IT support is there to support you. You rely on them to make sure that you’re able to execute all of your tasks in the most efficient way possible with technology that is fast and reliable. However, there is that whole waiting bit. While the best Managed Service providers surpass industry benchmarks for Help Desk response times, this still leaves users with a few minutes of inhibited work time. There’s nothing more frustrating for a productive user than a handicapped workflow while tasks continue to pile up. While we never recommend taking support into your own hands, there are definitely a few things you can do to troubleshoot before filing a ticket with your Help Desk.
- Ask around
Sometimes a problem that is happening with your network or server impacts your workstation. When this is the case, it’s important that you take a moment to briefly survey your coworkers and team before filing a support ticket. You don’t want to bring their productivity to a halt by jumping into their workstation to troubleshoot an issue, but casually asking, “Hey, is our line of business application working properly for you?” or “Is this printer working for you?” can’t hurt. If it’s a network-wide issue, make sure that a ticket has, indeed been submitted and look to your provider to get back to you or the office manager with an estimated resolution time. This will help you avoid the extra steps you should typically take when encountering issues, since you’ll know it’s not an issue with your individual workstation while also avoiding the duplicity of multiple tickets for your Help Desk about the same issue. - Restart your application or program
If you’re particularly efficient, odds are that you have multiple open windows at the same time and applications running in the background that you can switch back and forth between. While this is a good thing from a productivity and efficiency perspective, your machine or application can sometimes lock up. If you’re having issues with slowness, application bugs or other issues with programs that you use regularly, it’s always a good idea before filing a support ticket to save your work and restart those applications. Many times this can clear things up a bit and get you up and running without having to wait for the Help Desk to get back to you. - Reboot
Ah, yes. The most annoying Help Desk question that exists. “Did you try rebooting?” While it can be cumbersome to go through closing all your applications and rebooting your machine, it really can resolve a lot of the most common issues that users experience on a daily basis. Plus, it takes less time than waiting it out for a response on a support ticket. Don’t pretend that you rebooted and tell your Help Desk technician that you did – actually do it. Your machine needs it and it’ll help you avoid the additional troubleshooting time and get back to your work day as quickly as possible. Even if you don’t do it, your Help Desk technician is going to ask you to. Help out your support team and your coworkers who have open tickets by taking this step and eliminating that possibility as a cause for the issue.
For truly efficient employees and managers like you, time is of the essence. Even the fastest response time from a Help Desk is going to leave you with a few minutes of downtime twiddling your thumbs. Help your support team help you by taking a moment to ask your coworkers if they’re experiencing issues, restarting your applications or rebooting your machine. Taking these simple steps could save you a lot of time when you avoid creating a ticket and waiting for your Help Desk technician to contact you.
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