Customers will report bugs or request new features via their preferred channels, whether that’s through a web form on a company's self-service page or via email, phone, chat, or social media. What makes issue trackers so powerful is their ability to centralize these conversations while enabling customers to move from channel to channel seamlessly. For agents (as well as engineers and managers), an omnichannel issue tracker provides end-to-end visibility of the life of a bug or request.

A robust issue tracker will also enable time tracking, which measures how much effort a software engineer expends while researching, coding, testing, and resolving a bug. That's especially important for project managers, manage their team members while updating planned sprints to reflect which bugs or requested features will be included in upcoming releases.

Enables bug tracking include the ability to generate detailed reports, which can simplify the project management process by identifying trends. Those reports can refine how resources are used for software projects and ultimately lead to updates to the product roadmap for a company's app. Managers can use a tracker to set up automated reports that will get delivered to their email inboxes, as well as create helpful dashboards that track KPIs such as first reply time, ticket volume, and more.

To elicit actionable feedback from customers. Tracking software should enable agents to automatically reach out to customers after an issue is resolved to gauge how well they've done and what they can do better. Common tools that agents can use to gather this feedback is Customer Satisfaction Score.

When choosing an issue tracker, it's vital to think about workflow guidelines. If your company is a vendor for another business, and your customer expects bug inquiries to be answered (or resolved) in an agreed upon time frame, you will need tools that flag requests as high priority.

Beyond SLAs and workflow customizations, issue tracking becomes much easier when the software enables administrators to set up automations of routine tasks, whether that's how tickets are assigned or automatic closing of tickets after a specified time frame. In essence, automations drive efficiency, improve the agent experience, and most important, help customers get the help they need faster.

Issue tracking software can play a significant role in managing resources, whether that's by helping get more productivity (and effectiveness) from a lean support organization to giving customers helpful self-service content that lets them resolve common issues on their own. But as your business grows, a tracker must offer more complex tools to ensure that your customers continue to enjoy excellent service.

For instance, chatbots powered by artificial intelligence can take on easier support requests while employing machine learning to get smarter over time.

Test periods can be a handy way to assess whether a tracker will lead to more efficient projects while providing the kind of real time reports that will help organizations resolve customer issues faster.