How a dedicated service desk can improve internal customer/employee satisfaction

Technology has grown by leaps and bounds, and so have our expectations. A survey conducted showed that three in five customers have higher expectations for customer service than they had a decade ago. Businesses worldwide lose approximately $62 billion annually due to poor customer service.

Today’s businesses don’t just have external customers. They have internal ones too – their employees. Surveys showed that 71 percent of employees want their employers to serve them with the same level of technology as they use in their personal lives. This a hugely unaddressed area. What can organizations do to improve the satisfaction levels of their internal customers?

Like customers, employees want their concerns addressed quickly. This makes them more efficient. An effective way in which organizations can do this is to dedicate a service desk to employees which works at the same time as them. Thus, if an organization works 24/7 round-the-year, the service desk should function all-year too.

Here are three ways in which a service desk for employees will benefit the organization:

Quicker resolution of challenges

Lengthy processes and hierarchies create many bottlenecks within an organization. These bottlenecks are major deterrents to employee productivity.

Concerns raised by employees often get lost in a sea of emails and remain unaddressed. This limits employees from being productive. Examples of such concerns impacting productivity could include poor functioning laptops, outdated software licenses, and more.

A dedicated service desk can capture these concerns in form of service tickets and route them to relevant departments. It can also allow employees to gain insights on:

• The status of their query
• The estimated time to resolve it
• Contact details of the department handling their issue

Improved employee retention

Long wait times and poor responses are the number one reason for customers to be disappointed. Internal customers feel the same way. Just like customers stop buying from organizations, employees leave frustrating workplaces. Hiring new employees, training them, and waiting for the break-in period to end is a huge investment for organizations, one that can be reduced by better employee engagement.

Most employees don’t prioritize parties and outings are part of engagement programmes (although they do enjoy the same). What matters more is that their concerns get resolved quickly and effectively. A dedicated service desk can achieve both. When this occurs, employee satisfaction for employers increases, and so does their tenure.

Better root cause analysis

Pareto’s 80/20 Rule holds true everywhere, especially in the business world – 80 percent problems arise from 20 percent reasons. Address these 20 percent reasons and you can substantially reduce 80 percent of your problems.

Analyzing employee concerns is difficult – almost impossible – by sifting through hundreds and thousands of emails. Service tickets are far more effective for doing this.

Service tickets enable organizations to generate reports and identify the most common problems (20 percent). Organizations can then work to ensure they don’t arise again.

This doesn’t just reduce the number of service tickets that employees raise. It also means substantial cost saving for the organization.

Almost every business states that customer service is its top priority. This service can improve only if its employees are satisfied since employees contribute to processes that lead to outcomes that lead to customer satisfaction.

Hence, it’s equally important, if not more, to take care of your internal customers – your employees – as your external customers. A dedicated service desk can help you resolve their issues faster and with lesser trouble.

Limesh Parekh is CEO of Enjay IT Solutions.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)