Do you ever find that, despite the hard work put in by your IT support team, employees are constantly voicing their dissatisfaction with the level of support they receive?

And on the other side of those internal service desks, support agents often find themselves burnt out, frustrated, and overwhelmed. The burden of repetitive and redundant IT support tasks can take a toll on their mental health, productivity, and overall job satisfaction.

IT support leaders face an ongoing dilemma - creating a harmonious work environment for their team members while simultaneously striving to provide exceptional support to employees. And despite their best efforts, a startling 52% of employees believe that the employee experience software is outdated and cumbersome.

If your organization already has an internal IT service desk, it's high time to implement refined strategies and automation. This approach will not only help you build a more productive workforce but also prevent the exhaustion of support team agents.

This guide serves as a valuable starting point on this journey toward improving your internal IT service desk and enhancing the employee experience.

What is an internal IT service desk?

An internal IT service desk is a centralized hub within an organization that provides technical support and assistance to employees and end users. It is the go-to place for resolving IT issues, seeking support, answering tech-related questions, and addressing software and hardware problems. Unlike external help desks that cater to customers, an internal IT service desk focuses solely on supporting the company's internal operations.

An internal IT service desk acts as a "tech troubleshooter" within the organization, handling various problems, from troubleshooting computer malfunctions to guiding employees on accessing VPNs.

Why does a modern IT service desk matter for enterprises?

According to the Employee Experience Trends Report, 84% of employee experience professionals agreed that they need better systems to support remote, hybrid, and onsite employees. By setting up an effective modern IT service desk, organizations can quickly provide the support employees need without overwhelming the IT support team .

Streamline internal communication

Solving a workplace tech issues through back-and-forth emails with the IT team can be chaotic and time-consuming. An internal IT service desk streamlines communication by providing a centralized platform for submitting and tracking support requests.

For example, when Jane from the accounting department encounters issues accessing financial software like NetSuite, she can log a ticket with the IT service desk. The IT team can then prioritize and address the ticket, ensuring no emails are lost or communication breakdowns occur.

Provide efficient and faster problem-resolution

Time is money, especially when the employee support issues bring work to a standstill. A modern IT service desk speeds up the troubleshooting process by leveraging GenAI, ensuring that employees get prompt assistance when encountering problems.

For instance, if Mark's computer crashes in the middle of a project, he can submit a ticket to the  IT service desk via Slack or Microsoft Teams. Instead of waiting in a queue of emails, his ticket receives immediate attention based on urgency, allowing him to get back up and running quickly.

Increase productivity across the organization

Employees can save time and focus on their core tasks and responsibilities by having a modern IT service desk. They no longer need to spend valuable time in troubleshooting problems independently or searching for solutions across multiple internal knowledge base sources. With the help of a modern IT service desk like Atomicwork, employees can submit their requests and receive prompt assistance, enabling them to work more efficiently and effectively, right from MS Teams or Slack.

Reduce additional operation costs

Having a modern IT service desk can result in cost savings for organizations as they are built with conversational AI and conversational workflows for business process automation. It eliminates the need to outsource support services or hire additional staff to handle requests volume. Organizations can save money and maximize their IT investments by efficiently resolving IT-related issues, unlocking the workplace productivity and minimizing downtime.

Elements of a  Modern IT Service Desk

IT support team leads already know the key elements of an internal IT service desk. However, some elements, like emails, phone support, etc., are outdated. Below are the elements of a new-age modern IT service desk powered by AI and built with automation first philosophy:

Modern IT Ticketing System

A ticketing system forms the core of a modern IT service desk. It allows employees to submit support requests and provides the IT team with a centralized platform for tracking and managing those requests from the communication channels like Microsoft Teams and Slack. With a modern IT ticketing system, requests can be automatically prioritized based on the employee work profile, routed to the appropriate team members, and tracked for resolution using the IT SLA management.

Knowledge base in Microsoft Teams or Slack

A comprehensive knowledge base is invaluable for an internal IT service desk but in most organizations, the traditional knowledge base is outdated as the conversations and content exchange has moved to collaboration tools like Slack and MS Teams. They have a repository of threads, article links, reference guides, and new resources that address common support issues and provide solutions. Modern IT service desk helps you to leverage the knowledge from Slack and MS Teams along with your traditional knowledge base as a source to enable your employees to find quick answers to their questions, reducing the need for direct IT assistance.

Smart Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Traditional SLAs define the expected response and resolution times for different requests but they don't have the context of end user profile and urgency intent of the employee requests. With a modern IT service desk, you can ensure that employees receive timely and satisfactory assistance as it leverages AI to determine the prioritization and routing of requests based on the intent detection. With smart SLAs help set clear expectations by notifying agents about key issues to be worked upon will enable the IT team to prioritize and allocate their support resources effectively.

Intelligent Reporting and AI Analytics

Monitoring and analyzing the performance of the internal IT service desk is crucial for continuous improvement. A modern IT service desk uses intelligent reporting and AI analytics approach to provide insights into key metrics such as unhandled questions by AI assistant, response time, resolution time, customer satisfaction, support themes and ticket volume. These insights help identify trends, bottlenecks, and areas for further automation improvements.

New Communication Channels

A practical modern IT service desk facilitates seamless communication between employees and the IT team wherever they are not just from traditional internal portal or email. The modern IT service desk offers new communication channels like Slack and Microsoft Teams along with traditional channels like email, live chat, and help center or portal, allowing employees to choose their preferred method of IT communication. This flexibility enhances the overall user experience and ensures  AI-enabled assistance for known IT support queries and increasing the coverage for first contact resolution.

Modern IT Automation

Automation plays a vital role in streamlining internal IT service desk operations. With a modern IT service desk, you can take automation to beyond the routine tasks such as ticket routing, initial responses, and knowledge base updates, freeing up the IT team to focus on more complex issues. By leveraging the AI intent driven IT automation can significantly enhance the efficiency, reduces human errors, and improves overall productivity.

5 Best Practices to Manage an Internal IT Service Desk

Managing an internal IT helpdesk is a daily struggle as most of the traditional IT service desks were not built for the hybrid and digital workplaces. IT leaders need to think of their team members' best interests without jeopardizing employees' productivity. Here are a few best practices that can help manage IT service desks better:

Establish transparent processes and communication channel

Clear processes and workflows are essential for the smooth functioning of an internal IT service desk. Here’s how you can implement it:

• Define and document the steps involved in submitting, prioritizing, and resolving IT support requests
• Ensure that employees understand how to access the internal IT service desk and what information to provide when submitting a request
• Create a centralized communication platform, such as a dedicated email address, use slack or Microsoft Teams as a modern ticketing system, to ensure that employees can easily reach out for support
• Communicate the available channels and smart guides on how to submit requests and report issues in the knowledge base from Slack or Microsoft Teams
• Keep updating the knowledge base regularly to improve adaptation based on end user feedback by using AI-driven IT service desk solutions like Atomicwork. Encourage team members to share their expertise and contribute to the knowledge base from Slack and Microsoft Teams
• Implement regular IT team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and training programs to promote a culture of continuous learning and improvement

Implement ITIL problem management approach

Problem management is a common approach to internal IT service management as per ITIL process. The idea is to detect the underlying problem behind an issue and offer solutions that can resolve that problem and minimize its impacts on the overall business of an enterprise.

For example, if you notice frequent issues with password resets for a tool, the underlying problem can be the employees’ inability to remember complex passwords. In that case, you can create a workflow where each time an employee tries to log in, they will receive a code in their inboxes. That way, they won’t need to remember passwords for that particular software solution.

Analyze root causes, document solutions, and update the knowledge base to prevent future incidents.

Prioritize and triage tickets

Develop a system for prioritizing and triaging support tickets based on urgency and impact using a modern AI-driven solution like Atomicwork or any standard ticketing system like Servicenow or Zendesk that offers these features.

Some things to note here:

• Ensure that critical issues are addressed promptly. Use unique labels or color codes to distinguish critical issues from routine requests
• Set clear SLAs for response and resolution times to manage employee expectations
• Assign the tickets to efficient employees with experience in resolving similar issues. That way, the resolution speed increases
• Create automated workflows and set triggers in such a way that the issues are auto-assigned to different agents based on their expertise or availability

Continuously monitor and improve

You cannot build a “perfect” IT service desk in a single day. The key here is collecting feedback, experimenting, and improving the process while also leveraging emerging technologies like GenAI and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Regularly monitor key metrics and performance indicators to identify areas for improvement.

Analyze metrics like response times, resolution times, customer satisfaction ratings, request themes and ticket volume to identify trends and implement proactive measures. Seek feedback from employees to understand their experience and adjust the IT support process accordingly.

Opt for conversational AI automation

According to a report by Remote, there is a 54% increase in total number of full-time employees working remotely in 2023. Your organization must function across different locations and multiple time zones to support your end customers and business needs.

For hybrid work and modern digital workplace services, using conversational AI automation can efficiently resolve routine IT service queries and can provide first level response without creating lot of tickets for your IT support team. Businesses that opt for AI-driven, ChatGPT-like conversational AI support tools like Atomicwork can help empower employees and automate internal processes such as request for access, password resets, software updates, etc., to minimize manual IT intervention and reduce the end user support response times.

Different types of internal IT service desks and tools

A key factor behind any IT service desk is the audience. Gen Z and millennials are currently ruling the global workspaces as we all know. PWC highlighted that 38% of the workforce are Gen Z and millennials and by 2030, this will rise to 58%. Millennials and Gen Z employees are smart, savvy and technologically advanced, and supporting them through emails and phones will no longer be feasible so you have to consider using chat channels like Slack or Microsoft Teams for modern employee support.

That’s why you must incorporate a modern and AI-powered IT service desks instead of On-prem or legacy IT service desks:

On-premise internal IT service desk

An on-premise internal IT service desk is hosted on the organization's servers, located within the company's premises. This hosting model offers greater control and customization options but requires significant IT resources to maintain and support. This is a very traditional way and most organizations are already moving away from the On-prem IT service desk solutions.

Cloud-based IT service desk

A cloud-based or SaaS IT service desk is hosted on remote cloud servers and can be accessed online from anywhere without the restrictions of the corporate networks. This hosting model offers scalability, flexibility, and lower infrastructure costs. Cloud-based service desks can integrate with other cloud-based tools, enhancing workflow efficiency. However most of the existing Cloud-based or SaaS IT service desks haven't innovated beyond the table stake features for the IT support.

Open-source internal IT service desk

An open-source internal IT service desk is a software system that is freely available and can be modified by the user to suite their needs in highly restrictive domains like Military and Defense. While this model provides complete control and customization options but requires lot of technical expertise to set up, control and maintain so it's not a recommended option for 99% businesses.

Conversational AI-powered IT service desk

A conversational IT service desk operates like ChatGPT or any other GenAI-based AI assistant where employees can submit their requests through natural human like interaction to receive an empathetic and actionable support. These interactive AI service desk tools can empower employees to leverage self-service, so they don’t have to go through the knowledge bases, internal portal or watch long tutorial videos to solve an IT support issue. Atomicwork is a purpose built to deliver Conversational ITSM and AI service desk solution to modern businesses.

Final thoughts

In conclusion, we emphasize that every organization appreciates the heavy lifting that their IT support teams perform. Opting for the modern IT strategies and AI-powered IT support tools that we mentioned here should help you innovate better compared to the existing IT service desks to create an effective system where support executives and employees can co-exist peacefully to deliver their best work for the organization.

Conversational IT service desk solution like Atomicwork offer a modern and scalable solution to support employees across all timezones even without having a 24*7 internal support teams. However, the question that remains here is - which conversational IT service desk to select?

Our vote, not so surprisingly, goes to - Atomicwork.

The legacy IT service desk vendors hasn't innovated on their product strategy and capabilities to the changing and dynamic needs of a modern and digital workplaces. We highly recommend you to consider AI-driven ITSM platform or service desk solutions that can immensely help your IT support teams with streamlined ticket resolution, proactive issue prevention, and efficient collaboration while delivering great productivity and excellent employee experience - all with a conversational AI support.

To explore how a Modern IT Service Desk like Atomicwork works, book a personalized demo!

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