Narrative 2 - Understanding Organizational Departments

Narrative 2 - Understanding Organizational Departments

Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system - BTS Series

Narrative 2 - Understanding Organizational Departments



A ticketing system's departments are essential because they provide an organized and practical framework for handling and addressing customer support inquiries. Departments improve workflow by classifying inquiries and allocating them to the relevant teams, guaranteeing that a specialized agent handles every issue. 

 

This way, companies increase customer satisfaction and loyalty by improving response times and overall customer service quality. Departments guarantee a streamlined procedure that benefits both the support staff and the customers they serve by clearly defining roles and responsibilities.

Why employ organizational departments?

Ticket routing

Departments ensure that support requests are automatically directed to the right team with the right agent. This reduces delays and faster resolution by discarding unnecessary hand-offs.

Specialization

Typically, different teams, such as IT, HR, Billing, and Technical Support, handle various issues. In this case, departments are managed by experienced agents in their respective areas, thereby enhancing service quality.

Organized prioritization

Categorising tickets by department helps teams prioritise workloads based on urgency, service level agreements (SLAs), and impact, ensuring that critical issues are addressed promptly.

Accountability

Departments also assign clear responsibility for resolving tickets, preventing confusion over who should handle a request. This fosters accountability and reduces the risk of tickets being overlooked.

Monitoring

Departments enable granular analytics, allowing organizations to measure metrics (e.g., resolution time, backlog) for each team. This helps identify bottlenecks and optimize workflows.

Better customer experience

Proper department routing ensures customers interact with the right agents from the start, reducing frustration and improving satisfaction by avoiding misdirected queries.

Workflows made easy

Departments enable customized automation rules (e.g., auto-assignment, escalations) tailored to specific teams, streamlining processes and reducing manual effort.

Data privacy

Sensitive requests (e.g., Finance, Legal) can be restricted to authorized personnel, ensuring data privacy and Desk's regulatory compliance.

While departments segment teams, they also facilitate cross-department collaboration when needed (e.g., escalating a billing issue to IT for technical verification), maintaining structure while enabling cooperation.
Idea

Are contacts or accounts department-specific?


When a user raises tickets for various issues across different departments, each ticket must be explicitly linked to the relevant department. This ensures that the appropriate expert is assigned to address and resolve the problem effectively. Importantly, the user's contact details will remain consistent regardless of the department involved; therefore, the contact information should not be considered department-specific. This streamlined approach facilitates efficient communication and resolution while maintaining clarity and organisation within the ticketing system.


However, several other modules within the platform, such as Tickets, Knowledge Base, and Activities, do support department-specific associations. This feature enables you to align these modules with the relevant department, enhancing your workflow and improving departmental accountability.

Example - Hospital Management Service

In a hospital, the way departments are managed plays a crucial role in providing top-notch healthcare services. By organizing the hospital into different departments, each one guided by knowledgeable and skilled staff, we can not only improve how services are delivered but also make processes more efficient and ensure that everyone is held accountable. This structured approach not only fosters teamwork but also helps meet patients' needs more effectively, ultimately creating a better experience for them.

Organizational departments in a hospital

  1.  Emergency Department 
  2.  Surgical Department
  3.  Radiology Department
  4.  Pharmacy Department
  5.  Administration and Human Resources

 

This teamwork is vital for enhancing the quality of patient care and streamlining operations, creating a well-functioning machine that ultimately benefits everyone involved. When departments are well-structured, it fosters a sense of accountability across the board, which is essential in a healthcare environment. A well-organised hospital not only supports its staff but also delivers the best possible healthcare to those it serves.

Conclusion

Utilizing separate departments for your help desk establishes structure, efficiency, and expertise within ticketing systems, enabling you and your team to collaborate effectively without chaos. This leads to quicker resolutions, better use of resources, and a smoother experience for both customers and agents. Without these departments, support operations would likely become chaotic, sluggish, and more prone to unnecessary issues.

 

Please stay tuned for more Desk behind-the-scenes series.

 

Regards,

 

Kavya Rao

The Zoho Desk Team


    • Recent Topics

    • Appreciation to Qntrl Support Team

      We are writing this topic to appreciate the outstanding level of support from Qntrl Team. We have been using Qntrl since 2022 after shifting from another similar platform. Since we joined Qntrl, the team has shown a high level of professionalism, support,

    • How can I hide "My Requests" and "Marketplace" icon from the side menu

      Hello everybody, We recently started using the new Zoho CRM for Everyone. How can I hide "My Requests" and "Marketplace" from the side menu? We don't use these features at the moment, and I couldn't find a way to disable or remove them. Best regards,

    • Whatsapp Integration on Zoho Campaign

      Team: Can the messages from Zoho Campaign delivered through Whatsapp... now customers no longer are active on email, but the entire campaign module is email based.... when will it be available on whatsapp.... are there any thirdparty providers who can

    • Quotes Approval

      Hey all, Could you please help in the following: When creating quotes, how to configure it in a way, that its approval would work according to the quoted items description, not according to quote information. In my case, the quote should be sent to approval

    • Mandatory Field - but only at conversion

      Hello! We use Zoho CRM and there are times where the "Lead Created Date & Time" field isn't populated into a "Contractor" (Account is the default phrase i believe). Most of my lead tracking is based on reading the Lead Created field above, so it's important

    • Different Task Layouts for Subtasks

      I was wondering how it would be possible for a subtask to have a different task layout to the parent task.

    • Enable Free External Collaboration on Notecards in Zoho Notebook

      Hi Zoho Notebook Team, I would like to suggest a feature enhancement regarding external collaboration in Zoho Notebook. Currently, we can share notes with external users, and they are able to view the content without any issue. However, when these external

    • Using data fields in Zoho Show presentations to extract key numbers from Zia insights based on a report created

      Is it possible to use data fields in Zoho Show presentations along with Zoho Analytics to extract key numbers from Zia insights based on a report created? For example, using this text below: (note that the numbers in bold would be from Zia Insights) Revenue

    • Free webinar: AI-powered agreement management with Zoho Sign

      Hi there! Does preparing an agreement feel like more work than actually signing it? You're definitely not alone. Between drafting the document, managing revisions, securing internal approvals, and rereading clauses to make sure everything still reflects

    • WhatsApp Channels in Zoho Campaigns

      Now that Meta has opened WhatsApp Channels globally, will you add it to Zoho Campaigns? It's another top channel for marketing communications as email and SMS. Thanks.

    • CRM For Everyone - Bring Back Settings Tile View

      I've been using CRM for Everyone since it was in early access and I just can't stand the single list settings menu down the left-hand side. It takes so much longer to find the setting I need. Please give users the option to make the old sytle tile view

    • Lets have Dynamics 365 integration with Zohobooks

      Lets have Dynamics 365 integration with Zohobooks

    • Add notes in spreadsheet view

      It would be great if we could Add/edit notes in the spreadsheet view of contacts/leads. This would enable my sales teams to greatly increase their number of calls. Also viewing the most recent note in the Contact module would also be helpful.

    • Opening balances - Accounts Receivable and Payable

      Our accounting year starts on 1st August 2013 and I have a Trial Balance as at that date, including Accounts Receivableand Accounts Payable balances, broken down by each customer and supplier. Q1 - do I show my opening balance date as 31st July 2013 or

    • Announcing Kiosk 1.1 - Customize screen titles, configure new fields & actions, use values from your Kiosk to update fields, and more.

      Hello all We are back again with more enhancements to Kiosk. So what's new? Enhancements made to the Components Add titles for your Kiosk screens and adjust its width to suit your viewing preferences. Three new fields can be added to your screen: Percentage,

    • Limited System because of Limited Number of Fields for Car Dealership

      Dear Zoho Support, we want to have all the information about a car inside of a car record. We want to have Zoho CRM as our single source of truth for our data, but the limited number of fields are not allowing that. The data consist of: technical data

    • Cancel Subscription

      Hi , Im want to cancel my account but without success please help me to do it

    • Making an email campaign into a Template

      I used a Zoho Campaign Template to create an email. Now I want to use this email and make it a new template, but this seems to be not possible. Am I missing something?

    • Direct Access and Better Search for Zoho Quartz Recordings

      Hi Zoho Team, We would like to request a few enhancements to improve how Zoho Quartz recordings are accessed and managed after being submitted to Zoho Support. Current Limitation: After submitting a Quartz recording, the related Zoho Support ticket displays

    • Multiple Cover Letters

      We are using the staffing firm edition of Recruit and we have noticed that candidates cannot add more than one cover letter. This is a problem as they might be applying for multiple jobs on our career site and when we submit their application to a client,

    • URGENT: Deluge issue with Arabic text Inbox

      Dear Deluge Support, We are facing an issue that started on 12/Feb/2026 with custom functions written using Deluge within Qntrl platform. Currently, custom functions do not accept Arabic content; it is replaced with (???) characters. Scenario 1: If we

    • File Conversion from PDF to JPG/PNG

      Hi, I have a question did  anyone every tried using custom function to convert a PDF file to JPG/PNG format? Any possibility by using the custom function to achieve this within zoho apps.  I do know there are many third parties API provide this with

    • Prevent accidental duplicate entry of Customer Ordersome

      Zoho Support has confirmed that Zoho currently does not have any method (using Deluge, flow or any other method) to alert a user when a sales order has been entered twice using the same customer reference number (i.e. a duplicate). Most ERP platforms

    • Now in Zoho One: Orchestrate customer journeys across apps with Zoho CommandCenter

      Hello Zoho One Community! We’re excited to introduce Zoho CommandCenter as a new capability available in Zoho One. For the whole customer journey As Zoho One customers adopt more apps across sales, marketing, finance, and support, a common challenge emerges:

    • annualy customer report

      we need a report per customer that looks like this invoic number cleaning laundry repair management 01 january xxx euro xx euro xx euro xxx euro 02 february xxx euro xxx euro x euro xxxx euro and so on the years 12 months is that possible to make and

    • Totals for Sales Tax Report

      On the sales tax report, the column totals aren't shown for any column other than Total Tax. I can't think of a good reason that they shouldn't be included for the other columns, as well. It would help me with my returns, for sure. It seems ludicrous

    • Free Webinar: Zoho Sign for Zoho Projects: Automate tasks and approvals with e-signatures

      Hi there! Handling multiple projects at once? Zoho Projects is your solution for automated and streamlined project management, and with the Zoho Sign extension, you can sign, send, and manage digital paperwork directly from your project workspace. Join

    • Exported Report File Name

      Hi, We often export reports for information. It is time consuming to rename all the reports we export on a weekly basis, as when exported their default name is a seemingly random string of numbers. These numbers may be important, I'm not sure, but I am

    • Automatic Refresh on Page?

      Hi everyone, We use a page as a dashboard which shows data for the laboratory and tasks pending etc. Is there a way to set the page to automatically refresh on a X time? Many thanks TOG

    • Full Context of Zoho CRM Records for Zia in Zoho Desk for efficient AI Usage

      Hello everyone, I have a question regarding the use of Zia in Zoho Desk in combination with CRM data. Is it possible to automatically feed the complete context of a CRM record into Zia, so that it can generate automated and highly accurate responses for

    • Hiding Pre-defined Views

      You can enhance Zoho with custom views - but you cannot hide the pre-defined views. Most users focus on 4 or 5 views. Right now for EVERY user EVERY time they want to move to one of their 4 or 5 views - they have to scroll down past a long list of pre-defined views - we don't use ANY of the pre-defined views. Adding the feature to allow a predefined view to be hidden completely or only visible to certain users would be a big improvement in usability for Zoho CRM. This feature is already available

    • [Webinar] Top 10 Most Used Zoho Analytics Features in 2025

      Zoho Analytics has evolved significantly over the past year. Discover the most widely adopted features in Zoho Analytics in 2025, based on real customer usage patterns, best practices, and high-impact use cases. Learn how leading teams are turning data

    • How do I edit the Calendar Invite notifications for Interviews in Recruit?

      I'm setting up the Zoho Recruit Interview Calendar system but there's some notifications I don't have any control over. I've turned off all Workflows and Automations related to the Calendar Scheduling and it seems that it's the notification that is sent

    • Add RTL and Hebrew Support for Candidate Portal (and Other Zoho Recruit Portals)

      Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you're doing well. We would like to request the ability to set the Candidate Portal to be Right-to-Left (RTL) and in Hebrew, similar to the existing functionality for the Career Site. Currently, when we set the Career Site

    • App for Mac OS X please!

      It would be awesome to have a mail app for Mac OS X that included all the cool features such as steams, calendar, tasks, contacts, etc. Most people prefer native apps, rather than running it through a web browser. I know that we can use the IMAP, CalDAV,

    • How to integrate Zoho CRM, Zoho Forms and a WIX Web Site

      Attached video demonstrates how to use Zoho Forms included in Zoho One, to design a Contact Us form to be embedded into a WIX web site and integrated into Zoho CRM.

    • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

      Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files

    • Introducing Workqueue: your all-in-one view to manage daily work

      Hello all, We’re excited to introduce a major productivity boost to your CRM experience: Workqueue, a dynamic, all-in-one workspace that brings every important sales activity, approval, and follow-up right to your fingertips. What is Workqueue? Sales

    • Default Reminder Time in New Tasks or New Event?

      Any way to change this from 1:00am? Thanks, Gary Moderation Update (February 2026): With the Calendar preferences, the default reminder time for Meetings, Appointments and All-Day Meetings can be set. Read more: Calendar preferences in Zoho CRM Regarding

    • Exporting All Custom Functions in ZohoCRM

      Hello, All I've been looking for a way to keep about 30 functions that I have written in Zoho CRM updated in my own repository to use elsewhere in other instances. A github integration would be great, but a way to export all custom functions or any way

    • Next Page