Efficient ticket dispatch is key to the success of service operations, whether it’s managing IT support teams, field services, or customer service desks. The complexity of balancing ticket urgency, technician skills, and resource availability can often lead to delays, miscommunication, and customer dissatisfaction.
With Next Ticket, this process becomes smoother and more efficient, enabling organizations to optimize ticket assignment like never before. By leveraging the Next Ticket Priority Rules and Filters, tickets are automatically routed to the right person, at the right time, every time.
This article outlines the best practices for maximizing your MSP's Next Ticket benefits and the factors contributing to a successful implementation. The videos available in each section also explain these best practices.
Best Practices for Using Next Ticket Filters
Filters are the foundation of effective ticket management with Next Ticket. By setting up thoughtful, well-organized filters, you will ensure the right tickets get to the right teams at the right time.
Here are some best practices for setting up and applying filters.
- Start with a test filter.
Creating a test filter and studying the results will help you evaluate the pool of tickets that will be presented to your technicians. This approach lets you identify which tickets should be prioritized for technicians and which can be handled through bots or workflow rules in your PSA. - Utilize tier-based filters for help desks.
If your help desk operates on a tiered system, tier-based filters are a game changer. These filters ensure that tickets are routed to the right level of expertise, minimizing delays, and reducing the risk of escalations. As a result, your team stays focused on what they do best, maximizing efficiency and customer satisfaction. - Set up role-specific filters.
Role-specific filters can be used for teams with specialized skills and responsibilities. By tailoring filters to match group expertise, such as network engineers, remote technicians, or on-site techs, you ensure tickets are automatically routed to the right team. Time spent on reassignment is minimized and technicians can focus on tasks aligned with their strengths, resulting in greater efficiency, faster resolution times, and a more empowered team. - Be consistent in naming filters.
Consistent naming conventions are the backbone of an organized filter system. Adopting clear, standardized names for your filters, like tier-one, network issues, or priority hardware escalations, makes it easier for everyone to understand and manage filters as your system evolves.
Standardized names also reduce confusion, improve collaboration, and ensure that anyone on your team can quickly locate and adjust filters as needed. - Review filters regularly.
Your filters will need adjustments as your business grows and changes. Scheduling regular reviews ensures your filters stay relevant, effective, and aligned with your goals when priorities, processes, and ticket volume change over time. - Avoid overlapping conditions.
Redundant or conflicting filters can create confusion, leading to tickets being routed incorrectly, or handled inefficiently. By defining unique criteria for every filter, you streamline the ticketing process and make it easier for your team to manage and troubleshoot.
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Best practices for using Next Ticket Priority Rules
Priority rules ensure tickets are scored and dispatched effectively, helping your team focus on what matters most.
These are the best practices for effectively setting up your priority rules.
- Start with the basic rules.
Begin with the essential, straightforward rules that address your core priorities. This approach allows you and your team to adapt gradually and focus on understanding how the system works. As everyone becomes more comfortable and confident, you can expand and refine the rules to align with evolving business needs. - Stick to the recommended rules.
The rules highlighted in green and on top of the list are tried and tested recommendations designed to provide a solid foundation for your scoring system. These rules have been carefully developed to cover common business needs, ensuring consistent and effective ticket prioritization. Apart from saving time setting up, using the recommended rules as your starting point also helps you avoid potential pitfalls. As you become more familiar with the system, you can customize and expand these rules to fit your specific goals better. - Assign points strategically.
The scoring system should be designed toward client satisfaction, SLA adherence, or rapid resolution times. Assign points strategically according to these goals, ensuring each rule contributes meaningfully to the overall score.
Avoid overloading a single rule with too much weight, as this can skew the results and lead to misaligned priorities. Instead, strive for balance by distributing points across multiple criteria. This approach ensures that high-priority tickets consistently stay on top of the priority list while maintaining fairness and flexibility. - Prioritize based on business impact.
First, prioritize rules that emphasize high-value tickets and critical issues. Whether addressing urgent client needs, preventing downtime, or resolving high-priority tickets, aligning your rules with business impact maximizes efficiency and enhances client satisfaction. - Avoid conflicts.
Design your rules to complement each other so they work together seamlessly. Conflicting rules, such as assigning opposing priorities to the same ticket type, can lead to confusion, delays, and inefficiencies. Keep your workflow smooth and reliable by regularly reviewing your rules to identify and resolve any inconsistencies. - Review and refine.
The key to success is continuous refinement. Assess how well your rules align with your current goals and challenges regularly. Are you still prioritizing the right tickets? Are there new businesses that need to be addressed? Refining your rules ensures your system remains effective, adaptable, and in tune with your evolving operations.
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What are the success factors for using Next Ticket?
Success with Next Ticket requires thoughtful planning, consistent effort, and the right mindset. Aligning your team, processes, and tools can set the stage for smoother adoption and measurable results.
Let's take a closer look at the critical factors that drive success.
- Strong leadership
Leadership is the cornerstone of success with any new tool, and Next Ticket is no exception. To drive real results, you need champions within your organization who understand how Next Ticket works and believe in its benefits. These leaders inspire and guide their teams, turning hesitation into confidence and vision into action.
Strong leadership builds a culture where innovation isn't just encouraged but expected. Teams that embrace this mindset are more likely to collaborate, adapt quickly, and succeed together. - Clear documentation
Well-defined processes are essential for maximizing the benefits of Next Ticket. Without clear documentation, even the best tools can feel overwhelming or underutilized. Take time to document your ticket dispatch, workflows, escalation paths, and troubleshooting procedures. This document will be the single source of truth that everyone from admins to technicians can rely on.
Moreover, clear documentation eliminates guesswork and ensures consistency. Teams know exactly how tickets are prioritized, assigned, and escalated, reducing confusion and streamlining operations.
Documentation also facilitates smooth onboarding and helps new members quickly understand and adopt Next Ticket workflows. - A culture ready to embrace change
Building a culture that embraces change starts with clear communication and leadership support. It is important to foster an environment where teams view innovation not as a disruption, but as an opportunity to grow and improve.
You can encourage open conversations about the benefits of Next Ticket and be transparent about the reason behind the change, addressing any concerns your team might have. Most importantly, reassure them that Next Ticket is designed to make their work simpler, more efficient, and ultimately more rewarding. A team that understands the value of change and feels supported through the transition will be more receptive to adopting the new system. - Clean, high-quality PSA data
Next Ticket thrives on high-quality data which fuels accurate ticket scoring and prioritization. For Next Ticket to work effectively, your PSA system must be up-to-date and well-maintained. This means keeping customer information accurate, ticket details complete, and service level agreements properly configured.
High-quality data ensures tickets are scored and prioritized correctly and reports show accurate data, resulting in improved efficiency, smarter workflows, and better outcomes for your team and clients. - Technician Buy-in
Your technicians are on the front lines and their buy-in is crucial for the success of Next Ticket. They need to see firsthand how this tool simplifies their day-to-day work and always allows them to work on the right tickets at the right time.
You can secure buy-in by providing clear, hands-on training to build confidence with the system. Encourage open conversations and gather their feedback to show that their input matters. By involving technicians in the process, you build trust, foster enthusiasm, and turn them into advocates for the tool.
Once the technicians see the value, they will embrace Next Ticket and leverage it to make their work more efficient and rewarding.
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