Email and chat programs are quickly becoming much more than just communication platforms. Through various platform integrations, emails or messages can trigger time tracking, tasks, calendar entries, and several other productivity-boosting items. As these various cloud services learn to work together, it's a safe bet IT service providers and service desk pros will be able to do their jobs more efficiently.
Among the latest example integrations: ManageEngine has developed several new integrations for its software portfolio. Last year the company added Zendesk integration for its Desktop Central platform, and further integration with Active Directory in ADManager Plus. Now the company has introduced a ServiceDesk Plus add-in for Microsoft Office 365. According to the company, this new add-in enables ServiceDesk Plus technicians and end users of the cloud version to manage support tickets from within Outlook.
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus and Office 365: Integration Details
With this add-in, IT technicians and end users can:
- Access ServiceDesk Plus templates inside Outlook to create IT incidents and service requests.
- View service request details
- Track the progress tickets
- Add notes to service requests
- Reply to conversations from Outlook
Further, through Actionable Messages, IT technicians will also be able to:
- View tickets
- Pick up new tickets
- Assign tickets to other technicians
- Reply to requesters
- Edit, resolve or close tickets
All of these tasks can now be accomplished without having to switch to ServiceDesk Plus. Without having to switch back and forth between various cloud services, time to resolution for tickets can be reduced and technicians can work more efficiently.
The integration pushes beyond the mail client. A connection to Office 365's calendar features enables technicians to automatically create calendar entries from reminders in ServiceDesk Plus. The calendar syncing also provides a way for teams to track technician availability as reminders and time off can sync back and forth between the two programs.
The new Outlook add-in for ServiceDesk Plus is available immediately at no additional cost to customers. Existing users can find the new app in the Office Store. New users can visit ManageEngine to sign up and get started.
Integration = Success for Cloud Platforms?
Business IT infrastructure is becoming extremely segmented due to the broad implementation of cloud services and platforms.
As a result, an employee may need to login to several different platforms each day in order to accomplish his or her daily tasks. It is my opinion that the tools and utilities that play nicely with the others will be the most successful. Perhaps this is most clear with the massive success of Slack. People want to be able to do more within a single platform instead of being required to keep several open at once and move between them.
