An OTRS Overview (+ 3 Popular OTRS Add-Ons)
The world of business is becoming more complex and competition is getting fiercer, as a result service management is getting tougher as organizations try to keep up with new technologies and the demands of today’s customer.
The importance of people, tools and processes working together as effectively and efficiently as possible continues to grow, and so, many businesses are now looking for tools that can help them flourish in an environment where rapid change and fast-paced working have become the norm.
OTRS is one such tool that’s working to support businesses in this way; a service management system that provides the stability of an ITIL-based tool without restrictions.
OTRS can be customized with add-ons available for free, and premium add-ons available for purchase, allowing businesses to create a solution that supports operations in the way they need. Because of its customizability and flexibility, OTRS can be used by companies of any size in any industry for a smoother service management experience.
5 Ways OTRS Can Help Your Organization
1 – Automation
Speed and accuracy are essential to any business that wants to keep up with (and beat) the competition. OTRS offers automated workflows that take on the manual tasks that tend to otherwise slow operations down. Service desk agents often work on tasks that add little value but take up a lot of time, automating these allows agents to turn their attention to more complex matters while at the same time getting through more work and eliminating human error.
2 – Reporting
Reporting tools allow businesses to collect data and display it in easy to understand formats which enhances the decision-making process. Using company data removes the need for guesswork and makes room for data-driven decisions so as that they can be made faster, with more confidence, and so results become more consistent.
3 – Integrations Integration with third-party applications like SAP and Salesforce is seamless and the XSLT mapping module supports outgoing and incoming data without any need for complex programming; the costs and risks associated with traditional customization are eliminated.
4 – Process Templates
Templates can be used to speed up operations and are great for any frequent processes that need to be followed. Templates remove human error because all of the required information is filled in and ready to go; training agents is easier and productivity increases due to limited manual requirements. OTRS already provides templates like holiday requests, room bookings, and travel expenses but, knowing that every business is unique, it also supports the creation of custom process templates too.
5 – Security
OTRS supports two-factor authentication for secure access. All incoming and outgoing data can be encrypted via SSL ensuring a consistently secure connection. The platform is GDPR compliant. All data centers are ISO/IEC 27001-certified and are located internationally to meet local requirements (Germany, UK, USA, Canada, and Singapore). Role, group, and ACL-based rights management means that complex access rights can be set up to help ensure that all of the required approvals are granted before access is provided to a given system.
Emails can be encrypted and signed via S/MIME and PGP.
3 Popular OTRS Add-ons
OTRS add-ons allow organizations to further customize the tool so as that it works to support their service management processes and customers in a totally unique way.
1 – Customer Portal
Self-service adoption is growing quickly; organizations understand that they can save money when customers self-serve and modern customers are not just getting used to fixing their own issues, in many cases, they actually want to (as long as they’re given the right tools and instructions in order to do so). The importance of shifting left-that is, passing support work down the chain resulting in customers resolving some of their own issues-should not be underestimated but if customers are going to be expected to adopt this way of working then the software they’re using needs to be flawless. A generic portal that offers no personalized features isn’t going to draw end users in and so we’ve created a customer portal add-on that lets you do just that.
This add-on can be used to create a user-friendly interface that reflects your organization – colors, logo, and company details can all be added to the portal making it unique and identifiable. Along with the visual personalization options, the add-on allows you to create various pre-filled tickets which can be accessed by simply clicking on a pre-defined link. This reduces human error and increases the speed and accuracy of ticket logging.
2 – Agent Chat
Life on the IT service desk can be fast paced so it can be beneficial for agents to be able to communicate quickly with each other. The agent chat add-on allows agents to talk directly to one another and also has a group function allowing multiple agents to converse in one chat when necessary.
Whether it is to pass on work, get help with a troublesome incident or share knowledge immediately agent chat encourages teamwork and enhances communication on your IT service desk. The chat window displays in any OTRS view which means work and chat can be actioned simultaneously. Conversation history is also accessible which allows agents to look back on past chats – particularly helpful, for example, when it comes to writing knowledge articles and a fix has been discussed in the past which needs to be documented.
3 – Ticket Dashlet
Individual ticket management can be difficult for IT service desk agents and, the more tickets there are the more difficult it becomes. The ticket dashlet add-on installs a dashboard widget that displays only the tickets that a particular agent owns. Each agent has access to their own dashboard so as that they can easily view and manage the tickets they own without them getting lost in the noise of a busy ticketing system. Ticket dashlet helps to increase the productivity of your agents by providing them with their own clean and unique view, and the best news? This add-on is completely free. When using OTRS these add-ons will help to increase productivity, personalize your user experience and make the lives of your IT service desk agents that little bit easier. Many OTRS add-ons are available for free and premium add-ons can be purchased individually or in bundles. All premium add-ons are compatible with OTRS Free and we offer 3 months of support after you have purchased them. For more information, and to explore other OTRS add-ons that your organization could benefit from, please visit our website.
