Fifth Insight - Maximize the role of Departments

Fifth Insight - Maximize the role of Departments

The Wheels of Ticketing - Desk Stories

Maximize the role of Departments


What are Departments?

Departments represent the various business divisions within your organization, each serving distinct functions that align with your products, geographical locations, or specialized teams. With Zoho Desk, you have the power to create and manage departments tailored to your customer support needs, enabling you to provide dedicated assistance for each division.

Every department can have its own set of agents, customizable mailboxes, live chat support, community forums, web forms, and social media channels. This ensures that each division can operate independently and effectively, addressing its customers' unique queries and concerns.

You can also implement specific automation processes, service agreements, and business hours tailored to each department. This level of customization allows you to design a support workflow that aligns perfectly with each division's goals and dynamics, enhancing overall efficiency and customer satisfaction. 

By managing departments independently, you can streamline your support process and maintain efficiency for all aspects of customer support across your organization.

Role of Departments in Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk departments play a crucial role in enhancing customer support by effectively organizing support tickets. By grouping specialized agents into dedicated teams, each department can focus on specific types of queries. This targeted approach improves the accuracy and quality of ticket handling and significantly reduces response times. By ensuring that each customer receives expert assistance tailored to their needs, this structured method provides a smoother overall customer service experience and fosters greater satisfaction and loyalty.
IdeaInfo
Users can seamlessly transfer agents and email traffic to another active department. If a department is disabled, agents and emails can be reassigned to ensure that any messages sent to the transferred addresses continue generating tickets within the new department. The service captures emails directed to support addresses, routes them to Zoho Desk, and converts them into actionable tickets. While the service does not create tickets directly, it guarantees customer emails are readily available for ticket generation.

How do departments work?

  • Categorization—Tickets are classified based on the issue's nature, product line, or service area. 
  • Routing—The system routes tickets to the relevant department, ensuring that inquiries are handled by experts in that particular domain. 
  • Workload Management—Departments help manage the support workload efficiently, improving response times and overall customer service. 
  • Collaboration—Departments facilitate team collaboration by providing a structured environment for handling and resolving issues. 
  • Tracking—Departments allow stakeholders to track the status and progress of tickets throughout their lifecycle,

A story for better understanding

Optimizing the Support Workflow with Departments

In a company called Help Always, departments often found themselves working in silos. The customer support, product development, and product management teams all had separate priorities, leading to occasional miscommunication and delays in addressing customer needs. Each department was focused on its metrics, often overlooking the broader picture of customer satisfaction.

Recognising the need for better alignment, the leadership team implemented a new strategy called "Departmental Synergy." This initiative aimed to break down walls and create a more cohesive work environment where departments could collaborate efficiently and prioritise the customer experience.

The first step was to establish weekly cross-departmental meetings. Representatives from each department came together to discuss ongoing projects, share insights, and identify challenges they were facing. During one such meeting, Pheobe from customer support highlighted a recurring issue where customers were confused about product features, leading to a spike in support tickets. Mark from product management realized that the confusion stemmed from a recent update that hadn't been communicated to users.

Inspired by this divulgence, the team created a unified communication plan. They launched a “Clarity for All” project where the marketing team would develop clearer messaging for new product features. In contrast, tech support and product management collaborated to create comprehensive FAQS and help articles. The departments worked together, turning the helping hand of ASAP’s help widget into a powerful tool that provided real-time guidance to customers on the latest updates.

As they implemented these changes, they noticed a shift in customer interactions. Support tickets began to decrease, and customer feedback improved significantly. Customers expressed appreciation for the clarity in communication and the easy access to information through the help widget. They felt supported and valued, which boosted customer loyalty and created a win-win resolution.

The success of the "Clarity for All" initiative sparked a transformative shift in how departments approached customer experience. As a result, key metrics, such as customer satisfaction scores, ticket resolution times, and user retention, became collective goals embraced by all supporting departments. This new focus encouraged each team to work together, collaborating across functions, to ensure that every customer interaction contributed positively to overall service.

The result was a more cohesive approach to customer support, where departments actively collaborated, used shared metrics to drive performance, and ultimately created a better customer experience.

In this environment of continuous improvement and shared goals, teams found an increased sense of purpose and motivation, knowing that their collective efforts made a tangible difference in customer experience and business outcomes.

As the months went by, Help Always work culture transformed. Silos crumbled, and a unified approach took its place. Pheobe's overall strategy was much appreciated. The departments developed a shared language focused on customer needs, and this synergy extended beyond just internal communication—it resonated with clients who felt they were now at the heart of the Help Always operations.

Ultimately, improving the journey towards departmental synergy exemplifies that excellent customer service isn’t just a single department's responsibility but a collaborative effort that elevates everyone involved.

Benefits of Departments

More knowledgeable answers and happier customers

Support significantly improves when tickets are directed to the appropriate agent within the right department. Skilled agents who deliver exceptional service can elevate customers' support experience and overall satisfaction. This, in turn, can result in increased sales, greater customer loyalty, and positive recommendations.

Rapid response times

When a help desk ticket reaches the appropriate agent in the respective department, they can respond without delay. Rather than searching for answers or checking with colleagues, they will immediately know how to address the issue, enhancing both resolution and response times. This ultimately leads to greater customer satisfaction.

Clear responsibilities and more direct workflows

Organizations that establish clear responsibilities within departments streamline ticket management and enhance agent workflows and efficiency. When tickets are assigned to specific departments, this targeted approach eliminates the need for agents to rummage through a cluttered inbox in search of tickets they can assist with.

Additionally, leveraging a knowledge base creator empowers businesses to organize and present valuable information systematically. This resource makes helpful content readily accessible, benefiting customers seeking solutions and support agents who require quick reference materials. Companies can foster a more effective support environment by prioritizing responsiveness and clarity.
Idea
Multiple layouts and multiple departments can complement each other in a support system by enhancing communication, organization, and overall efficiency.  The benefits of this approach include:
  • Structured support environment   
  • Clear role assignments   
  • Centralized information access   
  • Enhanced user experience   
  • Feedback and improvement loop   
  • Tracking and analytics   
  • Cohesive branding and messaging   
  • Cross-department collaboration 

Wrapping up

By streamlining the inquiry process, departments enhance the overall effectiveness of customer support, reduce response times, and foster higher satisfaction rates among users. 


Please stay tuned for more Desk Module stories.

 

Cheers,

 

Kavya Rao

The Zoho Desk Team


    • Recent Topics

    • System-generated support email added in CC on “Reply All”

      Hi, I recently set up Zoho Desk for a client and we are trying to prevent the Zoho Desk system-generated support email address (not the mailbox used as the department’s "From address") from being automatically added in CC when agents use “Reply All” on

    • Convenience Fees

      I use Zoho Invoice for invoicing my billboard customers.  I have a few customers that want to pay using credit cards and ACH.  As a result, I have integrated an Online Payment Gateway (Stripe) for these customers.  I currently charge these customers a "Convenience Fee" of 3% for using this service as I typically only take checks as payment (and the gateway charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction).  I do this by creating a separate line item on the invoice and adding 3% to it.  I would like to offer

    • HTML Tags added to Reports with Notes

      Recently Zoho added the ability to markup text within notes. That way, users can change font size, colors, etc. It's a great change. However, since the change, reports that include a column for "Note Content" are printing HTML tags within the report.

    • Restrict Payment Methods

      Allow us to restrict certain payment methods specific for each customer.

    • Emails Getting Delay Error Messages - Status: 451

      Hi. Hoping someone can help. I've been using Zoho for over a year now with no problems at all. Today, the majority of my emails I send out or reply to are getting this error: This message was created automatically by mail delivery system. THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY. YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE. The original message was received at Sun, 22 Dec 2019 18:20:19 -0800 from wazza@amninjas.com [wazza@amninjas.com] ----- The following addresses had fatal errors ----- [Status: ERROR, Address:

    • Add Domain

      Hello Zoho Support, My Zoho Sites project accidentally auto-added domains with http:// prefix and duplicated domain entries. Current domains list shows: http://www.kinhtethethao.com.vn (Primary – cannot be removed) http://www.kinhtethethao.com.vn (verification

    • Kaizen #221: Workflow & Actions Reports APIs

      Over the last few weeks, we have joined Zylker Cloud Services as they restructured their automation ecosystem using Workflow APIs and Actions APIs. Along the way, we discovered how to audit workflows, update old rules, create new ones, and manage associated

    • Having an Issue with the Entity ID

      I'm having an issue when trying to use Zoho Flow and the notes function. I currently have it set up when a new response comes into a particular form, all of their responses will go into the notes section of their contact on the CRM. I'm currently mapping

    • For Each Loop in Zoho Flow

      I am using Zoho flow to create rows in an google sheets for every new order in Shopify but the issue is that it is creating one row per order and all line items are comma separated values but I want separate rows for each line item. Is there a way to

    • Debug and Test not receiving updates

      Hello, I've been trying to debug two of my simple flows between Zoho Projects and Clockify but it seems like the Debug and Test feature is not working for me. When I click the Play button on any of the flows and then perform the trigger actions nothing

    • Attendance, Reimagined: Smarter Views for Teams and Individuals

      Tracking attendance shouldn’t feel like a chore. With the revamped Attendance module UI, Zoho FSM makes it easier than ever to monitor work hours, check-in activity, and team availability—whether you’re managing an entire workforce or just keeping an

    • Logistics Industry: Learn to create amazing appointment scheduling sites

      In the logistics industry, the quality of service is something that cannot be shown to others unless they experience it.  Sure, there are metrics that show how you fare when compared to your competition, but then, it only communicates little with respect to quality. The usual route which firms in logistics took are advertisements, to which the internet has opened alternatives in today’s digital age like websites and appointment scheduling sites. A great online presence can help you communicate with

    • Customer Management: # 1 Pick a Convenient Way to Onboard Customer

      When Meera opened her bookstore, onboarding customers was effortless. A customer walked in, picked a book and left with a handwritten bill. As the store gained popularity, things changed. " Can I place an order over the phone?" a customer asked one day.

    • Fetch ALL items from Inventory and send to Google Sheet using Flow

      The title says it all -- I want to fetch the Item name, SKU, Purchase rate, and Sales rate for ALL items in Zoho Inventory and have them populate a tab in an existing Google Sheet. I have already successfully made this work for one item, so the flow is

    • Why Document Integrity Matters at Every Stage of the Contract Lifecycle

      Contracts are legal records that must stay authentic and traceable from creation to expiry or termination. In Zoho Contracts, several design decisions focus on protecting the integrity of every document. These measures ensure that no important details

    • affichage pièces jointes impossible

      Bonjour, aujourd'hui je n'arrive pas à afficher ni à télécharger les pièces jointes dans ZOHO CRM. J'utilise Chrome, j'ai vidé les caches et les cookies. Mais cela ne change rien. Merci de votre aide

    • Reminder to renew subscription.

      Whenever I try to add to one of my notes a " renew your subscription" window pops out and won't Close disallowing me to edit. Why should I renew my subscription on an application with at best such bugs and at worse such underhanded ways to force ren

    • Fields not coming through, not pulling data

      Forgive the noviceness of my vocabulary. I am in Zoho flow connecting CRM and Projects. When an opportunity hits a certain stage, it will create the project in Projects, and bring in data from the opportunity. Everything is working, except for two fields

    • Smartsheet Integration

      Has any in the community been able to integrate Zoho Desk with Smartsheets using Zoho Flow? I am trying to get the Smartsheet Row ID based on ticket data and cannot find documentation on the Get Row function for Smartsheet. It is asking for a Query String

    • CRM Campaign - how to mass remove contacts?

      Does anyone have a solution for removing all contacts from a CRM campaign. Seems that one by one is the only option. 

    • Send out follow-up email in the same thread (threaded conversations in individual emails) from Zoho CRM

      Hi, I'm new to Zoho. I'm trying to send individual emails to my leads one by one. And I'll send out follow up email if I don't hear back from them later. However, instead of sending a new email, I want to reply in the same email thread so that the recipients

    • Cadence Support in Zoho Vertical Studio

      We would like to know whether it is possible to create and configure Cadences in Zoho Vertical Studio, similar to the Cadence feature available in Zoho CRM. Please confirm if Vertical Studio supports creating cadences for modules and users, and whether

    • Removing "Products" as mandatory field from Sales Order creation page

      Hello, friends According to our workflow, we should: 1) create Sales Order (Stage "New") 2) call and discuss the Products with a customer (Stage "Communication") 3) add the Products to the Sales Order during the call However, "Products" is mandatory to

    • Zoho Books says "The customer "Hakimuddin P A Ali" already exists. Please specify a different name.""

      One of my transaction is not getting posted from Stripe to Zoho books. I already checked in Zoho books that there is no customer already present in Zoho books with the same name (as the error mentions) I already raised this complaint on Zoho flow portal,

    • Is it possible to automate a file to be directly uploaded to a specific subfolder in Zoho Workdrive?

      I am establishing a workflow so that when a new task is marked "complete", the document submitted in the task (under the "Documents" tab) is automatically uploaded to a specific subfolder in the associated WorkDrive for the project. However, the dilemma

    • Steuerberater der Zoho benutzt in Deutschland

      I write in English because the issue is related to German regulations. Wir sind ein Unternehmen, welches aktuell keine Pflicht zur doppelten Buchführung hat. Aktuell bucht unser Steuerberater jeden Beleg, auch unsere Auslagen. Wir würden dies gerne selbst

    • Why are some folders not showing up as an action trigger in Zoho Flow?

      I am currently working on a flow that automates the process of creating a folder in WorkDrive once a Task List is created. When I am selecting a destination for the folder, some projects are not showing up. I intend to create a folder within a specific

    • Getting Date from PostgreSQL error

      I am pulling data from PostgreSQL table into a CRM record via FLOW but the field is coming out empty. Need some suggestions: Field Type in CRM: Date/Time Field value in PostgreSQL: 2024-12-05 21:06:32.479 Field value in FLOW "Fetch Row": created : "2024-12-05T21:06:32.479382000",

    • Zoho Flow to SendOwl API error

      SendOwl is listed in the apps list of Zoho Flow. When trying to connect through the API with valid key and secret, the error given is: SendOwl says "HTTP Basic: Access denied" It seems Zoho doesn't connect via HTTPS. I've already tried using webhooks,

    • decisions based on content of a ticket

      Hi, I need to create a flow that sends automated email based on the content of a ticket in zoho desk. I have certain tickets that are formatted in a particular way, and contain certain keywords. How can I filter (based on decisions) the tickets based

    • Newline Character "\n" parsing problem in webhooks

      Hi there, I am facing an issue in Zoho Flow (maybe a general issue or maybe only in Zoho Flow): I have this function: void sendListWebhook(string url, list array) { for each arrayElement in array { result = invokeurl [ url :url type :POST parameters:arrayElement.toString()

    • One Company, multi branches, multi warehouses and I need to manage this in one organization

      Dears,  I'm a new user to zoho solutions,  however I found a lot of persons giving a nice feedback about it also a lot of good reviews. I though why we try to move to it in our company. I'm not sure if Zoho could give me all what I need or not that's why I'm going to post in this topic most of the things I know about managing our business to let you ,as zoho experts, tell me if Zoho will meet my business requirements or not. First of all we are a flowers and landscaping company we have like 6 to

    • Migration Evernote

      Bonjour Apres plus d'une dizaine d'année passer avec evernote j'ai décidé de franchir le pas . J'ai débuté par migrer mes notes vers zoho et depuis la migration est bloquée. Impossible d'avoir un retour du support malgré plusieurs mails et tentative d'appel

    • Pushing GCLID info from Gravity Forms to ZohoCRM

      We are switching to Gravity Forms from Zoho Forms and I cannot find any good info on how to make sure my GCLID tracking info is pushed through to the CRM through my new forms. There was an article in the documentation about placing something within the

    • On Zoho Flow, Record deleted trigger from Zoho Creator

      On creating flow in Zoho Flow, when we select app Zoho created, it provides 3 trigger options - Record created, Record updated and Record created or updated We need trigger on "Record Delete" as well, We have a use case to fire our system api if record

    • Zoho Flow Switch On Not Working

      I have created a flow which is when the mailbox address received the email that meet the condition will auto fetch the contact, account and finally create the ticket by using Zoho Desk. When I do a test and debug on my flow it work well as what I expect

    • MS Teams Flow Integration Question

      Where can I find the chat ID for the "Post message to chat" target?

    • Zoho Flow - Access denied to recover recording from call module - OpenAI

      Hi, I am trying to build a Flow to recover recoding when a new call is saved in my CRM. I have integrated my CRM with ringcentral and the recordings are saved in the event. Trigger: When new module entry Step 2: Fetch module entry (Zoho CRM says "permission

    • Unable to send price in big commerce from zoho flow.

      I am creating a flow from zoho flow to create a product in zoho inventory and sending this to big commerce. But the problem is like when ever i send the price its getting error. it require decimal format value if i am sending ${trigger.sales_rate} the

    • Not sending mail to new lead in zoho flow

      I have created a flow in zoho flow and triggered an action to send email notification when the new lead is created but even after user entering the mail id the email is not going to them

    • Next Page