The average small business employee loses three hours every week to IT issues – and that number is even higher for those that don’t work in the office.
But with a limited budget to upgrade hardware or offer IT training, how can you recapture that wasted time?
This article explores how the right ticketing system empowers small businesses to mitigate IT problems and save employees time – as well as helping you find the best solution for your company.
Expect to learn:
- The surprising number of companies that have zero IT budget
- The most common barrier to ticketing adoption
- The three essential features every small business should look for in a ticketing system
Why Do Small Businesses Need a Ticketing System?
As IT becomes a central part of most businesses, a robust ticketing system ensures small businesses can:
- Avoid disruptions: A single unresponsive laptop or printer malfunction can have an outsized effect within smaller businesses. The ability to issue tickets and have the ticket resolved faster can mitigate the negative impact.
- Offer remote work: Workers today expect more flexibility in where and how they work, but this means they are more reliant on functioning IT equipment. Ticketing helps manage and maintain connectivity, addressing potential disruptions faster.
- Support limited IT teams: Most small companies have limited IT budgets and may have just a few full-time techs in the department. Ticketing helps them to streamline their workflow and helps them manage the workload more efficiently.
3 Challenges for Small Businesses Using Ticketing Software
1. Resource Limitation
A recent study showed that just 57% of companies allocate any budget to internal IT services – with smaller businesses spending proportionally less than enterprise organizations. This means many small businesses that do wish to introduce a ticketing system likely have very limited resources, both in terms of budget for software and internal professionals to onboard and manage the system.
The challenge is compounded by the cost of most ticketing software. Many popular ticketing platforms feature hidden costs or have pricing systems that punish growth – putting a further strain on small business IT leaders.
2. Ticketing Adoption
A ticketing system is only valuable if end-users issue tickets. But many small business users will have never used a ticketing system before – and if they have, the system is likely to have been inefficient.
The result: small business IT teams often struggle to ensure their system is used. Unless they can convince end-users that the system will make their lives easier, the system will simply sit sapping resources without improving the company’s daily operations.
3. Increased Workload
Ticketing systems are supposed to make life easier for end-users, but they can often create extra tasks and frustration if not set-up or managed properly. In such systems, e -users are often required to:- Complete complicated forms to submit a ticket
- Wait while the ticket is manually routed to the right tech
- Accept that there will be limited communication about the ticket’s progress
Ultimately, this makes life harder for both end-users and techs – unless you can find a ticketing system that serves small business needs.
4 Features to Look for in a Ticketing System
1. Intelligent Automation
There are two kinds of ticketing software small business leaders should be wary of:
- Outdated manual software: This requires extensive manual effort to issue, route, complete and close a ticket.
- Misleading “automated” software: This theoretically enables ticket workflows to be automated, but requires extensive custom coding – essentially overriding the apparent benefits of automation.
The best software makes automation simple and intuitive – even for non-technical users. This will save time, make ticketing workflows seamless and empower both end-users and techs with more control over how tickets are handled at your company.
2. Integrations
Low ticketing adoption usually boils down to one problem: end-users find the system difficult to navigate. This means you can significantly increase usage simply by opting for software that integrates within the platforms they are already using – removing the need to task switch and move between platforms.
But the devil is once again in the details: several popular ticketing solutions advertise integrations that prove difficult to implement. The right solution will not only offer integrations – it will make introducing them fast and easy.
3. Usability
Most ticketing systems are designed for techs – not end-users. This often means the interface is harder to use and the tools are unintuitive, creating friction and reducing ticketing adoption.The right solution foregrounds usability so that the platform is easy to navigate for all parties. This includes factors like:
- Easier communication between techs and end-users
- Automated updates on the progress of tickets
- Streamlined forms to make issuing a ticket fast and simple
Boost Ticketing at Your Small Business with DeskDirector
Small businesses don’t just need a ticketing system – they need a comprehensive solution to deliver faster, more efficient IT without creating friction or draining their budget. Our ITSM platform features:
- Smart automations to accelerate routing and streamline your workflows
- Exclusive integrations to place advanced ticketing within your Microsoft environment
- User-first design to make it easy for techs and end-users to navigate the platform
All of which helps companies increase ticketing adoption 20% - and resolve IT problems 4x faster.
Want to see it in action?
