer-centricity/feed/ 0 Service Management Software – Key Purchase Considerations https://otrs.com/blog/itsm/service-management-software/ https://otrs.com/blog/itsm/service-management-software/#respond Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:09:12 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=82031 https://otrs.com/blog/itsm/service-management-software/feed/ 0 Self-service: what it means https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/self-service/ https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/self-service/#respond Wed, 07 Feb 2024 16:52:25 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=79225 https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/self-service/feed/ 0 Escalation management – how it helps customers and companies move forward https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/escalation-management/ https://otrs.com/blog/customer-service/escalation-management/#respond Wed, 22 Nov 2023 11:00:54 +0000 https://otrs.com/?p=76142 H2: Definition: What is escalation management?

Escalation management is a procedure used by companies to deal with customer issues. It is used when agents are unable to help customers and the SLA window is getting tight. Escalating means passing the customer support process on to a higher hierarchical level.

 

If a decision cannot be made and problems cannot be dealt with adequately at the current level, something must still be done as quickly as possible to help customers. In short: there must be a willingness to escalate. In order to enable decision-making capability, the problem moves up the hierarchy.

 

The aim must now be to identify customer challenges, help evaluate them and arrive at adequate solutions as quickly as possible. This is a means of ensuring customer satisfaction and preventing – or at least minimizing – conflicts.

 

H3: Escalation management in ITIL

Escalation management is also a specific practice in ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). It focuses on efficiently dealing with customer disruptions, problems and requests in the IT support area. It is based on clear and structured methods (best practices) for IT service management. The aim is to shorten the agent response time for incidents and improve service quality and customer satisfaction.

 

H3: An example: Escalations impact customer service

The agent to whom the customer turns with their request is largely responsible for the customer experience. However, the problem exceeds the agent’s area of expertise. The agent is unable to help the customer, who is now disappointed with the company as a whole. The customer actually only wanted to have a supposedly minor change made to their software system, but the process unexpectedly stalled. Worse still, the situation has turned angry and the customer is threatening to leave bad reviews.

 

The agent must now act as quickly as possible and escalate the process. In concrete terms, this means that the problem becomes a matter for the boss: The supervisor now makes every effort to resolve the conflict and show the customer a new perspective. On the one hand, this makes the customer feel valued and, on the other, they benefit from the greater experience of their new contact person. In the end, satisfactory help is offered by the IT team.

 

H2: What are the most important aspects of escalation management?

The central challenge of escalation management is to identify issues at an early stage, classify them correctly and ultimately resolve them.

 

Here is an overview of the most important aspects of escalation management:

 

  1. Recognition: First of all, it is important to identify issues as early as possible – before they become serious problems or even a crises. Focused monitoring is just as important here as adequate prioritization.

 

  1. Definition of escalation levels: What should be done if a customr problem cannot be resolved? This can range from simple discussions to legal action. This question is often difficult to answer and is fundamentally important for the business.

 

  1. Creation of an escalation plan: This step is about defining responsibilities: Who takes what specific action – at each level of escalation? Who is the next point of contact? This informs an agent how to proceed with an escalation.

 

  1. Information flow: Communication is of immense importance, especially for sensitive issues such as escalations. Care must be taken to ensure that everyone involved, including the customer, is adequately informed about the problem in question and the status quo.

 

  1. Corporate culture: Employees must feel safe to address issues and use escalation processes. The fear of negative consequences not only hinders business progress, but can also lead to tangible conflicts.

 

  1. Solution orientation: Blame does not move companies forward, but solutions do. Those who take a factual, rational, objective and investigative approach are usually successful. Teams should work together to avert problems and their consequences, which requires a clear focus.

 

These aspects make it clear that escalation management is a crucial discipline in the business context. How agents, customers and superiors deal with conflicts and handle them in a goal-oriented manner reveals their value. This is where resilience and problem-solving skills come to the forefront.

 

Incidentally, functional escalation management can help a business make massive progress. After all, the extent to which they can deal with conflicts, such as complaints, is an important differentiator in competition. In other words: Those who provide customers with adequate solutions even in difficult situations have many advantages.

 

H3: What does an escalation manager do?

As we have seen, escalation management is highly relevant for companies. Those who escalate processes in a targeted manner actively contribute to solutions and have more satisfied customers.

 

In some cases, it may make sense to appoint a dedicated escalation manager. Such a manager coordinates the escalation process and ensures that the respective team – within its hierarchical structure – handles conflicts appropriately.

 

The tasks of an escalation manager coincide with the aspects of escalation management outlined above: the identification, planning, definition of stages, cultural aspects and documentation of escalations play key roles. The tasks may vary depending on the respective organization and industry.

 

H3: What is hierarchical escalation?

We have already seen that hierarchy is of fundamental importance in escalation management. In this sense, we often talk about hierarchical escalation. In concrete terms, this means that companies escalate according to a predefined hierarchical system: Different team levels are used depending on the severity and urgency of the respective customer conflict or problem.

 

For example, if an issue cannot be solved within the respective team, it is escalated to the next level up. By clearly defining responsibilities, the people with the right authority and skills help resolve the conflict.

 

As a result, organizations work more efficiently and assign the right people to deal with customer issues. Problems move up the hierarchy until they can finally be adequately resolved. Before this happens, however, the relevant department does everything it can to resolve the issue at its own level within a reasonable period of time.

 

 

H2: Escalation management interdependencies

At this point, we will take a look at how escalation management relates to selected other areas.

 

H3: Escalation management and service level agreements (SLAs)

Escalation management is directly related to service level management (SLM). In the event of issues and problems, it is important to comply with previously defined service level agreements (SLAs). If a customer has agreed to a certain service, escalations can ensure compliance. For example, functional escalation management can ensure that software services are available despite server problems.

 

H3: Escalation management and process management

These two areas interact very closely. Anyone who plans, implements and optimizes processes must also take escalations into account. In turn, escalation management can be described as a special form of process management. In both cases, highly structured and well-planned processes play a central role for the business.

 

H3: Escalation management and problem management

To deal with escalations typically means dealing with problems. Escalations are also often necessary to resolve problems. Consequently, the two areas have a high degree of overlap. Escalation management is therefore often nothing more than a specific form of problem management.

 

H2: Tips: How to operate escalation management effectively

Good escalation management relies heavily on structure and planning. Companies should therefore define processes and SLAs precisely. Employees benefit from good knowledge management and adequate training.

 

Just as with problem management, focused root cause analysis is also important here. Communication is also a key factor: customers should know the status quo at all times. After all, the focus is on customer satisfaction. Escalating correctly therefore means ensuring excellent help in challenging situations.

 

H3: Targeted use of soft skills

Aside from structural, hierarchical and rational aspects, escalation management relies heavily on soft skills. Resolving customer conflicts quickly and efficiently often means nothing more than actively listening, showing empathy and putting yourself in the customer’s shoes. In sensitive situations in particular, it is important to find the right words and convey positive emotions. These aspects prove to be fundamentally important for good customer service, such as that expected from a contact center.

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