10 IT Service Desk Tasks You Shouldn’t Have to Handle Manually

The day-to-day life for most IT techs can be stressful to say the least. High priority tasks like security and upgrading infrastructure can sometimes be difficult to prioritize when so many lower-priority items still need to be addressed every day to keep things running smoothly. Luckily for IT pros, there is a more efficient way to take care of these lower-level support issues without allocating so much time: IT service management software. In this blog, you’ll discover 10 service desks tasks that IT professionals spend time doing nearly every day that can be simplified, automated, or even completely eliminated by deploying a fully-capable ITSM solution.

1. Password Resets

Password resets are one of those common-yet-inconvenient tasks that technicians likely deal with on a regular basis. These simple requests can eat up a lot of time throughout the course of a month. With an automated password recovery process, service requesters first provide the information they need to get this issue resolved. This request is then routed to the appropriate technician automatically. Sometimes a reset link can even be sent back to the user automatically if there is an API.

2. Hardware Requests

Whenever employees request new hardware like computers, the entire process of checking the lifecycle of an existing asset and ordering new hardware doesn’t have to take days or weeks. The approval process can be routed to the appropriate manager, with each step in the ordering and approval process automated based on the type of hardware device being requested.

3. Software Licensing

Hand in hand with hardware requests is an important yet sometimes overlooked aspect of IT service management: software licenses. Software license compliance is easier said than done without a solution to manage the number of licenses in use. That’s where a powerful ITSM solution with asset discovery and management can help IT teams more effectively identify and track all of the technology assets within the organization.

4. Ticket Routing

Routing tickets to the appropriate agent can be one of the more time-consuming aspects of managing a help desk without a modern solution for efficiently managing these types of requests. With roles and permissions, tickets can automatically get routed to the appropriate person, eliminating confusion whenever a break/fix or service request occurs.

5. Risk Management

From monitoring potential illegal software in use, to making sure computers are up-to-date with antivirus software, managing potential security risks is another process that you really don’t have to worry about with the proper monitoring in place. By automatically detecting the presence or absence of antivirus software with asset discovery, for example, this makes it easy for IT monitor potential threats (like the absence of antivirus software) without having to track down employees to verify these details.

6. Generating Reports

If you’re like me, you’ve likely gone through the process of manually putting reports together that fit specific criteria you’re being asked to produce. What if, instead, you could automatically generate a wide variety of customizable reports based on the information most important to your organization? With a powerful service desk solution, you can do just that – and even schedule these reports to be sent automatically to the right stakeholders whenever they need them.

7. Answering Frequently Asked Questions

While some amount of back-and-forth between IT and employees can be expected, answering common questions on a daily basis can be much simpler in many cases with the help of a knowledge base. Whether you are providing techs with one-click solutions to common issues or preventing tickets from being submitted in the first place, the knowledge base can be a big time saver.

The power of AI

This is also where information about previously closed tickets and smart suggestions (powered by artificial intelligence) comes into play. AI-powered smart suggestions leverages your knowledge base behind the scenes to recommend articles likely to answer a FAQ. To save time for agents, a simple how-to article can even be created whenever a ticket is resolved, helping other service desk agents in the future who may need to resolve the same issue. Learn more about how and why creating a knowledge base is so important in IT service management.

8. Technology Asset Auditing

As organizations grow, keeping track of hardware or software assets can be a challenge without knowing where you stand from a numbers standpoint. A complete service desk solution with asset management provides this visibility you need when making purchasing decisions, and it can also make it easy to locate and view available assets. This process usually starts by deploying a network scanner or discovery agent, consolidating all your asset data in real time into a centralized hub you can analyze at any time.

9. Communicating and Carrying Out Changes

Tasks like communicating and implementing changes are a necessary and routine component of IT service management, but can get messy without an ITIL-ready solution in place. An ITSM solution built with ITIL best practices in mind can help to minimize disruption for all employees by communicating who is involved and what systems may be impacted. A built-in change management calendar can also provide your team with better visibility into what changes are planned and when to avoid collisions.

10. Work Schedule Planning

Determining what level of IT support you need throughout various days and times of the week can sometimes be hit or miss without complete and accurate data at your disposal. One way to make this simpler is to analyze incident heatmaps within the service desk to spot trends related to the time of day of ticket submissions over time. With a good visualization of when the service desk is getting hit the hardest, you can better allocate your technical resources.

Automation is Driving Efficiency

These everyday tasks can’t always be completely eliminated, but with technology inside a modern service desk solution, IT techs can spend less time on tasks that can be easily automated and instead focus their efforts on bigger picture projects. In the past, supporting a vast array of technology and providing services was a huge barrier to growth, requiring more time and resources to support and manage a growing infrastructure. Fortunately, routine tasks are increasingly being automated or simplified with ITSM software, making it a great investment for companies of all sizes. Learn more about getting started with or upgrading your IT service management with SolarWinds Service Desk.