The act of shuttering offices during the pandemic and being forced to work remotely seemed like a bleak proposition for many businesses. Reduced productivity was one of many concerns facing executives. But then the unexpected happened: remote workers proved to be more than 35 percent more productive!
Now, regardless of whether employees are working remotely, in the office or in a hybrid work schedule, productivity is still a major goal. Finding ways to improve workflow and reduce overhead is a top priority.
Shared Digital Workspace
One platform that many companies have turned to is Microsoft Teams. Its integration with Azure, Microsoft 365 and other applications, helps you communicate, collaborate and share resources securely across a distributed workforce. Microsoft applications, which provide fluid access to files, virtual meetings and email, enable a complete and shared workspace in Teams that support interaction and productivity regardless of physical location. No need to switch applications. You can access M365 products directly in Teams.
File Collaboration
Microsoft Teams enables collaboration. It doesn’t matter if your team is centralized in one location or split across the globe. Changes are documented in the app, allowing employees see and track others’ contributions.
Organizational Structure
Users belong to one team or many, giving them structured spaces to work within. This helps them stay organized, have direct conversations specific to projects and prevents information overload and lost communication, which can easily occur with email. Segmenting workflows in this way also prevents unnecessary notifications.
Instantaneous Communication
Communication is immediate in Teams and always available. Regardless of location or time of day, individuals can connect via chat or full-on virtual meetings to complete work.
The Power of Service Desk Tickets
Service desk tickets are a part of every business. Tickets help you document and manage issues as they arise, whether those issues comprise managing IT networks, troubleshooting problems for employees (and keeping them connected to software and networks) or tracking software bugs.
It’s the technology system and process of managing those tickets that can prove challenging. Many organizations struggle with cumbersome platforms or a lack of process. In either scenario, end users and IT analysts can become frustrated.
What if there was a way to leverage technology already part of employees’ workflow to handle tickets? What if there was a simple, non-cumbersome tool that integrates with their digital workspace? Enter Tikit!
What is Tikit?
Tikit is an authorized, third-party service desk application built exclusively for Microsoft Teams. Tikit helps you manage the ticketing process, enabling requests and tickets to be created, worked and tracked in either Outlook email or Microsoft Teams (both are connected in the Microsoft ecosystem).
Proximity is particularly effective—just by providing access to help in spaces where employees are working increases productivity.
Seven Ways Tikit Increases Employee Productivity
If your ticketing system—or lack of one—is a pain point, it’s time to look at technology already in your arsenal. You don’t need additional service desk licenses or products if you’re already using Microsoft Teams as a digital workspace. Tikit integrates directly with Teams and organizes ticketing workflow for efficient results.
Seamless Integration
Employees don’t have to log into a separate system to get help, and analysts are able to focus in one place. Tikit allows them to create tickets via Teams or email and focus communication and updates in either channel. The conversational method is familiar and simple.
There’s no context switching, no complex processes, and no extra work burden on an employee. Access is right within their digital workspace.
No Extra Authentication
External systems require additional security layers to verify identity. This can increase your virtual surface area for cyberattacks and add a potential layer of confusion for employees. It’s also another system for your IT department to manage.
Because Tikit integrates with Teams, there’s no additional attack vector. There are no extra systems for IT to manage and no other logins are required.
Ticket Triage and Groups
Tikit gives analysts the ability to assign urgency to tickets, so that they can be resolved according to various priorities.
With Tikit, you can triage based on rulesets, severity and organizational structure. Routing tickets to specific teams and analysts saves time and provides accurate resolutions. You can also create even greater routing efficiency using Tikit’s groups feature.
Reduce Repetitive Tickets
Is your service desk team overrun with low-severity, repetitive requests? This is a common issue for organizations of any size.
Tikit uses an AI virtual agent to deflect common questions and connect employees to knowledge base resources in a conversational manner. This reduces overhead for both sides of the potential ticket! Check out how it works.
Reduce Confusion by Providing Information Up Front
Employees can upload files and screenshots when they make a request, reducing back-and-forth exchanges to get background information. With more information up front, the analyst is likely to isolate the problem faster.
Virtual Agent and Automated Knowledge
Tikit’s virtual agent interacts with your knowledge base and learns how to address repetitive requests. It maintains a conversation with the end user until they resolve the issue or an analyst steps in to provide more expertise.
Applying templates automates much of the process and Tikit’s rich text knowledge base editor provides a higher quality experience for end users. These features mitigate repetitive ticket volume, freeing up analysts to focus on complex and/or urgent matters.
Email Creation
Tikit supports the full ticket lifecycle using Outlook as well! Teams or email, it doesn’t matter. Your employees can use either method to make a request and engage through the ticketing process. Both the end user and the analyst can work where they prefer because Tikit works where you work: via Teams app, web, email or even mobile!
Learn More About Tikit!
The key to employee productivity is finding systems that work—and work for you. Tikit maximizes the popular functionality inherent in Microsoft Teams and offers a simple way for a service desk to structure ticketing and deliver value.
Want to learn more about Tikit? Schedule a call with us and we’ll talk you through it. Want to experience it firsthand? We offer a free 14-day trial, no credit card required. Why not give Tikit at try?
