Behind every successful business is a fundamental goal that transcends all others – the pursuit of customer satisfaction.
In terms of Service Desk, it’s also about solving customer problems in real time.
For many, the Service Desk serves the same function as the Help Desk. For quite some time, this was true. However, now, and more specifically since the publication of ITIL v3 (the third version of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library), there is a clear distinction between the two terms.
For IT companies of any size, the Service Desk is one of the most important activities, requiring day-to-day management and directly impacting business success.
In this article, we’ll explain what Service Desk is, explore its functions and benefits for companies, and learn how to choose the right system.
What is Service Desk in simple words
When optimizing the employee experience with IT and business resources, one of the most important functions is to maintain a single point of contact between users and service providers.
In simple words, the Service Desk is considered to be the link, the single point of contact, or SPOC, between the organization and employees, customers and business partners. It is responsible for managing user requests, assessing their needs, and providing appropriate support or solutions to all who need it. In addition, the service desk ensures compliance with IT policies and procedures established within the organization.
The Service Desk information system automates not only the reception of requests, but also the process of their solution in the context of the services provided. For this purpose, the system provides classification of requests, portfolio and catalog of services, SLA and service specifications.
How Service Desk works
It is important to note that the way Service Desk works varies depending on the type of structure. Below we have listed 4 different types of Service Desk and explained how each one works:
- Local Service Desk
Operates in the same location where users are located, but is not at all capable of handling a huge number of service requests.
- Centralized help desk
Concentrates all requests in one place and is an efficient way of working with a more compact and cost-effective structure.
- Cloud-based helpdesk
Utilizes digital tools for its work, allowing you to work fully online from anywhere in the world. It is considered to be the most practical, cost-effective and quality solution that utilizes modern technology and solves user problems promptly.
- The Follow the Sun model
Widespread among large companies that need the Service Desk to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With this Service Desk model, requests are distributed across departments, increasing the capability and responsiveness. This model is now using AI and automated tools – chatbots – to make customer service fast, easy, and high quality.
What Service Desk differs from Help Desk
Despite the fact that the concepts of Service Desk and Help Desk have been around for many years, these two systems are often confused, often even considered synonyms. In fact, the difference is significant: Help Desk as a “help desk” helps users solve problems, while Service Desk is a single point of entry for receiving services.
Help Desk systems are a way of organizing a help desk where each user’s request is recorded as a record with a unique number, and then the staff proceeds to resolve it. In the distant years before the emergence of such class systems, people sought help by phone, mail, personal appeal – some requests were lost or came to the wrong place. However, even today, many organizations work in the old way and lose in their efficiency.
The choice of Service Desk or Help Desk depends on what type of service you want to provide. If for your needs it is enough just to organize a queue of requests and not to lose requests, then Helpdesk will do.
And if solving requests requires the interaction of different departments with each other as business units providing services, then you need to implement a service approach, where all operations are regulated within the framework of a service quality agreement (SLA). In order to provide services at a consistent level, specialized IT-systems that implement the principles of the service approach – Service Desk – have appeared
Functions of Service Desk
Properly structured and effective Service Desk system – not just solves immediate technical problems, but is an integral part of the overall management of the IT landscape of the company. Among the functions of the Service Desk stand out:
- Reception and registration of user messages, registration of requests – incidents and service requests;
- Classification and prioritization of requests, launching the process of their solution;
- Providing communication of the consumer with service providers on their appeals;
- Providing automatic responses to standard requests and accumulation of knowledge base of service regulations;
- Providing initial collection of information before transferring appeals that cannot be solved on the 1-line to other support lines;
- Sending mass notifications to users (e.g., scheduled server outage);
- Tracks IT service availability, handles infrastructure incidents;
Benefits of Service Desk implementation for business
If we talk about infrastructure investments, it is worth mentioning the importance of Service Desk for business strategy.
Service Desk technical support becomes even more “relevant” if we take into account the current circumstances for business – in a highly competitive environment, improving service quality is of utmost importance to achieve results.
Service Desk oversees IT operations and monitors all company services, ensuring continuous improvement focused on productivity.
When properly organized, the Service Desk acts as the company’s storefront – it is the first thing business consumers come in contact with when they request a service. Quality Service Desk work increases the level of satisfaction with both the service and the company as a whole.
Together with management, the Service Desk improves communication with users, helps to reduce risks and increase customer satisfaction from the use of a product or service.
Here are some of the benefits for companies:
Operational Efficiency: Service Desk standardizes IT processes, automates routine tasks as much as possible, enabling faster response to problems and more cost-effective operations. Service Typing increases the percentage of requests resolved on the first line from the first iteration. The fewer iterations and transfers of an application from one specialist (first line) to another (second line), the fewer queues that application will need to go through. The fewer queues – the faster the application will be resolved. And deploying a virtual agent or AI-based chatbot within the Service Desk reduces response time from 10 minutes to a few seconds.
Closer interaction between business and IT: Service Desk, as we said, is the link between users, business processes, and the IT services that support them. This connection gives you valuable insights into user satisfaction levels, which in turn helps you proactively manage problems and effectively plan for future IT services.
Enhance productivity: Self-service tools, shared knowledge bases, and automated workflows simplify IT service delivery, helping users get back to work faster and IT staff focus on strategic tasks.
Enhance reliability: By speeding problem resolution, reducing and even automatically preventing problems, Service Desk keeps your company running smoothly.
Service Desk as the first step towards ITSM
If we move a little higher – from Help Desk to Service Desk – the next step is IT Service Management or ITSM system. The key word here is “management”. So ITSM represents the core and in doing so controls all IT service functions, including Help Desk and Service Desk.
Service Desk is just one aspect of IT service management that focuses on solving technical problems for customers. Service Desk has a smaller footprint than IT Service Management because it is considered a subcategory of the system. While Service Desk deals with maintenance, ITSM focuses on managing the full range of services provided according to ITIL.
It is commonly believed that ITSM system is a product for large or medium-sized companies. It is a large-scale system, implementation of which requires thorough preparation, development of implementation project, large resources. However, if a company has not yet “grown up” to all the practices that the IT service management system implies, it does not mean that it cannot start implementing ITIL processes piece by piece. ITIL practices should be perceived as a “set of cubes”, from which you can take those that are suitable for the company at the moment, and if necessary, add new “cubes”.
Service Desk can play the role of one of the first “bricks” in building an IT service management system. Traditionally, one of the first practices to be implemented is Service Desk with incident and service level management processes. These processes are responsible for the interaction between users and the service desk, it is a kind of interface between them – a single showcase of services.
Implementation of Service Desk will allow to take control of service processes and “put on rails” the work of IT department. This approach will give an opportunity to reduce operational costs and improve the quality of services provided.
Service Desk is not only for IT
Service Desk, originally designed to help IT teams in tracking, resolving service requests, can now be used in non-technological areas – HR or, for example, legal, financial departments of companies.
Service Desk services are typically used for IT service management, but service desk models are increasingly being applied to other service functions of organizations, especially for the ESM (enterprise service management) business model.
More and more often IT companies offer their users from non-technological “out of the box” allows them to create and maintain their own Service Desk with minimal involvement of the IT department. HR departments with the help of Service Desk can manage such processes as hiring employees, processing service requests, legal departments – to move from manual collection of necessary documents to automate their workflow, and financial departments – to control costs and manage the budget.
How to Choose a Service Desk
Today, the Service Desk is undergoing significant changes due to rapidly evolving technology. Service Desks have moved from their traditional role as “troubleshooting centers” to a more innovative role that improves the efficiency of each employee and empowers, empowering users. After the IT help desk pandemic, ITSM tools and support professionals have played a critical role in business continuity, especially when organizations faced the challenges of managing remote employees.
While choosing a Service Desk, the following aspects should be focused on:
- Define needs and goals
First and foremost, when choosing a Service Desk, you need to identify the specific needs and goals of your organization. Assess the size of your user base, the complexity of your IT environment, and the types of support services you need. With this information, you can narrow down your options and focus on solutions that meet your individual needs.
- Explore support service options
Once you have an idea of your needs, explore the support service options available. Research the market and look at factors such as scalability, customization, and ease of implementation. Choose solutions that align with your IT strategy and long-term company goals.
- Determine available help desk features
Evaluate the features offered in various solutions and determine which ones your organization needs. Whether it’s self-service portals, automation capabilities, or integration with other tools, choose a Service Desk that allows your IT team to provide effective support.
- Try a demo
Many service providers offer demos or trial periods. Take advantage of these opportunities to get hands-on experience with the solutions you are considering. At this point, pay attention to the user interface, ease of use, and how well the Service Desk “fits” into your workflow.
The best Service Desk system provides quick and easy service to both customers and employees. When your employees have the tools and resources they need, the company can run more efficiently. Happy employees make for happy customers.
