Ticketing tools play a critical role in IT service management. They allow IT teams to track, organize, and manage requests coming from users and other business units. With the right ticketing system, IT teams can provide efficient and streamlined support. Some key benefits of using a ticketing tool include improved request tracking, enhanced collaboration between teams, and better visibility into IT operations.
Popular Ticketing Tools
There are a variety of ticketing tools used across the IT industry. Some of the most popular options include:
- Jira Service Desk – Jira is a widely used IT ticketing system from Atlassian. It allows users to submit tickets via email, through a portal, or directly within Slack. Jira provides robust customization and integration capabilities.
- Zendesk – Zendesk is a customer service focused ticketing solution. It provides ticketing workflows optimized for IT help desks and customer support teams. Zendesk integrates with popular tools like Slack and Salesforce.
- Freshdesk – Freshdesk is another leading help desk and IT ticketing tool. Key features include ticket management, knowledge base, and multi-channel support. Freshdesk integrates with over 150 applications.
- ServiceNow – ServiceNow provides a broad IT service management platform that includes capabilities for ticketing and request management. It helps streamline IT workflows and provides reporting and analytics.
- BMC Remedy – Remedy is an IT service desk solution from BMC Software. It covers ticketing along with other ITSM processes like asset management and change management. Remedy has robust configuration options.
- HappyFox – HappyFox positions itself as an affordable ticketing system for small to midsize businesses. It provides email, web, and social media integration.
- ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus – This tool from ManageEngine provides IT ticketing along with features like asset management and knowledge management. It scales to support large IT teams.
- Cherwell Service Management – Cherwell is a flexible ITSM platform that enables automated incident management and ticket workflow processing. It also includes features like problem management and change management.
- SolarWinds Web Help Desk – Web Help Desk is designed for IT teams that need an easy-to-use and affordable ticketing solution. Tickets can be created through email, web portals, and mobile apps.
- Vision Helpdesk – Vision Helpdesk is a hosted help desk and ticketing solution aimed at SMBs. It provides automated ticket handling and reporting capabilities.
This list covers some of the top tools, but there are dozens of IT ticketing systems on the market. The right choice depends on factors like company size, industry, IT team structure, and budget.
Key Features and Capabilities
While specific features can vary substantially across platforms, most modern ticketing tools provide some core capabilities for managing the ticket lifecycle:
- Ticket submission – Allow users to submit tickets via email, web portal, mobile app, chat, or social channels.
- Ticket forms – Customizable forms to gather key details on each ticket such as request type, priority, affected user, department, etc.
- Ticket classification – Ability to categorize tickets based on attributes like type, priority, status, assignee group, etc.
- Ticket assignment – Assign tickets to individuals or teams and allow transfers between agents.
- Agent collaboration – Enable communication between agents via comments, notes, @mentions, etc.
- Knowledge base – Knowledge base to surface help articles and solutions for common requests and issues.
- Notification workflows – Notifications when tickets are created/updated via email, SMS, or mobile push.
- Reporting and analytics – Dashboards and canned reports to surface trends, metrics, and insights.
- Integration capabilities – Platform APIs and out-of-the-box integrations with tools like email, Slack, LDAP, etc.
Other advanced capabilities found in some ticketing platforms include:
- Automated ticket handling via predefined rules and workflows
- Problem and change management workflows
- Release management
- Asset management and CMDB integrations
- Service catalogs and request fulfillment
- Multichannel support like social media channels, chat, SMS, etc.
- Customer satisfaction surveys
- Custom branding and white labeling
Key Considerations for Evaluation
Selecting the right ticketing system involves evaluating solutions against some key criteria:
Features
Assess how well each tool meets your feature requirements in areas like request intake, ticket workflows, collaboration, reporting, and integrations.
Ease of use
Look at the agent interface and ticket submission workflows to ensure they are intuitive for admins and end users.
Customization
Review each tool’s capabilities for customizing fields, forms, views, business rules, workflows, branding, etc.
Scalability
Ensure the solution can scale up or down to meet your evolving ticket volumes and user base size.
ITSM capabilities
Consider whether you need a dedicated ticketing system or a broader ITSM platform with additional functionality.
Deployment options
Assess whether cloud/SaaS, on-prem or hybrid deployment options meet your infrastructure standards and policies.
Mobile access
Evaluate mobile apps for agents and end users to ensure seamless experience on the go.
Reporting
Verify the tool provides robust reporting functionality out-of-the-box to surface key help desk metrics and insights.
Integrations
Review a tool’s ecosystem of third-party integrations to ensure it works within your existing stack.
Pricing
Compare pricing models (per user, perpetual license, etc) and costs across shortlisted options.
Customer support
Assess the vendor’s reputation for customer service and post-purchase support to ensure a strong partnership.
Key Benefits of Ticketing Tools
When deployed effectively, ticketing systems offer numerous benefits for IT teams and the broader organization:
- Improved visibility – With all requests and tickets logged in a central system, managers get better visibility into workload and performance.
- Enhanced efficiency – Ticketing tools automate manual processes and give agents tools to respond faster.
- Improved collaboration – Teams can work together on tickets with status updates, notes, and assignee changes.
- Increased consistency – Standardized workflows ensure each ticket or request is handled consistently.
- Better reporting – Detailed analytics provide insight into metrics like agent workload, resolution times, satisfaction, etc.
- Higher customer satisfaction – Users have a single portal to submit requests and track status updates.
- Reduced email volume – Ticketing portals centralize requests rather than email inboxes.
- Improved compliance – Tickets create an audit trail on user requests, agent response, and resolution.
Conclusion
Ticketing systems are essential for managing the influx of service requests and incidents in modern IT environments. Organizations should look for tools that are easy to use, customizable, integrate well with existing stacks, and provide robust analytics. Leading solutions include ServiceNow, Jira, Zendesk, BMC Remedy, Cherwell, and ManageEngine. The right ticketing platform improves IT team collaboration, efficiency, and customer satisfaction while providing enhanced visibility into IT operations.