No matter how seamlessly your district runs, there will always be criticism. K-12 support is no different — it’s important for students, staff, and parents/guardians to have some way to file complaints so their issues can be fully addressed.
Read on to find out our recommendations for top complaint management software in 2023.
What is Complaint Management Software?
Complaint management software refers to software that lets students, staff, and other end users submit complaints. The primary focus of complaint management software is to gather, record, and resolve end user complaints. Complaints can cover a wide variety of issues in the K-12 space, so it’s useful to have a complaint management software that fits the needs of multiple support teams.
The Benefits of Complaint Management Software
It’s important for there to be a central location where complaints are submitted. Complaint management software for K-12 should gather and resolve complaints for a variety of support teams, including IT, facilities, HR, et cetera. Establishing a central, interoperable complaint management platform gives teachers and students a one-stop shop to ask for technical help, or for admin and other staff to request maintenance support to fix a leaky faucet. The more centralized and easy-to-use your complaint management system is, the more likely your district is to get help requests solved quickly and efficiently.
Not sure where to start? Check out this article, where we walk you through what should go into your district’s tech stack.
What to Look for in Complaint Management Software
There are a multitude of factors you should consider when looking at complaint management software. Here are some of the most common features you’ll want to consider:
- Automated Complaint Processing
Automations are greatly beneficial for K-12 support teams. Don’t waste time manually going through complaints and forwarding them to the specific department — instead, use automations that automatically sort and route tickets that can send specific requests to IT, facilities, etc, so your time-strapped teams save valuable time and effort. Complaint management software like Incident IQ can even escalate tickets based on response time, type of complaint, SLA agreement, and more, depending on what metrics your district uses.
- Tracking and Monitoring
Complaint management software exists to host and gather complaints, yes, but we all know there are many steps a complaint can go through before the problem is solved. Your complaint management software should include a detailed timeline and the ability to record the actions taken to resolve a complaint. K-12 IT teams will often see this play out when a user complains about a district device not working — your management software would then list the steps the technician took to fix the issue, or track when a replacement device was distributed to the user. Having that record in your management system is critical for both the end user and the specific support team, as it streamlines communication and reduces miscommunication between both parties.
- Opportunities for Feedback
Gauging end user satisfaction can be a great tool for K-12 support teams. Giving users a place to share their feedback about the service they received can help support teams identify common bottlenecks — which can be used to improve support processes — in addition to making users feel heard and supported.
- Insights and Reporting
Analytics are definitely advantageous for K-12 district teams. If all complaints are hosted in one place, it will be easier to filter and sort issues based on departments. IT teams can find common tech complaints and make a plan to work more proactively, and facilities teams can identify when preventative measures should be taken to reduce the amount of maintenance complaints for the next school year.
Top Complaint Management Software in 2023
- Incident IQ
Incident IQ is the workflow management platform built entirely for K-12 districts. Incident IQ is a centralized place for students, staff, and parents/teachers to submit complaints and request help from several key support teams.
Our workflow management platform also includes a variety of features that work with complaints, from detailed ticket templates to API-driven integrations. Our integrations with district MDM and SIS platforms give IT teams data-rich tickets that get complaints resolved quickly and efficiently, and our powerful automations can help route tickets to specific teams and streamline workflows for IT, facilities, and HR teams for K-12 districts.
Click here to learn how Incident IQ handles K-12 complaints.
- Zendesk
While not specifically built for K-12, Zendesk does incorporate many key factors for complaint management software. This help desk management solution includes a customer portal which tracks and monitors complaints so no issue goes unnoticed. Like Incident IQ, Zendesk has a detailed knowledge base, which can help users find solutions to their issues without waiting on a support representative.
- Freshdesk
Freshdesk is an industry-neutral complaint management software that drills down to the root cause of customer complaints. Freshdesk also champions internal collaboration, so IT technicians can loop in other district teams as necessary to get a complaint resolved fast.
Additionally, Freshdesk allows agents to add preset canned responses for frequently reported complaints. This streamlines communication between users and district teams, and helps lower response time per complaint.
- Sogolytics
Sogolytics has a bit of a narrower focus, but it does center on issues that K-12 districts can work with. Instead of handling complaints with tech or facilities concerns, Sogolytics opens the table to input from students and families to connect with the district at large. This survey platform tracks complaints, flags issues for follow-ups, and provides presentation-ready analytics for district teams.
Final Thoughts
Complaint management software is an integral part of K-12 support. Nothing works flawlessly (especially when it comes to K-12 district tech or facilities issues), so it’s imperative that teachers, staff, and students know where to go to voice their concerns.
If you’re finding that your district is battling more complaints than usual, it may be time to upgrade your district’s tech stack to an interoperable solution. Incident IQ streamlines workflows for several K-12 support teams so complaints are resolved quickly and teachers can return their focus to the classroom. Give us a call and we’ll show how our award-winning tools help thousands of K-12 districts efficiently resolve help requests.
