The 13 Best IT Ticketing System Software for Your Business

Modern businesses require in-house IT teams to manage networks, servers, computers, software, and other internal technology. With worldwide IT expenditure forecasted to exceed $4.6 trillion in 2023 alone, it’s important your business’s IT requirements are covered.^[1]Statista. “Information Technology (IT) Spending Forecast Worldwide From 2012 to 2023, by Segment” Accessed on April 27, 2023. IT systems provide undoubted benefits including resolving technical problems that may arise. Thankfully, IT ticketing systems facilitate support requests and automate workflows to assist in fixing all IT problems within a business. For entrepreneurs who are starting an IT tech support business, or any business for that matter, it can be challenging to find the right ticketing service company — we’ll provide you with all the info you need to make an informed decision.

This guide explores how ticketing systems work, signs that your business needs one, types of IT ticketing systems, and an overview of the top 13 IT ticketing systems. Let’s get started!

What Is a Ticketing System?

A ticketing system is a software program for collecting, monitoring and resolving problems. Businesses use ticketing systems for various purposes, including monitoring customer support and internal IT queries. The software centralizes all support requests in a single location, helping businesses to improve efficiency, prioritize workflows, and assess support performance. Additionally, ticketing systems allow staff members to categorize tickets, change ticket statuses, and more.

How Do IT Ticket Systems Work?

When a customer or user requests support, a ticket is created. The ticket collects specific information about the issue at hand — such as the date the issue started, details about the problem, and the agent responsible for solving the problem. Customer and internal staff communication can be saved to the ticket, ensuring complete transparency throughout the process of the support interaction.

Let’s explore the standard lifecycle of a ticket:

1. Issue reported: A problem is reported on a support channel, such as email, contact form, or live chat.
2. Ticket created: Once the issue is reported, a ticket is created with the details about the issue.
3. Ticket categorized: The system categorizes the ticket by issue type and priority.
4. An agent is assigned: After categorization, the ticket is assigned to an agent with suitable experience.
5. Details recorded: As the agent resolves the issue, communication and other details are updated.
6. Ticket closed: Once the issue is fixed, the ticket is marked as closed, and the incident is settled.

Signs Your Business Needs a Ticketing Software

If you have not yet adopted an IT ticketing software, here are four signs that your business needs one.

• Disorganized or slow IT response processes: A customer support team struggling to promptly resolve IT issues can hurt productivity. A ticketing system helps your support team define priorities.
• Slow customer support timeframes: If your customer satisfaction is decreasing due to a lag time in resolving IT issues, it may be time to upgrade to a ticketing system.
• Lack of accountability in solving problems: With a ticketing system, support managers can track issue resolution processes by viewing communication, updates, and other relevant details on a ticket.
• No central location for resolving issues or performing tasks: IT ticketing systems centralize multiple support channels, such as phone, email, and live chat into a single location.

Types of IT Ticketing Systems

There are a few different types of IT ticketing systems available to businesses. Let’s explore the three most common options below:

Main Features of a Helpdesk Ticketing System 

If you’re purchasing a helpdesk ticketing system, make sure to keep your eyes peeled for the following features:

Benefits of Using an IT Ticketing System

If your business is considering investing in an IT ticketing system, you might wonder if it’s worth it. Let’s explore all the advantages associated with signing up for a modern IT ticketing system:

Ticket prioritization

Collecting all IT or customer issues in a single location with a ticketing system helps your support team prioritize urgent cases. For example, if your business uses a ticketing system for customer support issues, you may prioritize fixing issues for paying customers over customers using free plans through categorization rules. Regardless of what your business wants to prioritize, tickets make it simpler to focus on pressing matters first.

Agent efficiency and productivity

A ticketing system cuts down on waste by automating administrative tasks and assigning tickets to agents with relevant experience. There’s no need for your team to spend time sifting through emails and messages to determine which agent should respond to an issue.

Simplified customer interactions

For businesses using ticketing systems for customer support, one of the largest benefits is improved communication with customers. As ticketing systems provide a single channel for handling customer demands, it offers transparency to the customer support process. Additionally, ticket prioritization and agent efficiency improvements ensure customer requests don’t remain unsolved.

Monitoring and reporting

As organizations grow, ensuring that IT and customer support respond to issues quickly and effectively becomes high priority. However, without a central monitoring and reporting system to track agent performance, it’s impossible to gauge your business’s effectiveness. Ticketing systems offer a simple way to view key metrics and track progress.

Self-service options

Ticketing systems can also suggest self-service options to customers and users. As many users prefer to troubleshoot issues themselves, a ticketing system can redirect individuals to guides for fixing specific problems.

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Top 13 Ticketing System Tools & Software

Businesses can benefit from a range of world-class ticketing system tools and software products. We’ve compiled a list of the top 13 options to help our readers choose the best product for their businesses.

1. Zendesk

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2. Zoho Desk

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3. HubSpot Service Hub

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4. Freshdesk

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5. Vision Helpdesk

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6. Jitbit

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7. Jira Service Desk

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8. Freshservice

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9. HappyFox

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10. Help Scout

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11. Front

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12. ProProfs Help Desk

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13. SolarWinds

Tips for Choosing the Best Ticketing Software System for Your Business

While there are several excellent options available to your business, it’s important to choose the best IT ticket system for your needs. Below, we’ve compiled a list of questions to ask yourself when comparing the IT ticket software systems on your shortlist.

Is the ticketing system easy to set up and use?

A ticketing system is meant to make life easier for your support agents. Always assess if a system is intuitive and easy to use. Otherwise, it may be more trouble than it’s worth. Consider if the software provider offers setup assistance and good customer support options. Implementing new software can be challenging, even if it has excellent UI design.

Will it integrate with your present systems?

IT ticketing systems are known to integrate with multiple apps and software for a more seamless process. It’s worth checking to see if your chosen system integrates with your current software before purchasing it. Additionally, many IT ticketing companies offer integration assistance for a faster onboarding process.

Do you need automation options?

If your business only deals with a small number of queries per day, it is unlikely that there will be significant benefits from automation. On the other hand, if your IT team is struggling to keep up with queries, automation can drastically improve efficiency. Automation instantly categorizes, prioritizes, and assigns tickets. Some automation can also provide immediate customer or user assistance if the problem doesn’t require an agent, such as password recovery services.

Does the cost make sense, considering the size of your team?

If your team isn’t big enough to justify using a ticketing system, it might not be worth the investment. For example, an expensive ticketing system might be a financial burden if you’re a small business with a one- or two-person customer service department. While using a system to prioritize items and centralize your communication channels in a single location is helpful, ensure you’re not paying too much for additional features you won’t utilize.

Does the ticketing tool measure customer satisfaction?

If you use a ticketing system to provide customer support, the tool must have a feature for measuring customer satisfaction. Some ticketing systems allow you to survey customers after a support interaction, helping you monitor customer support goals and improve your business’s reputation.

Does the helpdesk ticket system provide useful metrics?

One of the key benefits of using a ticketing system is improved efficiency and insights into how your team processes support requests. A robust ticketing software program should help you track support timeframes, success rates, individual agent performance, and more.

Best Practices for Implementing an IT Ticketing System

Implementing an IT ticketing system can be an easy way to improve a business’s operational strategy. Below are a few actions your business can take to improve the process and prevent hiccups along the way.

• Consult with your existing IT team: Speaking with your existing IT team helps you prioritize features most suitable to your business’s needs.
• Ask about integration support: Software providers sometimes offer specialist support for implementing a new system to businesses with multiple software and apps.
• Set standards: Once your new system is integrated, setting standards for your support agents provides clear expectations for your support team. Use these standards to track progress and analyze support agent performance.
• Don’t underestimate the power of training: Even if an IT ticketing system is designed with ease of use in mind, it will take your staff members time to adjust to the new system. Some IT ticketing software providers offer training or resources to help with staff onboarding.

Final Thoughts on Help Desk Ticketing Systems

There has never been a better time to upgrade your support platforms using IT help desk ticketing systems. IT systems can improve internal IT resolution timeframes, increase customer satisfaction, and more. To make the most of these benefits, it’s crucial to choose an IT ticket system that is compatible with a wide range of software. Seamless integration between IT software and CRM will help to avoid any interruptions in your business operations. And if you’re set on an IT system but are unsure of which payment processing system it can integrate with, feel free to reach out to us. At PaymentCloud, we’ve curated our tech support payment solutions to integrate seamlessly with most IT software!