There's no question about having an IT help desk software to help manage an organization's internal IT issues if there are at least 10 employees or more. If the business is employing more staff, it's a sign that the organization is growing. And as the organization grows in staff strength, its support systems must grow with it, or the sheer demands of the increased staff will surely crush an efficient support system.

And we're just talking about internal support here. As most businesses are highly dependent on computers and the Internet (e.g. checking emails) today to conduct their businesses, any down time would mean a decrease in productivity. If the Internet or the computer is down, the employee cannot send out P.Os, reply to suppliers and customers, and there's very little they can do. Here's where the IT help desk department shows their value.

But we're not going to focus on organization-wide downtime in this article. Most people know about such downtime, and the network engineers are always on standby to respond to network downtime. It's the little issues that most people don't talk about that we're going to discuss here.

The problem of having trouble printing is one of them. Professional IT help desk support staff get this a lot from their colleagues. Somehow, the printers just don't print when they have something urgent to get done! And the first person they think of, who can help them with their problems, is the IT help desk guy on duty.

So they happily open a help desk support ticket and wait to be rescued. Now all is fine if the IT help desk department is just round the corner or just next door. The IT support personnel can just pop over to see what's wrong. But what happens if the orgnization is so huge that the IT department is in the next building across the road? We simply can't expect the IT support to pop over every time someone is unable to print a document.

So it's critical that the organization has some kind of remote access (which by the way is common these days) so that the IT help desk can troubleshoot the user's computer without having to be physically present.

Now the reason why we brought up printing issues is because it has huge implications to a company's productivity, and ultimately, to its bottome line. Here's how the support issue usually plays out.

The troubled staff has problems with printing. Somehow or other, the printer just won't print. But instead of going straight to the IT help desk for help, he starts to troubleshoot the issue himself to see if he can fix it immediately. All the time while he's doing so, time passes. And before he knows it, he's running out of time. He needs that document printed now!

So now he decides to call the IT help desk for help. But he doesn't say he's having problems printing. During the process of troubleshooting, he somehow manages to complicate matters. He now claims that he can't see the network printer from his computer. He has deleted the printer accidentally without knowing it. Genius.

And as the organization grows in staff strength, its support systems must grow with it, or the sheer demands of the increased staff will surely crush an efficient support system.

But the IT help desk guy didn't know what he had done to his computer. The guy was on the phone, screaming at the help desk guy, saying that the printer has magically disappeared from his computer and he wants it back, right now! Now we all know that it's not the IT help desk's fault taht the printer has disappeared.

The amateur help desk support guy will be led down the wrong direction, trying to solve a problem that was created by the "victim". Time is wasted as the main problem still remains unsolved. Something is wrong with the PC and is stopping the PC from printing, and the IT guy is not aware of it. He's still trying to get the network printer to show up!

The professional (or more experienced) IT support staff would calm his colleague down, and ask, "What were you trying to do in the first place?" Now both people are on the same page. The IT help desk recognizes that there's a printing problem, and that somehow, the network printer was deleted from the computer. The more information the help desk staff uncovers, the more likely he's able to come up with a solution fast. And the way to achieve this is to keep asking questions!

You see, printing problems can be caused by many things. The driver may not be correctly installed. The computer has a new operating system and has not been properly configured. There's some problems with the network issues. The printer is jammed. The power supply to the printer is cut off...and so on and so forth.

So it's not as simple as restarting the computer. The IT help desk guy has to take time to find out the cause of the problem. And he cannot do this if he can't get accurate information from the user.

This is where the help desk software really comes in handy. One of the functions of the help desk software is to keep track of all the IT issues in the organization. Whether the problem is solved or not solved, it's all in there. If the problem remains unresolved, the ticket remains open, so the IT help desk can get back to it at a later time. If the problem is resolved, the solution is also entered into the database. So the next guy who comes along will know what to do if a similar problem occurs.

So far, this article has shown you that:

• Printing issues need to be managed
• Remote access can be really useful as it allows the support staff to access a user's PC without having to be physically present
• Tracking and managing IT help desk support tickets is healthy for the organization

So as you try out some of the help desk software available in the market, don't forget about (1) remote access and (2) ticketing system. So choose wisely.

What type of software are you looking to download? Help desk software CD burning software Audio, video player Office software (e.g. MS Office) Free Internet browser Anti virus software