According to Microsoft’s recently released figures, Teams hit more than 280 million monthly active users in the Q2 of fiscal year 2023.
With so many users, it may come as a surprise that Teams can function in a way that many aren’t aware of: as a ticketing system. Teams can host its own ticketing system or integrate with a third-party system to provide a robust help desk experience.
Read on for everything you need to know about Microsoft Teams ticketing systems and how they can help you slash ticket resolution time using the fan-favorite app.
What is a Microsoft Teams Ticketing System?
Teams, established in 2017, is Microsoft’s business communication platform that enables collaboration, sharing, and messaging. In addition to its traditional uses, you can build and manage a limited help desk directly in Teams using its limited capabilities or by integrating with a third-party ticketing tool.
In other words, you can manage, route, and solve requests using an application many businesses already use daily. While this isn’t the only Microsoft property that can host a ticketing system (SharePoint is another), a Teams ticketing system is just as intuitive and can be incredibly powerful when paired with an external ticketing automation solution.
Who Uses a Microsoft Teams Ticketing System?
Anyone who uses Microsoft Teams can implement a Team ticketing system. For IT teams, help desks, customer service departments, and other areas that traditionally use ticketing, Teams can be a viable option for managing the ticket lifecycle.
5 Capabilities of a Microsoft Teams Ticketing System
Teams has somewhat limited capabilities as a ticketing system because that’s not the original intention of the application. When integrated with a robust automation and ticketing tool explicitly designed for tickets, Teams has various capabilities, including the following:
1. Enable Ticket Triaging
A Microsoft Teams ticketing system provides a centralized location to prioritize and categorize incoming tickets. This can help diagnose the urgency and severity of every ticket (also known as triaging) and automatically route and escalate requests to the proper agent.
Team members can use tags or labels to categorize tickets based on urgency, complexity, or other factors. This lets agents quickly identify high-priority tickets and ensure they are addressed first.
Additionally, team members can collaborate on tickets within the Teams platform, adding comments, sharing files, or even escalating the ticket to a higher level of support if necessary. All of these actions can be tracked within the ticketing system, providing a clear history of the ticket and its resolution.
2. Turn Teams Messages into Ticket
With a third-party app, you can set up rules that automatically convert Teams messages in a specific channel into tickets based on certain criteria, such as the presence of specific keywords or phrases. For example, you could configure the app to create a ticket whenever a message includes the word "bug" or "error."
Once a Teams message has been turned into a ticket, it can be triaged, categorized, and prioritized like any other ticket in the system. This ensures that all incoming requests are properly tracked and managed, regardless of where they originated.
3. Reply to Tickets in Teams
A Microsoft Teams ticketing system can let you reply to tickets directly in Teams by integrating with your ticketing software or using a Teams app with built-in messaging capabilities.
With integration, when a new ticket is created or updated, you can receive a notification within Teams and then reply to the ticket using a messaging feature built into your ticketing system. This lets you easily communicate with your customers or other team members without switching between multiple applications.
Alternatively, you can use a Teams app with built-in messaging capabilities. Some ticketing systems offer their own Teams app that allows you to view and respond to tickets within the Teams interface. Apps can simplify providing quick and efficient support, as you can collaborate on tickets and respond to inquiries in real time.
Replying to tickets directly in Teams lets you keep all communication in one place, streamlining your support processes and improving overall efficiency.
4. Assign Tickets Automatically
With Teams, you can assign tickets automatically using rules-based automation or setting up routing workflows.
With rules-based automation, you can set up triggers automatically assigning tickets to the appropriate team member based on specific criteria. For example, you could create a rule that gives all tickets with the "hardware issue" tag to a particular tech or assign all tickets originating from a specific customer to a specific support representative.
Routing workflows allow you to set up a series of steps that tickets must pass through before being assigned to a team member. You could create a workflow that automatically routes all tickets to a first-level support team. If the ticket remains unresolved after a certain period, it can automatically escalate to a second-level support team.
In both cases, the advantage of automatic ticket assignment is that it helps ensure that the right tech or team handles tickets promptly and efficiently. This can improve response times, reduce errors, and provide end-users with appropriate support for their issues.
5. Queue Tickets
When a ticket is submitted, it can be automatically added to a queue based on its priority level. For example, high-priority tickets may enter a "priority queue" that ensures they're addressed first, while low-priority tickets may be placed in a "backlog queue" that techs can resolve as time permits.
You can also use tags or labels to categorize tickets and place them in specific queues based on their type. For example, you could create a "billing queue" for related tickets or a "technical support queue" for all requests that fall into that category.
Lastly, you can leverage queues to assign tickets to specific techs. This ensures that incoming tickets are routed to the appropriate team member or group and can be resolved in a timely manner.
Using queues to manage your tickets can improve overall efficiency and ensure that all incoming requests are tracked and managed systematically.
Is It Worth Implementing a Microsoft Teams Ticketing System?
For many companies, especially those already using Teams, integrating with a third-party ticketing system comes with several benefits:
- Easy and intuitive: Microsoft Teams is user-friendly and doesn’t require much training, especially for those already familiar with the interface. A good third-party tool will integrate seamlessly with Teams, making for a cohesive experience.
- Suitable for all companies: A Teams ticketing system, once integrated, is beneficial to businesses of all sizes, regardless of ticket influx. Teams can handle many daily tickets when paired with powerful automation that swiftly routes service requests.
- The human element: Because of Teams’ communication-based nature, a ticketing system integrated with the application fosters conversation in a way that faceless bots don’t. The ability to reply to tickets directly in Teams (or create tickets from messages) makes for a more personal experience.
On its own, Teams has limited customization and minimal reporting and analytics. Once integrated with a third-party tool, Teams is an incredibly effective ticketing system and is valuable for many organizations.
Microsoft Teams Ticketing Systems: The Conclusion
A Microsoft Teams ticketing system can be worthwhile, especially for organizations already comfortable with Microsoft properties. But of course, Teams itself is a bit more limited when it comes to ticketing capabilities. For a truly comprehensive experience, you can integrate with ticketing software to enhance your Teams environment, streamline ticket resolution, and improve employee engagement.
Looking for a ticketing solution that integrates seamlessly with Microsoft properties? Sign up to try DeskDirector and learn more about the new DeskDirector Teams App!
