J.R. Miller

We are currently in the evaluation phase of Zendesk.

We are blown away by all of the forethought and functionality built-in, how easy it is to set up & use, and its overall intuitiveness.

That being said, the lack of automated ticket distribution is, by far, the largest hurdle we're trying to get through, in order to switch to this product - It is shocking how much advanced functionality is present with Zendesk, and yet, this basic functionality is absent.

We have used ticket handling as Zendesk currently uses, in the past, through our email channel, where agents were simply instructed to pull oldest messages when they had availability. As you can guess, only the "easy" tickets were being handled quickly, and the ticket queue only tended to only grow larger, rather than shrink.

Even with round-robin style ticketing distribution, there is some room for disproportional workload. There are different ticket complexities, each agent may have varying workloads with other channels, and agents who are out of the office could be getting work piled on them, and find a mountain of cases to handle upon their return. (Meanwhile, customers would be forced to wait until they return for any kind of response.)

But it would at least be a step in the right direction for automated distribution.

 

I would like to mention another possible distribution method, based on agent utilization:

• Our current workflow for incoming cases is set up with an algorithm in our ticketing system, and is based on agent utilization. 
• If “Agent A” is showing active task minutes as 120 and “Agent B” is showing task minutes as 110, Agent B will receive the next incoming case. (Even if Agent A is showing fewer cases, a longer “available” time in the queue, etc.) 
• This system allows for even distribution of actual time spent working, rather than even distribution of tickets.

Initially we had some complaints from our agents, but after explaining how the system worked, (and how it is much harder to manipulate to dodge undesirable tasks) it has drastically reduced dishonesty and improved overall productivity and morale. It is nice to no longer have to "babysit" staff, and we have eliminated a lot of temptation to be lazy.

 

Whether you decide to implement a system that uses agent utilization to automate ticket distribution or not, please consider any kind of automated ticketing system - it is vital to larger support teams who handle all the same products.