If you’re planning to do a help desk migration – or you’re starting to explore the possibility, and don’t want to get into something you can’t handle – you’ve come to the right place. It’s fair to say we have some experience in the matter, and we know that a successful migration requires careful planning and execution.
Many ITSM alternatives ask for a specific tool to support the migration process. However, this usually means an extra investment of both time and money. But that’s not the case of InvGate Service Desk. You can make an easy transition (and even have the basic setup ready in just a day) without the need for any extra resources than your data and our solution.
Don’t believe us? Keep reading for a complete break down of everything you need to make a seamless migration to InvGate Service Desk and take your IT Service Management to the next level!
When is it necessary to migrate from a help desk provider?
Switching help desk providers can be a daunting decision to take. But sometimes, changing your help desk solution becomes a necessity to ensure your organization is running smoothly and efficiently. If you lay the groundwork accordingly and avoid some common migration pitfalls, it can be quite simple.
Ultimately, when an organization chooses to switch providers, it’s because their current solution isn’t meeting their Service Management needs and expectations. Here are some of the most common reasons why they choose to make this move.
1. Bottlenecks or gaps in service
As your organization grows, the limitations of your current help desk system may become more apparent. And you are not the only one facing this.
The problem relies on bottlenecks in ticket resolution, lack of automation, or gaps in service delivery that can hinder your team's performance and decrease overall productivity. We’ve seen this in many companies that migrated from other solutions - especially free service desk software - to ours.
2. Inadequate service provision
There is no sense in having a help desk tool if it restricts your ability to deliver prompt customer support. Sooner or later, this can lead to dissatisfied customers and negatively impact your reputation.
Typically, inadequate service provision has to do with the lack of:
- Omnichannel capabilities.
- Service desk integrations with your current tech stack.
- IT support automation
- An easy-to-use self-service portal.
3. Frustration among agents or management
If agents and managers are frustrated by the limitations of the current system, it can negatively impact their morale and productivity, and end up in agent churn.
Frustration can come from many areas, such as the capabilities your current software has to offer, or a complex UI that makes them lose time whenever they have to complete a task.
4. Difficult vendor support
Effective and timely support from your help desk vendor is crucial for overcoming any challenges that may arise. Support can sometimes become unresponsive or unhelpful, and this can impede your ability to resolve issues promptly.
At the end of the day, having good support from your vendor will increase the value of your tool, as you will avoid plenty of downtimes. This translates into time and money gain, customer satisfaction, and productivity.
What can you migrate to InvGate Service Desk?
A common concern before making the decision to migrate is what happens to all the data located in your current help desk.
Even if you are struggling with any of the situations listed above, you might also be wondering (and dreading) having to build a new help desk from scratch.
But you don’t actually have to worry about that. Here’s all the information that can be migrated into InvGate Service Desk:
- Users and groups
- Multiple help desks
- Service catalog
- Workflows
- Knowledge base
- Team Information and roles
Before you start: preparation steps
Once you decide to take the move, the first step is to lay the groundwork. Preparing for a help desk migration is a crucial phase that sets the stage for a successful transition to InvGate Service Desk.
Ticking the following boxes off your list will make sure you have everything you need to smoothly start the process.
1. Identify gaps and improvement opportunities
Moving from one place to another (be it a home, a job, or, in this case, a tool) is a perfect opportunity to analyze the current situation and start off with the right foot. So, take this chance to work closely with your team and identify all the areas of improvement.
Discuss current pain points, bottlenecks, and gaps in your existing processes and help desk operations. Determine how InvGate Service Desk can address them and optimize your workflows.
This exercise not only aligns your team with the migration objectives but also lets you improve and refine your Service Management processes, delivering more value to your organization and meeting business needs more effectively.
2. Clean your data
This one is really important, and will save you time in the future. Review and assess the data stored in your current help desk system, identifying what is still useful and what may be outdated or obsolete.
Cleaning up your databases helps streamline the migration process and prevent unnecessary clutter in the new platform. It also ensures that you only transfer relevant and valuable information, reducing the risk of errors and data inconsistencies.
3. Create a relocation checklist and timeline
Make a detailed list of items to relocate to InvGate Service Desk, including configurations, user profiles, service catalog, workflows, and knowledge base articles. Organize the elements according to their priority and create a timeline to guide the migration process, ensuring that every step is accounted for until the migration is complete.
Having a clear checklist and timeline minimizes errors, keeps the migration on track, and provides a structured approach to the transition. If you need assistance, this ITSM implementation checklist can be a good starting point!
Help desk migration plan: How to migrate to InvGate Service Desk in a day
Now that you have your goals clear and collected all the relevant information, migrating to InvGate Service Desk is really simple. All you have to do is stick to the following steps and your new help desk will be up and running in no time!
1. Create users
At a minimum, you will need to have agents and managers loaded into your instance to start working. You’ll probably also want to add end-users, including external customers and the other teams that require your support.
So, the first thing to do is to import all your users to your new instance. To do so, you can pick one of these methods:
- CSV or spreadsheet - This is the fastest and most universal way to import users. You can download our template, place your data, upload it, and be done in no time.
- Central location - If you have your user data stored in Active Directory, SCIM, or an LDAP source, you can configure those within “Directory Services.” For the former, this AD tutorial can guide you through the process.
Bonus tip: If you have Microsoft Identity, Google, or some other SAML or LDAP provider and activate this feature, users can use their main account to sign in without the need to create a special account on InvGate Service Desk. To automatically register new sign ins or links with embedded credentials you can set it under the “Authentication” section.
2. Create help desks
The next step is to build your help desks on InvGate Service Desk, which can be done manually or by importing a .cvs file. If you have access to a similar file from your previous tool and can adapt it into the template provided by our solution, the CSV option is recommended in a migration process.
Within the configuration page, you can customize the following to adapt the solution to your organization:
- Set the predetermined help desk.
- Choose the ticket reassignment process.
- Add watchers (without extra charge!).
- Set the escalation rules.
- Set the working hours of each help desk.
At this stage, you can also let agents log their own absences (which is key to empowering them and ensuring correct ticket routing).
3. Create a service catalog
Once you have created your help desks, it’s time to build the service catalog to put together all the services offered by your teams.
On InvGate Service Desk, the catalog has a tree structure tol help users find the right category as quickly and easily as possible.
You can do this manually or by loading a template. For the latter, the sample will be provided by the system, and all you need to do is download it, populate it, and upload it again. We highly recommend this option to migrate a pre-existing service catalog.
However, if you choose to do it manually, you have to create a category, select an icon, name it, and provide the descriptions and keywords.
Then, all that’s left to do is choose which team to assign this work to, and set the type of ticket this category creates. You can also check out the other tabs for additional options like customizing the form or adding custom fields.
4. Create a knowledge base
For your first setup to be complete, you need a knowledge base. On InvGate Service Desk, you can either choose to migrate the articles you had on your previous tool through our API, or create them from scratch and customize them to your needs.
In both cases, the first thing to do is to configure your knowledge base by creating a few categories to add the content.
To create your articles, go to “Articles” > “New Article,” select the category and visibility, and create the content straight in the editor. Pro tip: take advantage of all the format options to improve your articles’ performance!
And there you go, you have your new help desk solution up and running in no time! If you still have further questions or doubts, we have a dedicated support team always ready to assist you. So, don’t hesitate to book a call!
Next steps
But the process doesn't end here. Once your new platform is live, it's time to focus on continuous improvement and maximize the benefits of your investment.
Here are the key steps you can take to further enhance your Service Management capabilities:
- Leverage automation - Take advantage of automation rules, triggers, and workflows to automate repetitive tasks, ticket routing, and notifications offered by InvGate Service Desk. By reducing manual interventions, your team can focus on more strategic and value-added activities.
- Utilize reporting and dashboards - Use InvGate Services Desk’s analytical tools to track key help desk metrics, monitor team performance, and identify trends and patterns. Making decisions based on accurate data will allow you to continuously optimize your processes for better outcomes.
- Gather user feedback - Understanding help desk users’ perspectives and pain points will help you fine-tune the system, address any challenges, and optimize the user experience. InvGate Service Desk allows you to collect feedback from your customers whenever they close a ticket or access to a knowledge base article.
- Engage with InvGate support - The InvGate support team is available to assist with any questions or challenges you may encounter. Engaging with support can provide valuable guidance and solutions tailored to your specific needs.
4 help desk migration mistakes to avoid
When undertaking a help desk migration, it's essential to be mindful of potential pitfalls that can hinder the success of the transition. Avoiding these common mistakes will ensure a smoother and more effective migration process:
- Not benchmarking - Failing to benchmark your current service performance and costs before the migration can leave you without a baseline to measure improvements. Collecting valuable data beforehand allows you to assess the impact of the new environment and quantify the value it adds or the cost reductions achieved.
- Trying to preserve all transactional data - While preserving important reports and KPIs is crucial for continuity, attempting to directly compare historical metrics from the old system with the new tool may not be feasible. Be mindful of the transition date and consider differences in reporting between the old and new platforms.
- Not taking advantage of the transition - Migrating to a new help desk platform presents an opportunity to explore and leverage new capabilities. Avoid replicating poorly performing processes from the old tool and embrace the potential benefits that the new tooling has to offer.
- Not collaborating with the end-users - Working closely with the team that will be using the new help desk platform can provide valuable insights and suggestions for improvements. This will ensure that the new system aligns with their needs and empowers them to excel in their roles.
Key takeaways
We've explored the common reasons organizations choose to migrate – from bottlenecks in service and inadequate provision to frustrations among agents and management, and insufficient vendor support. These challenges can hinder productivity, damage customer satisfaction, and impede growth.
However, you can overcome these obstacles and elevate your IT service delivery. At InvGate, we understand the challenges and complexities that come with migrating from one help desk solution to another. That's why we've designed InvGate Service Desk to facilitate an effortless transition without the need for extra resources or tools.
With careful planning, proper execution, and the right tool at your disposal, you can make a seamless transition and take your help desk operations to the next level.
Don't hesitate to explore the possibilities and benefits that InvGate Service Desk has to offer – request a 30-day free trial and get started with your migration process today!
