How can you create a competitive advantage for your business without going over budget? Every day, hundreds of thousands of managers worldwide ask themselves this question. Some look for new investment opportunities, others bet on technology, while some see their main growth area in their own personnel.
Importantly, investing in employee experience has already become a hallmark of good business practice, as numerous studies clearly show the benefits. According to Gallup, engaged employees demonstrate 21% higher productivity, which directly impacts a company’s financial performance.
Moreover, based on dozens of their own studies, Gallup concludes that regardless of the industry or economic conditions in which a company operates, it is the level of employee engagement that determines whether the business will grow or struggle to survive in times of instability.
Among Gallup’s key recommendations to boost employee engagement is to create conditions where staff always have everything they need to do their jobs well.
This means not only ticking off a formal must-have checklist. Proper office equipment, appropriate software, and easy access to necessary information are all important.
Additionally, employees must be able to quickly and conveniently notify the responsible specialist about equipment failures, access issues, or the need for additional software — and receive timely support and problem resolution.
Automating the process of creating and handling such employee requests significantly reduces IT department or technical specialists’ response times.
This is the responsibility of the IT HelpDesk system — also known as a ticketing system. The tools needed to implement it are provided by SmartPoint Intranet, a solution for building an internal corporate workspace.
Let’s take a closer look at how it works.
What Is IT HelpDesk?
HelpDesk is an IT tool designed to provide centralized management of employee requests related to technical or IT issues. Simply put, it’s an internal technical support system for staff, created to ensure the smooth operation of the organization.
In practice, the HelpDesk serves as the main entry point to the company’s IT services, which users can access to request corporate services or support.
Key Use Cases of IT HelpDesk
Equipment Repair and Maintenance
With the HelpDesk system, employees can quickly report equipment malfunctions — computers, scanners, POS terminals, and more.
The system automatically routes requests to the technical department based on set priorities, enabling:
- fast response to issues,
- efficient resource allocation,
- minimization of equipment downtime.
Regular analysis of HelpDesk requests helps identify recurring equipment problems and schedule preventive maintenance in time, significantly reducing the risk of critical failures in the future.
Tip: When implementing a HelpDesk system, it’s important to correctly set up the priority matrix. For example, a POS terminal failure during peak hours should have a higher priority than a software update on a backup computer.
Access Management
HelpDesk allows quick and convenient submission of access requests for new employees to the systems they need — such as POS software, ERP, or CRM systems. Requests are automatically sent to responsible personnel, significantly reducing processing time.
Similarly, access revocation requests upon employee termination are easy to submit. When an employee changes position or department, the tool enables quick updates to their access rights.
Handling requests through HelpDesk not only speeds up execution but also:
- ensures control over access rights,
- reduces risks of unauthorized access,
- enhances overall information security within the company.
According to Verizon’s 2024 study, 74% of information security breaches were caused by human factors, including user errors or improper data handling. This highlights the importance of proper access management and regular review of access rights.
Tip: Automate access granting and revocation processes to minimize human error and ensure timely updates of access rights. This approach helps avoid situations where a former employee, due to oversight, still retains access to corporate resources or files.
Submitting Software Installation and Update Requests via HelpDesk
With the HelpDesk system, employees can submit requests to install necessary software or update existing programs. This ensures data is up-to-date and the work environment remains secure.
Tip: Integrate HelpDesk with other corporate systems to enable seamless information exchange and improve overall work efficiency.
Supporting Remote Workers with HelpDesk
In companies using remote or hybrid work models, HelpDesk plays a key role in ensuring smooth operations. It allows employees to submit requests for access to corporate resources, resolve ongoing technical issues, and receive support without needing to be physically present in the office.
Tip: If your company follows a remote or hybrid work format, implement remote access technologies to quickly resolve technical problems without requiring on-site specialist presence.
HelpDesk as an Effective Tool for Information Literacy Training
The HelpDesk system is a powerful tool for organizing training sessions and providing consultations on using company IT resources, cybersecurity, and data protection.
Responsible staff can automate requests for regular and initial training sessions on employee information hygiene. This helps reduce errors caused by insufficient understanding of security policies.
Did you know? The international agricultural company Tiryaki, through regular cybersecurity training, reduced phishing clicks by 89% and annually prevents losses exceeding $100,000.
Benefits of Using an IT HelpDesk
A HelpDesk system is not just a convenient tool for handling requests — it’s a foundation for building a full-fledged IT service management system. This is largely thanks to the following core capabilities:
- Automation of routine internal employee support processes.
- Reduced workload on the support team through integration with a Knowledge Base, use of response templates, and self-service scenarios for common issues.
- Increased productivity of the internal support department through automation.
- Full control and transparency of task progress/completion via a user-friendly interface.
- Better time and resource allocation through task prioritization.
- Real-time analytics of support team workload and data-driven decision-making.
- Shorter ticket resolution times.
HelpDesk as a Set of Convenient Personal Services for Employees by SmartPoint Intranet
SmartPoint Intranet is simple and user-friendly software based on Microsoft 365, designed to create a unified digital environment for the entire company. The solution also includes a tool for building an easy-to-use ticketing system to automate and optimize the processes of technical support for company employees — HelpDesk.
In practice, HelpDesk serves as the single entry point for employee requests related to technical support, office infrastructure maintenance, and IT access provision.
The system automates numerous operations involved in creating and processing requests to the IT or technical support departments.
Thanks to this, the overall level of internal service within the company significantly improves, while the workload on responsible units is noticeably reduced.
How Does a HelpDesk Work, and What Features Should an Effective Ticketing System Have?
To improve business efficiency, such a system should provide:
- Easy creation and collection of support requests
- Sorting and prioritization of tickets based on pre-defined criteria
- Automatic assignment of responsible employees
- Ticket tracking: status, updates, comments
- Communication with users to clarify or request additional information
- Request fulfillment within agreed timeframes
- Ticket closure by authorized personnel
- Reporting and analytics: total number of tickets, average response time, resolution time
Let’s take a closer look.
Creating a Request
- Any employee with system access can submit a request through the program interface, selecting the category in advance (IT request; Account creation request; Equipment issuance request), describing the issue, and attaching files if needed.
- Each request is automatically assigned a unique number.
Process Automation in HelpDesk
One of the key advantages of HelpDesk based on SmartPoint Intranet is the built-in Process Builder. Thanks to this, the responsible employee at the user company can:
- choose from standard request handling logics those relevant to internal business processes,
- create a custom workflow for processing each request type,
- set request prioritization — urgent requests (for example, an ERP system failure) are handled first.
This is made possible through integration with Power Automate’s Task Center and Flows, which allows easy creation of automated processes — from notifications and approvals to full-fledged routing of requests between departments.
Request Handling and Communication
- The specialist responsible for the request sees it on their work dashboard and communicates directly with the employee within the HelpDesk system.
- The system stores the complete history of correspondence, shows current request statuses (“in progress,” “completed,” “awaiting information”), and automatically sends notifications about updates to all parties involved.
Thus, HelpDesk is an effective tool that helps create a positive work environment, increases employee satisfaction, and reduces turnover.
According to research by Tesla, 82% of remote workers report reduced stress levels thanks to efficient technical support — in particular, through the use of software solutions designed to support staff in remote work settings.
Moreover, the solution directly contributes to increased overall company productivity and profitability, serving as an important tool for building and developing corporate culture.
Tip: Regularly analyze HelpDesk usage statistics to identify potential issues and improve your employee support processes.
Read the success story about how Nemiroff uses SmartPoint Intranet built on M365 — with its rich functionality and tools — to boost employee engagement.
Want to learn more about which features of this solution will be most beneficial for your business? Request a free consultation here.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Which processes are automated in a HelpDesk system?
Modern HelpDesk systems automate the following processes:
- Receiving requests via online forms, email, or chat
- Routing tickets to the appropriate specialist or department
- Prioritizing requests (e.g., based on keywords, category, or level of severity)
- Notifying users about the status of their tickets
- SLA monitoring — the system tracks how much time is left before a deadline and can send reminders to assignees
- Closing tickets once they’ve been resolved
- Providing suggestions for self-service solutions using AI tools and virtual agents
- Generating reports on request-handling performance
- Are AI technologies already improving HelpDesk systems?
Yes, artificial intelligence technologies are already actively used to enhance HelpDesk systems as IT solutions. In particular, they enable:
- Automatic ticket classification and routing: AI algorithms analyze the content of a request to automatically determine the issue category, priority level, and responsible employee
- AI-powered virtual assistants: intelligent bots answer frequently asked questions in support chats and assist users in creating tickets
- AI-driven knowledge base search: based on past requests, AI suggests the most likely solutions even before a ticket is created
- What is the difference between a ServiceDesk and a HelpDesk?
Both HelpDesk and ServiceDesk are designed to improve technical user support. However, while a HelpDesk primarily focuses on resolving individual incidents and technical issues, a ServiceDesk is responsible for proactively managing all company’s services.
In other words, a ServiceDesk is a full-fledged service support unit that not only resolves technical issues but also works to prevent them.
For example, a user reports a printer malfunction to the HelpDesk — a technician responds to the ticket, repairs the printer, and closes the request.
In contrast, a ServiceDesk system detects that the same printer has malfunctioned three times in the past six months. This triggers a problem management scenario: the feasibility of replacing the equipment is assessed, and if needed, the budget is adjusted.
- What role does a HelpDesk system play in ITSM?
The difference between a HelpDesk and ITSM (IT Service Management) lies in the scope: a HelpDesk is a standalone tool for providing IT and technical support, while ITSM is a comprehensive methodology for managing the entire IT infrastructure of a company.
A HelpDesk is a component of ITSM. When developed to the level of a ServiceDesk, it can serve as an incident management tool. Meanwhile, ITSM also includes:
- Change management
- Configuration management
- Service level management
- Issue management
- Service catalog
- Automation and analytics
- HelpDesk as a mobile-first system
A mobile-first HelpDesk system is one that works seamlessly on mobile devices. In practice, this means that all elements — buttons, forms, tables, and messages — automatically adapt to the screen size.
The system is also optimized for performance under unstable internet conditions and provides fast access to corporate services even in areas with weak connectivity.
