What does your perfect help desk solution look like? Too many businesses look at it like the emergency option or the place to go when you need immediate support, but that’s a hard way to judge its value to your business. When it’s not used, it might seem like you’re paying a whole lot for nothing much, but you can change this perception by reimagining what the help desk does for your business.

Ideally, your help desk goes beyond reactive help. Rather than simply fix broken technology, your help desk can secure data, keep employees productive, and aid in planning for the future. Here are three of the biggest and most important responsibilities that a help desk can do for your business.

Eliminating Daily Productivity Blockers

Your help desk’s primary responsibility isn’t taking care of technology, but keeping your team productive through the use of technology.

Downtime is a well-documented business killer, but this “micro” downtime also wears on a business in a different way. All those times when an employee has to reset their password or deal with technical hiccups add up and take their toll on your team. A professional help desk will utilize a standardized ticketing system to triage issues and determine which issues are the most important, then take action accordingly. They’ll also use remote monitoring and management tools to solve problems without being prompted to do so, keeping your technology running efficiently so no one has to experience deficiencies needlessly.

In other words, tickets closed does not begin to measure the value of your help desk; it’s the start of it, and what does measure the value of your help desk is how much time and productivity they bring back to the workday.

Proactively Addressing Maintenance and Security Patches

A help desk can also prevent requests for help through proactive security and maintenance.

It’s not the sophisticated hacking attacks that your business needs to worry about; it’s the smaller attacks that target the most vulnerable points of your infrastructure (as well as your employees). Hackers will look for cracks in your defenses, then strike relentlessly to break through. A managed help desk can detect these issues and address them from both an operational and a security standpoint, shoring up potential problems before they create issues—all behind the scenes and without interaction on your part.

When the help desk makes the jump from reactive to proactive, it’s felt across the organization, often bringing with it a relief from the chaotic and unpredictable nature of technology to create something far more stable and business-friendly.

Strategically Documenting and Managing the Technology Lifecycle

Your help desk should be your company’s go-to IT resource, and it should be known that they can help with any number of different technological questions.

Small businesses are unique in the way they manage technology, generally siloing information in the heads of one or two incredibly bright and knowledgeable professionals. The problem, however, is that this information often goes undocumented, which makes it harder for others to do their jobs and even more difficult should any turnover occur. A professional help desk can help you manage passwords, document network configurations, keep track of software licenses, and pretty much anything else that your company needs to function. Furthermore, your help desk can and should be aware of hardware and software refresh cycles to plan ahead for any potential major expenses.

This is how you get ahead in business. A great help desk will work to centralize documentation, track all assets, and ensure that your IT budget is used strategically to advance your business.

If your business is ready to change the way your help desk functions for the better, TaylorWorks can help. We’ll work with you to address any and all IT issues so you can scale your business with confidence. Learn more today by calling us at (407) 478-6600.