Your IT support procedures are going to have a huge impact on your company's productivity. Snags with IT problems can really slow down staff members and decrease their on-the-job satisfaction.

It's important that you train your IT staff to ensure that problems get resolved effectively and efficiently. The following are five steps that IT support staff should be trained to go through when a ticket is opened up for the best possible desktop support at your company:

1. Determine just how complex the problem is

The first thing IT personnel need to do when a staff member or customer calls in for support is quickly determine just how complex the problem is.

Certain problems simply can't be fixed through help desk assistance alone and require IT personnel to be there in person to correct the issue. IT staff need to be trained to quickly determine what measures need to be taken to correct the problem the individual calling in is describing. 

2. Figure out how tech savvy the caller is

How much technical training the individual calling in has is another important consideration. By communicating with the caller, IT staff needs to be able to make an accurate determination of how tech savvy the caller is and what level of instruction they can be expected to handle independently.

Being aware of how technically trained the individual is can help IT staff determine what vocabulary and jargon they can use to explain the solution to the problem. 

3. Send inquirers to self-service resources where possible

If the problem being described is a simple one, it should be possible to send the caller to a forum, video resource, or Q&A post online where they can find the solution to the problem. Self-service resources free up the time of IT support staff and allow them to move on to the next issue as quickly as possible.  

4. Look back on previous issues that might be similar or the same

Looking back on past tickets to find a solution for a new call is one way to make the job of working an IT support desk much faster and easier. Problems are likely to come up repeatedly. It's best to reuse a solution that was already found on a previous ticket than to repeatedly re-solve the problem.

IT staff should be trained to first and foremost look through past tickets and make sure a solution was not already found for the problem at hand. 

5. Simplify solutions

One of the most important skills an IT or desktop support staff member needs to have is the ability to simplify the language. To help callers resolve IT problems, IT staff needs to be skilled at breaking down a complex explanation into a simplified solution.

IT personnel needs to take callers through a step-by-step solution that those without technical training can follow.