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Getting Back to the Basics of Help Desk Support in Health IT

Help Desk Support

The help desk support assists customers with issues regarding bugs and the lack of functionality. Additionally, this assures that the support team promptly handles customers’ complaints. Without a help desk, companies may face a decrease in efficiency, delays in handling bugs, and increased costs [1]. Therefore, it is crucial to implement a help support desk in order to improve customer relations and decrease costs. 

Benefits of Help Desk Support

Improving Customer Relations

The help desk support team helps improve customer relations by prioritizing their concerns in an efficient manner [2]. This is often done with a ticketing system that tracks concerns based on their level of urgency. This helps customers resolve their concerns in a timely order and improves their trust in the application. Furthermore, the help desk allows a direct line of communication between the support team and the users [2]. This promotes real-time feedback and enhances the customer’s experience. Complaints can be addressed with prompt updates, and changes regarding functionality can be addressed as needed. This is important because improving customer service has increased customer spending and referrals [3]. Overall, setting up a help desk helps health IT companies in the long term with increased customer retention and the chance of potential future collaborations. 

Decreasing Costs

Implementing a help desk can decrease costs for health IT companies. As stated previously, help desks can improve customer relations. This can lead to an almost 20% reduction in costs when it comes to assisting customers [3]. Furthermore, a help desk promotes regular updates, maintenance, and cyber security checks in order to prevent future costly problems from arising [1]. Moreover, system errors can be costly, mainly when they result in data loss [1]. The help desk support proactively responds to problems and issues while they are more manageable. Prioritizing the order of issues also helps the IT team reduce time wasted on smaller issues that can be put off until more severe issues are resolved. Overall, the support desk helps to make troubleshooting efficient, cost-effective, and promotes proper functioning of the software. 

Common Help Desk Features

Ticket Management

Ticket management makes sure that tickets are tracked in order of priority and the time they were sent in [4]. This promotes a prompt response to potential bugs and system errors. This feature is essential in improving customer relations and makes troubleshooting more efficient. 

Self-Service 

Depending on the application, IT companies may want to implement a self-service feature. This helps customers handle issues resolving billing, payroll, appointments, and minor routine updates [4]. This is useful for larger projects and helps users resolve smaller issues on their own without the need for the help desk support team. Furthermore, this service is usually in a portal where more urgent issues can be ticketed and sent to the support team [4]. Overall, this feature is useful in reducing time and cost.

Information Hub

The information hub is useful in addressing common questions or issues that consumers face [4]. If the help desk support team finds bugs, they can alert consumers using this tool. This is useful for larger projects that may benefit from having different resources available in a centralized location. This can help direct users to the correct department or resource needed to answer their questions [4]. 

IT Management

The IT management helps to make sure that the project meets the established functionalities. Furthermore, the IT management team can repair software changes, server issues, and any other components that decrease functionality [4]. 

Help Desk Support in Healthcare

Help desks are crucial to promoting the well-being of patients. For instance, IT companies must provide reliable applications that manage various hospital systems and networks [5]. Any potential technical difficulties can be life-threatening for patients. Therefore a help desk is useful in reducing and preventing potential errors. Furthermore, it is important to implement self-service tools so that users can resolve minor and routine issues without the help of the support team [5]. Furthermore, a help desk promotes regulatory demands. For instance, cyber security compliance is crucial in protecting patient data. The help desk can ensure guidelines are met and any issues that come up are handled in a timely manner. Lastly, new devices and applications are designed constantly as healthcare advances. This requires proper support and training so that providers can effectively implement the new tools they are given [5]. This also reduces risks that may come with new technology. 

User Training

User training allows consumers to learn how to operate the application they are delivering [6]. Furthermore, this process ensures that customers are able to access the full functionality of the application. Oftentimes, developers don’t effectively communicate to users how they are supposed to use the software. Therefore, taking the time to train customers when needed is crucial, especially when there are new implementations. This also ensures that the end-users are confident in the application they will be using.

HITS

HITS implements a DevOps model so that we can form strategic partnerships that incorporate user feedback to promote safe, efficient, effective, timely, patient-centered, and equitable patient care. Having the right team for your help desk support ensures that functional requirements are met and program errors are avoided. This helps reduce costs, improves efficiency, and minimizes risks to your organization. If you’re looking for the right team, HITS is it! You can reach out to us directly at info@healthitsol.com. Check out this link if you’re interested in having a 15-minute consultation with us: https://bit.ly/3RLsRXR.

References

  1. https://consoltech.com/blog/how-youre-losing-money-by-not-using-an-it-help-desk/ 
  2. https://support.cc/benefits-of-help-desk-software 
  3. https://financesonline.com/why-is-help-desk-software-useful/
  4. https://financesonline.com/why-is-help-desk-software-useful/
  5. https://www.itproportal.com/features/four-ways-a-strong-it-service-desk-can-improve-healthcare/
  6. https://thepickledspruit.org/what-is-user-training-in-software-engineering/
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