March 2022 - Demakis Technologies

March 29, 2022April 3, 2022 Roxanne Demakis Cyber Security, Network Security

We Tested 3 Best EDR Tools for 2022 – Here Are the Results

We tested many endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools to help you choose the right one for your business.

Specifically, we looked at their capabilities, price, success rate, integration, and add-ons.

In the end, we picked out our three favorite solutions:

CrowdStrike
SentinelOne
Check Point SandBlast

This is quick review of our top 3 EDR tools:

#1 CrowdStrike

CrowdStrike Falcon is one of the more powerful EDR tools on the market. The ideal solution if you’re looking for response and cloud-based management with excellent UI and ease of use.

The thing that really makes CrowdStrike stand out is its advanced endpoint protection. It combines EDR capabilities with next-gen antivirus and a 24/7 managed threat hunting service.

If you’re looking for an affordable EDR, then CrowdStrike may not be the solution for you.

Still, it’s worth the price you pay for since you’ll get all the critical features necessary for detection and cybersecurity:

Asset management
Sandboxing
Threat alerts
Malware detection
Behavioural analysis
On-demand reporting

For an additional fee, you can get access to add-ons like automated remediation and vulnerability assessment, which sets CrowdStrike apart from its competitors.

Beside the price tag, the only other downside to Crowdstrike is its lack of content filtering or VPN.

VERDICT: One of the most powerful EDR solutions available on the market, with the largest number of features that guarantee maximum detection and protection.

Open padlock on modern laptop. Computer Security Vulnerability concept

#2 SentinelOne

SentinelOne is another full-featured EDR tool. But what sets this solution apart is that it uses AI-powered threat detection and response.

This makes it an ideal security system to cope with hackers that use artificial intelligence and machine learning in their attacks.

SentinelOne comes with an endpoint protection platform (EPP) that enables you to control everything from detection, through response, to remediation.

In fact, automated remediation is included into the price and is highly rated by many users.

However, SentinelOne lacks some features you may be looking for. Specifically, this EDR tool doesn’t include full-disk encryption, VPN, mobile support, or web content filtering.

But even without these capabilities it is still a top-rated solution, which is why Gartner named SentinalOne one of the best EDR platforms in its Peer Review with a score of 4.9 (out of 5).

VERDICT: One of the most popular EDR products on the market, with great features, scores and usability.

#3 Check Point

Check Point SandBlast is a feature-rich EDR solution. What makes this solution stand out is that it’s built for ease of use.

Check Point is also tailored towards smaller businesses that operate on a smaller budget and with fewer resources, often with small teams or with managed IT services.

The price of this EDR system is also on the lower-end of the spectrum but that doesn’t mean you won’t get a bang for your buck.

In fact, Check Point is powerful enough to cater to both SMBs and large-scale and complex enteprises.

Red human figure in a network. Leader and leadership skills. Teamwork of a talented professional worker. Weak link, toxic worker. Security threat. Cooperation, collaboration. Spy. Employee replacement

The biggest downside to this solution is that Check Point doesn’t provide you the ability to create custom rules. There are also some issues with implementation, but the developers have assured us that this is going to be fixed this year.

VERDICT: With a solid performance and a lot of capabilities, one of the best EDR products in its class and price range.

Ready to Make Your Decision?

These are our top three picks when it comes to endpoint detection and response solutions.

But the decision is up to you.

Still, if you need more information about EDR, we’re here to help you.

Demakis Technologies is a professional IT service provider.

We specialize in managed services, helpdesk support, and, yes, network and cyber security.

We can offer you IT services tailored to your needs.

March 22, 2022March 24, 2022 Roxanne Demakis Managed Services, Tech Trends

Customer Service Automation [Definition + Benefits]

This post is all about customer service automation.

In fact, 31.7% of major companies already advanced technology to augment their customer support.

So if you want to know what tech to focus your business on and the benefits it can bring you, you’ll enjoy this article.

Let’s dive in!

What is customer service automation?

Customer service automation is a kind of customer support that relies on technology to reduce human involvement in the process of solving daily customer queries. Smart support automation solutions are intuitive to closely resemble human nature and its level of proactivity.

Types of CS automation

Businesses use different methods to introduce independent help desk solutions.

Here are the most common types of customer support automation:

Simulated chats
AI chatbots
Email automation
Automated workflows
Pre-made responses
Contextual FAQs
Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
Social media case routing

All of these solutions can be used in combination. While the advantages are manyfold.

Benefits of automating customer services

Let’s go over some of the main benefits of customer support automation:

Minimized Human Error

A key benefit of an automated contact center is the fact that it helps reduce the number of human errors.

Although humans can be great at showing empathy to each other, they do not have the capacity to offer the same accuracy and speed when it comes to repetitive tasks like data entry or crawling through thousands of pieces of information looking for just one.

Customers value fast and efficient help, without being bounced around from one agent to another, and having an automated call center is a sure way to reduce friction and end up with fewer errors that ruin the speed of problem-solving.

Today’s automation tools powered by AI and machine learning technologies are also able to learn from previous interactions and modify their behavior based on the knowledge they accumulated.

This helps them provide more accurate assistance that can only get better over time.

24/7 Support Availability

There is only a limited number of hours that human agents can work in a day, and if you want to make them available 24/7, your cost of labor will skyrocket.

As opposed to that, automated support tools can provide non-stop customer service with no interruption, and without breaking the bank.

For example, the use of chat automation allows you to offer online assistance without any human involvement.

In the case of certain types of workflows, the chatbot can notify the staff about a potential interruption or the need for additional help.

Moreover, having a service solution that is always available goes beyond regular customer support and tackles the care of prospects, too.

Smart chatbots can gather invaluable information from potential customers without forcing them to fill out time-consuming forms.

Improved Team Collaboration

Automated customer support tools can make team collaboration much smoother and more efficient by eliminating confusion and making it clear who owns a particular support ticket.

Businesses that use automated help desk solutions benefit from having better-organized workflows built around solving customer issues, without any extra steps that would only waste the company’s time and money.

For example, if a ticket is about to fall through the cracks, the automated system can flag it for an urgent review and remind the staff that its status hasn’t been changed for a while.

Some tools even include an internal wiki feature that allows the staff members to share insights and other information with each other. This type of software can even offer personalized help to agents by sending them dynamic suggestions of which articles from the knowledge base would be most helpful for them to read at the moment.

Get started with customer service automation

If you’re interested in revolutionizing your customer service with automated solutions, our help desk support services are tailored to the needs of your business.

March 17, 2022March 17, 2022 Roxanne Demakis Managed Services

7 Help Desk Metrics for Service Desks and Internal Help Desks

In this post, we discuss 7 key help desk metrics you need to track if you’re using a service desk or internal help desk.

These seven KPIs will help you understand:

What works and what doesn’t
How to measure help desk performance
Where are the gaps in your process
How to further improve your customer support
Lots more

So if you want to know how to measure, analyze and evaluate your help desk support, then this post will help you.

Let’s start.

#1 Ticket Volume

Ticket volume refers to the number of incoming support tickets.

You can track it by using a ticket creation report in your help desk or customer support software.

It shows the ticket volume ITSM or support team is managing during any given time period.

This will give you a sense of how many tickets your team can handle in a day, week, or month.

It makes it easier to pinpoint when the workload is increasing beyond a manageable point.

That’s why this metric will be incredibly important to plan staffing.

#2 Opened vs. Solved Support Tickets

In a good help desk and service desk, tickets opened and tickets solved rates should be parallel.

Tracking tickets by status is useful to evaluate technician performance and responsiveness.

By looking at these metrics every week, you can make sure you’re keeping up with demand.

If the rate of solved tickets is always behind, you may need to add more staff.

If there’s a sudden increase in opened tickets, it can alert you to a service delivery issue. Or any other disruption, for that matter.

#3 First Contact Resolution

First contact resolution refers to the amount of tickets resolved without being reassigned.

It shows how many requests are handled in one rather than over multiple interactions.

High rate of first contact fits hand-in-hand with customer satisfaction.

It means customers get an answer quickly and painlessly, improving their customer experience.

At the same time, resolving tickets on the first try can improve your efficiency.

This is simply because, with high first contact rates, fewer agents have to touch the ticket.

#5 Average Response Time

Average response time is also referred to as first response time.

It’s the time between a support request being made and the first documented action taken.

Tracking this metric is essential for ensuring agents are responding in a timely manner.

The longer the first response time is, the more you risk harming customer satisfaction.

Most people simply want their requests acknowledged and need to know what to expect.

If you’re transparent about longer than normal wait times, people will usually be understanding.

#4 Resolution Time

Resolution time is one of the most important help desk performance metrics.

It tells you how long an employee or customer must wait for their issue to be resolved.

Resolution time starts from the time submitted, to when it was closed by the agent. Ideally, you want this period to be as short as possible.

That ‘s why resolution time is an important aspect of the overall customer experience.

Also, tracking this metric over time is a helpful way to assess staffing needs.

#6 Backlog

If your internal service desk receives too many tickets, that can lead to an extensive backlog.

Backlogs can hurt customer satisfaction, overwhelm agents and increase turnover.

Creating a good knowledge-base or using automated workflows can help deal with backlogs.

Tracking backlog metrics helps uncover opportunities to reduce workloads.

#7 Support Agent Performance

Tracking the agent utilisation or performance is important to evaluate team efficiency.

Individual performance rates can help you identify which agents are top performers.

Also, it can show opportunities for additional training.

These help desk metrics assist you to pinpoint where agents perform well and where ticket volumes are high.

Get started with help desk performance tracking

So, we got you through the key help desk KPIs.

Still, there are many more that should be tracked. And it’s hard to keep a good eye on all of them.

Are you thinking about hiring help desk professionals?

Outsourcing a help desk could get you more time to focus on your core business.

Contact us at Demakis Technologies and reach out to one of our Support Helpdesk experts.

March 14, 2022March 16, 2022 Roxanne Demakis Managed Services, Tech Trends

AI-Powered Customer Service DONE RIGHT [+How to Do It]

Today, we’re going to explain AI-powered customer service solutions.

You’ll see:

Why AI works with customer services
How it improves workflows and productivity
How to set it up and do use AI correctly

So if you want to boost customer experience, you’ll enjoy this post.

Let’s start!

Why does AI-powered customer service work?

There are lots of benefits to using artificial intelligence in customer service.

Less Staff

Customer service requires hard effort. Not all of the businesses have enough resources to hire staff to get the efforts done. That’s why AI in customer experience (CX) comes in handy. It’s economical in the long run, easy to use and obviously helpful.

Personalization

Integrating AI allows you to personalise and deliver your content to the right audience. This will provide your customer service better targeting.

Productivity

Automating daily jobs gives you and your employees time to focus on more complex tasks.

Better Customer Experience

Chatbots for artificial intelligence customer service can work round the clock without leave.

Customers can have their inquiries with AI bots resolved 24/7. Also, they don’t have to wait hours or days for a response. This can greatly improve reliability and customer satisfaction.

These are just some of the key benefits to using artificial intelligence customer service.

In truth there are many more, such as:

Cost savings
Improved conversion rates
Better customer retention
Higher quality scores
Greater precision

But to get ahead of the curb, you’ll need to use AI effectively.

So…

How to effectively use AI in CX?

There’s an opinion that AI customer service is less personalised and effective. It doesn’t have to be the case, if done right. Here are the three hand-on tips on how to effectively use AI in CX.

#1 Start automating user-specific queries

Most people think AI bots answer only basic questions, like: What’s your refund policy?

More user-specific questions are usually considered better answered by human agents.

But that’s not necessarily correct.

Today, AI bot can answer even more specific queries, like: When will my order get here?

AI and bots can actively pull customer data from CRM platforms.

So, when a customer asks for an ETA on their order, the bot taps into the order management system. From there, it pulls the order data and gives the customer a precise answer.

Also, AI customer-facing bots can be programmed to learn from the past interactions. Still, they can’t do it on their own.

You have to program use-cases and commonly-asked questions specific to your business.

#2 Train your chatbots to learn from agents

You need to educate your AI customer support chatbots. The more they learn from your agents, the smarter they get.

Your AI bot needs to study successful agent-customer interactions from your experts. This way, it can respond with greater accuracy.

Also, it’s good to set up a deflection team to monitor your bot’s initial performance. Leaving your bot going solo can be nerve-wracking, even to the most confident of CX teams.

#3 Set up chatbots to assist agents

Customer-facing AI bots are extremely important.

Still, you need to think about setting up agent-facing bots, too.

They deal with ticket classification and routing, and relevant article suggestions for next steps.

Agent-facing bots route specialised tickets to the right agents.

This way, there will be no time delays. Also, Artificial Intelligence in call-centres helps avoid internal customer call transfers.

Looking for AI and helpdesk support?

Customer service is going through a period of change for the better all thanks to AI.

That’s why more and more companies choose to implement AI helpdesks.

Many businesses saw significant improvements after they’ve included AI service desks.

Do you feel like your organisation could benefit from AI and helpdesk support?

If so, then you can get in touch with one of our Support Helpdesk experts for further assistance.

Or, you can just follow our blog to stay ahead of competitors.

March 10, 2022March 14, 2022 Roxanne Demakis Managed Services

5 Help Desk Best Practices

This post contains five service desk best practices.

In this new guide, you’ll find out how to improve help desk management by:

Assisting customer service employees
Cutting down their workloads by half
Reducing time from query to answer
Streamlining workflows
Lots more

So if you’re looking to set up your service desk that truly benefits your business, you’ll enjoy this quick guide.

Let’s begin!

What makes a good help desk?

A good helpdesk should be:

Centralized: all queries should be transparent and coming in from one direction.
Fast and intuitive: a help desk should anticipate queries to provide fast answers.
Supportive: the best solutions support teams with clear steps and instructions.

Setting up a solution is another matter. And the fastest way is to get a help desk service provider to guide you and do the hard work instead of you.

Once your service desk is set up, here is a checklist of five best practices to ensure its success:

#1 Create a Knowledge Base

When employees need IT assistance, they often don’t know who to turn to for help. An internal help desk could assist employees in this situation:

A help desk solution can automatically direct queries to the department in charge and provide answers quickly from the source.

Ideally, every help desk software should include a knowledge base with simple answers that doesn’t require live assistance.

This way employees could look for the answers themselves instead of opening another ticket.

This practice also leaves more time for the IT team to solve complex issues that actually require dedicated and hands-on support.

#2 Develop a Service Catalog

When you decide to create a service catalog, you should keep the needs of the end-user in mind. It should cover all the steps needed to open a ticket and make a service request.

The catalog should come with simple instructions, including at least some of the following pieces of information:

Each item’s name and category
Service cost
Issue tracking
The approval structure
Delivery expectations]
Key contact information

#3 Hire and Retain Great Employees

Finding and hiring help desk professionals with great skills is essential for the flow of your business, but learning how to keep them is equally important.

The key to keeping a great staff lies in the employee experience that you offer, and it can be improved in a number of ways.

For example, help your team gain valuable skills by investing in customer support training.

One way to be practical about it is to engage seasoned agents in the process of onboarding and training.

They have vast knowledge to share with newbies, and the whole experience will make them feel more appreciated.

Focus on the candidates who are both skilled enough for the job and passionate about helping others.

#4 Nurture the Culture of Helping

If you provide your team with all the training and tools they need to offer stellar customer support, the quality of your help desk will thrive.

On the other hand, if your management is centered around reducing operational costs, the support’s quality is bound to suffer.

If the team feels encouraged and equipped to do better, they will end up being more proactive and willing to assist the users before they even report a problem.

In fact, the users eventually start seeing help desk solutions as go-to partners that are here to solve their problems. All the while using the service desk to optimize operations.

You can start by communicating clearly about the expectations regarding the average response time, the expected ticket resolution times, and other key service elements.

#5 Use Workflows to Keep Track of Each Ticket’s Details

Your company’s success depends largely on the quality of the internal support.

Each time an issue happens, both the help desk employees and the customer should be able to access the status of the problem in a second.

Moreover, any member of the help desk staff should be able to take over a ticket at any point during the resolution process, get access to the entire workflow behind the solution, and get it closer to being done.

A seamless support process reduces the anxiety levels of everyone involved, making them feel more satisfied and eager to work towards the solution, which also improves the overall customer experience.

Get started with these help desk best practices

Are you looking to get started with help desk support?

Demakis Technologies is here to help.

Contact us today and one of our service specialists that can help you implement all the strategies needed for success.

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