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



      Zoho Campaigns Resources


        • Desk Community Learning Series


        • Digest


        • Functions


        • Meetups


        • Kbase


        • Resources


        • Glossary


        • Desk Marketplace


        • MVP Corner


        • Word of the Day


        • Ask the Experts


          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

            Zoho Books Resources


              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                Zoho Projects Resources


                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                    Zoho Orchestly Resources


                      Zoho Creator Resources


                        Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                          Zoho CRM Resources

                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                            CRM Community Learning Series


                          • Tips

                            Tips

                          • Functions

                            Functions

                          • Meetups

                            Meetups

                          • Kbase

                            Kbase

                          • Resources

                            Resources

                          • Digest

                            Digest

                          • CRM Marketplace

                            CRM Marketplace

                          • MVP Corner

                            MVP Corner




                            Zoho Writer Writer

                            Get Started. Write Away!

                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ






                                ご検討中の方

                                  • Recent Topics

                                  • Formatting of Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Reports

                                    The default format of the Balance Sheet and P&L Reports are based on the Account Types and then the individual accounts within the Chart of Accounts. These are then ordered alphabetically under these sub-headings and one is unable to re-order these or

                                  • UK MTD reports concerning turnover and cerash accounting

                                    Hi I am a sole trader, and I have just started with Zoho Books in order to comply with the new HMRC requirements. I use 'cash basis' - which I understand to mean that income is when the cash comes in (not the invoice date) and expenses are when they are

                                  • Retainer Invoice.

                                    Why ZOHO not have facilities to deduct partially advance payment from an invoice.

                                  • Collaborate Feature doesn't work

                                    Hello Team. It seems that the collaborate section is broken? I can post something but it all appears in "Discussions". In there is no way how I would mark something as Draft, Approval, post or any of the other filter categories? Also if I draft a post

                                  • IMAP Server not responding.

                                    Trying to connect a phone via IMAP and getting "imap.zoho.com not responding." Is the server down, for maintenance or otherwise? I've tried this on two different devices and got the same error on both.

                                  • Vendor Signatures Needed for Purchase Orders

                                    Hello everyone, We have a unique requirement that necessitates that Vendors & Suppliers formally acknowledge our Purchase Orders upon receipt. I was hoping that there would be an option to do so in Zoho Books, but that does not appear to be the case.

                                  • Share saved filters between others

                                    Hi, I am in charge to setup all zoho system in our company. I am preparing saved filters for everybody, but the only one can see its me. How can others see it? Thanks

                                  • report showing assignment type

                                    Hi, We've created a number of workflows to allow us to auto assign tickets to agents based on keywords and other criteria. I'm struggling to create a report that would show me what is the percentage of tickets that are assigned automatically via workflows

                                  • GST Slabs Redefined: Stay Compliant Using Zoho Books!

                                    Hello Everyone! The Government of India is rolling out new GST rates, a major reform aimed at simplifying the current tax structure starting 22 September 2025. GST will move from four slabs (5%, 12%, 18%, 28%) to two main slabs (5% and 18%), plus a special

                                  • Kanban view on Zoho CRM mobile app!

                                    What is Kanban? The name doesn't sound English, right? Yes, Kanban is a Japanese word which means 'Card you can see'. As per the meaning, Kanban in CRM is a type of list view in which the records will be displayed in cards and categorized under the given

                                  • Presenting ABM for Zoho CRM: Expand and retain your customers with precision

                                    Picture this scenario: You're a growing SaaS company ready to launch a powerful business suite, and are looking to gain traction and momentum. But as a business with a tight budget, you know acquiring new customers is slow, expensive, and often delivers

                                  • No practical examples of how survey data is analyzed

                                    There are no examples of analysis with analytics of zoho survey data. Only survey meta data is analyzed, such as number of completes, not actual analysis of responses, such as the % in each gender, cross-tabulations of survey responses. One strange characteristic of Zoho analytics is that does not seem aware of how Zoho Survey codes 'multiple response' questions. These are questions where more than one option can be selected from a list. Zoho Survey stores this data as text, separated by commas within

                                  • Zoho Creator as LMS and Membership Solution

                                    My client is interested in using Zoho One apps to deploy their membership academy offer. Zoho Creator was an option that came up in my research: Here are the components of the program/offer: 1. Membership portal - individual login credentials for each

                                  • Adding Chargebee as a Data Connector

                                    Is it possible to get Chargebee added as a Zoho Analytics data connector?

                                  • Zoho CRM - Custom Views for Portal Users

                                    I'm looking for an option to customise custom views for portal users in CRM. It would be great if "portal user" was a permission on custom views.

                                  • Webform & spam

                                    Hi, We set up 2 webform on our website, fowarding the content to Zoho CRM. Since it has been opened up, we are getting lot of spam message (for now about 20 a day). To lower the  amount of false new leads we added the captcha field and new enquieries are send to the Approval Leads list. However we still get some spam. Is there any "anti spam" mechanism built in Zoho CRM, or how is the best way to avoid these kind of spam ? Thanks

                                  • Elevate your CX delivery using CommandCenter 2.0: Simplified builder; seamless orchestration

                                    Most businesses want to create memorable customer experiences—but they often find it hard to keep them smooth, especially as they grow. To achieve a state of flow across their processes, teams often stitch together a series of automations using Workflow

                                  • Dropbox to Workdrive

                                    Namaste, Trust you all are doing well. Wanted to check how this can be done with Zoho flow. I typically receive dropbox links from my clients. Is there a way where I can provide the link to Zoho flow and it downloads the files from dropbox link to a work

                                  • Deals by Stages Funnel not showing in correct order

                                    Using the Stage-Probability Mapping for the Deals module we have created a steps our deals will pass through, RFQ, Closed/Lost, Declined/No-Go, Pricing, Submitted, Negotiations, Won. However when I view the Deal By Stages Funnel it does not show in the

                                  • Adding a developer for editing the client application with a single user license

                                    Hi, I want to know that I as a developer I developed one application and handed over to the customer who is using the application on a single user license. Now after6 months customer came back to me and needs some changes in the application. Can a customer

                                  • Turning off the new UI

                                    Tried the new 'enhanced' UI and actively dislike it. Anyone know how to revert back?

                                  • Message "...does not support more than 100 distinct values..." WHY????

                                    I get this message on one of my reports: Sorry, Zoho Reports currently does not support more than 100 distinct values in columns. 'Account Name * Sum(Amount),Count(Amount Tier)' contains more than 100 distinct values.  Possibly, you can apply filter to reduce the number of distinct values in 'Account Name' or drop the 'Account Name' field in Rows. I want to list all ACCOUNT NAMES (about 500) with SALES BY ACCOUNT.  What is blocking this?

                                  • Attention API Users: Upcoming Support for Renaming System Fields

                                    Hello all! We are excited to announce an upcoming enhancement in Zoho CRM: support for renaming system-defined fields! Current Behavior Currently, system-defined fields returned by the GET - Fields Metadata API have display_label and field_label properties

                                  • Confirmation prompt before a custom button action is triggered

                                    Have you ever created a custom button and just hoped that you/your users are prompted first to confirm the action? Well, Zoho knows this concept. For example, in blueprint, whenever we want to advance to the next state by clicking the transition, it is

                                  • Cost of good field

                                    Is there a way we can have cost of good sold as a field added to the back end of the invoicing procedure and available in reports?

                                  • How to create auto populate field based on custom module in Zoho CRM?

                                    Hello, i'm still new to Zoho CRM and work as administrator in my company. Currently, I'm configuring layout for Quotes Module. So, the idea is, I've created a read-only field in Quotes called "Spec". I want this field automatically filled with Specification

                                  • Rich Text For Notes in Zoho CRM

                                    Hello everyone, As you know, notes are essential for recording information and ensuring smooth communication across your records. With our latest update, you can now use Rich Text formatting to organize and structure your notes more efficiently. By using

                                  • Date triggering Workflow rule

                                    I have a function triggered by a workflow rule. The function takes a date and creates a task for that date and fills in a field with the name of the day for that date. It also updates the status field of the record. The workflow rule is set to run whenever

                                  • Change Last Name to not required in Leads

                                    I would like to upload 500 target companies as leads but I don't yet have contact people for them. Can you enable the option for me to turn this requirement off to need a Second Name? Moderation update (10-Jun-23): As we explore potential solutions for

                                  • Office 365 and CRM mail integration: permission required

                                    Has anyone run into this weird problem? My email server is Office 365. When I try to configure Zoho CRM to use this server, a Microsoft popup window opens requesting user and password. After entering that, I get a message in the Microsoft window saying

                                  • Time Entry Notifications

                                    Hi All - I have support staff who place notes of their work in the time entry section of Zoho Desk. Is there a specific workflow or setting I need to enable to have the ticket holder updated via email when an entry is saved?

                                  • Tables improvement ideas / features

                                    Heya, I've been using Zoho Tables for a few months now and wanted to post some features that I think will be greatly beneficial for the tool: 1. Ability to delete a record in automation or move a record in automation. - Usecase: I move a record from one

                                  • Deluge - Can't get phone number SalesIQ

                                    Hey folks, I’m building a custom plug for SalesIQ that’s supposed to register leads into Zoho CRM. The SalesIQ chat is being implemented on WhatsApp, and in my plug I’m using this line: mobile_clean = session.get("phone").get("value"); From what I understand,

                                  • Zoho CRM button to download images from image upload field

                                    Hello, I am trying to create a button in Zoho CRM that I can place in my record details view for each record and use it to download all images in the image upload fields. I tried deluge, client scripts and even with a widget, but feel lost, could not

                                  • how to differentiate if whatsapp comes from certain landing page?

                                    I create a Zobot in SalesIQ to create a Whatsapp bot to capture the lead. I have 2 landing pages, one is SEO optimized and the other want is optimized for leads comes from Google Ads. I want to know from which landing page this lead came through WhatsApp

                                  • Zoho Desk - Community

                                    As a regular user of Zoho Cares Community I would really love to see the publish date of articles. For example, when I look at Announcements, it would be very beneficial to see which ones were posted recently, over those which have just and a recent comment.

                                  • access to quartz for my customers

                                    Hi how can I have access to the application quartz you use for us to send you screen rocording, this feature would be immensely useful for our customers support https://quartz.zoho.com/

                                  • Issue with Inline Images in Email Reply via Zoho Desk API

                                    Hi, I am attempting to send inline images in an email reply using the Zoho Desk API, but the images are not being displayed inline for the recipient. I have followed this documentation: https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Uploads https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Threads#Threads_SendEmailReply

                                  • How to search a value stored in a subform?

                                    Hello, We store serial numbers in subforms but now we would like to be able to search the values to be able to easily find the record with the serial number. I saw that it's not possible to search such values through global search but is it possible to do it an other way? Thank you,

                                  • Field Dependency Not Working on Detail Page in Zoho Desk

                                    Hi Support Team, I’ve created field dependencies between two fields in Zoho Desk, and they are working correctly on the Create and Edit layouts. However, on the Detail page, the fields are not displaying according to the dependencies I’ve set — they appear

                                  • Next Page