Recognizing that you need an issue tracking tool is a good first step toward improving operational efficiency, employee productivity and customer satisfaction. Choosing the right solution is where some businesses get tripped up, though. In particular, it can be difficult to balance out features that appeal to employees and business users with capabilities that will enhance the customer experience.
The good news: You don't have to choose between one or the other. Here's what businesses should look for in an issue tracking tool that will make both employees and customers happy campers.
Service request transparency
Customers want to be heard, and they want to know that when they speak up, your staff is listening. Too often, businesses fail to hold up their end of the bargain in this regard, ignoring customer complaints, letting service requests go unaddressed and going dark when users ask for updates.
SuperOffice's "2018 Customer Service Benchmark Report" sheds some light on how dire the situation has gotten:
- 62 percent of companies never respond directly to customer service emails.
- 90 percent do not acknowledge that they received customer complaints or requests.
- 97 percent fail to follow up with customers after an issue has been addressed to confirm they have reached a resolution.
Service request transparency can address these issues by providing customer service teams with the tools needed to stay on top of all incoming tickets and ensure each one is closed in a timely manner. Having all of that information condensed into a single platform makes it much easier for representatives to reach out to customers with updates on their requests and confirm that matters have been resolved to their satisfaction.
The benefits here are twofold: Customers enjoy better service quality and responsiveness, while employees get a streamlined workflow that reduces the day-to-day headaches of tracking requests and complaints.
Intuitive dashboards and interface
One of the biggest obstacles any new piece of software faces in terms of user adoption is getting people onboard with an unfamiliar interface. Employees will often be hesitant to embrace procedural change, even when it's in their best interest. That's why it's so important that your issue tracking system has an intuitive interface with easy-to-use dashboards.
If staff members are going to be spending a big chunk of their workday living in this software, it needs to be easy and effortless to navigate. The best issue tracking software offers an incredible user experience, winning over even the most skeptical employees.
Streamlined interfaces mean workers can get more done in less time, and don't have to wrestle with frustrating dashboards and navigation controls to find the tools and information they need. The less complicated issue tracking software is, the more likely employees are to take advantage of it.
System integration capabilities
No business software should operate in a vacuum. When siloed off into its own distinct ecosystem, applications just make it more difficult for employees to do their jobs by piling on extra work to complete common tasks.
The best issue tracking software can be integrated into other core business platforms. Integrating these applications with Active Directory, for instance, allows knowledge workers to access user data without creating separate accounts. The little annoyances build up into much bigger problems, so businesses should pounce on any opportunity to make employees' lives easier.
Furthermore, those efficiency and productivity improvements trickle down to the customer by offering faster and more responsive service. Issuetrak features the breadth of features needed to achieve these goals, allowing businesses to enjoy the best of both worlds.