SolarWinds recently conducted a survey about help desks to which more than 180 help desk professionals responded. We learned a great deal about the help desk challenges faced by various organizations. Here are the facts!

1. 1© 2013, SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.
What Makes a
Successful Help Desk?
SolarWinds’ Survey Says…
Are you facing IT help desk challenges?
Learn how SolarWinds can help…

2. 2
Introduction
SolarWinds recently
conducted a survey about
help desks to which more
than 180 help desk
professionals responded.
We learned a great deal
about the help desk
challenges faced by various
organizations.
Here are the facts!
2013 HELP DESK SURVEY – BY SOLARWINDS
» Respondents
Who did we survey?
» Results
What did they say?
» Summary
What should you watch out for?
» Recommendation
What should you do?
Agenda

3. 3
Who Did We Survey?
3
2013 HELP DESK SURVEY – BY SOLARWINDS
Respondents
180+ respondents
More than 50% were from companies with 500+ employees

4. 4
Tickets Processed Per Day
4
Org Size <500 Org Size >500
Ticket Volume & Automation
78% of the respondents said their organization (<500 employees) processes up to 50 help desk tickets a day.
65% of the respondents said their organization (>500 employees) processes more than 50 help desk tickets a day.
Automation becomes a key aspect to address ticket volumes.
2013 HELP DESK SURVEY – BY SOLARWINDS

5. 5
Major Help Desk Challenges
5
Top 3 Help Desk Challenges
1. No proper communication, alerts, notifications
2. Cumbersome ticket categorization & prioritization
3. Lack of automated ticketing workflow & management
2013 HELP DESK SURVEY – BY SOLARWINDS

6. 6
Key Help Desk Functions
6
Top Help Desk Functions
1. Knowledge base management
2. Automated task management
3. SLA tracking & management / Performance reporting & metrics
2013 HELP DESK SURVEY – BY SOLARWINDS

7. 7
Integration with Network Management Software
7
2013 HELP DESK SURVEY – BY SOLARWINDS
Integration is the key!
1. More than 82% of respondents feel it would be helpful to integrate network monitoring
software with their help desk software
2. Help desk tickets can be triggered based on network node alerts/failures

8. 8
Time Spent On Tickets
8
Where’s the Time Spent?
1. More than 48% of the respondents spend more than 1 hour managing & tracking tickets
2. More 75% spend more than 1 hour on troubleshooting & ticket resolution
2013 HELP DESK SURVEY – BY SOLARWINDS
Managing & Tracking Tickets Troubleshooting & Resolving Tickets

9. 9
What Should You Watch Out For?
9
» Top Three Help Desk Challenges
1. Lack of proper communication, escalations, alerts & notifications
2. Cumbersome to categorize & prioritize service tickets
3. Lack of ticketing automation
» Top Help Desk Functions
1. Knowledge base management
2. Integration with network management systems
3. Task management
4. SLA tracking & management
5. Metrics & performance reporting dashboard
What’s The Bottom Line?
Communication | Automation | Integration
2013 HELP DESK SURVEY – BY SOLARWINDS

10. 10
What Else Did We Learn?
10
Click Here
Interested to see more of this
survey?
 About 50% of respondents said their help desk software does not facilitate simple
workflows or flexible processes
 Only 35% of respondents said their help desk software leverages built-in knowledge
base capabilities
2013 HELP DESK SURVEY – BY SOLARWINDS

11. 11
Some Recommendations…
11
» Analyze your business requirements to identify the right help desk solution
» Learn key communication requirements that may simplify help desk ticketing
» Understand how to automate management of everyday help desk tasks
» Enable end-users to help themselves, saving you time and money
» Explore integration with network management systems & other key help
desk ticketing capabilities
2013 HELP DESK SURVEY – BY SOLARWINDS

12. 12© 2013, SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.
Thank you!