Case Study: How Ticket Aging Helped Improve Support Process Efficiency

Spotlight

Our client is a mid-sized IT company managing multiple client projects across different sectors. As their customer base grew, so did the volume of incoming support tickets relate to ongoing implementations, integrations, and maintenance tasks. The client needed better visibility into how long tickets remained unresolved and where they were facing delays.

Highlights

0 %

Reduction in average ticket resolution time

0 %

Fewer SLA
breaches

0 %

Increase in customer satisfaction score

Customer’s Speak

Mike Reynolds

Legal Operations Manager

“

Managing contracts manually led to missed deadlines, compliance risks, and inefficiencies. With SharePoint Contract Management, automation streamlined workflows, reduced manual effort, and ensured compliance. Now, we focus more on clients instead of paperwork.

Challenges Faced Before Implementing Helpdesk 365

Before implementing Helpdesk 365, the support team faced several persistent challenges that affected their ability to resolve tickets efficiently and meet client expectations.

1) Limited Visibility into Delayed Tickets
Although tickets were being responded to regularly, there was insufficient insight into which tickets were experiencing delays. This lack of transparency made it difficult to prioritize follow-ups effectively and ensure timely resolutions.

2) Older Tickets Becoming Overlooked
Tickets that had been open for extended periods were often buried beneath newer requests in the queue. This resulted in certain issues being neglected, contributing to missed service-level agreements (SLAs) and gaps in customer or internal follow-ups.

3) Critical Tickets Not Identified Promptly

Urgent or high-priority tickets were not consistently flagged based on how long they remained unresolved. Without accurate tracking of ticket aging, the escalation of critical issues was delayed, impacting overall support quality.

4) Increasing Team Size
Despite hiring additional support agents, resolution times showed little improvement. This suggested that the challenges were process-related rather than due to a lack of manpower, highlighting the need for better ticket aging management.

5) Inadequate Reporting on Ticket Lifespan
Existing ticket aging reports did not provide a comprehensive view of ticket progress over time. The absence of detailed aging metrics hindered the ability to analyse ticket life cycles and identify stages where delays occurred most frequently.

How We Solved It – The Solution

The client implemented Helpdesk 365 to enhance their internal support operations. A key feature that made a significant difference was ticket aging, which provided clear insights into how long tickets remained open and where delays were occurring.

1) Gaining Clear Visibility on Ticket Lifespan
The Ticket Aging feature provided the client with transparent and real-time tracking of how long tickets remained open. This visibility allowed the support team to quickly identify tickets that were aging beyond acceptable timeframes and needed immediate attention, preventing issues from slipping through unnoticed.

2) Prioritizing Based on Ticket Age
Tickets were automatically categorized and grouped according to their age, enabling support agents and managers to easily distinguish older, unresolved tickets from newer ones. This helped in prioritizing workload effectively and ensured that aging tickets were addressed promptly instead of being overlooked.

3) Setting Automated Aging Alerts
The client configured automated alerts that triggered once tickets crossed predefined aging thresholds. These alerts served as timely reminders for agents and supervisors, prompting proactive follow-ups and escalations before tickets breached service targets or SLAs.

4) Reordering Queues to Surface Older Tickets
Support queues were dynamically reorganized to bring the oldest unresolved tickets to the forefront. This adjustment helped agents focus on resolving the longest-pending issues first, reducing backlog and improving overall ticket flow within the support system.

5) Using Aging Reports for Process Improvement
Detailed reports generated from ticket aging data provided the client with valuable insights into where delays were occurring during the ticket lifecycle. These insights allowed the identification of recurring bottlenecks and informed targeted improvements in agent training and workflow processes to boost efficiency.

Results & Business Impact

The impact of using ticket aging strategically extended beyond metrics. It improved the experience for both customers and support agents.

Here are three of the most important outcomes:

1) 72% Faster Ticket Resolution
By focusing on resolving older tickets more quickly, the client was able to close significantly more cases without needing to expand their support team, improving efficiency and productivity.

2) 60% Fewer SLA Breaches
The introduction of real-time visibility into ticket aging allowed the team to act proactively, preventing delays and ensuring service-level agreements were consistently met.

3) 55% Increase in Customer Satisfaction Score
With improved management of aging tickets, customers experienced faster responses and more reliable support, leading to a noticeable boost in overall satisfaction levels.