As any IT support professional will tell you, each organization has its own set of issues. Sometimes it’s a core group of workers who desperately need training on a specific piece of software. Sometimes it’s an overall issue of outdated knowledge. And sometimes there are an isolated number of workers who fail to grasp even the basics of computing.

Any organization that fails to track its workers help desk issues may be missing a valuable opportunity. Help desk personnel often know more about employees’ technical skills than their own bosses, since these workers ask questions they wouldn’t dare ask supervisors. Questions like, “How do I copy and paste in Word?” or, “If my computer is down, will I still be able to print?” hint at a need for training that could dramatically improve these workers’ productivity, not to mention career potential.

Regular Reports

Many help desks use help desk software that allows for logging tickets and dispatching technicians. This software usually provides reporting capabilities, with IT managers able to pull a report stating the number of tickets by issue, employee,application, department, and more.

By requesting this report for inclusion in your monthly issues meetings, you can begin to spot trends among your workforce that need to be addressed. Has ticket volume increased since deploying a new software application? Does a particular employee have a higher issue volume than others? These statistics could tell employers whether administration should address training needs or fix possible application bugs.

Pinpoint Hardware Issues

Ticket reports could also pinpoint issues with aging hardware in an organization. For instance, your company’s printers may be consistently breaking down, highlighting the need to replace them. Reports of PCs freezing up or locking might tell you that it’s time for a new round of desktop purchases. This type of insight can’t easily be found by a random walk-through.

Help desk ticket reporting is a valuable, easy way to gain insight into the technology conditions in your organization. By working with your IT staff, you can gather the data you need to make great decisions that will improve the knowledge levels of your staff, as well as equipping them with the tools they need to do their jobs.