In addition to putting a focus on accessibility, there are two other best practices we would like to point out: making sure your portal is easy to use and building a useful knowledge base.
Having a portal that is easy to use, own and operate means making sure it looks and feels welcoming. This includes making it easy to navigate, including graphical elements that users will recognize, and using simple language to communicate with the user.
If you want people to use your portal it should look and feel welcoming.
Your portal needs to be easy to navigate, include graphical elements (i.e., branding, images, etc.) that your users will recognize, and you should use jargon-free language to get your message across. For example, a button that says “Get Help” will likely perform better than a button that says “Submit Ticket.” Be clear and direct with all of your calls to action and messaging.
In terms of creating self-service portals, they should be easy to build and easy to maintain. This means no specialized technical skills like coding or scripting should be needed to get your portal up and running, and you shouldn’t need dedicated resources to manage it either. Anyone in your organization should be able to log in with their credentials and make changes, as needed, to better serve the users of your portal.
With a highly configurable portal, you can be strategic in your efforts as well—first focusing on frequently asked questions and those issues that contribute to a high volume of incoming help desk tickets.
Over time, you’ll be able to grow and evolve your end-user portal into a valuable resource that people will learn to turn to first, freeing up your IT staff to focus on higher-priority tasks and projects.
All-in-all, an engaging portal enables you to deliver on the promise of high-quality ITSM for your customers and employees.
Building your knowledge base is equally as important, as it saves a huge amount of time and money.
With up-to-date information and quick links to popular content, your knowledge base will be a valuable resource. However, it is only as good as the content that it contains, so it’s crucial to follow industry best practices, like Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS®).
Here are a few ways KCS positively impacts an organization:
- Helps to lower inbound call volume.
- Increases customer satisfaction.
- Provides customers with the answers they need when they need them.
- By crowdsourcing knowledge, you can keep your content accurate and up to date.
By adopting KCS, you can not only improve customer satisfaction but dramatically reduce the per-incident cost incurred by IT and reduce the volume of issues and requests coming to the help desk, allowing IT to reallocate technicians to higher-priority tasks and projects.
If you’d like to read more about portal best practices and benefits, check out: Reduce Strain on IT Technicians with Knowledge-Centered Service and ITSM Self-Service Portals